38 | THE FRENCH NEW WAVE

A concise and accessible introduction to the French New Wave, perhaps the biggest – and briefest – explosion of filmmaking in the history of world cinema and of one of the truly essential movements in film history. This volume traces the social and cultural changes of post-war France that led to the New Wave before examining in detail the careers of artists such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, Agnes Varda and Alain Resnais, and discusses such landmark films as A bout de souffle, Les Quatre cents coup, Cleo de 5 a 7 and Hiroshima, mon Amour.

September 2007
144 pages

978-1-905674-12-1 (pbk)

£12.99

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Naomi Greene is Professor Emeritus of French and Film Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and has written books on Antonin Artaud, René Clair and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

'I found the book a clear and insightful summary written by an academic very at ease with her ideas and well able to communicate them … The book is ideal for undergraduates and much of it is accessible to A2 students who may be studying new waves for their World Cinema Unit. It will also act as a good companion for those who are new to this area of cinema ... It will be extremely helpful in allowing readers to get to grips with the main strands of critical discourse surrounding the French New Wave.'
– Michael D. Walford, Kinoeye 

'This is an excellent introduction to the wide–ranging nuances of the French New Wave. It is an informed and well-written account which shows a critical understanding of French cinema and culture. The focus on the dialectic between documentary and fiction at the core of the new wave is particularly illuminating and the discussion of specific films is strong and perceptive ... Highly recommended.'
– Leila Wimmer, King's College London