French National Cinema (National Cinemas) Book

In French National Cinema Susan Hayward examines her subject through its primary artifact, the feature film, and discusses both popular cinema and the `avant-garde', and how each influences the other. Where most writing on French cinema has concentrated on a particular auteur or `great' filmmaker, or on specific movements among filmmakers, Hayward offers a thorough contextualization of these directors and periods within their wider cultural and political frameworks. The volume begins with a history of the cinema, charting its beginnings in the 1890s and the rise to power of the three major studios: Pathé, Gaumont and Eclair. She traces key movements in French cinema and the directors associated with them, including the avant-garde--Germaine Dulac, Marie and Jean Epstein; Poetic-Realist--Jean Renoir and Marcel Carne; New Wave--Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut; and today's postmodern cinema of Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson and Colinne Serreau. French National Cinema fills in the gaps often left by other histories, and furthers a fuller understanding of France's cinematic legacy.Read More