As the French Film Festival UK enters its fourth decade, it continues to embrace the diversity and richness of francophone cinema, aiming to broaden cultural perspectives. In honor of the festival, our curated French Film reading list showcases books that assess pivotal characters and films, exploring their significant contributions to shaping the landscape of French cinema as we know it today.
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Considers Guédiguian's career, both as a filmmaker and producer, as a valid response to a crisis in post-Communist Leftist political movements in France
Queer cinema in contemporary France
Comprehensive in scope, Queer cinema in contemporary France traces the development of the meaning of queer across five French directors' careers, from their earliest, often unknown films to their later, major films with international release.
This book examines the career of Germaine Dulac, a pioneering French filmmaker and feminist whose perspective, innovations and ardent promotion of cinema are documented in her theoretical writings.
Reframing remembrance is an investigation into French cinema's representation of the Second World War. Focusing on films released between 1995 and 2015, it argues that Jacques Chirac's 1995 VĂ©l' d'Hiv speech heralded a generational shift in WWII commemoration in French cinematic storytelling.
Jacques Audiard is the first book on one of the most important French directors working today. Focusing on the representation of the physical body, French society and broader transnational contexts, it reveals how Audiard's cinema occupies a space both within and beyond the imaginary of French cinema.
Screenwriters in French cinema
This volume explores the overlooked category of screenwriters in French cinema, from the coming of sound to the digital age. Using key figures as case studies, it considers how the role has evolved industrially and critically, and sheds light on screenwriting practices in the context of debates on word and image, national cinema and authorship.
Described by Deleuze as 'one of the greatest modern auteurs', Philippe Garrel is perhaps the most significant filmmaker to emerge in France after the New Wave. This study offers an overview of his work, exploring its intersections with avant-gardes including the Situationists, Surrealism, Arte Povera and the American Underground.
Duvivier was a giant of classic French cinema with a career spanning key moments of French film history. This analysis goes beyond its historical range to engage with key debates in film studies: notably auteurism, stardom and questions of the national.
The first substantial study of multilingual film in France. Unpacking the power dynamics at play in the dialogue of eight emblematic films, this book argues that many contemporary French films take a new approach to language and power.
This collection presents new essays in the complex field of French literary adaptation. Using a variety of textual and interpretive approaches, it sheds light on issues of gender, sexuality, class, politics and social conventions while acknowledging a range of contexts, from the commercial to the archival and the aesthetic.
The first book-length work on the Parisienne, this study combines scholarship in the fields of art history, literature and fashion to enrich our understanding of this intriguing cinematic figure, simultaneously offering new perspectives on film.
The first book-length study of Cantet's work in English. It explores his unique working 'method,' and discusses his very particular way of constructing films at the uneasy interface of the individual, the group and the broader social context.
Despite his controversial reputation and international notoriety as a film-maker, no full-length study of Clouzot has ever been published in English. This book offers a significant revaluation of Clouzot's achievement, situating his life and work in the wider context of French cinema and society, and providing detailed analysis of his major films.
The first full-length monograph in English about one of France's most important contemporary filmmakers, locating André Téchiné within historical and cultural contexts that include the Algerian war, contemporary globialisation, and the influence of Roland Barthes, Bertolt Brecht, Ingmar Bergman, William Faulkner and the cinematic French wave.
One of the most gifted French directors of the post New Wave, Maurice Pialat is frequently compared to such legendary filmmakers as Jean Renoir and Rebert Bresson. This is the first book-length study of his work in English.