Book excerpt: A generation of film goers was brought up on the nouvelle vague, admiring the works of Godard and Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer and Resnais. These film makers are household names to film lovers, but who are their successors? This major study of the contemporary French cinema demonstrates the richness and variety of French art film. It discusses the works of eleven important film makers, many of whom, like Luc Moullet, Philippe Garrel or Andre Techine, will be virtually unknown to non-French viewers. It also looks at the genres in which French art cinema primarily functions - the thriller, comedy, political and documentary cinema, the history film and women's cinema. The study shows how cinema has played a vital role in the social and cultural debates that have taken place in France since 1968: What has become of the working class? What is wrong with the family? How are women oppressed? What is meant by popular culture? Can the mass media be trusted? Is American cultural domination inevitable? The question of representation is of vital concern in our image-dominated societies. This book demonstrates that French film makers have made a tremendous contribution to changing our ways of seeing and our perception of reality, and that their work is central to maintaining an independent audio-visual culture in Europe.