Unraveling French cinema : from Letapos ; 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__. Content: Chapter 1 Cinema and/as Poetry: L'Atalante's Apples as Poems (pages 13–34): Chapter 2 Cinema and the Real: Renoir's Rules (pages 35–53): Chapter 3 Cinema and/as Crime: Breaking the Law in The Children of Paradise, Pickpocket, and Breathless (pages 26–50): Chapter 4 Cinema and/as Mapping: Reorienting Ourselves Through Film (pages 83–108): Chapter 5 Cinema and/as Dream: Truffaut's “Royal Road” to Adele H. (pages 109–131): Chapter 6 Cinema and/as Hypnosis: Jacquot's Seventh Heaven (pages 132–147): Chapter 7 Cinema and/as Mourning: Anne Fontaine's How I Killed My Father (pages 148–164): Chapter 8 Cinema and/as Terror: Michael Haneke's Cache (pages 165–178): Chapter 9 Beautiful Fragments: Discontinuity and the French Cinema (pages 179–192):

Unraveling French Cinema provides a much-needed introduction to the complexities of French film for students, cineastes, and the movie-loving public. Kline analyzes seven cinematic arenas, each chosen to present the reader with an experience of reading a film for plot and a particular definition of what it means to make a film. Each chapter crafts a particular theory of film – as dream, hypnosis, mapping, poetry, seduction, mourning, and even terrorism – that is central to the French cinematic tradition.

Choosing films that are well known and DVD-accessible, the volume lists series of films that can be profitably viewed through the lens of each chapter.  Kline situates François Truffaut’s well-known The Story of Adele H. as a pivotal film throughout the book, and threads it through each chapter, with a view to building on readers' acquisition of critical thinking and viewing skills. Unraveling French Cinema is a must-have guide – whether you're watching Louis Malle and Lumière classics or Cocteau and Haneke's Caché.

Film and/as poetry: L'Atalante's apples as poems film and the real: Renoir's rules Cinema and/as crime: Carne, Bresson and Godard Cinema and/as mapping: reorienting ourselves through film To film perchance to dream: Truffaut's royal road Cinema and/as hypnosis: Jacquot's Seventh heaven Cinema and/as mourning: how not to kill your father Cinema and/as terror: Michael Haneke's Caché Beautiful fragments: discontinuity and the French cinema. The author looks at the differences between French and American national cinema, explores how French directors shape their films around the narration of a story and an elaboration of some theory about film itself, and offers extended analyses of classic, New Wave, and contemporary French films-including L'Atalante, Adele H., The Rules of the Game, and Cache Unraveling French Cinema provides a much needed introduction to the complexities of French film for students, cineastes, and the movie-loving public. Kline analyzes seven cinematic arenas, each chosen to present the reader with an experience of reading a film for plot and a particular definition of what it means to make a film.