In a chaotic universe where all empirical stimuli is subjectively interpreted by imperfect observers, who is to say what does or does not happen? Jean-Luc Godard, for one: Mr. Godard, 79, the irascible filmmaker and a pioneer of the French New Wave movement, will definitely not be attending a special Oscars ceremony on Nov. 13 to pick up an honorary Academy Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Monday.

The question about Mr. Godard’s attendance at the Governors Awards has been an open one since the summer, when the academy said it would present honorary Oscars to Mr. Godard, the actor Eli Wallach, the film preservationist Kevin Brownlow and the director Francis Ford Coppola, who is receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

At the time, Anne-Marie Miéville, Mr. Godard’s wife and collaborator, said her husband was put off by the fact that the award was being given out at an event held months before the Oscars ceremony. Ms. Miéville said: “He’s getting old for that kind of thing. Would you go all that way just for a bit of metal?” Shortly thereafter, the academy said it had received a handwritten note from Mr. Godard indicating he might make the trip after all.

Well, the academy can cancel that hotel reservation and take the Champagne off the ice. In a statement, the organization said that “following a two-month-long cordial exchange of correspondence with academy president Tom Sherak,” Mr. Godard would not be attending the ceremony.

The statement added that the Governors Awards will still pay tribute to Mr. Godard “through film clips and commentary by his admirers,” and the academy will arrange for Mr. Godard’s Oscar statuette to be sent to him in Switzerland.