Book excerpt: À la rencontre du cinéma français: analyse, genre, histoire is intended to serve as the core textbook in a wide variety of upper-level undergraduate and graduate French cinema courses. In contrast to content-, theme-, or issue-based approaches to film, Professor Berg stresses “the cinema­tic­ally specific, the warp and fabric of the film itself, the stuff of which it is made.” Sufficient proficiency in French is the sole prerequisite: “No previous back­ground in film studies is assumed, nor is any prior acquain­tance with French cinema. It will help, of course, to like movies, and to have seen quite a few…” (from the preface).