In desperation at his antisocial behaviour, the mother of the French new wave pioneer sent him to work in ‘purgatory’. It was to inspire Operation Concrete, Godard’s only documentary
When Jean-Luc Godard’s debut feature, Breathless, exploded on to cinema screens in 1960, it was heralded as an instant classic. However, his directorial career did not start with Breathless, but rather five years earlier with Operation Concrete, a remarkable documentary with an even more poignant backstory.
In 1953, when Godard’s mother, Odile, sent him to work as a labourer on the construction of the Grande Dixence dam in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, it represented a desperate last throw of the dice for her wayward 22-year-old kleptomaniac son.
