Synopses & Reviews
Chronicling one of the greatest and most popular national cinemas,
Republic of Images traces the evolution of French filmmaking from 1895--the year of the debut of the Cinematographe in Paris-to the present day. Alan Williams offers a unique synthesis of history, biography, aesthetics and film theory. He brings to life all of the major directors, setting before us the cultures from which they emerged, and sheds new light on the landmark films they created. He distills what is historically and artistically unique in each of their careers and reveals what each artist has in common with the forebears and heirs of the craft.
Within the larger story of French cinema, Williams examines the treasury of personal expression, social commentary, and aesthetic exploration that France has produced so consistently and exported so well. It is the tale of an industry rife with crises, and Williams offers a superb narrative of the economic, political, and social forces that have shaped its century-long history. He provides biographical sketches of filmmakers from the early pioneers of the silent era such as Louis Lumière and Alice Guy to modern directors such as Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, and François Truffaut. Some of their careers, he shows, exemplify the significant contributions individuals made to the development of French fllmmaking; others yield illuminating evidence of the problems and opportunities of a whole generation of filmmakers. Throughout, he presents critical analyses of significant films, from the Assassination of the Duc de Guise (1908) to works by the post nouvelle vague directors.
Williams captures the formal and stylistic developments of film in France over nearly one hundred years. Free of cant and jargon, Republic of Images is the best general account available of the rich interplay of film, filmmaker, and society. It will delight both general reader and student, as well as the viewer en route to the video store.
Review
The history of French cinema is the history of cinema. -- Christine Schwartz - Village Voice Literary Supplement
Synopsis
To tell the story of this small but highly visible and influential sector of French cinema requires also to tell the larger story of the industry which allowed-in fact, encouraged- its creation. And so this book includes a great deal of information on French film production in general, particularly at the moments of economic and moral crisis which seem to scan its history, like a strange rhyme scheme, every decade or decade and a half.
Synopsis
Republic of Images traces the evolution of French filmmaking from 1895--the year of the debut of the Cinematographe in Paris--to the present day. Williams offers a unique synthesis of history, biography, aesthetics and film theory. He captures the formal and stylistic developments of film in France over nearly one hundred years.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-440) and index.
Table of Contents
A Note on Film Titles and Dates
Introduction
Part I: French Cinema Dominates the World Market
1. The Cinema Before Cinema
2. An Industry Begins
3. Growth and Diversification
Part II: The Golden Age of the Silent Film
4. Decline and Mutation
5. The Mental and the Physical
6. The Commercial and the Esoteric
Part III: The Golden Age of the Sound Cinema
7. An Unexpected Upheaval
8. Art and Entertainment in the Sound Film
9. Politics, Poetics, and the Cinema
Part IV: A New Kind of Cinema
10. War and Occupation
11. Liberation-Change and Continuity
12. An Alternative Film Culture
Part V: The Nouvelle Vague and After
13. Fourth Wave
14. Filmmaking at the Margins
15. Winds of Change
Notes
Bibliography
Index