To a large extent, the story of French filmmaking is the story of moviemaking. From the earliest flickering images of the late nineteenth century through the silent era, Surrealist influences, the Nazi Occupation, the glories of the New Wave, the rebirth of the industry in the 1990s with the exception culturelle, and the present, Rémi Lanzoni examines a considerable number of the world's most beloved films. Building upon his 2004 best-selling edition, the second edition of French Cinema maintains the chronological analysis, factual reliability, ease of use, and accessible prose, while at once concentrating more on the current generation of female directors, mainstream productions such as The Artist and The Intouchables, and the emergence of minority filmmakers (Beur cinema). Fournier Lanzoni (Wake Forest) updates the first edition of this model history of French cinema (CH, Sep'03, 41-0198) with an 84-page chapter titled 'The New Millennium.' As in the earlier edition, he summarizes the changing social, political, industrial, and technical contexts of the films. After a review of pioneering French women directors, he focuses on the controversial work of Catherine Breillat and Virginie Despentes, and on Noémie Lvovaky's less steamy and more complex narratives. Especially timely is his introduction to beur cinema (i.e., work by second-generation filmmakers of Maghrebi descent), politically aware examinations of France's colonial past and its present citizens' tension between integration and ethnic diversity. He surveys Abdellatif Kechiche's dramas of the banlieue and Rachid Bouchareb's reworking of French history. Fournier Lanzoni concludes with the nation's reemergence on the international scene, as exemplified by Michel Hazanavicius's Oscar-winning silent The Artist. Updated appendixes include France's Cannes award winners, the César Awards, box office toppers, and the country's successes at the Oscars. This second edition replaces the first. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.