Citing his advanced age, legendary filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has decided to turn down the invitation to the annual Governor’s Awards, where he was due to receive an Honorary Oscar. The message came not from the legendary filmmaker himself, but from his life (and producing) partner Anne-Marie Mieville.
Mieville also suggests that Godard may also be trying to stay diplomatic. “He just told me, ‘It’s not the Oscars,'” she says, adding, “At first he thought it was going to be part of the same ceremony, then he realized it was a separate thing in November.” Godard, who’s never been nominated for a single Oscar, also skipped public appearances for his latest, “Film Socialisme” at Cannes, which, like many of his later works, was met by head-scratching.
Godard, director of “Breathless,” “Contempt,” “Band Of Outsiders,” “Alphaville” and “Weekend,” probably never considered himself the type of filmmaker that won Oscars anyway: he’s famously quoted as saying, in one of the few instances he’s spoken positively about other filmmakers, “Cinema begins with DW Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami.” Of course, Griffith had to settle for an “honorary” Oscar when the voting committee missed out on his offerings the first time, and as for Kiarostami, well, we wouldn’t hold our breath for that one.
Good for Godard to tell the Academy where they can shove it. The Governor’s Awards will still showcase honorees Francis Ford Coppola, Eli Wallach and Kevin Brownlow, but Godard no doubt deserves better.