A provocative rethinking of national cinema, authorship, and the discipline of film studies

Examining European art films of the 1950s and 1960s, Mark Betz argues that it is time for film analysis to move beyond prevailing New Wave historiography, mired in outdated notions of nationalism and dragged down by decades of auteurist criticism. Focusing on the cinemas of France and Italy, Betz reveals how the flowering of European art films in the postwar era is inseparable from the complex historical and political frameworks of the time.

Remapping the practices and paradigms of film history, Beyond the Subtitle calls into question the concept of national cinema and explores the largely neglected subjects of subtitling, dubbing, and art film coproductions. Betz also analyzes the iconic figure of the “wandering woman,” or flanêuse, who appears in many of the films under consideration, in light of the postwar boom, modernization, and decolonization. Finally, he rescues the omnibus films to show the need for a new film studies approach.

Beyond the Subtitle demonstrates how the geopolitical and institutional contexts that gave rise to these films and to academic film studies should be incorporated into future analysis in order to gain new insight into debates on race, gender, and imperialism.