Directory of World Cinema: France

Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael

Description

Artistic, intellectual and appreciably avant-garde, the French film industry has, perhaps more than any other national cinema, been perennially at the centre of international filmmaking. With its vigorous business and wide-ranging film culture, France has also been home historically to some of the most influential filmmakers and movements – and, indeed, the very first motion picture was screened in Paris in 1895.

This volume addresses the great directors and key artistic movements, but also ventures beyond these well-established films and figures, broadening the canon through an examination of many neglected but intriguing French films. Framing essays explore the salient stylistic elements, cultural contexts and the various conceptions of cinema in France, from avant-gardes to filmmaking by women, from documentary and realism to the Tradition of Quality, as well as genres like comedy, crime and horror. Illustrated by screen shots, film reviews by leading international experts offer original approaches to both overlooked titles and acknowledged classics. Readers wishing to explore particular topics in greater depth will be grateful for the book’s reading recommendations and comprehensive filmography.

A visually engaging journey through one of the most dynamic, variegated, and idiosyncratic film industries, Directory of World Cinema: France will be a must-have for Francophiles and cinema savants.

Sujets

• Película fotográfica
• Reference
• Electronic
• Digital
• Film
• Culture cinématographique

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781841507019
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

EDITED BY TIM PALMER & CHARLIE MICHAEL

Copyright Intellect 2013

DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA FRANCE

Volume 15

DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA FRANCE

Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael

Copyright Intellect 2013

intellectBristol, UK / Chicago, USA

First Published in the UK in 2013 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2013 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Publisher: May Yao Copyright Intellect 2013 Publishing Manager: Melanie Marshall

Cover photo: Brigette Bardot inL’Ours et la poupée(1969), L’parc/Marian/The Kobal Collection

Cover Design: Holly Rose Copy Editor: Emma Rhys Typesetting: Holly Rose

Directory of World Cinema ISSN 20407971 Directory of World Cinema eISSN 2040798X

Directory of World Cinema: France ISBN 9781841505633 Directory of World Cinema: France eISBN 9781841507019

Printed and bound by Cambrian Printers, Aberystwyth, Wales.

CONTENTS

DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA FRANCE

Acknowledgements 5 Cinema(s) of Quality 140 Essay Introduction 7 Reviews Film of the Year 8 The New Wave and After 172 Tomboy Essay Directors 12 Reviews Un style dépouillé: Policier 206 Robert Bresson Essay Julien Duvivier 17 Reviews Star Study 21 Comedy 242 Albert Dupontel Essay Industrial Spotlight 25 Reviews An interview with François Truffart, Horror 276 Director of the City of Lights, City Copyright In Rev t iew e s llect 2013 Essay of Angels French Film Festival. Documentary and Realism 30 Recommended Reading 310 Essay Reviews314French Cinema Online Women Filmmakers Test Your Knowledge 316 in France 64 Notes on Contributors 318 Essay Reviews Filmography 324 Avantgarde 100 Essay Reviews CONTENTS

Directory of World Cinema

4 France

To Liza and Riley − T. P.

To Subha and Jeevan − C. M.

Copyright Intellect 2013

Directory of World Cinema

We would like to thank very much our contributors for their work, and especially our framing essayists for sharing their research so generously. Thanks to everyone at Intellect for their support of this project, in particular Melanie and May. Thank you to Emma Rhys. Much appreciation also to: François Truffart, Guylaine Vivarat, and everyone at the ‘City of Lights, City of Angels’ festival. Thanks most of all to Liza and Riley, Subha and Jeevan. This book is for you.

Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael

Copyright Intellect 2013

Acknowledgements 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Directory of World Cinema

6 France

Copyright Intellect 2013

INTRODUCTION

Directory of World Cinema

Directories are supposed to be life’s dependable reference tools, with authoritative information at the ready. However, when it comes to discussing cinema − an art form, an entertainment industry, a political tool, a motor of commerce, a canon of cultural artefacts − things get more complicated. As the editors of this first print edition of the DirectoryofWorld Cinema: France, we found ourselves invigorated by the challenge of compiling a guide to one of the most diverse and inspiring filmmaking centres in the world. But we should start with a brief word about our goals and methods. As two professors and researchers of French film, we repeatedly come up against the tradition of traditions: those master narratives of how France’s cinema typically gets carved up and written up, whether in classroom textbooks, DVD catalogues, history books or coffee table anthologies. French filmmaking is then presented as a chronol ogy of iconic directorauteurs and the movements they inspired, from early film pioneers (Lumière, Méliès), to classical poetrealists (Renoir, Carné), to the ‘Tradition of Quality’ commercialists (Clément, AutantLara), to New Wave mavericks (Godard, Truffaut, Chab rol), tocinéma du lookupstarts (Beineix, Besson, Carax), and so forth. Our approach was both to listen carefully to this standard account, while also shedding light on its blind spots. We chose eight rubrics to explore what we take as vital ongo ing conversations or longstanding issues in French cinema − on Women Filmmakers in France; Documentary and Realism; Avantgardes and CounterCinemas; The New Wave and After; Cinema(s) of Quality; Horror; Policier; and Comedy. Each of these eight sec tions begins with a framing essay that maps the historical terrain in question, populated next with shorter analyses of representative films. Some of these paths are well travelled, others neglected or abandoned, but all span multiple periods in French film history, along with a range of vivid cultural and historical backdrops. Space is given here to new perspectives on wellknown areas, but also to case studies unfairly or unthinkingly passed over. Our segment on the New Wave, for instance, addresses its many lives and afterlives, but we also dedicate an entire section to its alleged nemesis − the embattled Copyright Intellect 2013 ‘Tradition of Quality’ famously reviled by François Truffaut, which in reality was never a single tradition anyway. Likewise, three of the sections (Comedy, Horror and Policier) address popular genres that, for different reasons, have been marginalized almost entirely except when they coincide with a socalled great film or director. In sum, perhaps the best way to learn why stubborn traditions exist is to try to think of other ways to conceptualize them. Although the essays collected here do cover a wide array of canonized classics and newcomers without reputations, as we intended, our efforts to change the roll call did leave some names out altogether. The print book is here assisted by our online repository; both will be augmented by further volumes and further materials to come. Our ultimate aim is to create an emerging new model of French cinema history, underlining its strength in depth, attending equally to its welllit boulevards and its unknown blind alleys. As such, this first volume is both a standalone text and a statement of intent for things to come. We hope you enjoy this directory and, above all, find it useful in getting to know better the endlessly rewarding cinema of France.

Tim Palmer and Charlie Michael Introduction 7 INTRODUCTION

Directory of World Cinema

Tomboy

8France

FILM OF THE YEAR TOMBOY Copyright Intellect 2013

Directory of World Cinema

Synopsis Tomboy A strikingly androgynous preadolescent drives with her family to their Studio/Distributor: new home. This is Laure, whose shortcropped hair and boyish man nerisms are warmly accepted by her mother, heavily pregnant with a Hold Up Films male baby, her caring but busy father, and her mischievous younger Director: sister Jeanne. Settling in, Laure introduces herself to the neighbour Céline Sciamma hood kids as a boy, Michaël, and is invited into their games: football, chase, swimming, hiking. The thoughtful yet vigorous Michaël soon Producer: catches the eye of Lisa: they hold hands, and later kiss. When Lisa Bénédicte Couvreur visits to ask for Michaël, Jeanne discovers her sister’s deception, but Screenwriter: keeps Laure’s secret in exchange for being allowed to join the group. Céline Sciamma However, Michaël then has to defend Jeanne against an aggressive older boy; s/he wins the fight but her subterfuge is exposed after the Cinematographer: boy’s mother complains to Laure’s parents. Laure, wearing a dress, Crystel Fournier is forced to apologize to her new friends, who react with confusion. Composer: Finally, after Lisa visits her again, Laure reintroduces herself as a girl, JeanBaptiste de Laubier (as and smiles. Para One) Critique Editor: Julien Lacheray Tomboy, Céline Sciamma’s second film, opens in rhapsody. Stretching from a moving car’s sunroof we see the back of a child’s head − a Duration: character whose name and gender are not disclosed until nearly ten 82 minutes minutes into the film − and then pointofview tracking shots exposed Genre: directly into the sun. Dazzling beams of light slice through rippling Drama overhead tree fronds; the frame is intermittently cast into shadow and bleached into whiteout. The child’s hand now moves into the frame, Cast: and in shallow focus its windblown fingers arc over blurred swathes of Zoé Héran foliage and sunshine, as if conducting a tiny organic orchestra. Birds Malonn Lévana sing, and Sciamma cuts finally to the child’s face, eyes initially closed Jeanne Disson in concentration, brow furrowed, a youngster surrendering to natural Sophie Cattala rapture. Mathieu Demy Sciamma’s beautiful preface sets upTomboy’s conceptual agenda: Year: childhood as an urge towards sensorial discovery. Echoing avant Co in p and y ar r ou i nd g nat h ure, t im I mer n sive t p e erc l ep l tu e al ep c iso t des i 2 n op 0 posi 1 tion 3 2011 garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage, Sciamma creates lyrical encounters to the banal adult world of names, objects, roles, and socialized identities. As context to her main character (Zoé Héran) diverging into two genders − the twin personae of Laure (inside, domesticated, among adults) and Michaël (outside, independent, among children) − Sciamma represents preadolescence as an amorphous, experientially heightened state, which ironically makes Laure/Michaël’s doubled emergence all the more empowering and authentic, even logical. As such,Tomboyavoids polemics about the motivations of its polygen dered protagonist, and instead simply revels in her/his momentby moment emancipations, the imaginative continuum of a childhood community. But as the parents constantly remind their daughters about summer ending and school beginning, we rarely forget that these liberties are finite, that they must end.

FIlm of the Year 9