Labor of Love

Fyne | Twelve Essays Laurent Ditmann Spelman College Lditmann@spelman.edu Labor of Love Melissa E. Biggs. French Films, 1945-1993: A Critical Filmography ofthe 400 Most Important Releases. McFarland, 1996. (357 pages, $48.50 hardcover) In the hope that those perusing this review can forgive an uncharacteristically nationalistic outburst, this reviewer— unashamedly one of the many French nationals infesting the American Academy—wishes to allow himself this enthusiastic statement: contemporary French cinema is hot. There was a time, not so long ago, when America's scholarly and cultural elites—to say nothing of the general public—measured all French feature films released in this country to the yardstick of the Nouvelle Vague and Cinéma-vérité of the 1960's and 70's. Not necessarily in an unfair manner, many films were assessed and dismissed as pretentious, vacuous, over-politicized, endlessly conversational, devoid ofplot and point, and—in one word— boring to audiences reared in the school of the action-packed blockbuster. To an extent, one may very well wonder whether motion pictures were not the evil twin of the French critical theory of the same 60's and 70's, an era when French Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Deconstruction, and the likes became so prevalent in the training of generations of North American graduate students . While disparaging Foucault, Barthes or Derrida quickly became anathema, any French feature film was, happily , fair game for critical scorching. Not so in the 1990's. While a fair number of France's one time-maitres à penser and their systems are in the process of becoming relics, French cinema, under a new generation of producers and directors, from Véra Belmont to Cédric Klapisch to Yves Angelo, as well as under experienced hands such as Bertrand Tavernier and Claude Sautet, have managed to produce formally remarkable, narratively innovative, and profitably popular pieces of filmmaking. From visually stunning titles such as Caro and Jeunet's Delicatessen to more traditional, but still exquisitely crafted stories (Claude Sautet's Un Cœur en Hiver and Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud come to mind), the renewal has also been felt by American audiences, more than ever ready to experience good old European know-how (for instance in the context ofdynamic French film festivals such as that organized yearly by the University of Virginia). More importantly, Hollywood has also recognized the importance of this infusion of new Gallic blood. In the past five to ten years, along with various British, Chinese, and New Zelandese filmmakers, a number of French directors have made the arduous transition to Tinseltown with varying degrees of success. JeanJacques Annaud, of Seven Years in Tibet, unfortunate fame and Luc Besson, director of the confusing Fifth Element, are major cases in point, as is Jean-Marc Jeunet, author of the aesthetically pleasing Alien Resurrection. Furthermore, there has never been so many American remakes of French films: one could cite here True Lies (alias La Totale), Point ofNo Return (a.k.a. Ia Femme Nikita), or Sommersby (a poor man's Retour de Martin Guerre). French films are indeed hot and consequently, so are French films studies. It should be noted, however, that, short of resorting to the use of French-produced references (one must of course mention Maurice Bessy and Raymond Chirat's monumental but cumbersome L'Histoire du cinéma français: Encyclopédie des films), English language sources are not legion. This is the reason why one should welcome Melissa M. Biggs's French Films, 1945-1993: A Critical Filmography ofthe 400 Most Important Releases, a worthy book which, though not completely flawless, usefully fills a regrettable void. Now a travel editor for Condé Nast Town and Country, Biggs thought of the book as she was completing an MFA at Columbia University. Her short—too shortpreface makes it clear that the book is less a scholarly enterprise than a labor oflove. Alphabetically listed (with English title cross-listing), the four hundred films she has selected are clearly and concisely presented, each entry enumerating year of production, director, producer, screenplay writer, director of photography and other technical adjuncts, and major as well as minor members of the cast. This information is followed by a brief...