Cinema and the Second Sex: Women's Filmmaking in France in the 1980s and 1990s

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Description

Women's film-making in France is a source of both delight and despair. On the one hand, the numbers are impressive--during the period in question, over 250 feature-length films were made by over 100 women directors in France. On the other hand, despite the heritage of French feminism, French women directors characteristically disclaim their gender as a sigificant factor in their filmaking.This incisive study provides an informative, critical guide to this major body of work, exploring the boundaries between personal films (intimate psychological dramas relating to key stages in life) and genre films (which demonstrate women's ability to appropriate and rework popular genres). It analyzes the effects of "postfeminism," women's desire to enter the mainstream, and the recent impact of a new generation of filmakers. It thus enables readers for the first time to take stock of the wealth and diversity of women's contribution to French cinema during the 1980s and 1990s.

Reviews

"The book is a key volume in French Cinema studies; the Introduction in particular is quite brilliant, a richly researched and crisp contextualization of the history and the theorization of women's filmmaking...large number of plates...an excellent and comprehensive filmography...This volume will be an important reference work for those working in French cinema studies for years to come." --Film Studies, 2002

Author Bio

Carrie Tarr is Emeritus Professor of Film at Kingston University, UK. Brigitte Rollet is Researcher in Film at the Universit de Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.