When subsequent movies of his bombed, however — which they did, fairly often — Godard was upset. “Les Carabiniers wasn’t even a failure, it was nothing at all,” he said when that film was run out of Paris movie houses within days. “It really hurt my feelings to see the movie theaters nearly empty because I felt I had made a serious mistake. I wanted to teach people something and make it interesting as a show, but not only did it not interest them, they were so wary of it they wouldn’t even set foot in the theater.”
     Disappointing his audience, teaching them, these are not the goals of the typical director. But Godard’s popularity and influence lie in precisely that attitude. He has always made films solely for himself. He is absolutely passionate about film. He actually spends a good chunk of his life in movie theaters watching absolutely everything — he loves old Westerns, B-movies, films from every country, of every sort. He has favorite movie theaters in every city he spends any time in at all. He began making films quickly and on the cheap in the 1960s both to show that he could, and because of a small budget that guaranteed profit, and he knew producers and studios would then leave him alone to do things as he wanted to do them.
     Yes, there are self-conscious references in each film — Godard insists on reminding us always that we are watching a film; audiences are not encouraged to lose themselves in a Godard film or to stop thinking and questioning even for a second. Is it irritating? Often, yes. Most of the time, we watch movies to tune out of our own heads, our own lives. Godard won’t let us. In the end, though, finishing a Godard film feels like finishing a complex novel or essay on philosophy, or viewing a very abstract exhibition at a gallery — it was difficult to get through, but it’s endlessly satisfying to think about once you’ve digested it.
     Whether you like his films or not, it’s impossible to have a comprehensive understanding of the history of film without seeing some of his more seminal works: Breathless, Tout Va Bien, A Woman Is a Woman, Masculin Feminin, Alphaville, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Weekend, to name a few. Most directors working today owe at least some debt to Godard. Even those who hate him have probably been influenced by him in some way, if only in the sense that he made it okay for commercial directors to make movies that please themselves without a thought at all of the audience, the studio, or turning a profit. It’s a dream most directors never realize, but all hold dear.