French Costume Drama of the 1950s

Part One
Contexts
Setting out the terrain: Genre and history
Setting out the terrain: Technologies, technicians and stars

Part Two

Belle Epoque Mania: Paris, the Provinces and Biopics
Belle Epoque films: An overview
Parisian society of the Belle Epoque through film
Truth and lies and the pursuit of marriage: Love-intrigues outside Paris
Making li(v)es: Belle Epoque biopics

Part Three

Representing History: Epics, Courtesans and Master Narratives 1796-1888
Setting the terrain: France 1796-1888
Representing History: 1796-1814 Napoleon Bonaparte/Napoleon
Restoration-July Monarchy: 1814-1848
Epic Grandeur: Part One, Philanthropists
Epic Grandeur: Part Two, Avengers
From the Second and the Third Republic: Innovation, Corruption and New Identities
The Second Empire in the Pink
The Second Empire in the Raw
From Empire to Republic: A Modernised France Emerging
Censoring the Classics: Bel-Ami Louis Daquin (1954; released 1957)

Part Four

Fairytales, Foxy Women and Swashbuckling Heroes
Costume Drama from late-Medieval to the Eighteenth Century: An Overview
Mysterious Microcosms: Three Fairytales
Foxy Women: Queens, Mistresses and Minxes
Swashbuckling Heroes

Conclusion