Social Alienation in Contemporary French Cinema
11:00 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

For the past 20 years French cinema has become increasingly interested in the phenomenon of marginal existence, individuals who are forced to or choose to live on the fringes of society. Agnès Varda’s Vagabond (1985), for instance, offers the portrait of a female vagabond in the south of France. Matthieu Kassowitz’s Hate (1995) chronicles one day in the violent existence of three young disaffected youth in the Parisian suburb, while, more recently, Eric Zonca’s The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) offers the story of two young women living on the economic and social edge in Lille in the north of France. What do these films tell us about the relationship between individuals, or whole communities, and contemporary society? What do they tell us about ourselves?

Dr. Alan Singerman has taught French language, literature, civilization, and film at Davidson (N.C.) College since 1982. He has studied in Paris, Strasbourg, Freiburg (Germany), and Montpellier, where he received a master’s degree in film studies while directing Davidson’s study abroad program. His most recent work is a textbook on French cinema, Apprentissage du cinéma français. Livre de l’étudiant, which Focus Publishing has now also published in English under the title French Cinema: The Student's Book.