Introduction
1 Resistance: Lucie Aubrac, Bon Voyage, Les Femmes de l’ombre and L’Armée du crime
2 Collaboration: Les Misérables, La Rafle and Elle s’appelait Sarah
3 The dichotomy dilemma : Laissez-passer, Effroyables jardins and Monsieur Batignole
4 Legacy: Un héros très discret, Le Promeneur du Champ-de-Mars, Indigènes and Diplomatie
5 New generations : Belle et Sébastien, Un secret and Les Héritiers
Conclusion
Index

On 16 July 1942, thousands of Jewish residents of Paris were arrested by French police and held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver before being transported to extermination camps across Europe. It was not until 1995, on the fifty-third anniversary of the Vél’ d’Hiv round-up, that the French authorities’ complicity in this event was officially acknowledged, in a speech by newly-elected President Jacques Chirac: ‘France, land of the Enlightenment and of human rights… France, on that day, committed an irreparable act.’

Reframing remembrance argues that Chirac’s speech marked a profound shift in the way French society, and its filmmakers, commemorated the Second World War. Following Henry Rousso’s model (outlined in Le Syndrome de Vichy) and viewing historical films as vectors of memory, the book analyses cinematic representations of the Occupation as expressions of commemoration. It charts the evolution of Second World War stories told on screen and argues that more recent films are concerned with the collective experience of the Occupation, the pedagogical responsibility of historical films and the adopting of a self-reflective approach to their narrative structures. Focusing on films released between 1995 and 2015, the subjects of the study include works by Audiard, Becker, Berri, Bouchareb, Guédiguian, Jugnot, Lelouch, Miller and Paquet-Brenner.

With its catalogue-like structure and clear thematic analysis of key concepts such as resistance, collaboration and legacy, Reframing remembrance is an informative and accessible investigation into French cinema and its treatment of the Second World War.