Customer Reviews

French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had to buy this book for a French Film class, and it's actually one of the cheapest books I've had to buy for a film class. The author does a great job formatting the text in a way that makes the history read more like a novel and less like an academic text. I really enjoyed reading the book and found myself unable to stop after reading the assigned pages.

This book on French cinema is a very important book. It really offers the reader a unique and splendid overview of one hundred years of French cinema, which influenced American movies as well as many other national cinemas. Rémi Fournier Lanzoni organized its narrative structure chronologically and provided at the beginning of each chapter a concise but valuable historical retrospective. Most likely one of the best books on the history of French filmmaking.

I find most books about film quite tedious. However, there is definitely room for overviews of national cinema. This is an overview of French cinema and it does deliver a good overview. Next step is to watch the movies, not read another book.

The book is similar in coverage to Richie's "A 100 Years of Japanese Film". I know, another country but similar.

"French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present" represents a remarkable contribution in the field of film studies. Although more stills would have enhanced undoubtedly the visual content of the text, this book remains a great overview of French films.

Knowing some French movies, that's not give you the spirit of it. Even if you really enjoy French movies, and that's my case. Remi Lanzoni's book gives me a sense of why I have that strong feeling for French movies. Like most of us, I have in mind a good picture of Hollywood film makers. Therefore, I can enjoy Scorsese's movies because I saw Billy Wilder's movies previously.
Thank to that book, I appreciate more "Amélie Poulain" now because I know what was there before: like Renoir's movies or why French movies have so touching characters.
Lanzoni's book is an enter in what the French secretly keep out of reach of Hollywood film producers: the recipe of a century of success...