Cinema of France Totally Explained

Everything about French Film totally explained

The art of film making within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad is collectively known as French cinema.
France, especially, has long been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland (Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Żuławski), Argentina (Gaspar Noe, Edgardo Cozarinsky), and the Soviet Union (Alexandre Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak, Gela Babluani) are equally prominent in the ranks of French cinema as the native Frenchmen.
France has had only three nationals, all women, win acting Academy Awards:

1959: Academy Award for Best Actress - Simone Signoret for Room at the Top
1997: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Juliette Binoche for The English Patient
2008: Academy Award for Best Actress - Marion Cotillard for La Môme *(First Academy Award in history for French language performance)

History

Late 19th century to early 20th century

In the late 19th century, during the early years of cinema, France produced several important pioneers. Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinématographe and their screening of L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat in Paris in 1895 is marked by many historians as the official birth of cinematography. During the next few years, filmmakers all over the world started experimenting with this new medium, and France's Georges Méliès was influential. He invented many of the techniques now common in the cinematic language, and made the first ever science fiction film A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902).
   Other early individuals and organizations of this period included Gaumont Pictures and Pathé Frères. Alice Guy Blaché was one of the first pioneers in cinema. She made her first film in 1896, La Fée aux Choux, and was head of production at Gaumont 1897-1906, where she made in total about 400 films. Her career continued in the United States. Several pioneers such as Maurice Tourneur or Léonce Perret continued their career in United States after World War I.
   During the period between World War I and World War II, Jacques Feyder became one of the founders of poetic realism in French cinema. He was also a dominating character within French Impressionist Cinema as well as Abel Gance, Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein, see Cinéma Pur.
   After World War I, the French film industry was weak, because of missing assets. As every European war leading country, France suffered of a strong financial lack, which was very hard for the film industry to find investors. So the French film production decreased as well as the production of the most other European countries too. This was the chance for the US film industry to enter the European cinema market with their own production, which could be sold cheaper than the European productions, because the studios had already recouped their investments in the home market. So, even more film studios in Europe, and also in France, crashed, which was the impulse for many European countries to install barriers to import. In view of the quota-rules of neighbor states such as Great Britain or Germany, France installed an import quota of 1:7, which means, that for every seven foreign films imported to France, one French film has to be produced and shown in French cinemas.
   1930's notable films included; René Clair's Under the Roofs of Paris (1930), Jacques Feyder's Carnival in Flanders (1935), Julien Duvivier's La belle equipe (1936). In 1931, Marcel Pagnol filmed the first of his great trilogy, Marius, Fanny, and César. He followed this with a number of films including the The Baker's Wife. Beginning in 1935, renowned playwright and actor Sacha Guitry directed his first film. He made more than 30 films that are seen as the precursor to the new wave era. In 1937 Jean Renoir, the son of famous painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, directed what many see as his first masterpiece, La Grande Illusion (The Grand Illusion). In 1939 Renoir directed La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game). Several movie critics have cited this film as one of the greatest of all-time. Marcel Carné's Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) was filmed during World War II and released in 1945. The three-hour film was extremely difficult to make due to the conditions during the Nazi occupation. Set in Paris in 1828, the film was voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.

Post-World War II: 1940s-1970s

In the critical magazine Cahiers du cinéma founded by André Bazin, critics and lovers of film would discuss film and why it worked. Modern film theory was born there. Additionally, Cahiers critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, etc. went on to make films themselves, creating what was to become known as the French New Wave. Some of the first movies of this new genre was Godard's Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and - the leading movie - Truffaut's The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cent Coups, 1959) starring Jean-Pierre Léaud. From 1959 till 1979 Truffaut followed Léaud's character Antoine Doinel, who falls in love with Christine Darbon (Claude Jade from Hitchcock's Topaz) in Stolen Kisses, marries her in Bed & Board and separates from her in the last Post-New-Wave-Movie Love on the Run. Produced during this period, French comedies with Louis de Funes are a best in French box office: La Grande Vadrouille (1966) (17 000 000 ) from Gérard Oury with Bourvil, La Folie des grandeurs with Yves Montand...

Personalities from this period

When Jean-Jacques Beineix made Diva (1981) it sparked the beginning of the 80s wave of French cinema. Movies which followed in its wake included Betty Blue (37°2 le matin, 1986) by Beineix, The Big Blue (Le Grand bleu, 1988) by Luc Besson and The Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, 1991) by Léos Carax.

1990s

In 1991, Jean-Pierre Jeunet made Delicatessen, followed by the 1995 The City of Lost Children (La Cité des enfants perdus). Both films featured a distinctly fantastic style.

In 1992, Claude Sautet wrote (with Jacques Fieschi) and directed Un Coeur en Hiver, considered by many to be a masterpiece.

Mathieu Kassovitz's film Hate (La Haine, 1995) made Vincent Cassel into a star.

In 1997, Juliette Binoche wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film The English Patient.

Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997) became a cult favorite.

2000s

In 2001 after a brief stint in Hollywood with the fourth Alien film, Jeunet returned to France with Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. Amélie became the highest-grossing French-language in the United States ever.

In 2002, Brotherhood of the Wolf became the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades; this $29 million-budgeted French film also went on grossing over $70 million in theaters worldwide.

In 2008, Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in La Vie en Rose, as legendary French singer Edith Piaf. It was the first Academy Award in history given for a French language performance. La Vie en Rose, which won a record two Academy Awards and four BAFTAs for the French cinema, also became the third-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades. She also became the first ever French actress to win a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She became the first female and second person to win both an Academy Award and César Award for the same performance.

Current situation

As the advent of television threatened the life of cinema itself, countries were faced with the problem of reviving cinema-going. The French cinema market, and more generally the French-speaking market, is smaller than the English-speaking market, one reason being that some major markets such as the United States are fairly reluctant to import foreign movies. As a consequence, French movies have to be amortized on a relatively small market and thus generally have budgets far lower than their American counterparts, ruling out expensive settings and special effects. The French government has therefore implemented various measures aimed at supporting local film production and movie theaters, including:

the Canal+ TV channel has a broadcast license imposing that it should support the production of movies;

some taxes are levied on movies and TV channels for use as subsidies for movie production;

some tax breaks are given for investment in movie productions;

the sale of DVDs and videocassettes of movies shown in theaters is prohibited for six months after the showing in theaters, so as to ensure some revenue for movie theaters.

French films

Notable contemporary French cinema personalities

Actors

Academy Award Nominee Isabelle Adjani

Renée Adorée

Academy Award Nominee Anouk Aimée

Mireille Balin

Jules Berry

Academy Award Winner Juliette Binoche

Pierre Blanchar

Francis Blanche

Bernard Blier

Sandrine Bonnaire

Bourvil

Charles Boyer

Claude Brasseur

Pierre Brasseur

Pierre Brice

Raymond Bussières

Guillaume Canet

Capucine

Julien Carette

Martine Carol

Leslie Caron

Pauline Carton

Jean-Pierre Cassel

Vincent Cassel

Fernand Charpin

Maurice Chevalier

Aimé Clarion

Christian Clavier

Aurore Clément
Academy Award Winner Marion Cotillard

Nicole Courcel

Marcel Dalio

Lili Damita

Mireille Darc

Danielle Darrieux

René Dary

Claude Dauphin

Marie Déa

Suzy Delair

Alain Delon

Nathalie Delon

Danièle Delorme

Julie Delpy

Jacqueline Delubac

Mylène Demongeot
Academy Award Nominee Catherine Deneuve
Academy Award Nominee Gérard Depardieu

Sophie Desmarets

Jean Dessailly

Patrick Dewaere

Françoise Dorléac

Paulette Dubost

Romain Duris

Jacques Dutronc

Pierre Dux

Françoise Fabian

Saturnin Fabre

Fernandel

Edwige Feuillère

Florelle

Brigitte Fossey

Cécile de France

Victor Francen

Paul Franqueur

Pierre Fresnay

Catherine Frot

Louis de Funès

Jeanne Fusier-Gir

Jean Gabin

Gabriello

Gabriel Gabrio

Jacques Gamblin

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Daniel Gélin

Annie Girardot

Fernand Gravey

Juliette Gréco

Eva Green

Georges Guibourg

Lucien Germain Guitry

Sacha Guitry

Jane Hading

Johnny Hallyday

Jany Holt

Robert Hossein

Isabelle Huppert

Eva Ionesco

Irène Jacob

Claude Jade

Marlène Jobert

Louis Jourdan

Louis Jouvet

François Jules Edmond Got

Valérie Kaprisky

Anna Karina

Mathieu Kassovitz

Véra Korène

Sylvia Kristel

Dominique Laffin

Robert Lamoureux

Gérard Lanvin

Pierre Larquey

Samuel Le Bihan

Ginette Leclerc

Fernand Ledoux

André Lefaur

Jean Lefebvre

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Virginie Ledoyen

Max Linder

Benoît Magimel

Jean Marais

Marcel Marceau

Sophie Marceau

Georges Marchal

Maria Mauban

Mathilda May

Michèle Mercier

Paul Meurisse

Miou-Miou

Mistinguett

Yves Montand

Jeanne Moreau

Michèle Morgan

Magali Noël

Noël-Noël

Philippe Noiret

France Nuyen

Pascale Ogier

Madeleine Ozeray

Jacqueline Pagnol

Jean-Claude Pascal

Vincent Pérez

François Périer

Gérard Philipe

Michel Piccoli

Roger Pierre

Dominique Pinon

Marie-France Pisier

Elvire Popesco

Albert Préjean

Micheline Presle

Suzy Prim

Yvonne Printemps

Wojciech Pszoniak

Jules Raimu

Benoît Régent

Serge Reggiani

Gabrielle Réjane

Simone Renant

Madeleine Renaud

Jean Reno

Pierre Renoir

Jean Richard

Pierre Richard

Pierre Richard-Willm

Dany Robin

Madeleine Robinson

Jean Rochefort

Noël Roquevert

Viviane Romance

Maurice Ronet

Renée Saint-Cyr

Maria Schneider

Romy Schneider

Jean Seberg

Emmanuelle Seigner

Michel Serrault

Jean Servais

Delphine Seyrig
Academy Award Winner Simone Signoret

Michel Simon

Simone Simon

Madeleine Sologne

Audrey Tautou

Valentine Tessier

Jean Tissier

Roland Toutain

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Marie Trintignant

Gaspard Ulliel

Simone Valère

Charles Vanel

Michael Vartan

Lino Ventura

Henri Vidal

Frank Villard

Jacques Villeret

Marina Vlady

Anne Wiazemsky

Georges Wilson

Lambert Wilson

Jean Yanne
Directors

Marcel Achard

Marc Allégret

Yves Allégret

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Alexandre Alexeieff

Jacques Audiard

Michel Audiard

Claude Autant-Lara

Jacques Becker

Raymond Bernard

André Berthomieu

Luc Besson

Pierre Billon

Josh Donaldson

Yves Boisset

Bernard Borderie

Jean Boyer

Robert Bresson

Alberto Calcavanti

Maurice Cammage

Maurice de Canonge

Claude Chabrol

Pierre Chenal

René Clair

Maurice Cloche

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Jean Cocteau

Pierre Colombier

Alain Corneau

Louis Daquin

Henri Decoin

Jean Delannoy

Jacques Deray

Julien Duvivier

Jacques Feyder

Georges Franju

Abel Gance

Jean Giono

José Giovanni

Jean Girault

Jean-Luc Godard

Michel Gondry

Gilles Grangier

Jean Grémillon

Sacha Guitry

René Le Hénaff

Robert Hossein

André Hunebelle

Christian-Jaque

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Léo Joannon

Alex Joffé

Mathieu Kassovitz

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Jean-Paul Le Chanois

Philippe Labro

Maurice Labro

Georges Lacombe

Georges Lampin

Georges Lautner

Patrice Leconte

Marcel Lherbier

Anatole Litvak

Louis Malle

André Malraux

Jean-Pierre Melville

Edouard Molinaro

Marcel Pagnol

Denys De La Patellière

Roman Polanski

Maurice Pialat

Jean Renoir

Claude Sautet

Coline Serreau

Jacques Tati

Maurice Tourneur

Francois Truffaut

Albert Valentin

Agnès Varda

Francis Veber

Henri Verneuil Further Information
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Everything about French Film totally explained

History

Late 19th century to early 20th century

Post-World War II: 1940s-1970s

Personalities from this period

Actors

Directors

1980s

1990s

2000s

Current situation

French films

Notable contemporary French cinema personalities

Actors

Directors