1 Clouzot and the cinema
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Christopher Lloyd
Abstract
This chapter examines in the broad context Clouzot and his cinema, situating him in the wider context of French history and cinema in the mid-twentieth century. The chapter explores the forces, personal, political and social, that shaped his career as a filmmaker. It also highlights the extent to which his films propose a consistent, personal vision, and the way they reflect the important social and aesthetic changes of his time. Furthermore, it explores the question of whether Clouzot qualifies as an auteur, as an original and innovative creator, or whether he was essentially a technically brilliant craftsman, a skilled manipulator of audiences, who produced a series of arresting genre films. Finally, it asks if his films were influenced in any way by the rise of the New Wave of French directors and critics from the late 1950s, or was it that they remained rooted in what some hostile commentators saw as a conventional and stultifying classicism.
Abstract
This chapter examines in the broad context Clouzot and his cinema, situating him in the wider context of French history and cinema in the mid-twentieth century. The chapter explores the forces, personal, political and social, that shaped his career as a filmmaker. It also highlights the extent to which his films propose a consistent, personal vision, and the way they reflect the important social and aesthetic changes of his time. Furthermore, it explores the question of whether Clouzot qualifies as an auteur, as an original and innovative creator, or whether he was essentially a technically brilliant craftsman, a skilled manipulator of audiences, who produced a series of arresting genre films. Finally, it asks if his films were influenced in any way by the rise of the New Wave of French directors and critics from the late 1950s, or was it that they remained rooted in what some hostile commentators saw as a conventional and stultifying classicism.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of plates vi
- Series editors' foreword vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- 1 Clouzot and the cinema 1
- 2 Occupation and its discontents 29
- 3 Reconstruction and retribution 63
- 4 Beyond genre 87
- 5 Suspense and surveillance 111
- 6 Filming Picasso and Karajan 137
- 7 The final films 150
- Conclusion 172
- Filmography 178
- Select bibliography 184
- Index 186
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of plates vi
- Series editors' foreword vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- 1 Clouzot and the cinema 1
- 2 Occupation and its discontents 29
- 3 Reconstruction and retribution 63
- 4 Beyond genre 87
- 5 Suspense and surveillance 111
- 6 Filming Picasso and Karajan 137
- 7 The final films 150
- Conclusion 172
- Filmography 178
- Select bibliography 184
- Index 186
