Brutal Intimacy TIM PALMER Brutal �������� ���������� ����� · ����������, ����������� Intimacy ANALYZING CONT EMP ORARY FRENC H CINEMA wesleyan university press Middletown CT 06459 www.wesleyan.edu/wespress © 2011 Tim Palmer All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. 5 4 3 2 1 For Liza This page intentionally left blank contents Acknowledgments ix INTRODUcT ION The Contemporary French Film Ecosystem 1 cHAPTER ONE 5 x 1 Young Cinema and First-Timers 15 cHAPTER TWO The Cinéma du Corps 57 cHAPTER THREE Popular Cinema, Pop-Art Cinema 95 cHAPTER FOUR Feminine Cinema 151 cONcLUSION Instructive Cinephilia Film Literacy and la Fémis 195 APPENDIX “ The 156 Films That You Must Have Seen” The List 217 Notes 223 Select Filmography 245 Select Bibliography 259 Index 265 This page intentionally left blank acknowledgments As I was writing this book, many people cleared my path and helped me find my way. Thank you first of all to the people who agreed to be interviewed, for giving up their time so generously. I am especially grateful to Marina de Van, Lola Doillon, and Julie Lopes-Curval. Thanks to Matthieu-David Cournot for our conversations in person and via email, and especially for the insider’s tour of la Fémis in 2008. Thanks to the staff of the BiFi in Paris, to Delphine Selles and the French Embassy, and to the organizers of the vcu French Film Festival, for giving me access to so many worthy materials. To my colleagues in the Film Studies department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington—Todd Berliner, Nandana Bose, Chip Hackler, Mariana Johnson, Carlos Kase, Jim Kreul, Terry Linehan, Melinda Miles, Dave Mona- han, Glenn Pack, Sue Richardson, André and Shannon Silva—I owe thanks, especially to those who did battle with my more troublesome sections. I must single out the impact of Lou Buttino, my chair during the years in which this book was written, for being such a staunch mentor, energetic advocate, and friend. Also in King Hall, thanks to Megan Helsley and the irreplaceable Pat Torok for all their help in making my professional life so much easier. Thanks to Sophie Williams for her interlibrary loan endeavors, as well as all the Randall librarians and staff who aided my research process. My home institu- tion, the uncw, also supported me many times in America and France, with Charles L. Cahill research grants, summer research funds, and a research re- assignment leave in the fall of 2009. Thanks also to the Office of International Programs for a series of travel grants. Elsewhere, a big thank you to Kelley Conway, for her generous and unfail- ing long-term encouragement on this and many other projects. Thanks also to Mike Benedetti, Whitney Byrd, Sam King, and the American vanguard of Intellect Press, and Charlie Michael, who got his much-deserved Ph.D. while this book was completed. From my years in Madison, thanks to Four Star Video Heaven for the two-year grant; and my officemates Tom Yoshikami, Madhavi Mallapragada, Mobina Hashmi, Chris Sieving, and Jen Cook. I must also acknowledge the intellectual debt I owe to David Bordwell, from my time in Vilas and beyond it. For direct or indirect professional help, thanks to Pascale Borenstein,