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Criminal Intentions: Film Noir and Les Diaboliques (1955)

Claire Gorrara

in The Roman Noir in Post-War French Culture: Dark Fictions

This chapter discusses the ways the French film industry responded to the arrival of American films and the introduction of film noir.

Introduction

Isabelle Vanderschelden

in Studying French Cinema

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the French cinema. The French like to think the first cinematic experiments originated from France in 1895 with the realist cinema of the Lumière ... More

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the French cinema. The French like to think the first cinematic experiments originated from France in 1895 with the realist cinema of the Lumière Brothers' Sortie d'usine/Workers Leaving the Factory and L'Arrivée du train dans la gare de la Ciotat/Arrival of a Train at a Station, and the magical film moments of Georges Méliès's Voyage dans la lune/A Trip to the Moon (1902). These directors initiated a polarised vision of French cinema, which led to the familiar distinctions between realism and fantasy, documentary and fiction film. Even nowadays, French films continue to be introduced and defined in reviews and essays in relation to these two poles. A third early influence was the intellectual cinema of ideas of Louis Delluc in the 1910s and his critical writings, which initiated the first avant-garde period of French cinema after the First World War and have remained a fundamental influence for French cinema. The chapter then outlines some of the main key concepts underlying Film Studies, such as the importance of 'Auteur theory' and certain generic specificities associated with French films.Less

French Documentary Film and a Vision of the World

Isabelle Vanderschelden and Isabelle Vanderschelden

in Studying French Cinema

This chapter addresses French documentary films. After a boom in the 1950s and during the New Wave, only small numbers of documentaries have been produced yearly for the cinema in France, this type ... More

This chapter addresses French documentary films. After a boom in the 1950s and during the New Wave, only small numbers of documentaries have been produced yearly for the cinema in France, this type of filmmaking becoming increasingly associated with television. Nevertheless, several notable contemporary French film-makers have experimented with the genre, especially during the New Wave, producing influential films which have become classics. Recently, the name of Nicolas Philibert has become associated with documentary films shot primarily for the cinema screen, and his film Être et avoir/To Be and To Have (2002) provides a perspective on recent French cinema developments. The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the film, including its representation of rural France, the transformation of the teacher, parents, and children into characters, and other related society issues.Less

Why popular films are popular: identification, imitation and critical mortification

David Platten

in Imagining the popular in contemporary French culture

This chapter argues that the French popular film is a contradiction in terms: French cinema has long been associated with high culture, and despite the iconoclastic verve and youth appeal of the ... More

This chapter argues that the French popular film is a contradiction in terms: French cinema has long been associated with high culture, and despite the iconoclastic verve and youth appeal of the Nouvelle Vague, the longer-term impact of this hugely influential movement was to reinforce perception of French film as self-reflexive and demanding rather than aimed at a wide audience. It defines cinema as an intrinsically popular medium. Not only does cinema's visual storytelling appeal across levels of education and class, but the ontological shift its invention produced in the subject's relationship to space, time and other subjectivities gave pleasure to the mass of the population. Developments in cinema's wonderful capacity to take people elsewhere continue to thrill a socially diverse public, and to inflect their vision in the widest senses of the word.Less

The Renewal of French Historical Drama and Heritage Film

Isabelle Vanderschelden

in Studying French Cinema

This chapter explores the renewal of French historical drama and heritage film. French cinema has always sought inspiration in historical events to form the basis of powerful narratives. In the ... More

This chapter explores the renewal of French historical drama and heritage film. French cinema has always sought inspiration in historical events to form the basis of powerful narratives. In the 1980s, a range of films explored and renewed the approach to this cinematic genre by developing a trend of spectacular mainstream heritage films, known in France as 'les films du patrimoine'. Towards the mid-1990s, these lavish costume dramas became less popular in France, and some commercial flops made producers more wary of investing large sums in them. In the new millennium, however, the heritage drama seems to have been revamped to produce a series of innovative films that combine compelling elements of national identity and transnational features often borrowed from New Hollywood. These films are often described as popular in the sense of being 'seen by a large number of people', and 'reaching a broad public'. Le Pacte des loups/Brotherhood of the Wolf (Christophe Gans, 2001) illustrates the emergence of this trend perfectly, by combining popular cultural myths with the high production values of recent European superproductions in a competitive global market.Less

François Truffaut: An Auteur’s Representation of Childhood

Isabelle Vanderschelden

in Studying French Cinema

This chapter discusses François Truffaut, who occupies a major place in French film history and its tradition of auteur cinema. He is remembered by many as the ring-leader of the New Wave, a man who ... More

This chapter discusses François Truffaut, who occupies a major place in French film history and its tradition of auteur cinema. He is remembered by many as the ring-leader of the New Wave, a man who expressed his personal vision of the world, often through an alter ego recurrent character: Antoine Doinel. Truffaut, who started his professional career as a film critic in the 1950s, is also closely associated with the development of the 'Politique des auteurs', a significant theoretical critical framework that helps us to understand French art cinema and other forms of film-making since the 1950s. The chapter focuses mainly on two childhood films, Les 400 coups/The 400 Blows (1959) and L'Argent de poche/Pocket Money (UK)/Small Change (US) (1976), made at different moments in his career. This choice enables a comparative analysis of themes and motifs and provides an insight into the evolution of the film-maker's work and style after the New Wave, in terms of both continuity and change.Less

Traits and Traditions in French Film Comedy

Isabelle Vanderschelden

in Studying French Cinema

This chapter describes French comedy films. Comedy holds a significant place in contemporary French popular culture and in the national cinema industry. It is the most popular film genre, at least in ... More

This chapter describes French comedy films. Comedy holds a significant place in contemporary French popular culture and in the national cinema industry. It is the most popular film genre, at least in terms of domestic audiences. French comedy is also considered an important vehicle for stars, many of whom evolved as comic actors before turning to other cinematic genres, and some of whom have moved towards film directing and writing. Comedies are popular films in the sense that they are 'seen by a large number of people, and thus reach a broad public'. The chapter looks at Francis Veber's Le Dîner de cons/The Dinner Game (1998) and Le Placard/The Closet (2001) to address a number of issues which are central to understanding the significant place of the genre within French popular culture. Both include elements of social satire, French cultural references, and a focus on comic use of language.Less

The ‘European connection’

Lisa Purse

in Contemporary Action Cinema

This chapter considers action cinema in relation to issues of globalisation and the international film marketplace, and looks at the stylistic exchanges that result in the light of recent debates ... More

This chapter considers action cinema in relation to issues of globalisation and the international film marketplace, and looks at the stylistic exchanges that result in the light of recent debates about whether multi-country co-productions can (or should) protect a national cultural identity. Arguing that many countries, not just the US, are now attempting an ‘internationalising formula’ for the action movie that will maximise their international box office potential, the chapter makes a case study of a particular region, focusing on recent films of the French production company EuropaCorp. The contemporary French action ?lm has become a key site of controversy in national debates about cultural imperialism, cultural identity and indigenous ?lm style. Looking at Banlieue 13 and Danny the Dog the chapter analyses the stylistic and representational tensions that can result from putting the internationalising formula into practice.Less

Introduction

Ian Aitken and Camille Deprez

in The Colonial Documentary Film in South and South-East Asia

The Introduction sets out an overview of the book and summaries of the individual chapters in the book. In addition, the Introduction also provides a justification for the geographical scope and time ... More

The Introduction sets out an overview of the book and summaries of the individual chapters in the book. In addition, the Introduction also provides a justification for the geographical scope and time frame of the book, attempts to arrive at a definition of the colonial documentary film, and seeks to establish and analyse the encounter between colonialism and documentary cinema in South and South-East Asia. In addition, the Introduction also attempts to reassess current understandings of the colonial documentary film.Less

Introduction: Maurice Pialat, the outsider

Marja Warehime

in Maurice Pialat

This chapter presents a profile of the French film director Maurice Pialat. Pialat's work inspires comparison with legendary figures such as Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson, yet he does not have the ... More

This chapter presents a profile of the French film director Maurice Pialat. Pialat's work inspires comparison with legendary figures such as Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson, yet he does not have the international reputation one might expect, given his gifts as a director and his importance in French cinema history. Pialat's death in 2003 inevitably situated him as a filmmaker of the 1980s, the decade in which his work began to receive serious critical attention and attracted a broader public. Yet by 1983, when A nos amours won the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc and the César for best film, he had been making films for over twenty years. Perhaps one of the most telling moments in Maurice Pialat's ongoing relationship with film and the French film-going public was the scandal at Cannes over the attribution of the Palme d'or in 1987. If the name Pialat is not without significance to the French filmgoing public, it is partly because he acquired the reputation of a singularly difficult and demanding director, who provoked and psychologically abused his actors and collaborators.Less

Why Does Film Policy Matter?

Gillian Doyle

in The Rise and Fall of the Uk Film Council

This chapter positions the role and development of UK film policy within the domain of politics and political culture. It highlights the culture-commerce dichotomy that has run through UK film policy ... More

This chapter positions the role and development of UK film policy within the domain of politics and political culture. It highlights the culture-commerce dichotomy that has run through UK film policy for decades. It also highlights the growth of digital and creative economy policy thinking and the positioning of film policy within this discourse. The latter part of the chapter explores international models of film support, contrasting the UK approach with that of France.Less

‘Piloting with concentration’: Julien goes to Hollywood

Ben McCann

in Julien Duvivier

This chapter will analyse Duvivier’s career in Hollywood. He was first invited to Hollywood by MGM in 1938 to direct The Great Waltz, and then moved to America shortly after the German occupation of ... More

This chapter will analyse Duvivier’s career in Hollywood. He was first invited to Hollywood by MGM in 1938 to direct The Great Waltz, and then moved to America shortly after the German occupation of France in 1940. He directed four films there during this period, including Lydia (1941) and The Impostor (1944), a loose remake of La Bandera (1935). The chapter explores the various techniques and themes that Duvivier developed during this period, and looks at the critical reception of his films in both French and American trade journals. The chapter also poses the question of whether a distinctively French cinematic sensibility can be recalibrated within the confines of the Classic Hollywood Cinema (CHC) tradition. Duvivier adapted to a different set of professional and commercial imperatives that enabled him to transcend infrastructural barriers and impose a distinctly French style on the American film industry.Less

Neorealism: Another “Cinéma de Papa” for the French New Wave?

Caroline Eades

in Global Neorealism: The Transnational History of a Film Style

This chapter explores the relationship between the Italian neorealist and French New Wave movements, and suggests that their connection is “complex,” concocted out of similarities rather than direct ... More

This chapter explores the relationship between the Italian neorealist and French New Wave movements, and suggests that their connection is “complex,” concocted out of similarities rather than direct linkages. It asks the following question: Can we assume that the influence of neorealism on New Wave directors lies precisely in the realization that it was neither new nor realistic, at least for a younger and restless generation?Less

Femme fatale

Felicity Chaplin

in La Parisienne in Cinema: Between Art and Life

The association of woman with Paris and death was a popular trope in nineteenth-century French culture and finds expression in cinematic representations of the Parisienne as femme fatale. This ... More

The association of woman with Paris and death was a popular trope in nineteenth-century French culture and finds expression in cinematic representations of the Parisienne as femme fatale. This chapter considers la Parisienne as femme fatale in Jules Dassin’s Du rififi chez les hommes (1955), Marcel Carné’s Le jour se lève(1939) and Le quai des brumes(1938), and Jean-Luc Godard’s A bout de souffle (1960). These films can be considered examples of French film noir and their female protagonists read as femme fatales. However, the femme fatale of French film noir is different from the femme fatale of American film noir; she comes from a different cultural tradition and is informed by a different cultural figure. This chapter argues that the development of the femme fatale as a cinematicarchetype passed through a cultural tradition not usually associated with the noir genre: nineteenth-century French culture and the tradition of the filles d’Eve embodied in the type la Parisienne. The French version of this archetype grew out of the popular nineteenth-century trope of the association of woman with the city and death. Indeed, there is an aesthetic and narrative overdetermination of the femme fatale by the figure of la Parisienne, particularly through iconographical motifs associated with the type, like fashion, ambiguity, sexuality and dangerLess

The Great War and Dulac’s First Films

Tami Williams

in Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations

This chapter focuses on Dulac's wartime activism and literary writings, as well as the debut of her film career—from her first activities as a film producer for Pathé (La Lumière du coeur, 1916) to ... More

This chapter focuses on Dulac's wartime activism and literary writings, as well as the debut of her film career—from her first activities as a film producer for Pathé (La Lumière du coeur, 1916) to her first directorial efforts (Soeurs ennemies to Le Bonheur des autres, 1917–18)—and evaluates the historical significance of her incursion into and negotiated course within the French film industry as a female artist and entrepreneur. A close examination of archival sources documenting Dulac's early professional activities provides insight into her humanist egalitarianism, universalism, and her strong belief in the emancipatory potential of art, as well as her early rhetorical strategies.Less

A Parisian in Hollywood: Ocular Horror in the Films of Alexandre Aja

Tony Perrello

in American Horror Film: The Genre at the Turn of the Millennium

This chapter examines the transnational career of Alexandre Aja, one of the hot young horror directors who has migrated from his native country to the U.S film industry. It focuses on the ... More

This chapter examines the transnational career of Alexandre Aja, one of the hot young horror directors who has migrated from his native country to the U.S film industry. It focuses on the characteristic features of Aja’s style and his thematic preoccupations, which have survived the transition from France to the United States. What emerges from the analysis is a reconsideration of the classic auteur’s creative autonomy within the context of genre cinema’s ability to transcend national and cultural boundaries.Less

Hail the Conquering Auteur Preston Sturges in La Revue du cinéma (1946–1949)

Christian Viviani

in Refocus: the Films of Preston Sturges

This chapter discusses the appeal of Preston Sturges’s movies among post-WWII French film critics. Focusing on La Revue du cinema (founded in 1946), it tries to understand why, after being hailed in ... More

This chapter discusses the appeal of Preston Sturges’s movies among post-WWII French film critics. Focusing on La Revue du cinema (founded in 1946), it tries to understand why, after being hailed in France as one of the major filmmakers emerging in Hollywood in the 1940’s, Preston Sturges was nevertheless overlooked by the “auteur theory,” which was soon to bloom in Cahiers du cinema (founded in 1951). This chapter also deals with the appreciation of Preston Sturges’s works by André Bazin, a towering figure in post-war French film criticism, and in publications like Cahiers du cinema and Positif, including the recent rediscovery of his films.Less

: Leaving The Movie Theater

Andrew V. Uroskie

in Between the Black Box and the White Cube: Expanded Cinema and Postwar Art

For decades, the canonical histories of postwar avant-garde cinema have begun with the “mythopoetic” and “visionary” ideas of Deren and Brakhage, in utter neglect of the radical Lettrist cinema by ... More

For decades, the canonical histories of postwar avant-garde cinema have begun with the “mythopoetic” and “visionary” ideas of Deren and Brakhage, in utter neglect of the radical Lettrist cinema by which Brakhage was himself inspired. This chapter explores the brief flowering of Lettrist cinema in Paris of the early ‘50s as establishing the aesthetic and theoretrical foundation of the Expanded Cinema and intermedia practices of the 1960s and ‘70s. Isidore-Isou’s Treatise on Slobber and Eternity (1951) inaugurates the movement with its conception of a radically disjunctive aesthetics, prefiguring both the sound/image mismatch of Jean-Luc Godard and the critical film essays of Chris Marker. Maurice Lemaître’s Has the Film Begun? (1952) extends this disjunctive conception to cinema’s theatrical situation, presenting an idea of synthetic cinema-performance which frustates the distinction between the local and cinematic space.Less