French Cinema Research Articles

“Take my Moneybox”: The Symbolic Powers of the First Child Movie Stars in Early French Cinema (1906‐1916)

AbstractThis paper analyzes why child film star series produced by major French production companies (Pathé, Gaumont, Eclectic, and Éclair) in the early 1900s (Bébé, Bout‐de‐Zan, Willy, and the Maria Fromet series) were received with such interest by global audiences. This period, prior to World War I, was a brief era when French cinema held significant hegemony worldwide, before Hollywood's dominance began. There are ideas suggesting that child film stars emerged with American cinema. Contrary to this, however, French producers competed fiercely in the 10 years following 1906, producing series featuring child film stars. Substantial budgets were allocated for the marketing of these series, ultimately gaining a considerable fan base not only in Europe but also in America. When examining these film stars from the early 20th century within their historical context, they emerge as the first international child stars with international fame and financial success, unlike child musicians, vaudeville artists, and theater actors from the 18th and 19th centuries. Inspired by the field analysis of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this article aims to establish a connection between the struggles within the field and the symbolic needs of the audience as reflected in the content of child star films. The films were viewed at the Eye Film Museum archive.

The bad migrant. The crisis of democratic education and the decolonization of the curriculum in French and German school dramas

The high school drama is a popular genre in France and Germany that often portrays the integration of young migrants into society. This essay compares the French film La journée de la jupe (Skirt Day, 2009) and its German adaptation for the stage, Verrücktes Blut (Crazy Blood, 2010), in which the civic education intended to turn young migrants into model citizens and form their democratic subjectivity fails. The analysis of La journée de la jupe focuses on the republican ideal of citizenship presented in the film. As this essay will show, there is a contradiction between the racist stereotypes reproduced in the film and its plea for a new liberal republicanism that reflects the diversity of society. Verrücktes Blut is more of a critical reworking of the film rather than an adaptation. The comedy reveals the neocolonial nature of current debates on migration, in which migrants become the object of othering, thus ascribing to them the position that previously belonged to the colonized. In the film and the play, genre comes into play in opposite ways. In La journée de la jupe, the genre of the republican tragedy, on which the film is based, serves to stage the young people, who are read as migrants, as the Other of French culture. In turn, Verrücktes Blut uses the genre of the school drama to create an emphatic attitude towards the young people in the audience. Verrücktes Blut underlines the importance of decolonizing the curriculum. This analysis of the film and the play shows that a democratic education to become a republican citoyenne and citoyen or liberal citizen remains incomplete without the self-decolonization of Western society and culture.

Porous privacies: Gender, migration, and precarious homes in early twenty-first century narrative films from the French Mediterranean

A prominent trope in so-called banlieue cinema—French cinema focused on housing projects on the outskirts of large French cities largely inhabited by migrants and their descendants—represents precarious migrant homes, and by extension entire neighborhoods, as dysfunctional and cut off from social life. This essay explores representations of precarious migrant homes that resist such polarising media images, and that insist on a porous privacy as a precondition for narrative and subjective development—for the ability to thrive—while pointing out the often gendered and precarious nature of such porosity. The natural and built specificities of the Mediterranean coast have often provided a productively rich set for such revisions, including for auteurs such as Claire Denis and Abdellatif Kechiche to develop their distinctive styles. Lesser-known filmmakers, such as Bania Medjbar and Hafsia Herzi, emerge in the wake of earlier revisionist films. Less focused on developing distinctive styles, they are invested in character-driven stories, and on stories that feature a range of characters and thus narrative options, while pointing out the gendered complexities of precariously porous homes.

Структурно-прагматические особенности постера кинофильма (на материале французского кинодискурса)

The aim of the study is to analyze the structural, functional and semiotic components of the film poster, which influence the potential viewer and contribute to the successful adoption of the film in the French-speaking socio-cultural space. The article analyzes the film poster as a functional and pragmatic element of the film text directly affecting the recipient (a representative of the film target audience) and their choice of a specific film production for viewing. The semiotic and structural components of the poster, as well as its main tasks, functions and characteristics are highlighted and considered. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time, the key characteristics of the film poster and its pragmatic potential have been identified and analyzed using the material of the French cinema discourse. As a result of the study, it was found that the interaction between the graphic and iconic components of the semiotic space of the film poster has a complex effect on a potential viewer (a representative of the film target audience) and helps to attract as many viewers as possible to watching the film. At the same time, the film poster is an independent functional and pragmatic element of the film text functioning at the preview stage and participating in the advertising of the film, as well as having its own characteristics, performing certain functions and implementing certain tasks.

ЗАКАТ ЭСТЕТИКИ БУДУАРА. СОВЕТСКИЙ СУБЪЕКТ В ЛАБИРИНТЕ ДЕКОРАТИВНОЙ ИСТОРИИ И КУЛЬТУРНАЯ РЕВОЛЮЦИЯ 1990-Х ГОДОВ В РОССИИ

Thearticle examines the Russian television series “Queen Margot” and “Comtesse De Montsoreau” in the context of socio-cultural changes that took place in Russia in the 1980s –1990s. The artistic style of these TV projects is studied in comparison with the French and Soviet traditions of film adaptations of works by A. Dumas. French cinema and television in the second half of the twentieth century was characterized by a movement from light semi-comedy productions to deep reconstruction, immersing the viewer in the historical context of the era. In the Soviet Union, there was a special artistic style of film adaptations, to the detriment of historicity, emphasizing the elements of theatrical decorativeness inherent in the writer’s work. These techniques, like the “Aesopian language” of Soviet literature, successfully helped film and television figures to circumvent the taboos and prohibitions that existed in Soviet culture. In the 1990s, there was a revolution-like change in the functional tasks of domestic television. Despite the preservation of inertial motion in the same stylistic direction for some time, as evidenced by the above-mentioned television series, there is a gradual disintegration of the foundations of the Soviet visualization model. Russian television has increasingly become a part of the cultural industry, while losing its former distinctive features.

Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence by Mani Sharpe (review)

Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence by Mani Sharpe (review)

Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence. By Mani Sharpe

<i>Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence</i>. By Mani Sharpe

Abortion in French cinema during the long 1960s and beyond

ABSTRACT This article examines the representation of abortion in French cinema during one of the most pivotal periods for women’s rights and lives—the ‘long’ 1960s (1959–1973), one caught between post-war conservatism and the more tangible feminism of the mid-1970s. Using a feminist and sociocultural approach alongside statistical analysis of all 1,455 French-produced feature films released during this period and textual analysis of case-study films, we examine various aspects of abortion, including representation of the decision process, the procedure itself and the aftermath, alongside physical and emotional aspects. Before the long 1960s, films primarily represented abortions as a taboo: dangerous, violent, and often resulting in death. This reinforced stigma, fear and misunderstanding surrounding the procedure, although films like Claude Autant-Lara’s Une femme en blanc series (1965 and 1966), Mon amour, mon amour (Nadine Trintignant, 1967) and Avortement clandestin! (Pierre Chevalier, 1973) worked to challenge these stereotypes. We look beyond the long 1960s to filmmaking in the direct aftermath of Loi Veil before concluding with a discussion of recent French television series. This paper mitigates a gap in current scholarship by unpacking the representation of abortion in French popular media, a woefully under-studied but critical subject—essential for understanding the status of women’s reproductive rights in France.

Director, Sportsman, Auteur: Henri Decoin and the Art of Self-Reflexivity in Filmmaking

Abstract: This article revisits the multifaceted contribution of Henri Decoin to French cinema's rich history through the lens of sport and auteurism. Decoin, who began his career as a professional swimmer in the 1910s, turned to sports journalism during the 1920s before switching his focus to filmmaking until the mid-1960s. Despite an extensive cinematic oeuvre, film scholars are yet to conduct a systematic examination of his influence as a director. By taking a closer look at the recurring sporting motifs and symbolism present in his work, we argue that Decoin not only ought to be seen as a genuine auteur, but also as one of French cinema's most versatile players.

Campbell, Lisa Harper. Reframing Remembrance: Contemporary French Cinema and the Second World War

Campbell, Lisa Harper. Reframing Remembrance: Contemporary French Cinema and the Second World War

Archiving the Past, Painting the Present

This paper focuses on the representations of diversity and feminism in the French fi lm Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fi lle en feu, 2019), directed by Céline Sciamma. Set in the 18th century, this fi lm addresses numerous contemporary issues through a feminist lens. This paper views Portrait of a Lady on Fire as a visual archive in the history of feminist and queer cinema, creating dialogues between the past and present. Concurrently, using Céline Sciamma as an entry point, the paper also explores the female authorship in the 21st-century French cinema.

Doppelganger symbolism at the dawn of French Cinema

The pioneers of French cinema founded the audiovisual language which allows narratives with moving images, while developing techniques of capture and editing, recording and representation, sequence and superposition of shots, multiple exposure frames, of appearance or disappearance. For Morin, this ghostly duplication of the world by the cinematographic image is motivated by the symbolic image of the double, which brings together dreams and cinema. In this article we discuss such symbolism in empirical reference objects of this initial moment of the Seventh Art.

“Cinema was becoming more real”

This study examines the historical legitimacy, aesthetic potential and limitations of the vertical screen image through two dimensions: cross media comparison of the New Wave of French cinema and the creative practice of thevertical screen image in the complex new media environment of today. This studyfollows the principle of unity between history and logic to explore in detail theinfluence and inspiration of the narrative aesthetics of French New Wave films on the creation of short videos in the vertical screen era, starting from the four dimensions of “telling” and “showing”, as well as narrative time and narrative space. Through the media archaeology of film history, it is easy to find that many features of short video creation coincide with the creative concept advocated by the French New Wave.

Номинативный потенциал аксиологической парадигмы мемориального медиапортрета кинолегенды (на материале французского языка)

The study aims to identify the characteristics of evaluative names that form the paradigm of the axiological field of the memorial media portrait of a cinema legend. The study was carried out using the material of a special issue of the journal “Le Figaro Hommage” published in September 2021 in connection with the passing of the French cinema legend Jean-Paul Belmondo – “Le Magnifique. Jean-Paul Belmondo 1933/2021”. The paper presents a systematic analysis of a set of names that create the axiological field of the memorial media portrait of the cinema legend. The study is novel in that it is the first to take a multilevel approach to analysing various types of names of a French film star presented in the micro-, macro- and hyper-context. Attention is paid to the lexico-semantic aspect of the names, their usage as part of different stylistic devices, as well as their role in the system of references that extend the axiological space of the media portrait of the cinema legend beyond the boundaries of articles and the entire special issue dedicated to Belmondo. The results show that the memorial media portrait of the cinema legend represents an archetypal phenomenon in which an idealised image of the screen star is formed with the help of a set of naming units.

Pre-existing classical music in French auteur cinema in the 2010s

In the Nouvelle Vague, there was a relevant use of music of classical repertoire (Alvim, 2017), usually aligned to the director’s taste (“auter music”, according to Gorbman, 2007), such as Beethoven´s pieces in Godard’s films. In contemporary French films, there is a recurrence of works by Bach and Vivaldi, which could partly be explained by their omnipresence in digital platforms. In a chosen corpus from films selected by the Cannes Film Festivals in the 2010s, we analyze the aesthetic use of this baroque repertoire and the motivations for the choice.

Film digital archives and urban cultural creative clusters

&#x0D; Cultural and Creative Clusters (CCC) have gained significance in urban development, but the role of digital media within them has received limited attention. This study focuses on the impact of digital archives on cultural communication in Paris' urban CCC, with emphasis on French film history. The research highlights the importance of French film digitalization in preserving cultural relics and creating communication centers. Despite the contrast between the scattered media audiences and the emerging cultural industry center, a new digital connection is gradually emerging.&#x0D;

(Un)Mapping the “Pied-Noir Jew”: Indeterminacy and the Representation of Pied-Noirs and Algerian Jews in Contemporary French Cinema

Abstract: This article offers new reflections on the articulation of Pied-Noir and Algerian Jewish memory through the figure of the “Pied-Noir Jew” in French culture. The analysis of cinematographic materials and their literary sources shows how Algerian Jewish screen and stage artists participated in the creation in France of a nostalgic cultural community of Algerian Jews and French-European ex-settlers while also navigating the tensions and differences between Pied-Noir and Jewish memory of Algeria. The aporetic figure of the “Pied-Noir Jew” as a cultural and affective concept encapsulates the afterlife of Algerian Jews’ entangled identities.

Benjaminian Reminiscences in Deleuze’s and Daney’s Dialogue about Images in Control Societies

This article examines Gilles Deleuze’s 1986 letter to French film critic Serge Daney about cinema, television, and images in control societies through a Benjaminian lens. While neither Deleuze nor Daney deeply engage with Walter Benjamin’s thought, I argue that the ideas or dialectical images constructed by the German thinker are crucial to better understand Deleuze’s and Daney’s thoughts regarding the threatened death of modern cinema in the 1980s because of the predominance of television as a control apparatus. In the first part of the article, I analyze the aesthetical and political meaning of the concept of history as/of perception, and I show affinities between Benjamin’s and Deleuze’s works through their connection to art historian Aloïs Riegl. In the second part, I demonstrate how Deleuze’s and Daney’s reflections about mannerism as a weapon against the rise of clichés and the ideology of the visible in control societies must be supplemented by Benjamin’s concept of “construction.” In conclusion, I draw on Benjamin’s discussion of politics as a body space to advocate for desiring mannerisms to fight control apparatuses and the reign of clichés.

Intersections of Multiculturalism, Education, and Identity in 'Entre les Murs’: A Comparative Analysis of Learning Experiences

This scholarly article delves into the intricate layers of the French banlieue film Entre les murs (2008), directed by Laurent Cantet. The article aims to unravel the multifaceted portrayal of banlieue culture and its significance within the cinematic and socio-cultural landscape. It comprehensively analyses the film's narrative, characters, social themes and artistic choices, navigating the complexities of cultural diversity and identity formation within the banlieue context. The film's characters, students, and teachers become focal points for analysis, shedding light on the challenges and possibilities within the education system.&#x0D; Further, the article explores the film's cinematic techniques and aesthetics, including its visual style, cinematography, editing, and use of sound and music. The documentary-like approach of the film is examined, considering its impact on the storytelling and the portrayal of authenticity. By analysing the film's artistic choices, this article aims to uncover the subtle nuances and intentional creative decisions that contribute to the film's overall impact.&#x0D; Moreover, the article evaluates the critical reception and lasting legacy of Entre les murs. It explores the film's reception among critics and audiences, highlighting its awards, nominations, and influence on subsequent French cinema. It also discusses the film's socio-political relevance and contribution to the discourse on education, multiculturalism and social inequality.&#x0D; In addition to drawing upon various scholarly works and theories, the article seeks to place Entre les murs within the broader academic discourse, including areas such as auteur theory, social realism, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and sociological perspectives. Together, these serve to deepen the understanding of the film and its socio-cultural implications.&#x0D; Regarding the social context, the article examines the film's position in time-space and the situation of the French educational system in the poor and multicultural neighbourhoods of France. It considers the challenges faced by the education system and explores the plans to address them, contributing to a comprehensive analysis of the film's socio-cultural context.&#x0D; In conclusion, this academic article unveils the depths of Entre les murs, shedding light on its portrayal of banlieue realities, the educational system's challenges, and the complexities of multiculturalism and identity. By combining meticulous analysis, scholarly perspectives and an appreciation for the film's artistic merits, this article contributes to the ongoing academic dialogue surrounding the film and its enduring impact on French cinema.

How Far Can French Films Travel in China? An Empirical Analysis from The Cultural Discount Perspective

As the second largest film exporter except the United States, France is not only one of the important export countries of European Union, but also a major exporter in China and North America. Cultural discount has generally been a problem in the cultural trade export. This article analyzes box office figures from 2009 to 2018 to examine whether French films of different genres and copyrights are more or less subject to cultural discount when they travel to mainland China. The results show that science fiction, adventure and thriller are apparently the most universal and that genre of drama and copyrights of ordinary and buy-out are highly particularistic, whereas co-productions are relatively universal due to non-significant test results. As the results, development status and trend analysis of Sino-French co-production cases are typically discussed.