Cahiers du Cinema: 1969-72: The Politics of Representation

Cahiers du Cinema is famous as the critical journal of the French "New Wave." Fran?ois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and many other major directors wrote for it in the 1950s and '60s. Its early years have understandably received a lot of attention, but, as Nick Browne points out in his introduction to this volume, Cahiers du Cinema published tremendously important articles even after its legendary heyday. The pieces reprinted here, most of them translated into English for the first time, document the changes in French film theory and criticism after the events of May 1968. Between 1969 and 1972, Cahiers du Cinema became a radical Marxist journal. Its contributors interpreted the political ideology of films and filmmaking even as they continued to debate the work of major international directors. Included here are theoretical pieces as well as fresh assessments of films by Sergei Eisenstein, Josef von Sternberg, Luchino Visconti, George Cukor, and many others.