French Comedy Today

Abstract

Entering its last period, French comedy, as a cinematic genre, proves again that it can maintain a high level of originality in its productions with a firm belief in the idiosyncratic nature of its scenarios. Following the 1993 rebirth of the French cinema industry, the deregulation of media laws, and the subsequent greater presence of television, a growing symptomatic discourse of cynicism pervaded the comedy genre. The influence of stand-up comedy, television talk shows, the Internet, and their respective influence on the so-called communitarian humor brought about more changes than in the last several decades altogether. Today the new French cinematic humor is able to synthesize years of comedic experience into an innovative momentum, which combined with its social impact as it circulates via mass audiences, triggers an immediate response leaving no one indifferent among mainstream spectators. From now on, French comic actors will invest in a new mission, one to forge an unambiguous individuality based essentially on a new approach to modern France and the art of deciphering the new sociocultural precepts of a multiethnic society. Spectators are able to relate to and capture various stylized signs through individual or collective existence. Humor, therefore, is prompted by the spectators’ own recognition in the comedians’ roles. To paraphrase an expression by film critic Serge Toubiana, French comedies try to “fossilize the quotidian experience into the stereotypical.”