Le Cinema francais contemporain: Manuel de Classe

Description

Through its analyses of twenty notable and representative French films that have appeared since 1980, Le Cinema francais contemporain: Manuel de classe offers an eagle-eyed view of recent French cinema that will delight advanced students of French as well as Francophone students of French film.

Alan Singerman is Richardson Professor Emeritus of French, Davidson College. Michele Bissiere is Professor of French, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

From Le Dernier Metro to Intouchables , Bissiere and Singerman cover the latest trends of French cinema, emphasizing context and analytical method as Singerman did in Apprentissage du cinema francais (Focus 2004). The authors offer a selection of films most French cinephiles will applaud, and they incorporate insights from some of the best critical work on French cinema. Students of French film will also find all the bibliographical pointers they need to dig deeper, and instructors will appreciate the pedagogical components included in the chapters. -- Jonathan Walsh, Department of French Studies, Wheaton College, Massachusetts "Ce livre, remarquable A tous points de vue, nous est propose par deux enseignants et critiques chevronnes. Il offre un excellent complement au precedent ouvrage d'Alan Singerman, Apprentissage du cinema francais . L'epoque, ici plus ciblee que dans le texte precedent, est admirablement bien choisie et la repartition en larges categories, avec multiples options, guide l'enseignant/e tout en lui laissant le choix parmi une plethore de films interessants. Les chapitres preliminaires, A la fois succincts et informatifs, donnent aux etudiant/es une parfaite idee de l'ensemble du cinema francais et de la technique necessaire A l'analyse filmique. Chacun des chapitres suivants propose une introduction indispensable sur l'intrigue, le realisateur, la genese, les interpretes, la reception et le contexte du film auquel il est dedie, ainsi qu'une filmographie et bibliographie fort utiles. Quant A chaque dossier pedagogique, il est organise de telle sorte que l'enseignant/e pourra l'utiliser dans des cours de langue A differents niveaux en reservant l'etude la plus approfondie pour les etudiants plus avances. Merci A nos eminents collegues de nous avoir tant facilite la tache avec ce texte exemplaire." - Brigitte E Humbert, Department of French and Francophone Studies, Middlebury College "A great book about French movie analysis that students and instructors can rely on. I appreciate the thematic classification of selected movies, and the variety of movies within each topic. The length of the introduction preceding each section is just right and it didn't come at the expense of film analysis. We watched four movies listed in this book and two other contemporary movies not listed here, and my approach was inspired by the methodology of this textbook. My students agree that, with all the information and questions provided about each movie, there is no need to get outside sources. I don't think this textbook has weaknesses." Khadija Khalife, International Languages and Cultures, University of Portland "Teachers of film looking to blend both . . . nuts-and-bolts historical survey [approaches . . . may wish to turn to Alan J. Singerman and Michele Bissiere's impressive new book. Through an examination of twenty prominent post-1980 French films, the authors offer a view of recent French cinema that is microscopic in its focus on each film's critical and commercial reception, production history, and visual and formal elements. "The boon for teachers of French film is the impressively conceptualized dossier pedagogique that accompanies each of the twenty films. This is by some distance the book's most compelling quality, with discussion questions, a well-marshalled bibliography that blends critical work with reviews and interviews, and pistes de reflexion . The latter is a magnificent resource that will encourage students to think more reflectively about each work, especially as it breaks down the film into smaller sequence analysis segments (complete with timecode). "Using Singerman and Bissiere's highly recommended 'close watching' approach, films both familiar ( Entre les murs (2008 , dir. by Laurent Cantet), Amelie (2001, dir. by Jean-Pierre Jeunet)) and offbeat ( Coup de foudre (1983, dir. by Diane Kurys), Gazon maudit (1995, dir. by Josiane Balasko)) reveal not just the stylistic and narrative norms of a specific moment in French film culture, but also their commonalities, divergences, and intertextual influences. University librarians take note." Ben McCann, University of Adelaide, in French Studies