French Cinema

1
French Cinema

• Past and present

2
(No Transcript)
3
Outline

• Introduction
• Part I. The birth of cinema
• Part II. The classics
• Part III. The 7th art in the 21th century
• Conclusion
• References

4
(No Transcript)
5
Introduction

• Until World War I, European filmmakers dominated
  the world film market. France was considered the
  leading film-producing country
• U.S. companies soon took over markets overseas,
  using the same tactics of high-volume production
  and lower prices that the Europeans had. By the
  1920s some three-quarters of films screened
  around the world came from the United States
• France, though no longer dominant, remained a
  center for theorizing about cinema and producing
  innovative and experimental works
• New artistic movements like surrealism, poetic
  realism and nouvelle vague (new wave), brought
  new concepts to filmmaking and revitalized the
  role of France as a leader in world cinema culture

6
(No Transcript)
7
Part I. The birth of cinema

• In terms of commercial filmmaking, Frances film
  industry, the worlds strongest before World War
  I, occupied a struggling role after the war
• No other country had a so firm commitment to the
  medium as an art form or so rich a culture of
  journals and clubs devoted to criticizing and
  viewing innovative film work
• By 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière developed a
  lightweight, hand-held camera that used a claw
  mechanism to advance the film roll. They named it
  the Cinématographe
• Their first screening for the general public was
  held in Paris in December 1895 Lumière,
  innovative filmmakers as well as inventors and
  manufacturers

8
Part II. The classics

• Georges Melies (1861-1938), professional
  magician, first saw the new "moving pictures" in
  1895 Melies made over 500 films, but his most
  famous -- Voyage dans la lune, Le (1902) (Voyage
  to the Moon) father of special effects in the
  movies

9
a. The directors

• Cocteau, Jean (1889-1963), French poet, novelist,
  dramatist, designer, and filmmaker. La belle et
  la bête (Beauty and the Beast, 1946), Orphée
  (1950), and Les enfants terribles (1950)
• Malle, Louis (1932-1995), French director of
  influential and often controversial motion
  pictures Zazie dans le Métro (Zazie, 1960) Le
  Souffle au Coeur (A Murmur of the Heart, 1971)
  Au Revoir, les Enfants (Goodbye, Children)
• Truffaut, François (1932-1984), French
  motion-picture director and critic, a leader of
  the nouvelle vague (new wave) 400 Blows (1959),
  The Last Metro (1980)
• Renoir, Jean (1894-1979), French actor and
  motion-picture director, one of the master
  filmmakers of world cinema, son of impressionist
  painter Pierre Auguste Renoir Nana (1926),
  Madame Bovary (1934), Grand Illusion (1937)

10
b. The movies

• Among the most celebrated movies, Un chien
  Andalou (1929), Lage dor (The Golden Age,
  1930), Latalante (1934)
• Le jour se lève (Daybreak, 1939), La grande
  illusion (Grand Illusion, 1937) and La règle du
  jeu (Rules of the Game, 1939)
• After the war, La belle et la bête, Les quatre
  cents coups (The 400 Blows, 1959), À bout de
  souffle (1959 Breathless, 1961)
• The most popular French movies in France
• French directors
• French actors

11
Part III. The 7th art in the 21th century

• In Paris, in 1895, Louis Lumière screens his
  first film La sortie des Usines the birth of
  cinema. The first films are silent, in black and
  white, short and filmed hurriedly
• The French hegemony is complete as 70 of the
  films exported in the world come from the
  production companies Pathé, Gaumont and Éclair.
  The spoken cinema comes to France in 1929
• After World War II, the French public turns to
  Hollywood
• The New Wave (la Nouvelle Vague) takes a break.
  This movement of young French directors enforces
  a new style in film-making small budget,
  shooting on location and a team of more natural
  actors
• Nowadays, The French production is among the most
  dynamic productions of Europe with about a
  hundred films being produced every year (4000
  cinema halls in France )

12
(No Transcript)
13
a. French studios

• From the time it was set up in 1895, Gaumont, the
  oldest of the motion picture companies, began
  filming current events
• Pathé, leading independent film producer in
  Europe,
• Universal Pictures, part of Vivendi Universal.
• Studio Canal, part of Vivendi Universal.
  Production of feature films co-produces or
  acquires such European or American feature films
  as "Irreversible", "All or Nothing", "The
  Adversary", "The Pianist", "The Others", "Gosford
  Park", In the Bedroom"...
• UGC, production, distribution, 850 screens.

14
b. French directors

• Jean-Jacques Annaud (1943-) internationally
  acclaimed filmmaker Quest for Fire (1981), The
  Name of the Rose (1986), The Bear (1989), The
  Lover (1992), Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
• Luc Besson (1959-), Joan of arc (1999), Leon
  (1994), Atlantis (1991), Le grand Bleu (1988),
  the Fifth Element (1997)
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1953-), Amelie Poulin (2001),
  Alien (1997), La Cite des enfants perdus (1997),
  Delicatessen (1991)
• Roman Polanski (1933-), Le Pianist (2002), Tess
  (1979), Chinatown (1974), Rosemarys Baby (1968),
  Frantic (1988)

15
(No Transcript)
16
c. French actors

• Depardieu, Gérard (1948- ), French actor, Le
  dernier métro (The Last Metro, 1980), directed by
  François Truffaut Cyrano de Bergerac (1990),
  Germinal (1993)
• Deneuve, Catherine (1943- ), whose mysterious
  film persona and distinctive beauty have made her
  an icon of European cinema Le dernier métro
  (1980), Indochine (1992)
• Reno, Jean (1948- ), Ronin (1998), Leon (1994),
  Les Visiteurs (1993), Nikita (1990), Le grand
  Bleu (1988)
• Isabelle Adjani (1955-), La Reine Margot (1994),
  Camille Claudel (1988), Subway (1985), Adele H
  (1975)

17
Conclusion

• Contemporary French cinema is rich and varied. It
  can be strong and violent or gentle and subtle
• Every year, in May, during two weeks, the
  International Film Festival takes place in
  Cannes, a city in the south of France, chosen for
  its sunshine and beautiful scenery
• This event is considered the most prestigious in
  the world, not only proposes film screenings, but
  also numerous cultural and artistic activities
• Info about 10 French movies on Internet La
  Beaute du Diable, Le grand Bleu, Sept ans au
  Tibet, Ridicule, Le Nom de la Rose, Indochine,
  Cyrano de Bergerac, Le Cinquieme Element, Amelie
  Poulin, Le Pacte des Loups)

18
(No Transcript)
19
References

• http//encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefEdList.a
  spx?refid210009564
• http//encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefEdList.a
  spx?refid210049074
• http//www.gaumont.fr/cinematheque_2002/english/in
  dex.asp
• http//dmoz.org/Arts/Movies/
• http//www.magicparis.com/champselysees/En/FrameCi
  nema.htm