130 Jean-Luc Godard Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Michel, a young and dangerous French criminal, kills a policeman and convinces his American lover, Patricia, to hide him in her flat without telling her why. When Patricia discovers the truth she turns him over to the police. The police end up shooting him in the street and he dies “à bout de soufflé” or breathless. 

Parisian girl Nana is an impoverished record-shop employee who dreams of becoming an actress. When her marriage falls apart, she unsuccessfully tries acting assignments. Slowly, Nana slides into prostitution where pimp Raoul shows her ropes of the game, but refuses to set her free when she falls for a caring artist.

Screenwriter Paul Javal is hired by producer Jeremy Prokosch to make a more commercially viable script. When Javal allows Prokosch to drive Javal’s pretty wife, Camille, in his two-seater while he comes in late, Camille believes that he is using her to please the producer and get a better deal. Though he tries to convince her otherwise, the marriage continues to disintegrate.

Florence aka Cleo is an arrogant singer, who is waiting for the results of her medical test that can possibly confirm the diagnosis of cancer. As there are still two hours left till she can get the results of the tests, she wanders around aimlessly. She soon meets Antoine, a soldier who is on leave from the Algerian War. He helps her realize her selfish behavior, and decides to accompany her to the hospital for the results.

Inspired by several Hollywood films, two slackers Franz and Arthur, who are in love with the same girl, decide to plan their own heist and carry it out. However, it seems that their lack of experience may lead them to problems.

Ferdinand is an unhappily married man who is also unemployed. Frustrated with his life, he decides to leave his wife and children behind and run away with Marianne, his ex-lover, who is a weapons smuggler.

Anna is a stripper who wishes to become a mother, but her biological clock is ticking away. Since her boyfriend is reluctant to become a father, he asks his best friend to get her pregnant. When she accepts, things get complicated.  

Masculin Feminin is a romantic drama film which revolves around Paul, a young idealist who is still trying to understand what he wants to achieve in life. He takes up a job in a marketing research firm, and soon moves in with an aspiring pop singer named Madeleine. However, while he is disillusioned by the growing commercialism in society, Madeleine wants to find success in her career.

This war drama film takes us to the time of the Algerian War for independence, and revolves around a young Frenchman named Bruno, belonging to a right-wing terrorist group, and a woman named Veronica, belonging to a left-wing terrorist group, who meet and fall for one another. Things get extremely complicated when members of his group suspect Bruno of acting as a double agent. He plans to leave with Veronica to Brazil, but things don’t go as expected.

A small group of French students get influenced by Maoist ideology. Eventually, they arrive at the conclusion that the only way to incite a revolution is through terror. Therefore, they decide to assassinate a Russian government official during his Paris visit. However, things don’t go according to plan.

Far from Vietnam is a 1967 French documentary film directed by multiple directors. The film shows various segments, showing sympathy and support for the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. 

Alphaville is a science fiction thriller film which tells the story of a US secret agent who is sent to an outer space city named Alphaville, where he needs to find a missing person, as well as help the city become free from its tyrannical ruler.  He is aided in his mission by a young woman named Natacha.

Weekend is a black comedy film which revolves around Roland and his wife Corinne, who sets out on a weekend road trip, to visit the wife’s parents. However, their plan is to kill the old couple for their inheritance.

An unfaithful wife receives a mink coat as a gift from her lover. However, now she has to make up a story to tell her husband, in order to avoid being suspected of having an affair.

Here and Elsewhere is a 1978 documentary film, which is a form of a film essay. This film explores the limitations and artificiality of cinema in attempting to portray reality. 

This drama film revolves around a shy man and a confident man as they spend a night in Paris, trying to pick up girls.

This documentary film revolves around the production of the 1982 film ‘Passion’ by well-known French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

Six in Paris (originally Paris vu par) is a French anthology of six different films, made in six different locations by six different directors, i.e. Jean Douchet, Jean Rouch, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol. The stories revolve around different subjects ranging from love to prostitution, each of them depicting how a small incident can be a life changer. 

This film was made as a semi-documentary, to exaggeratingly illustrate the emotionless lives of people living in the new Paris of the 1960s. The film shows how commercialism becomes a tight slap on families who are surviving on meager incomes, and how people are affected by the Vietnam War.  

A Letter to Freddy Buache is a French short documentary film which has been directed by Jean-Luc Godard and addressed to film critic Freddy Buache. In this film Goddard states his refusal to make a film which he was hired to.

Anna kisses the man she loves on a bridge overlooking Seine. However, things get ugly when she is knocked flat, and her lover watches in horror as she is loaded into the back of a funeral vehicle.

Created by Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville, Numéro deux (Number Two in English) is a French language experimental film, depicting the economic as well sexual life of a young family living in a social housing complex in France. 

Charlotte is about to leave the country. Walter has one opportunity to tell her how he feels. As they walk through a small village, Walter introduces Charlotte to Clara, hoping to make her feel jealous and win her back. Walter then accompanies Charlotte to her home where she cooks streak before stepping out to board her train. Charlotte talks about Clara and eventually they kiss and make up.

This anthology film consists of seven different short films, by seven different directors. Each short film revolves around one of the deadly sins. 

A young woman imitates a gesture she's seen prostitutes make to passing men. This nine-minute black and white comedy short is based on a story titled Le Signe by Guy de Maupassant.

Emile and Patricia, two young adults meet in a deserted television sound studio and through the night hours discuss various topics including cinema, learning, language, words, revolution, and others. Their discussions are set against the backdrop of images of Vietnam War, students’ revolt of Paris and also several photographs, posters and further imageries.

See You at Mao is a 1970 documentary film, which represents an analysis of production and the status of women in a capitalist society. A group of men formed by trade unionists and employers have a discussion on what measures would benefit their respective classes the most. 

In French Le Vent d'est, the film begins with an executive being kidnapped by the striking worker and then goes on to delve on the history and political context of revolutionary cinema. Directed by the Groupe Dziga Vertov, of which Jean-Luc Goddard was the most important member, the work is actually an essay on class struggle. 

Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin play Vladimir Lenin and Karl Rosa respectively, in this satirical take on the trial of the Chicago Eight. But as the two discuss politics and how it can be represented in cinema, they also contemplate over various other topics such as feminism, films and its effect on the society, concurrently having another look at their approaches. 

Struggle in Italy is a drama film which tells the story of a supposedly revolutionary Italian girl, who seems to have fallen prey to bourgeois ideology.

1 PM is a documentary film shot in 1968, which gives us impressions of revolution and resistance in the United States of America.

The Glass Castle is a romantic drama film which tells the story of Evelyn, the young wife of Judge Bertal, who falls in love with a man named Remy, during her vacation in Italy. Eventually, she feels that Remy is the man of her dreams, and therefore she decides to return home and inform her husband about everything. However, her plane crashes on the way.

A successful architect marries a younger woman whom he finds quite attractive. However, he is plagued with jealousy, when his wife gets close to the violinist with whom she plays regularly. Eventually, this leads him to murder his wife.

How’s It Going is a drama film which tells the story of two workers in a newspaper plant who try to make a film.  

Made by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, in collaboration with French artist Gerard Fromanger, this three-minute short film shows a thick red paint slowly flowing and taking over a tri-color French flag.   

The anthology of five short films is set against contemporary background. It shows indifference of people towards homeless suffering on road, and victims of car crash and a woman being targeted and attacked. It also depicts a man’s agony as he dies and sees a vision, while another film shows innocent youthful man robbed off his smile by the harsh war realities.

A follow-up to the French film, Tout va Bien, by directors Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin, which was originally intended to accompany the film. In this film, a single newspaper photograph of their Tout va Bien star Jane Fonda talking to the North Vietnamese people, is analyzed by the directors as they discuss the details of the photograph in a back-and-forth style. 

The film comprises of different sketches created by different writers and directors from partially real facts, and set in different cities. The swindlers appear in various forms…. In Tokyo, she is a bar-hostess, while a young prostitute swindles people in Naples. A trickster in Paris cheats an ardent admirer of Eiffel Tower, whereas a journalist in Marrakech gets entangled in counterfeit money.

The Defector is a drama thriller film which revolves around the story of Bower, an American physicist, who is recruited by a shady CIA agent to retrieve a microfilm from a Russian scientist, who is also interested in defecting.  

This drama film revolves around a group of revolutionary students and workers of a car factor who get into an argument.

The beautiful Sheherazade was promised to a powerful Sultan as an exchange gift for free passage to the Holy Land. Things get complicated when an enemy of the Sultan ambushes the traveling party, and Sheherazade is taken prisoner. A knight named Renaud manages to save her life, but  soon they develop feelings for each other.

While getting out of Las Vegas quickly, Jesse is forced to steal a car, and he shoots a cop on the way. After making it to LA, he stays with a young confused girl, whom he has known for only a few days. Meanwhile, the police is getting closer to him.

The film is a collection of six sketches by six finest directors from Europe and their stories revolving around one common theme – prostitution. In the segments, the directors trace the journey of the oldest profession, elaborating on how it evolved from pre-historic age to the future. The vignettes include ‘The Pre-historic Era,’ ‘Roman Nights,’ ‘Mademoiselle Mimi,’ ‘The Gay Nineties,’ ‘Paris Today,’ and ‘Anticipation.’  

This documentary film is structured as a letter written by a man to a woman named Rosa. The film is a direct criticism of revisionism as well as socialist imperialism.

Goodbye to Language is an experimental drama film which tells the story of a complicated relationship between a married woman and a single man.

This short film was written and directed by well-known filmmaker Jean Luc Godard about the construction of a dam in Switzerland.