Manchester University Press
2 The Occupation, colonial conflicts, and national identity
Abstract
In May 1968 French students, workers and professionals united briefly in a wave of demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins - known as 'the events of May '68'. Documentary film-making in France in the 1960s had been dominated by cinéma-vérité - the recording of everyday life and events. Tout va bien was an attempt to consider the legacy of 1968 from within mainstream cinema, a strategy facilitated by the box-office power of the two stars. The film that resulted has been described as 'perhaps the single best cinematic description of France in the aftermath of '68'. The question of cinematic form is a particularly fraught one for films on the Holocaust and the Occupation; these subjects are conventionally considered susceptible either to a documentary approach or to classical realism. By the late nineties, French history under the Occupation seemed to have been exhausted, and the Vichy syndrome was at an end.
Abstract
In May 1968 French students, workers and professionals united briefly in a wave of demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins - known as 'the events of May '68'. Documentary film-making in France in the 1960s had been dominated by cinéma-vérité - the recording of everyday life and events. Tout va bien was an attempt to consider the legacy of 1968 from within mainstream cinema, a strategy facilitated by the box-office power of the two stars. The film that resulted has been described as 'perhaps the single best cinematic description of France in the aftermath of '68'. The question of cinematic form is a particularly fraught one for films on the Holocaust and the Occupation; these subjects are conventionally considered susceptible either to a documentary approach or to classical realism. By the late nineties, French history under the Occupation seemed to have been exhausted, and the Vichy syndrome was at an end.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgements x
- 1 French cinema from 1895 to 1968, a brief survey 1
- 2 The Occupation, colonial conflicts, and national identity 17
- 3 Representations of sexuality 55
- 4 Women film-makers in France 98
- 5 The polar 118
- 6 Fantasy film 143
- 7 The heritage film 167
- 8 Comedy 199
- 9 Le jeune cinéma and the new realism 220
- Filmography 242
- Index 246
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgements x
- 1 French cinema from 1895 to 1968, a brief survey 1
- 2 The Occupation, colonial conflicts, and national identity 17
- 3 Representations of sexuality 55
- 4 Women film-makers in France 98
- 5 The polar 118
- 6 Fantasy film 143
- 7 The heritage film 167
- 8 Comedy 199
- 9 Le jeune cinéma and the new realism 220
- Filmography 242
- Index 246
