Abstract
Stemming from an AHRC-funded project on French cinema in Britain since the 1930s, this chapter focuses on the distribution and exhibition strategies put in place for French films in the era of the UK Film Council. It is informed by research on British distribution and exhibition such as Paul McDonald’s work demonstrating the role of programming in shaping perceptions of films and Paul Grainge’s on branding. It incorporates research on the marketing of films such as that of Mark Betz on European Art cinema, as well as research on home viewing contexts, primarily through the works of Barbara Klinger. It stakes new ground in examining how marketing, programming and packaging shape perceptions not merely of films, but of a whole national cinema, encompassing the different contexts of film exhibition from festivals to home viewing in twenty-first century Britain.
Britain is a difficult market for foreign-language films, within which French cinema enjoys a relatively privileged position. Distributors consider it to have an established core audience, leading to greater stability in the number of films released. This nevertheless generates expectations which then influence distributors’ understanding of which types of French films are likely to succeed in Britain, feeding in turn a vicious circle leading to the calcification of the image of French cinema in Britain along two main strands: auteur and genre.
Michael Haneke’s Hidden / Caché (2005) provides a case study allowing this chapter to demonstrate how both of these tropes are used to shape expectations of the film, whilst exposing the problematic framing imposed by national cinema discourses when dealing with transnational auteurs such as Haneke. An analysis of the programming patterns of the film and a close examination of its paratextual surround reveal how different marketing strategies in the theatrical and in the subsequent DVD releases renegotiate the generic identity of the film and reframe its narrative. The example of Hidden further epitomises how, through the re-packaging of films notably with DVD box sets, distributors might attempt to conciliate two concepts often considered antithetic: foreign-language films and commercial appeal.
Britain is a difficult market for foreign-language films, within which French cinema enjoys a relatively privileged position. Distributors consider it to have an established core audience, leading to greater stability in the number of films released. This nevertheless generates expectations which then influence distributors’ understanding of which types of French films are likely to succeed in Britain, feeding in turn a vicious circle leading to the calcification of the image of French cinema in Britain along two main strands: auteur and genre.
Michael Haneke’s Hidden / Caché (2005) provides a case study allowing this chapter to demonstrate how both of these tropes are used to shape expectations of the film, whilst exposing the problematic framing imposed by national cinema discourses when dealing with transnational auteurs such as Haneke. An analysis of the programming patterns of the film and a close examination of its paratextual surround reveal how different marketing strategies in the theatrical and in the subsequent DVD releases renegotiate the generic identity of the film and reframe its narrative. The example of Hidden further epitomises how, through the re-packaging of films notably with DVD box sets, distributors might attempt to conciliate two concepts often considered antithetic: foreign-language films and commercial appeal.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age |
| Subtitle of host publication | Exploring Screen Narratives |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Pages | 190-204 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-137-38815-5 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-137-38815-5 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
