Contemporary and Streaming
French Film & Television
Course 1 · Chapter 9 · Contemporary Cinema & the Streaming Era
The last thirty years brought two changes at once. French cinema grew more varied, with new voices from the suburbs, from women directors and from the regions, and the way people watch changed completely, as streaming platforms arrived. French television, long thought of as parochial, produced series that sold abroad. This chapter surveys the period and then looks at the argument that streaming reopened: who pays for national film and television when the viewer is on a global service. Because it covers recent years, many details here are the most likely to need checking, and are marked accordingly.
Cinema Since the 1990s
| Film | Director | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| La Haine (1995) | Mathieu Kassovitz | A black-and-white film about three young men in a Paris suburb after a night of riots; a landmark for films about the banlieue (check) |
| Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | A whimsical Montmartre romance that was a huge hit at home and abroad; also criticised for an idealised picture of Paris (check) |
| Entre les murs (The Class, 2008) | Laurent Cantet | A school drama that won the Palme d'Or at Cannes (check) |
| The Artist (2011) | Michel Hazanavicius | A silent film about the arrival of sound, which won the best picture Oscar (check) |
| Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall, 2023) | Justine Triet | A courtroom drama that won the Palme d'Or, making Triet one of very few women to win it (check) |
The Banlieue and Other New Voices
For much of the period, the suburbs of French cities, the banlieues, became a subject in their own right, after La Haine. Directors with roots in these areas, among them Ladj Ly with Les Misérables (2019), made films from the inside (check). Women directors, including Claire Denis, Agnès Varda in her later career (Chapter 5), Céline Sciamma and Julia Ducournau, also came to the front (check). Ducournau's Titane won the Palme d'Or in 2021 (check). The range runs from social realism to horror.
Two Kinds of Success
- Crowd-pleasers. The comedies of Chapter 6 still dominate the home box office, with Intouchables (2011) as the model.
- Festival and critical films. A steady flow of auteur films keeps France at the centre of the festival circuit.
The two tracks introduced in Chapter 6 are still there, and the state helps both (Chapter 10).
Television Goes Global
French drama was long seen as hard to sell abroad. Since the 2000s some series travelled well, helped by pay channels, premium budgets and streaming.
- Engrenages (Spiral, from 2005). A gritty Paris police and legal drama on Canal+ that built a following abroad and ran for many seasons (check).
- Dix pour cent (Call My Agent!, from 2015). A comedy-drama about a Paris talent agency, with real film stars playing versions of themselves. It was an international hit and sparked remakes in other countries (check).
- Lupin (2021). A Netflix series with Omar Sy as a modern gentleman thief inspired by Maurice Leblanc's character. It drew a very large international audience (check).
Lupin is a useful example because it is French in setting, language and source, yet it was financed and distributed by an American company. Whether it counts as French television is a live question.
Streaming and the Quota Debate
When global platforms such as Netflix and Amazon arrived in France in the 2010s, they fell outside the old system, in which broadcasters had to invest in French films and show quotas of them (Chapter 8). The question was whether foreign streamers should be forced to join in.
The French position
Anyone who earns money from French viewers should help to fund French and European work, and offer a share of it in their catalogues. A European Union rule on audiovisual services allowed national obligations of this kind (check).
The platform position
Platforms argued for flexibility, noting that they also pay for local productions and reach a worldwide audience. In practice France negotiated rules requiring investment, and agreements were reached with platforms (check the details).
The old cinema trade
Cinema owners and producers also fought over the delay, the "window", between a film's cinema release and its appearance on streaming, since French rules traditionally set a long wait (check).
Exercises
Name three films from the chapter with their directors, and say what each shows about French cinema since the 1990s.
Describe the three series in the chapter and explain why Lupin raises the question of what counts as French television.
Explain the quota debate over streaming in terms of the French position and the platform position, and say how it repeats the Blum-Byrnes argument.
Quick Reference
- Films: La Haine (1995), Amélie (2001), The Class (2008), The Artist (2011), Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
- New voices: the banlieue, women directors
- Series: Engrenages, Dix pour cent, Lupin
- Streaming: platforms outside the old quota system; investment rules negotiated
- The thread: Blum-Byrnes (1946) to streaming quotas
- Check: all awards, dates and recent rules
Next chapter: Capstone: Cinema as a National Argument, which pulls the whole course together.