The French Road Movie: Space, Mobility, Identity by Neil Archer

Abstract

Reviews 205 Film edited by Michèle Bissière Archer, Neil. The French Road Movie: Space, Mobility, Identity. New York: Berghahn, 2012. ISBN 978-0-85745-770-7. Pp. 192. $70. As of the writing of this review, no full-length book project has been devoted to the road movie genre in France, and in this respect, Archer’s study stands alone. In May 2013, we anticipate a collection of essays on the topic in Open Roads, Closed Borders: The Contemporary French-Language Road Movie (Ed. Gott and Schitt, UP of Chicago). Who has not seen a road movie with protagonists departing, arriving, roaming, wandering place to place? Mostly men in cars, but not always. Characters on the run, with a destination; others just out. Usually, the landscape is American, even for foreign films like Dumont’s 29 Palms. Drawing on the American genre, Archer maps out the road movie’s heritage and legacy and how it has been interpreted in cinema from the Hexagone, complementing recent publications on Australian, Czech, and Euro-American road movies as well as a growing interest in space and identity in Film Studies. He weaves genre definition, detail, and technique into studies both describing and analyzing popular and art house films,such as Les valseuses (1973),Baisemoi (1999), L’emploi du temps (2001) and Feux rouges (2004). The book is divided into six chapters, introduction and afterword, and includes a hefty filmography and bibliography for both the novice and specialist. Chapters gravitate primarily around one film, though include insightful investigations into commonalities and deviations from a variety of road movies. The strength of The French Road Movie is its inclusiveness and inquiry into the gender dynamics, especially of the female protagonist in a traditionally male-dominated role. In this instance, chapters 4 and 5,“Nowhere Men: Masculinity and the Road Movie”and“From Flânerie into Glânerie: The Possibilities of a‘Feminine Road Movie” are worth mention. Understanding the road movie landscape as a“nonplace /non-lieu,” as does Marc Augé, allows Archer to bring into play the road “less in the service of a conservative re-affirmation of masculinity, than a re-thinking of its shaky foundational status and its position vis-à-vis changing societal norms” (93). This “shaky foundation” becomes all the more clarified in the study of L’emploi du temps, which clearly articulates the extent to which places and non-places prescribe personal and societal behaviors, what Archer calls “modes of being” (113). Given the emphasis on this reciprocal relationship between spaces and protagonists, one would anticipate an inquiry into the role of the hitch-hiker in the films included, for example in Feux rouges and Sans toit ni loi; however, this figure is little explored.Any exploration into filmic choices in geographic location has been saved for future publication as well. The strength of Archer’s research is that one comes away with a comprehensive view of the relevance and presence of the road movie in contemporary French cinema, a legacy of both French and American studies into the gendered complexities of the access to, appropriation of, and escape from (non-)place(s). University of North Carolina, Wilmington Michelle Scatton-Tessier Barlet, Olivier. Les cinémas d’Afrique des années 2000. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2012. ISBN 978-2-296-55760-4. Pp. 441. 34,20 a. Dans l’esprit de la collection Images plurielles, Barlet examine la production cinématographique africaine des douze dernières années sans complaisance ni mépris. Il offre plutôt une critique constructive qui permet à la fois aux cinéastes en question ainsi qu’aux autres amateurs et professionnels des cinémas dominants de mieux se connaître et se comprendre, et surtout de tirer des leçons essentielles et nécessaires de ces échanges enrichissants. L’ouvrage présente une analyse en profondeur de la production africaine récente, organisée en six parties extrêmement détaillées et recherchées. Barlet établit tout d’abord le cadre critique dans lequel évoluent les cinéastes et les spectateurs aujourd’hui, pour mettre en lumière le désarroi qui émane d’une forme artistique ne reflétant plus les...