"Jean-Luc Godard's early films revolutionized the language of cinema. Hugely prolific in his first decade - Breathless, Contempt, Pierrot le Fou, Alphaville, and Made in USA are just a handful of the seminal works he directed - Godard introduced filmgoers to the generation of stars associated with the trumpeted sexuality of postwar movies and culture: Brigitte Bardot, Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, and Anna Karina." "Drawing on his own working experience with Godard and his coterie, Colin MacCabe, in this first biography of the director, has written a thrilling account of the French cinema's transformation in the hands of Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, and Chabrol - critics who toppled the old aesthetics by becoming, legendarily, directors themselves - and Godard's determination to make cinema the greatest of the arts."--BOOK JACKET.