French comedy films occupy a specific cultural space and are influenced by national traditions and shared cultural references, but at the same time they have always been difficult to classify. This book investigates the different methods in which these comedies textually inscribed and exemplified a variety of cultural and historical landmarks.
Author(s): R. Lanzoni
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 274
Cover
French Comedy on Screen
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Theories of Comedy
The Registers of Film Comedy
Character Comedies
Verbal Comedies
Self-deprecating Humor
Gesture Comedies/Slapstick/Burlesque
Comedies of the absurd
Comedies of Manners
Situational Comedies
Grotesque Comedies
Parodies
Satires
Irony
Farce
Chapter 1: The Early Comedies of the Sound Era
I. Forerunner Comedies in the 1930s: Chansonniers and Musical Comedies
Spectatorship and Genre: The Question of Filmed Theater
Emblematic Transfers from Stage to Screen
Marcel Pagnol versus René Clair
II. From Military Vaudeville to Comique Troupier
Censorship and Military Vaudeville
The Genre of an Epoque: The Comique Troupier
III. Sacha Guitry and the Auteur Theory
The Voice-Over in Question
IV. Period Comedies: When Humor Challenged History
Money, Greed, and Corruption as Comic Device
V. Regional Comedies: The Provence of Marcel Pagnol
The Role of Dialogues: Form and Content
The Essence of Comedy
Pagnol: Humanist or Naturalist?
VI. Verbal Comedy Meets Parisian Slang
Argot, Javanais, and Parisian Slang
Chapter 2: The Comedies of Postwar France
I. Social Satires in Postwar France
Censorship and Comedies
II. Comedies and World War II
The Ocupation’s Quotidian Through Autant-Lara’s Comic Lens
Situational Comedies: Henri Verneuil’s War Tales
War Comedy Makes History at the Box Office
III. Gangster Comedies as Popular Cinema
French Film Noir Parody
IV. From Regional to National Stardom: The Case of Fernandel
V. Jacques Tati and Burlesque Humor
Revisiting France’s Hasted Modernization: Satire or Parody?
Chapter 3: Comedy in the Modern Era
I. The Spirit of the Times: The 1970s and 1980s
II. The Early Development of Race-Based Satires
The Mad Adventures of Race in French Comedy
African Immigration in French Comedy
III. Comedies on Nonconformity and Homosexuality
Provocation, Cynicism, and Unlimited Audacity: The Comedy According to Bertrand Blier
IV. Gender Roles and Comedies of Manners
V. The Newcomers of French Comedy: Le Splendide
VI. When Comedy Challenges French Institutions
VII. Pierre Richard and the Renewal of Burlesque Comedy
Chapter 4: French Comedy Today
I. Communitarian Humor: Ethnic Diversity and Cinematic Space
Cinéma de Banlieue
Stand-Up Comedy
Ethnic Comedy
Self-Deprecating Jewish Humor
The Ultimate Ethnic Comedy: Les Kaïra
II. From Stand-Up to Big Screen Comedy: Les Inconnus’ Social Satire
III. Screening New Sexual Encounters: Gazon Maudit
IV. Comedy as a Social Phenomenon
The Triumphant Return of Regional Comedies
Appendix: Box Office in France (in Million Entrances)
Notes
Introduction
I The Early Comedies of the Sound Era
2 The Comedies of Postwar France
3 Comedy in the Modern Era
4 French Comedy Today
Bibliography
Index
