French Costume Drama of the 1950s

Susan Hayward is chair of cinema studies and director of film studies at the University of Exeter. She is the author of numerous books on French Cinema including Les Diaboliques (2006), French National Cinema (2005), Simone Signoret: The Star as Cultural Sign (2004) and Luc Besson (1998). She is also the author of the successful Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (2005).

• Part OneContextsSetting out the terrain: Genre and historySetting out the terrain: Technologies, technicians and stars Part TwoBelle Epoque Mania: Paris, the Provinces and BiopicsBelle Epoque films: An overviewParisian society of the Belle Epoque through filmTruth and lies and the pursuit of marriage: Love-intrigues outside ParisMaking li(v)es: Belle Epoque biopics Part ThreeRepresenting History: Epics, Courtesans and Master Narratives 1796-1888Setting the terrain: France 1796-1888Representing History: 1796-1814 Napoléon Bonaparte/NapoleonRestoration-July Monarchy: 1814-1848Epic Grandeur: Part One, PhilanthropistsEpic Grandeur: Part Two, AvengersFrom the Second and the Third Republic: Innovation, Corruption and New IdentitiesThe Second Empire in the PinkThe Second Empire in the RawFrom Empire to Republic: A Modernised France EmergingCensoring the Classics: Bel-Ami Louis Daquin (1954; released 1957) Part FourFairytales, Foxy Women and Swashbuckling HeroesCostume Drama from late-Medieval to the Eighteenth Century: An OverviewMysterious Microcosms: Three FairytalesFoxy Women: Queens, Mistresses and MinxesSwashbuckling Heroes Conclusion