The films that nobody watches.

last updated 8 January 2015

France

Thomas Sotinel

What has happened to French moviegoers? asked Thomas Sotinel in Paris’ Le Monde. They used to line up to see fine French art-house films, films d’auteur. Last year, though, three of the five films nominated for the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize drew fewer than 150,000 viewers. The blockbuster movies were mostly American imports. Part of the reason is marketing. The popular commercial films tend to be co-produced by television stations, which then promote them on talk shows and even on the news. Independent films, by contrast, rely on critics’ reviews in the major papers—and we all know that fewer and fewer people even get a daily newspaper. There’s one route left for indies: Cast bigger stars. “When Gerard Depardieu is in a film, it’s usually a hit.” But that solution isn’t perfect, since stars eat up a film’s budget. Evidently, “the system that allowed the two faces of cinema—art and industry—to prosper in France is breaking down.” And a new system, perhaps based on new modes of distribution, such as video on demand, isn’t yet viable. “The year 2007 doesn’t look good.”