French Cinema: A Very Short Introduction

The French invented cinema and dominated its production and distribution until World War 1. They pioneered the auteur, ciné-club, and critical analysis, and have more film journals, fan magazines, TV shows, and festivals dedicated to film than anywhere else. This Very Short Introduction explores French cinema through the lens of the New Wave decade (1958-1968), highlighting its notable works and discussing the themes, tendencies, and lineages that define it.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 26 October 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The French cinema industry, which dominated production and distribution until World War I, encompassed all genres, from popular entertainment to avant-garde practice. The French invented the auteur and the ciné-club, incubated criticism from the 1920s to our own day, and boast more film journals, fan magazines, TV shows, and festivals devoted to film than anywhere else. This Very Short Introduction opens up French cinema through focusing on some of its most notable works, using the lens of the New Wave decade (1958-1968) that changed cinema worldwide. Exploring the entire French cinematic oeuvre, Dudley Andrew teases out distinguishing themes, tendencies, and lineages to bring what is most crucial about French Cinema into alignment. He discusses how style has shaped the look of female stars and film form alike, analyzing the made-up aesthetic of many films and the paradoxical penchant for French cinema to cruelly unmask surface beauty in quests for authenticity. Discussing how French cinema as a whole pits strong-willed characters against auteurs with high-minded ideas of film art, funded by French cinema's close rapport to literature, painting, and music, Dudley considers how the New Wave emerged from these struggles, becoming an emblem of ambition for cinema that persists today. He goes on to show how the values promulgated by the New Wave directors brought the three decades that preceded it into focus, and explores the deep resonance of those values today, fifty years later.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect introduction to a new subject for students and general readers.

Weight: 160g
Dimension: 110 x 174 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198718611