French Studies 351 - Contemporary French Cinema

After the New Wave, contemporary French cinema from the 1980s to the present has not ceased to interrogate the transformations at work in France's recent history, from the periods of occupation and decolonization to societal issues such as suburban life and culture, immigration, and the French educational system. In a series of films ranging from thrillers to comedies, this course will focus on how these issues reflect economic realities, national obsessions, and social transformations. By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze contemporary French films and the different genres to which they belong, before identifying the values conveyed by these cultural productions, and critically discussing these same films using the technical vocabulary of film analysis.