The Cinema of François Ozon

Eclectic is a word often associated with the output of the French director François Ozon. He has directed both 8 Femmes and Potiche, two mainstream comedies featuring a singing Catherine Deneuve, and a series of sober dramas about death, mourning, and transmission, including Under the Sand, Time to Leave, and The Refuge. He likes to examine the connections between fiction and the real world, as in Swimming Pool and In the House, and explore issues of sexuality and gender in films such as Water Drops on Burning Rocks, The New Girlfriend, and Young & Beautiful. Whether his films are in French, English, or even German, like his post-WWI drama, Frantz, Ozon is interested in how his characters learn to stand up for themselves and their own desires. This book explores the craft and influences of one of France’s most prolific talents, paying special attention to the one constant in his work: Ozon’s superb command of narrative and storytelling techniques.