Résumé : “A History of French Cinema” is presented as a series of works, classified by successive decades (from the 1930s to the present day) to offer the reader a complete panorama of French cinema. For each year, the major films, a great director, an actress and an actor are highlighted, as well as a large thematic dossier addressing the essential questions of the period for cinema. Through these analyses, and the perspective of works and artists in a historical, social, political and even technical context, this book aims to be the relevant story – and on occasion, impertinent! – the history, rich but still too little known, of our cinema.
Critique : First volume of a series of books classified by decades, A history of French cinema (1930-1939) was co-written by two specialists in the seventh art. Philippe Pallin, Inspector of National Education, was a teacher and trainer in the history and techniques of cinema. He died in 2020, and his son François pays him a touching tribute at the end of the book. The second author, Denis Zorgniotti, is a journalist and film and music critic. A history of French cinema is thrilling in the richness of its documentation, the relevance of its analyzes and its elegant style, the authors avoiding both the hermeticism of academic jargon and the excesses of popularization. They are in line with Claude Beylie, Raymond Chirat, Marcel Martin and other passionate (and exciting) lovers of French cinema.
- The Great Illusion, Achievements of Cinematographic Art (RAC), Studio Canal vidéo © 2022 Éditions LettMotif. All rights reserved.
Prefaced by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the 1930-1939 section focuses on years traditionally associated with a golden age,… Golden age (Luis Bunuel, 1930) to Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939), who offers the book its cover photo with a portrait of Paulette Dubost. The economic and socio-political context of the decade is highlighted, from the Great Depression to France’s entry into the war, via the Popular Front. The authors emphasize the major innovation constituted by talking pictures, the theme of the dossier for the year 1930 (Et la parole fut). The other files are just as interesting, from Franco-German co-productions to great screenwriters, passing through poetic realism and Simenon in the cinema. Concerning the directors, Jean Renoir is mentioned three times in “The film of the year”, is entitled to three “Close-ups”, a “Coup de coeur”, a biography and a file. The authors here remain faithful to a certain university tradition which makes the author of The Great Illusion the boss, to use Rivette’s expression. But they are nuanced in the analysis of his filmography and do not overshadow René Clair, Marcel Carné, Jacques Feyder, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier or Pierre Chenal, without forgetting the great foreigners who have filmed in France (Buñuel, Dreyer) and the two filmmakers of the spoken word, Pagnol and Guitry, long neglected in the history of cinema. We will also appreciate these elegant portraits of actors, from legendary sacred monsters (Darrieux, Gabin) to relatively forgotten stars (Annabella, Viviane Romance), through actresses who will go from glory to decline (Mireille Balin, Corinne Luchaire ), not to mention the great supporting roles, some of whom also starred (Dalio, Jules Berry). We only regret the severity towards the personality of Sacha Guitry (prejudice which dates back to the Georges Sadoul period of criticism); as well as the absence in the portraits of actresses of the iconic Simone Simon, who toured with Marc Allégret and Renoir, before being the muse of Jacques Tourneur and Ophüls. Misprints and errors are rare (Birl Desbok, lover of a famous actress, was an Austrian and not a German officer). It is not superfluous to add that the iconography of the book is neat (quality photos, but without visual overload). A history of French cinema is available in print (paperback or hardcover) and digital (pdf and ePub).
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360 pages
19,90 € – 46,00 €
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