Godard as an Auteur

The concept of auteurship began to thrive in France with the new wave, so it is difficult to have a conversation about auteur theory without mentioning Jean-luc Godard.  Although his work has been criticized alongside that of his contemporaries such as Varda and Truffaut, Godard's films are distinctly tuned.  They each reflect aspects of his personal style, which are often alike not in aesthetic but in theme and social commentary.
It was Godard who was one of the primary figures to break film out of its strict narrative structure in the 1960s.  Breathless, a bizarre take on a crime film, is filled with jumps and fast cuts that read almost like mistakes.  The narrative is not straightforward.  It is filled with seemingly innocuous conversation.  And like Godard's other films, it completely bends the previous concepts of what is considered filmic artwork to create a unique vision of a film.
Pierrot Le Fou is similarly structured.  Another film following a man and a woman (both men played by Jean-Paul Belmondo) it features another pair escaping the law and delving into a newer and freer world- only to find that the world is not terribly interesting.  Even more than Breathless, Pierrot Le Fou is a film that wants to make the viewer extremely aware of the fact that they are watching a film. There are conversations that repeat lines as though they are being repeated in a new take.  Anna Karina and Belmondo break the fourth wall, address the audience, and narrate poetically numerous times.  And it is a musical.  But it is, of course, nothing like the musicals churned out by Hollywood in the 1930s.  Music starts and stops abruptly.  Characters start singing and stop singing and then sing again.  It looks as though someone was trying to make a musical by filming their friends and playing a stereo in the background.  It is more realistic.  And it is, I would assume, deeply sarcastic at its core intent.
Vivre sa Vie is a little different.  It is almost more polished and direct.  Karina chats with an older man about love and other unsubtle subjects for several minutes.  In all honesty, there is little I remember about this film.  Unlike Pierrot and Breathless, it felt lacking in punch.  And maybe that is because I watched it last.  Maybe the sense of auteurship ruined it for me and stole the excitement from the movie.  But I doubt it.  One particular scene, featuring Karina dancing to jukebox music as she is ignored by the men has a particular charm that was more reminiscent of her character in Pierrot.  Even still, the film is unmistakably Godard.
And in that tradition, Karina dies at the end.  Just as she died at the end of Pierrot Le Fou, along with Belmondo, who also died at the end of Breathless.  By the end of Vivre Sa Vie, the death almost felt like a long-drawn gag.  But these deaths carry the themes in Godards works beautifully.  They are wrapped in betrayal, hopelessness, apathy, and boredom.