In this subject students are introduced to French history from the French Revolution to the First World War through the medium of cinema. All lectures, tutorials and readings will be in English. Students majoring in French will attend a separate stream of tutorials in French and complete their written work in French language. In the subject, students are challenged to think about the ways in which we visualize and stage the past; how national memory is remade through the "historical" film; and how different cinematic techniques open up new ways of approaching history. Students will investigate the fault lines of race, class and gender in the nineteenth century; explore the nature of the French colonial project and the experience of empire; and analyse the cultural practices of "Frenchness" that helped to shape a Republican consensus in modern France, including the practice of cinema itself.

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