Remembering the Occupation in French Film: National Identity in Postwar Europe (Studies in European Culture and History)

When collective memory is a source of national debate, the public representation of history quickly becomes a locus of controversy and ideological struggle. Remembering the Occupation in French Film explores French identity as it is articulated through cultural representations of Occupied France in French film.  This work shows how French film has allowed for a public airing of current concerns through the lens of memory’s recreations of the Occupation.  By focusing on the representation of women as the symbol of a collective identity crisis, the author links France’s traditional female icon, Marianne, to the multiple unresolved ambiguities that have continued to plague France’s historical reckoning with the war.