Editing Cinema of France (section)

==== 1940s–1970s ====
[[File:Louis Jourdan - Leslie Caron - Maurice Chevalier - Gigi, 1958.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Leslie Caron]] with [[Louis Jourdan]] and [[Maurice Chevalier]] on the set of [[Gigi (1958 film)|''Gigi'']] (1958).]]

In the magazine {{Lang|fr|[[Cahiers du cinéma]]}}, founded by [[André Bazin]] and two other writers in 1951, film critics raised the level of discussion of the cinema, providing a platform for the birth of modern [[film theory]]. Several of the ''Cahiers'' critics, including [[Jean-Luc Godard]], [[François Truffaut]], [[Claude Chabrol]], [[Jacques Rivette]] and [[Éric Rohmer]], went on to make films themselves, creating what was to become known as the [[French New Wave]]. Some of the first films of this new movement were Godard's ''[[Breathless (1960 film)|Breathless]]'' (''À bout de souffle'', 1960), starring [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]], Rivette's ''[[Paris Belongs to Us]]'' (''Paris nous appartient'', 1958 – distributed in 1961), starring [[Jean-Claude Brialy]] and Truffaut's ''[[The 400 Blows]]'' (''Les Quatre Cent Coups'', 1959) starring [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]]. Later works are ''[[Contempt (film)|Contempt]]'' (1963) by Godard starring [[Brigitte Bardot]] and [[Michel Piccoli]] and ''[[Stolen Kisses]]'' starring Léaud and [[Claude Jade]]. Because Truffaut followed the hero of his screen debut, [[Antoine Doinel]], for twenty years, the last post-New-Wave-film is ''[[Love on the Run (1979 film)|Love on the Run]]'' in which his heroes Antoine (Léaud) and Christine (Jade) get divorced.

[[File:Stevan Kragujevic, Alain Delon in Belgrade, 1962 (1).JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Alain Delon]] was known as much for his beauty as for his acting career and holds an enduring status as a leading man in French cinema.]]
After World War II, the French actress [[Leslie Caron]] and the French actor [[Louis Jourdan]] enjoyed success in the United States with several [[Musical film|musical romantic comedies]], notably [[An American in Paris (film)|''An American in Paris'']] (1951) and [[Gigi (1958 film)|''Gigi'']] (1958), based on the 1944 novella of the same name by [[Colette]].

Many contemporaries of Godard and Truffaut followed suit, or achieved international critical acclaim with styles of their own, such as the [[Minimalism|minimalist]] films of [[Robert Bresson]] and [[Jean-Pierre Melville]], the Hitchcockian-like thrillers of [[Henri-Georges Clouzot]], and other New Wave films by [[Agnès Varda]] and [[Alain Resnais]]. The movement, while an inspiration to other national cinemas and unmistakably a direct influence on the future [[New Hollywood]] directors, slowly faded by the end of the 1960s.

[[File:Brigitte Bardot - 1962.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Brigitte Bardot]] was one of the most famous French actresses in the 1960s.]]

During this period, French commercial film also made a name for itself. Immensely popular French comedies with [[Louis de Funès]] topped the French box office. The war comedy ''[[La Grande Vadrouille]]'' (1966), from [[Gérard Oury]] with [[Bourvil]], de Funès and [[Terry-Thomas]], was the most successful film in French theaters for more than 30 years. Another example was ''[[Delusions of Grandeur (film)|La Folie des grandeurs]]'' with [[Yves Montand]]. French cinema also was the birthplace for many subgenres of the [[crime film]], most notably the modern [[caper film]], starting with 1955's ''[[Rififi]]'' by American-born director [[Jules Dassin]] and followed by a large number of serious, noirish heist dramas as well as playful caper comedies throughout the sixties, and the "polar," a typical French blend of [[film noir]] and [[detective fiction]].

In addition, French movie stars began to claim fame abroad as well as at home. Popular actors of the period included [[Brigitte Bardot]], [[Alain Delon]], [[Romy Schneider]], [[Catherine Deneuve]], [[Jeanne Moreau]], [[Simone Signoret]], [[Yves Montand]], [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]] and still [[Jean Gabin]].

[[File:Avant-première L'Amour en fuite Luxembourg Cinéma Marivaux 18 avril 1979 Photo Carlo Hansen Luxembourg.jpg|thumb|right|Director [[François Truffaut]] and actress [[Claude Jade]] at the première of their third common film ''[[Love on the Run (1979 film)|Love on the Run]]'' in Luxembourg, April 1979]]

Since the Sixties and the early Seventies they are completed and followed by [[Michel Piccoli]] and [[Philippe Noiret]] as character actors, [[Annie Girardot]], [[Jean-Louis Trintignant]], [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]], [[Claude Jade]], [[Isabelle Huppert]], [[Anny Duperey]], [[Gérard Depardieu]], [[Patrick Dewaere]], [[Jean-Pierre Cassel]], [[Miou-Miou]], [[Brigitte Fossey]], [[Stéphane Audran]] and [[Isabelle Adjani]]. During the Eightees they are added by a new generation including [[Sophie Marceau]], [[Emmanuelle Béart]], [[Jean-Hugues Anglade]], [[Sabine Azema]], [[Juliette Binoche]] and [[Daniel Auteuil]].

In 1968, the May riots shook France. [[François Truffaut]] had already organised demonstrations in February against [[Henri Langlois]]'s removal as head of the [[Cinémathèque française]] and dedicated his film ''[[Stolen Kisses]]'', which was being made, to Langlois. The Cannes Film Festival is cancelled – on the initiative of Truffaut, Godard and Louis Malle. Jean-Luc Godard no longer works in the commercial film business for years. Political films such as [[Costa-Gavras]]' ''[[Z (1969 film)|Z]]'' celebrate success. Chabrol continues his vivisection of the bourgeoisie (''[[The Unfaithful Wife]]'') and Truffaut explores the possibility of bourgeois marital happiness (''[[Bed and Board (film)|Bed and Board]]'').
While Godard disappears from cinema after the Nouvelle Vague except for a few essays, Truffaut and Chabrol remain the leading directors whose artistic aspects remain commercially successful. Other directors of the 1970s in this effect are [[Bertrand Tavernier]], [[Claude Sautet]], [[Eric Rohmer]], [[Claude Lelouch]], [[Georges Lautner]], [[Jean-Paul Rappeneau]], [[Michel Deville]] [[Yves Boisset]], [[Maurice Pialat]], [[Bertrand Blier]], [[Coline Serreau]] and [[André Téchiné]] in purely entertainment films, it is [[Gérard Oury]] and [[Édouard Molinaro]].

The 1979 film ''[[La Cage aux Folles (film)|La Cage aux Folles]]'' ran for well over a year at the [[Paris Theatre]], an [[arthouse cinema]] in New York City, and was a commercial success at theaters throughout the country, in both urban and rural areas. It won the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film]], and for years it remained the most successful foreign film to be released in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=foreign.htm |title=Foreign Languages Movies |publisher=Boxofficemojo.com |access-date=19 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724001435/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=foreign.htm |archive-date=24 July 2010 }}</ref>