By Werner Busch. When trying to tell the gist of film history as a whole you could do worse than just telling the history of French cinema. Here lies one of the medium’s direct birthplaces, and here it underwent its greatest transformation. Already shortly after its invention, film projection became an industry in France. It’s not for nothing that one of the earliest roles of exposed film is called Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory. The compact crowd streaming out of the two exits doubtlessly attest to a flourishing company. But the first marvel at the moving pictures was soon followed by the criticism of its banal nature as a fairground attraction. That’s why around the year 1910 the “Film d'Art”-movement was trying to reshape cinema as a challenging art form for a distinguished audience. Granted, without much success. But films like The Assassination of the Duke of Guise for the first time featured well-known actors and had music written especially for the film. The narrative possibilities of the new medium were also mapped out very early on by a Frenchman: Georges Méliès. Even before the year 1900 the first two major film companies develop in Paris in the form of Gaumont and Pathé, both of them exist still to the present day.

The New Wave

The 20th century’s greatest film revolution came out of France, too. The Nouvelle Vague would eventually spread around the globe like a wildfire and change the narrative form of film as well as its production conditions decisively. Cinema moved away from industrial mass production, out of the studio sceneries and into real life places. And still – it had hardly been established, when the independent film threatened to become a product brand itself – a struggle that is still continuing to this day. The heroes of these iconoclastic years were for example François Truffaut or Jean-Luc Godard, only two out of a long list of resonating names connected to French cinema. Actresses like Brigitte Bardot or Catherine Deneuve became international movie stars.

Cinema vs. TV

Like every other film nation France suffered from the television boom. The government took action by subsidising domestic cinemas and productions and still today supports film-making with legislative methods like banning the sale of DVDs in the six month after a cinema release. The broadcasting license of the nation’s main PayTV station Canal+ states that the channel has to support film production. So since the 1990s Canal+ has been involved in a major number of domestic and international co-productions, helping out for example when David Lynch’s pilot to the planned series MULHOLLAND DRIVE was rejected by ABC Television. Only with the financial backing of the French, which enabled Lynch to do extensive re-shoots, a worthless piece of television film became one of the great cinema classics of recent years. And the premiere of the finished film was logically held at the Cannes film festival, one of the most important festivals worldwide, which of course also has its home in France.

High domestic value

At first glance the French cinema could prematurely be characterised as elitist art-house fare – but popular movies thrive here as much as everywhere else. The films starring the comedian Louis de Funès for example are internationally still held in high regard. And comedies like THE VISITORS or WELCOME TO THE STICKS are among the most profitable French productions of all time. Domestic film production is highly regarded in France, as the ticket sales testify: In 2008 46 per cent of French cinema-goers went to see a domestic film, and the years before that show comparably high numbers. This quota is unmatched throughout Europe and underlines the special importance of French cinema and the audiences who can appreciate it.

Links

• A TALE ABOUT THE ANIMATED IMAGE (F 2007. Joris Clerté)
• THE POSTCARD (F 2009. Stefan Le Lay)
• SILHOUETTES (F 2009. Jonathan Rio)
• WILD SIDE (F 2009. Guillaume Moreels, Noah Nuer)