The number and variety of recent film productions still denote a certain French approach to cinema as art and to the special role of the author-director. There is no such exalting and, at the same time, binding phenomenon in France today. The movies, just like literature or music, no matter what school of thought they belong to, are not immune to fads and the collective obsessions of the moment. Then again, one must not forget that movies are just another commodity on the international marketplace. This being said, and the americanization of world movies accepted once and for all, movie-making in France obeys certain rules and requirements that do not exist elsewhere.
Cinema is a key to matters of the spirit, creativity and values of civilization.
A personal way of filming This approach implies legal as well as cultural consequences. The director is at the forefront, above the producer. He is recognized as the film's author and can claim, beyond the strict property rights, an intellectual right on the work itself as any painter, writer or musician. There is nothing of the kind in the United States. Hence the frequently literary style of French movies, their preference for analysis rather than action, and the natural trend towards a study of manners, romantic or theatrical, but always moralistic.