Francois Truffaut

"In "Closely Watched Films revered Film teacher Marilyn Fabe brings to life on the page the many lessons proffered in her legendary courses at U.C. Berkeley, in which she has taught successive generations of film students the art, and the magic, of film."--Linda Williams, Director of Film Studies, University of California, Berkeley

"I am deeply impressed by this book, and in awe of its scope. It imparts its wisdom about film with such seeming effortlessness, illuminating the ways that films work. "Closely Watched Films is very lucidly and smoothly crafted, and Fabe writes with astonishing ease about a group of very complex and heterogeneous films. It is a extremely informed book and an extraordinary achievement."--Madelon Sprengnether, University of Minnesota, author of "Crying at the Movies

"Fills a real need, educating the literate moviegoer into an awareness of how film works. Writing in a clear prose that is nevertheless based on a complex awareness of film history, criticism, and technique, Fabe takes us through the diverse film strategies of exemplary classic directors who have significantly shaped the history of film and made it into a potent cultural force. At the same time, she provocatively elaborates the political and aesthetic concerns of a number of contemporary films to indicate the new directions in today's motion pictures."--Claire Kahane, SUNY-Buffalo, author of "Passions of the Voice: Hysteria, Narrative, and the Figure of the speaking Woman, 1850-1915

"This text fills a real niche--the scholarship is superior, and Fabe approaches her material in an original and stimulating manner. The writing is fluid and down to earth, yet also addresses relevant issues."--TimShively, De Anza College

The big gamblers who spend millions per film as well as the colorful low-budget kings provide an intriguing look at the mechanics of filmmaking. Choosing and preparing the screenplay, working with actors and crew, dealing with the distributor, and advice to young filmmakers--all are covered in this book's illuminating interviews.

French Cinema in the 1980s is a set of critical essays on films which help to focus on a particular theme whose roots are in the 1970s, and which extends beyond the 1980s into the 1990s: the crisis of masculinity in contemporary French culture, and its interrelationship with nostalgia. After an introduction which gives a brief overview both of the crisis in the French film industry during the 1980s, and of the socio-political crisis of masculinity in the wake of 1970s feminism, there are three sections: the retro-nostalgic film, which emerged during the 1980s, and two more popular genres, the polar, or police thriller, and the comic film. Each section begins with a brief preface which highlights the major issues for the genre during the 1980s. The films discussed have all been distributed outside France, and are in many cases commercially available. The nostalgia section covers IUn amour de Swann, Un dimanche à la campagne, Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources, and Coup de foudre. The section on the police thriller begins with Truffaut's last film, Vivement dimanche!, and includes a chapter on three thrillers by a variety of directors (La Balance, Police, Détective). Its main focus, however, is on thrillers by the directors of the cinéma du look (Diva, Subway, Mauvais sang). The last section on the comic film looks at three films which were successful both in France and abroad: Trois hommes et un couffin (remade in Hollywood as Three Men and a Baby), La Vie est un long fleuve tranquille and, finally, Depardieu's gamble at cross-dressing, Tenue de soirée.

French Cultural Studies: An Introduction challenges received theories about France and French culture. Taking into account the major changes which have been taking place in French Studies (with the focus shifting to a broader range of cultural forms), the Introduction adopts an interdisciplinary approach in its wide-ranging study of French culture and society since 1870, and suggests new ways of looking at France and the French-speaking world through the ideas, images, and narratives of more than a century of turbulent history and political change.