Unraveling French Cinema: From L’Atalante to Caché

Unraveling French Cinema provides a much needed introduction to the complexities of French film for students, cineastes, and the movie-loving public.

• 
  

  Looks at the differences between French and American national cinema
  

• 
  

  Explores how French directors shape their films around two potentially divergent goals: the narration of a story and an elaboration of some theory about film itself.
  

• 
  

  Demystifies the “difficulty” of French cinema, allowing the American movie-goer to enjoy films that are too often perplexing at a first viewing.
  

• 
  

  Offers extended analyses of classic, New Wave, and contemporary French films—including L’Atalante, Adele H., The Rules of the Game, and Cache.
  

Keywords: Truffaut, New Wave, film criticism, European film, world film, film theory, Haneke, Malle