Of all the filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard was undoubtedly the most revolutionary, and it is his films that still today best allow us to appreciate the ways in which the New Wave marked a significant break with the cinematic past. Often puzzling, sometimes infuriating, but never less than intriguing, Godard’s films are marked by a veritable onslaught of creative ideas, a rhythm of invention that arguably remains unsurpassed in film history. In this talk, Douglas Morrey attempts to explain some of these ideas, placing them within the context of the French New Wave while also insisting on those elements that remain absolutely original to Godard himself.