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Godard
A link connecting Bertolucci's early work to the particular aesthetic of the Nouvelle Vague in
general, and to Godard's work in particular, has been firmly established. This volume will
examine the way Bertolucci incorporates this aesthetic in constructing the cognitive
structures of his films. It will also differentiate between the approaches of the two film-
makers, paying attention to the cultural situation in Italy while evaluating the significance of
the shifts of orientation in Bertolucci's artistic trajectory. In addition, by exploring a number
of references, both explicit and implicit, to Godard's work in Bertolucci's later films - such
as The Dreamers - it will be suggested that Bertolucci's admiration for his French mentor
never ended. A brief initial overview of Godard's cinematic career will serve to clarify later
in the study the extent of his influence on Bertolucci. As recounted in the book Godard on
Godard, (Tom Milne, 1986) in the late 1950s, Godard was part of a group of intellectuals
writing for the journal Cahiers du cinema who asserted that a director's ability to embrace
and exploit the increasing sophistication of film technique was as important as social and
artistic realism within a narrative (Michelson, 1986: vii-ix). hi 1956 Godard published an
article, 'Montage, mon beau souci/Montage My Fine Care', in which he declared his
fascination with the art of editing, and later he decided to engage with actual film-making,
which he considered to be a continuation of his critical work in a different form (Roud, 1986:
7-9). This was a perspective shared by other critics within the group, who, in 1959, released
films that marked the beginning of the Nouvelle Vague.(I)
Regarding Godard's film techniques, David Sterritt asserts that one of his hallmarks is
the strategy of combining 'real images with eccentric editing strategies', of which 'the most
widely noted was his use of jump cuts that catapult the action from one image to another
without the smooth transitions'; this technique was deployed to disturb viewers, as Godard
sought 'to portray our world in unfamiliar ways that stimulate active thought rather than
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