The second edition of this innovative textbook brings together leading scholars to provide detailed analyses of twenty-two key films within the canon of French cinema, from the 1920s to the 1990s. Films discussed include:
* masterpieces such as Renoir's La Bete Humaine and Carne's Les Enfants du Paradis
* popular classics such as Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot and Ma Nuit chez Maud
* landmarks of the New Wave such as Les 400 Coups and A bout de souffle
* important films of the 1990s such as Nikita and La...

Susan Hayward argues that writing on French cinema has tended to focus on either "great" film-makers or on non-specific movements, addressing moments of exception rather than the global picture. Her work offers a thorough and much-needed historical textualization of those moments and relocates them in their wider political and cultural context. Beginning with an "ecohistory" of the French film industry, she then traces the various movements in French cinema and the directors associated with them, including the avant-garde, poetic-realist, New Wave and today's postmodern cinema.
This new...

This revised and updated version of a successful and established text, French National Cinema offers a thorough and much-needed historical overview of French cinema at a time when it continues to grow in popularity with films such as Amelie and Belleville Rendez-vous.

Brought wholly up to date to include political and social developments in French cinema in the 1990s, its fresh approach and groundbreaking new writing on the subject offers a much further understanding of French cinema and its relationship with the French national identity.

New...

Widely taught on Film Studies courses and in French Cultural Studies programmesLuc Besson is a popular and respected filmmaker who has achieved international fameA welcome addition to the French Film Directors series.

This fascinating collection looks at the career and films of Luc Besson, one of the most acclaimed figures in international cinema. Contributions have been assembled from all over the world, and their different approaches reflect this geographical diversity. Films covered range from Besson's first feature, La Dernier Combat, to the international blockbusters The Fifth Element and Joan of Arc. The essays range from looking at costume design to musical scores, and the final chapter offers a transcript of a previously unpublished interview with the man himself. He is the only French director to...