Weekend is a 1967 postmodern black comedy film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on Julio Cortázar's short story "La autopista del Sur". It stars mainstream French TV stars Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne. Jean-Pierre Léaud, comic star of numerous French New Wave films, including François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959) and Godard's earlier Masculin Féminin (1966), appeared in two roles. Raoul Coutard served as cinematographer.
Theatrical release poster
Jean-Luc Godard was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Demy. He was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. According to AllMovie, his work "revolutionized the motion picture form" through its experimentation with narrative, continuity, sound, and camerawork. His most acclaimed films include Breathless (1960), Vivre sa vie (1962), Contempt (1963), Band of Outsiders (1964), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Masculin Féminin (1966), Weekend (1967) and Goodbye to Language (2014).
Godard in 1968
Anna Karina, having rejected a role in Breathless, appeared in the next film shot by Godard, Le petit soldat (The Little Soldier), which concerned France's war in Algeria.
A pochoir depicting Godard on a wall in Montreal.