Journeys Through French Cinema

Released: 2017-09-16

Runtime: 56 minutes

Episode Overview

In the first episode of this expansive series, Bertrand Tavernier discusses the directors who have both influenced him personally and impacted French Cinema at large. The journey begins with Jean Grémillon, whose film LE CIEL EST À VOUS (1944) Tavernier first saw at age 17 and was immediately smitten. Still under-appreciated outside of France, Tavernier extols the virtues of Grémillon’s emotional realism and stakes out a place for him in the canon as an unsung master. Next, he surveys the ouevre of Max Ophüls—from his American-made titles THE EXILE and THE RECKLESS MOMENT to beloved classics like LA RONDE and LOLA MONTES - before concluding with a discussion of Henri Decoin, whom Tavernier admires for his feminist-leaning narratives like LA VERITÉ SUR BÉBÉ DONGE and his noteworthy collaborations with composers.

Series Overview

My Journey Through French Cinema (2017), Bertrand Tavernier’s César-nominated three-and-a-half-hour tour through French film history, was too short to introduce audiences to all that he wanted to share. In this new eight-part series (8x55min), the acclaimed director of such films as Coup de Torchon and ‘Round Midnight guides us through a roster of filmmakers both influential and forgotten, explores how his country’s cinema was shaped by the German occupation and changed again through the New Wave, spotlights little-known female filmmakers, and more. Subjects include: René Clément, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Julien Duvivier, Henri Decoin, Claude Autant-Lara, as well as composers who made movie music an art in and of itself, far from the Hollywood spotlight.