Abstract

A series of limiting definitions have tended to delineate the Franco-British cinematic relationship. As this collection of essays reveals, there is much more to it than simple oppositions between British critical esteem for the films of France and French dismissal of ‘le cinéma British’, or the success of Ken Loach et al. at the French box office and the relative dearth of French movies on British screens. In fact, there has long been a rich and productive dialogue between these two cultures in which both their clear differences and their shared concerns have played a vital role. This book provides an overview of the history of these relations from the early days of sound cinema to the present day. The chapters, written by leading experts in the history of French, British and European cinema, provide insights into relations between French and British cinematic cultures at the level of production, exhibition and distribution, reception, representation and personnel. The book features a diverse range of studies, including: the exhibition of French cinema in Britain in the 1930s, contemporary ‘extreme’ French cinema, stars such as Annabella, David Niven and Jane Birkin and the French Resistance on British screens.

Catherine Wheatley is a Research Assistant at the University of Southampton where she is working on Lucy Mazdon’s AHRC funded project on French cinema in Britain. She is the author of Michael Haneke’s Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (Berghahn Books, 2009) and is a regular contributor to Sight and Sound.

Lucy Mazdon is a Reader in Film Studies at the University of Southampton. She has written widely on French cinema and television and her publications include Encore Hollywood: Remaking French Cinema (BFI, 2000), France on Film: Reflections on Popular French Cinema (Wallflower, 2001) and The Contemporary Television Series (EUP, 2005).

“These diverse, thoughtfully arranged essays show how geographical proximity and overlapping histories have shaped the two countries’ film cultures by opening up new layers of meaning. This collection makes a vital contribution to the film literature of both countries by demonstrating how fruitful relational studies of cinema can be. Si, je t’aime.”  ·  Journal of British Cinema and Television

“This is a rich and academically relevant collection … that offers an engagement with a full spectrum of disciplinary interests … The running filmography that is established across the volume will be a great resource to film scholars and students, and the range of methodological approaches deployed is genuinely inspiring in terms of its diversity, application and results.”  ·  Sue Harris, Queen Mary University of London

“[T]here is much here to inform the specialist and please the aficionado. This is a welcome addition to the fields of reception studies, French and British film history and culture, and transnational film studies.”  ·  Professor Elizabeth Ezra, University of Stirling