This class introduces students to the history of French-language cinema. Since the first public projection in the Grand Café in Paris in 1895, French cinema has played a key role in defining the artistic possibilities of the medium. In this course, we will watch influential works from each decade, spanning narrative, experimental, and documentary forms, as well as films that challenge these distinctions. Each screening will be accompanied by critical and theoretical readings that place the films in their social, political, artistic, and intellectual contexts.

Topics include early cinema, Occupation-era and postwar cinema, the French New Wave, the rise of feminist film-making, French queer cinema, postcolonial cinema, and cinema in the age of digital media. While emphasizing formal analysis, we will approach cinema as one of the key cultural technologies that has shaped our contemporary ways of imagining race, class, gender, sexuality, love, the family, the nation, friendship, and life under capitalism. Screenings on Monday nights are required.

This course is a prerequisite for French 177 and 178, though students who have taken French 177 or 178 may take  this course.

Prerequisites:  

French 102 or consent of instructor. Film Studies students should consult the instructor about French language preparation and prerequisites.

Additional information:  

Weekly film screening (highly recommended): Mondays, 4-6 pm. Satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” course requirement in the French Major.  Satisfies one course requirement in the French Minor.