Stars and stardom in French cinema / Ginette Vincendeau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vincendeau, Ginette, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--France--History.

Motion pictures.

Motion picture actors and actresses.

France.

History.

Motion picture actors and actresses--France.

Physical Description:

xii, 275 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Continuum, 2000.

Summary:

When people think of film stars, they think of Hollywood. Yet, second only to America, French cinema has produced the most substantial galaxy of stars to achieve world fame in their national films. Top French stars are every bit as glamorous and charismatic as their American counterparts, but they are also different from their rivals and opposites, especially in the freedom they have to control their own images and in the ways they straddle mainstream and auteur cinema.

This fascinating book, written by a leading authority on French cinema, analyses for the first time the French 'star system' and provides brilliant in-depth studies of the major popular stars of the French cinema: Max Linder, Jean Gabin, Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau and the stars of the New Wave, Louis de Funes, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu and Juliette Binoche. Stars and Stardom in French Cinema analyses these stars' images and performance styles in the context of the French film industry and in relation to French culture and society.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The French Star System 1

Chapter 2 Max Linder: the world's first film star 42

Chapter 3 Jean Gabin: from working-class hero to godfather 59

Chapter 4 Brigitte Bardot: the old and the new: what Bardot meant to 1950s France 82

Chapter 5 Jeanne Moreau and the Actresses of the New Wave: New Wave, new stars 110

Chapter 6 Louis de Funes: le gendarme et les cinephiles 136

Chapter 7 Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon: one smiles, the other doesn't 158

Chapter 8 Catherine Deneuve: from ice maiden to living divinity 196

Chapter 9 Gerard Depardieu: the axiom of contemporary French cinema 215

Chapter 10 Juliette Binoche: the face of neo-romanticism 241.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-262) and index.

ISBN:

0826447309

0826447317

OCLC:

45664611