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The art of motion-picture making within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad is collectively known as French cinema.

France, especially, has long been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Żuławski), Argentina (Gaspar Noe, Edgardo Cozarinsky), and the Soviet Union (Alexandre Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak, Gela Babluani) are equally prominent in the ranks of French cinema as the native Frenchmen.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Late 19th century to early 20th century 1.2 Post-World War II: 1940s-1970s 1.3 Personalities from this period 1.3.1 Actors 1.3.2 Directors 1.4 1980s 1.5 1990s 2 Current situation 3 French films 4 Notable contemporary French cinema personalities 4.1 Actors 4.2 Directors 5 Further reading 6 Notes 7 See also 8 External links

In the late 19th century, during the early years of cinema, France produced several important pioneers. Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinématographe and their screening of L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la Ciotat in Paris in 1895 is marked by many historians as the official birth of cinematography. During the next few years, filmmakers all over the world started experimenting with this new medium, and France's Georges Méliès was influential. He invented many of the techniques now common in the cinematic language, and made the first ever science fiction film A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902).

Other early individuals and organizations of this period included Gaumont Pictures and Pathé Frères. Alice Guy Blaché was one of the first pioneers in cinema. She made her first film in 1896, La Fée aux Choux, and was head of production at Gaumont 1897-1906, where she made in total about 400 films. Her career continued in the United States. Several pioneers such as Maurice Tourneur or Léonce Perret continued their career in United States after World War I.

During the period between World War I and World War II, Jacques Feyder became one of the founders of poetic realism in French cinema. He was also a dominating character within French Impressionist Cinema as well as Abel Gance, Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein, see Cinéma Pur.

After World War I, the French film industry was weak, because of missing assets. As every European war leading country, France suffered of a strong financial lack, which was very hard for the film industry to find investors. So the French film production decreased as well as the production of the most other European countries too. This was the chance for the US film industry to enter the European cinema market with their own production, which could be sold cheaper than the European productions, because the studios had already recouped their investments in the home market. So, even more film studios in Europe, and also in France, crashed, which was the impulse for many European countries to install barriers to import. In view of the quota-rules of neighbor states such as Great Britain or Germany, France installed an import quota of 1:7, which means, that for every seven foreign films imported to France, one French film has to be produced and shown in French cinemas.^[1]

Beginning in 1935, renowned playwright and actor Sacha Guitry directed his first film. He made more than 30 films that are seen as the precursor to the new wave era.

In 1937 Jean Renoir, the son of famous painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, directed what many see as his first masterpiece, La Grande Illusion (The Grand Illusion). In 1939 Renoir directed La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game). Several movie critics have cited this film as one of the greatest of all-time.

Marcel Carné's Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) was filmed during World War II and released in 1945. The three-hour film was extremely difficult to make due to the conditions during the Nazi occupation. Set in Paris in 1828, the film was voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.

In the critical magazine Cahiers du cinéma founded by André Bazin, critics and lovers of film would discuss film and why it worked. Modern film theory was born there. Additionally, Cahiers critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, etc. went on to make films themselves, creating what was to become known as the French New Wave. Some of the first movies of this new genre was Godard's Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and - the leading movie - Truffaut's The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cent Coups, 1959) starring Jean-Pierre Léaud. From 1959 till 1979 Truffaut followed Léaud's character Antoine Doinel, who falls in love with Christine Darbon (Claude Jade from Hitchcock's Topaz) in Stolen Kisses, marries her in Bed & Board and separates from her in the last Post-New-Wave-Movie Love on the Run. Produced during this period, French comedies with Louis de Funes are a best in French box office: Don't Look Now - We're Being Shot At, La Grande Vadrouille (1966) ( 17 000 000 ) from Gérard Oury with Bourvil, La Folie des grandeur with Yves Montand...

• Catherine Deneuve
• Brigitte Bardot
• Sarah Bernhardt
• Marcel Marceau
• Jeanne Moreau
• Michel Piccoli
• Jacques Tati
• Jean-Louis Trintignant
• Jean-Pierre Léaud
• Mylène Demongeot

• Olivier Assayas
• Jacques Becker
• Robert Bresson
• René Clément
• Claude Chabrol
• Henri-Georges Clouzot
• Jacques Demy
• Arnaud Desplechin
• Jean Eustache
• Philippe Garrel
• Charles Gerdes
• Jean-Luc Godard
• Sacha Guitry
• Claude Lelouch
• Louis Malle
• Chris Marker
• Jean-Pierre Melville
• Maurice Pialat
• Alain Resnais
• Jacques Rivette
• Éric Rohmer
• Claude Sautet
• Coline Serreau
• François Truffaut
• Roger Vadim
• Agnès Varda

• In 1979 La Cage aux Folles is a Golden Globe Award winner with Michel Serrault.
• When Jean-Jacques Beineix made Diva (1981) it sparked the beginning of the 80s wave of French cinema. Movies which followed in its wake included Betty Blue (37°2 le matin, 1986) by Beineix, The Big Blue (Le Grand bleu, 1988) by Luc Besson and The Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, 1991) by Léos Carax.

• In 1991, Jean-Pierre Jeunet made Delicatessen, followed by the 1995 The City of Lost Children (La Cité des enfants perdus). Both films featured a distinctly fantastic style.

• In 1992, Claude Sautet wrote (with Jacques Fieschi) and directed Un Coeur en Hiver, considered by many to be a masterpiece.

• In the mid-1990s, Krzysztof Kieślowski released his Three colors trilogy, Blue, White and Red.

• Mathieu Kassovitz's film Hate (La Haine, 1995) made Vincent Cassel into a star.

• Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997) became a cult favorite.

• In 2001 after a brief stint in Hollywood with the fourth Alien film (Alien: Resurrection), Jeunet returned to France with Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz.

As the advent of television threatened the life of cinema itself, countries were faced with the problem of reviving cinema-going. The French cinema market, and more generally the French-speaking market, is smaller than the English-speaking market, one reason being that some major markets such as the United States are fairly reluctant to import foreign movies. As a consequence, French movies have to be amortized on a relatively small market and thus generally have budgets far lower than their American counterparts, ruling out expensive settings and special effects. Interestingly, the once prospering filmmaking industry of countries such as Italy has now largely been eliminated. The French government has therefore implemented various measures aimed at supporting local film production and movie theaters, including:

• the Canal+ TV channel has a broadcast license imposing that it should support the production of movies;
• some taxes are levied on movies and TV channels for use as subsidies for movie production;
• some tax breaks are given for investment in movie productions;
• the sale of DVDs and videocassettes of movies shown in theaters is prohibited for six months after the showing in theaters, so as to ensure some revenue for movie theaters.

Main article: List of French films

Isabelle Adjani Renée Adorée Anouk Aimée Mathieu Amalric Jean-Hugues Anglade Fanny Ardant Jean-Pierre Aumont Daniel Auteuil Charles Aznavour Emmanuelle Béart Monica Bellucci Jean-Paul Belmondo Claude Berri Juliette Binoche Bernard Blier Bourvil Pierre Brice Charles Boyer Capucine Jean-Pierre Cassel Vincent Cassel Christian Clavier Aurore Clément Clotilde Courau Marion Cotillard Valérie Crunchant Béatrice Dalle Marie-Louise Damien Lili Damita Danielle Darrieux Jamel Debbouze Virginie Déjazet Alain Delon Julie Delpy Catherine Deneuve Gérard Depardieu Patrick Dewaere Françoise Dorléac Mélanie Doutey Romain Duris Jacques Dutronc Jérémie Elkaïm Charles Nicolas Favart Frédéric Febvre Fernandel Lolo Ferrari Sara Forestier Brigitte Fossey Pierre Fresnay Louis de Funès Jean Gabin Jacques Gamblin

Charlotte Gainsbourg Daniel Gélin Judith Godrèche Juliette Gréco Eva Green Georges Guibourg Lucien Germain Guitry Sacha Guitry Jane Hading Johnny Hallyday Françoise Hardy Isabelle Huppert Eva Ionesco Irène Jacob Claude Jade Marlène Jobert Louis Jourdan Louis Jouvet François Jules Edmond Got Valérie Kaprisky Anna Karina Tchéky Karyo Mathieu Kassovitz Salim Kéchiouche Véra Korène Sylvia Kristel Dominique Laffin Karen Lancaume Samuel Le Bihan Jacques Lecoq Virginie Ledoyen Jean Lefebvre Max Linder Vincent Lindon Sylvia Lopez Aurélien Lugné-Poe Jean-Pierre Léaud Virginie Ledoyen Jean Marais Marcel Marceau Sophie Marceau Olivier Martinez Mathilda May Étienne Mélingue Roxane Mesquida Bernard Minet Miou-Miou Mistinguett Yves Montand Jeanne Moreau Michèle Morgan Magali Noël

Philippe Noiret France Nuyen Pascale Ogier Hervé Paillet Pierre Palmade Vanessa Paradis Anne Parillaud François Périer Gérard Philipe Michel Piccoli Roger Pierre Dominique Pinon Marie-France Pisier Perrette Pradier Yvonne Printemps Wojciech Pszoniak Blanche Ravalec Benoît Régent Serge Reggiani Gabrielle Réjane Jean Reno Jean Richard Stéphane Rideau Jean Rochefort Sonia Rolland Viviane Romance Ludivine Sagnier Xavier Saint-Macary Maria Schneider Jean Seberg Emmanuelle Seigner Michel Serrault Delphine Seyrig Simone Signoret Simone Simon Audrey Tautou Bertrand Tavernier Jean-Louis Trintignant Marie Trintignant François Truffaut Gaspard Ulliel Christian Vadim Michael Vartan Lino Ventura Hervé Villechaize Jacques Villeret Marina Vlady Anne Wiazemsky Lambert Wilson Jean Yanne

Jean-Jacques Annaud Olivier Assayas Alexandre Alexeieff Gela Babluani Yaruch Bann Claude Berri Luc Besson Bertrand Blier Catherine Breillat Léos Carax Yves Caumon Jean-Paul Civeyrac Edgardo Cozarinsky

Arnaud Desplechin Jean Eustache Christophe Gans Jean-Luc Godard Michel Gondry Jean-Pierre Jeunet Mathieu Kassovitz Krzysztof Kieslowski Jan Kounen Patrice Leconte Anatole Litvak Louis Malle André Malraux Gaspar Noé

François Ozon Roman Polanski Maurice Pialat Jean Renoir Claude Sautet Coline Serreau Jacques Tati Bertrand Tavernier Francois Truffaut Agnès Varda Francis Veber Andrzej Żuławski

European cinema
Cinema of Albania Cinema of Armenia Cinema of Austria Cinema of Azerbaijan Cinema of Belgium Cinema of Bosnia-Herzegovina Cinema of Bulgaria Cinema of Croatia Cinema of Cyprus Cinema of the Czech Republic Cinema of Denmark Cinema of Estonia Cinema of the Faroe Islands Cinema of Finland Cinema of France Cinema of Georgia Cinema of Germany Cinema of Greece Cinema of Hungary Cinema of Iceland Cinema of Ireland Cinema of Italy Cinema of Latvia Cinema of Lithuania Cinema of Luxembourg Cinema of Montenegro Cinema of the Netherlands Cinema of Norway Cinema of Poland Cinema of Portugal Cinema of Romania Cinema of Russia Cinema of the Russian Empire Cinema of Serbia Cinema of Slovakia Cinema of Slovenia Cinema of the Soviet Union Cinema of Spain Cinema of Sweden Cinema of Switzerland Cinema of Turkey Cinema of the UK Cinema of Ukraine Cinema of Yugoslavia

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• List of French films
• Culture of France
• World cinema
• History of cinema
• List of French language films
• Cinema of Quebec

• european-films.net - Reviews, trailers, interviews, news and previews of new and upcoming European films
• Sacramento French Film Festival - An annual festival featuring the best of new and classic French cinema
• Champagne and popcorn - A blog entirely dedicated to French films released in the U.S
• COL•COA French Film Festival - City of Lights, City of Angels - A Week of French Film Premieres in Hollywood - April 16th - 22nd, 2007

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