Negotiating the auteur: Dominique Cabrera, Noémie Lvovsky, Laetitia Masson and Marion Vernoux (French Film Directors Series)

This book provides the first detailed analysis of the work of four important contemporary directors whose work falls between the reductive labels of 'auteur cinema' and 'popular cinema'. Their work is contextualised within this timely investigation into the shifting relationship between the privileged status of the auteur and questions of genre, gender and cinematic production in France today. This important contribution to understanding the shifting landscapes of contemporary French film identifies an essential intermediacy in the films of these directors, which works to undo a series of dominant oppositions, generic template and contestation, public collectivity and personal intimacy, to offer a new perspective on the location of the political in contemporary French cinema. The four chapters provide detailed critical analysis of films by Dominique Cabrera, Laetitia Masson, Noémie Lvovsky and Marion Vernoux, and present common thread including the possible construction of social intimacy, the political demystification of romance narratives and the role of nostalgia, to argue that their work uses popular genres in order to challenge dominant cultural representation that resonates beyond the immediate parameters of contemporary French cinema. This book will be of interest to researchers working in French and European cinema, to students of Film Studies and French and Francophone Studies, and to film enthusiasts. Front matter 1 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of plates 9 Series editors’ foreword 10 Preface 12 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction: continuing negotiations 14 Dominique Cabrera: intimate constructions of a ‘bonheur collectif ’ 37 Noémie Lvovsky: rupture and transmission 78 Plates 111 Laetitia Masson: suspect identities 118 Marion Vernoux: encountering difference 172 Filmographies 207 Index 222 Dobson provides detailed critical analysis of films by Dominique Cabrera, Laetitia Masson, Noémie Lvovsky and Marion Vernoux, and presents common threads including the possible construction of social intimacy, the political demystification of romance narratives and the role of nostalgia in contemporary French cinema. -- .