The French New Wave: An Artistic School

The French New Wave remains one of the most important and popular movements in film history. Available in English for the first time, The French New Wave: An Artistic School is a lively introduction to this critical moment in film history by one of the world′s leading scholars on the New Wave. Michel Marie discusses the movement from social, political–economic, and historical perspectives while taking into consideration technical and aesthetic concerns. Marie clarifies the essential traits of the New Wave and presents the key directors, producers, actors, and cinematographers. Illustrative film stills and a chronology of events make The French New Wave a must–read for anyone interested in this critical and creative moment in cinema history.

Translator′s Note. Introduction. 1. A Journalistic Slogan and a New Generation. 2. A Critical Concept. 3. A Mode of Production and Distribution. 4. A Technical Practice, an Aesthetic. 5. New Themes and New Bodies: Characters and Actors. 6. The New Wave′s International Influence and Legacy Today. Appendix: Chronology of Major Political and Cultural Events. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Michel Marie is Professor of Film Studies and Chair of the Department of Cinema and Audiovisual Studies at the University of Paris III–Sorbonne Nouvelle. He has published critical studies on Godard′s Contempt and Breathless, and is co–author of L′Analyse des films (1988), L′Esthétique du film (1993), and Dictionnaire théorique et critique du cinéma (2001). Richard Neupert is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the University of Georgia. He is author of The End: Narration and Closure in the Cinema (1995) and A History of the French New Wave (2002), and translator of Aesthetics of Film (third edition, 1997).

′Michel Marie, legendary cinephile and scholar of French cinema, has fashioned a three–dimensional map of the New Wave ‘School&apos;, providing its genesis and morphology as well. The table of contents alone is full of important ideas and promising directions. Yet within this brilliant organization operates the eye and the sensibility of someone who is intimate with these intimate films. What a vast film–culture subtends this tidy study.′ Dudley Andrew, Yale University <!––end––> ′In Richard Neupert′s extremely readable translation, Michel Marie′s French New Wave is just what the directors ordered – a rat–a–tat–tat new look at the Nouvelle Vague that is fresh and irreverent. Michel Poiccard/Jean–Paul Belmondo would have loved it.′ Rick Altman, University of Iowa