Stardom in Postwar France (review)

Within French studies, approaches aligned broadly with star studies have been considered in relation to cinema and this volume thus marks a welcome extension of such critical discourse to other domains of cultural production and representation. Individual chapters address a range of iconic case studies: Bardot, Hallyday, Poulidor, Godard, Lévi-Strauss, Sagan and de Gaulle; yet overall coherence is assured by the excellent Introduction, which asserts the importance of the temporal parameters of the volume (the 1950s and 1960s), and the retention of this focus by contributors. The publication of seminal texts on the myths and constructions of popular culture, is a moment explored in Susan Weiner's extremely lucid, comparative exposition of the approaches of Barthes and Morin to stardom and the wider implications of the latter's inclusion of the critic in the shared pleasures of consuming popular culture. An alignment with the important ambiguities of such shared pleasure is at the heart of Diana Holmes' fascinating chapter on Bardot which, through detailed attention to filmic representation and engagement with the gender politics of this period, contests simplistic readings of reflected sexual 'freedoms' to add convincing, new arguments. Models of masculinity are important to Chris Tinker's study of the mutations of Hallyday's star identity, and this perceptive analysis goes beyond existing accounts to discuss the central impact of changes in sound and image technologies. Whilst Tinker reveals Hallyday's ambiguous reliance on Presley's stardom, Philip Dine's illuminating and entertaining analysis of Poulidor explores the centrality to his star identity of remaining 'l'éternel second' (p. 97) in the context of the self-referential mythologies of the Tour de France. Through rigorous research on the role of the politique des auteurs and cinema magazines, Alison Smith discusses the construction of Godard as brand to a consumer audience unfamiliar with his cinematic output and draws insightful conclusions on the tension between such reassuring contexts and Godard's later more radical political positions. The stardom of the public auteur is addressed by Heather Lloyd's extremely engaging piece on Sagan which sets her profile as 'charmant petit monstre' (p. 181) alongside the more complex self-awareness of her status as cultural commodity. The intellectual as star is represented here by Lévi-Strauss. Christopher Johnson's account of the changing profile of this 'maître penseur' remains both detailed and accessible yet, in comparison to other chapters, maintains an uneven focus on the volume's wider aims. In the last chapter, dedicated to de Gaulle and the 'personalisation of leadership' (p. 199), John Gaffney reveals a reliance on the coexistence of modern and chivalric traditions at the heart of the constructed uniqueness of de Gaulle's stardom, whilst also analysing the extent to which his use of television and constitutional reforms set the scene for the assured stardom of future Presidents. This strong collection, through its insistence on the import of stardom beyond an array of one-dimensional incarnations of a zeitgeist to consider complex embodiments of specific contemporary tensions and dynamics, succeeds in expanding successfully the consideration of star identities in French studies and provides both fascinating case studies and valuable models for future analysis.