Synopsis
Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.
Episodes
1E1Les inventeurs ou la rencontre des photographes et des fantômesClaude-Jean Philippe sees the invention of cinema as the meeting of photographers and ghosts. This film chronologically follows the progress of two inventions: Joseph Plateau's discovery of the persistence of retinal images, the perfection of his phenakitiscope, and Nieppe's invention of photography. The Lumière brothers' cinematograph is the culmination of this double discovery.2E2Lumière et le cinématographe3E3Méliès ou le génie de la surprise4E4Le cinéma forain5E5Episode 56E6Episode 67E7Episode 78E8Episode 89E9Episode 910E10Episode 1011E11Episode 1112E12Episode 1213E13Les Années 20: De l'impressionnisme au cinéma purCinema owes a lot to this experimental laboratory that was the French avant-garde between 1919 and 1924. Based on this observation by Henri Langlois, Claude-Jean Philippe shows that these filmmakers (Louis Delluc, Marcel L'Herbier) accused their difference, like the impressionist group. On the other hand, at the end of the 1920s, everyone dreamed of a "pure cinema".
Cast
