French and Francophone Filmmakers – serie

Claude Autant-Lara: The angry man of French cinema is the first study in English to examine the filmmaker’s career across six decades. Drawing on extensive archival materials, it provides detailed analyses of his major works, including Douce, Le Diable au corps, Le Blé en herbe and La Traversée de Paris. The book situates Autant-Lara within classical French cinema, considering the historical anchorage, stylistic features and gender representation of his films, alongside their critical and popular reception. It also explores how debates around authorship intersect with his teamwork-centred, studio-based practice, contrasting this with the politique des auteurs championed by New Wave critics who disparaged his work. The study further addresses his belligerent public persona and the complex relationship between his filmmaking and the controversial political views he expressed later in life.