Abstract:

Jean-Luc Godard’s short films provide a concentrated

lens through which to observe shifts in his cinematic ideas

and practices. From the beginning of his career, they reveal

his sustained preoccupation with montage. In the mid-to-late

1960s, Godard employed montage in the short form to rupture

established cinematic aesthetics, anticipating both the political

commitments and the formal strategies of his later work.

From the late 1970s onward, his short films further developed

sound–image counterpoint, engaging in implicit dialogue

with montage theories associated with Sergei Eisenstein and

Artavazd Peleshyan. Taken together, Godard’s short-form works

illuminate a continuous process through which his montage

language evolves and transforms across his career.

Key words:

Godard, montage, short films, counterpoint,

sound–image relations