Cinema and the Second Sex: Women's Filmmaking in France in the 1980s and 1990sWomen'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. |
Contents
Chapter One Growing Up | 25 |
Chapter Two The Age of Possibilities | 54 |
Chapter Three Couples | 82 |
Copyright | |
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36 Fillette actress adolescent Agnès Varda Algerian banlieue BIFI Breillat Brigitte Roüan camera Camille Catherine Catherine Breillat centers Charlotte Christine Christine Pascal Claire Denis Coline Serreau comedy constructed conventional couple daughter desire Diane Kurys directed by women discussed in chapter documentary Dominique Dominique Cabrera ethnic father femininity feminism feminist femmes film ends film's films by women films directed films discussed foreground France French cinema French film Gazon maudit genre girl heroine heterosexual husband Jacques Jeanne jeune cinéma français Josiane Balasko Juliette Kurys's lesbian lives lover mainstream male Marie mise-en-scène mother motherhood narrative Noémie Lvovsky Paris Pascal Pierre played pleasures point of view problematic protagonists relationship representations reproduced with permission road movie romance Ronald Grant Ronald Grant Archive Sandrine scene sequence sexual shot Simon social Sophie spectator star takes theme Vincendeau woman women directors women's filmmaking women's films Yannick Bellon young women