France mourns 'national treasure' Belmondo, New Wave cinema star

PARIS - Jean-Paul Belmondo, a star of France's New Wave cinema after his breakthrough performance in Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" in 1959, has died. He was 88.

The death of a leading figure in French cinema was felt across the country. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that France had lost a "national treasure". "It seems to me that all of France is unhappy," Michel Godest, a lawyer and friend of the actor, told BFM TV, breaking down in tears.