French contemporary cinema
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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As the advent of television threatened the life of cinema itself, countries were faced with the problem of reviving cinema-going. The French cinema market, and more generally the French-speaking market, is smaller than the English-speaking market, one reason being that some major markets such as the United States are fairly reluctant to import foreign movies. As a consequence, French movies have to be amortized on a relatively small market and thus generally have budgets far lower than their American counterparts, ruling out expensive settings and special effects. Interestingly, the once prospering filmmaking industry of countries such as Italy has now largely been eliminated. The French government has therefore implemented various measures aimed at supporting local film production and movie theaters, including:
- the Canal+ TV channel has a broadcast license imposing that it should support the production of movies;
- some taxes are levied on movies and TV channels for use as subsidies for movie production;
- some tax breaks are given for investment in movie productions;
- the sale of DVDs and videocassettes of movies shown in theaters is prohibited for six months after the showing in theaters, so as to ensure some revenue for movie theaters.
2000s
- In 2001 after a brief stint in Hollywood, Jean-Pierre Jeunet returned to France with Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain) starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. Amélie became the highest-grossing French-language film in the United States ever.
- In 2002, Brotherhood of the Wolf became the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades; this $29 million-budgeted French film also went on grossing over $70 million in theaters worldwide.
- In 2008, Marion Cotillard won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in La Vie en Rose, as legendary French singer Edith Piaf. It was the first Academy Award in history given for a French language performance. La Vie en Rose, which won a record two Academy Awards and four BAFTAs for the French cinema, also became the third-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last two decades. She also became the first ever French actress to win a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She became the first female and second person to win both an Academy Award and César Award for the same performance.
- 25 May 2008 – The first French victory at the Cannes Film Festival for 21 years, after the acclaimed classroom drama Entre les murs (The Class) won the Palme d'Or for best feature.
- The rural comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis attracted over 20 million visitors in 2008, the first French film to do so. Its US$ 193 million gross in France alone puts it just behind Titanic as the most successful film of all time in French theaters, and is arguably the highest any film has ever made in a single country outside the U.S. (perhaps only by the Japanese animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which made US$ 153 million in Japan alone in the same year).
- Throughout the decade, following in the footsteps of Jean-Pierre Jeunet (with 1997's Alien Ressurection) and Luc Besson (1997, The Fifth Element, The Transporter) in the nineties, several French directors made international productions, often in the action genre, such as Gérard Pirès (Riders, 2002), Pitof (Catwoman), Jean-François Richet (Assault of Precinct 13), Florent Emilio Siri (Hostage, 2006), Christophe Gans (Silent Hill), Mathieu Kassovitz (Babylon A.D.), Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk), Alexandre Aja (Mirrors) and Pierre Morel (Taken, 2008), which was an English language French production with international stars.
