"Night and Fog": A Film in History

Description

An engrossing account of Alain Resnais's incomparable film, this book documents how a film that began as a cinematic spin-off of an educational exhibition became a significant step in the building of a collective consciousness of the tragedy of World War II. The book offers a unique interpretation of the interworking of biography, history, politics, and film in one cultural moment.

Sylvie Lindeperg is professor of history at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. She is the author of many books in French, including Les Ecrans de l'ombre: La Seconde Guerre mondiale dans le cinema francais (1944-1969). Tom Mes is the author of many books on Japanese film and cotranslator of Cinema and the Shoah. Jean-Michel Frodon is a journalist, critic, and historian of cinema.

"I do not hesitate to call Sylvie Lindeperg's marvelously detailed study "Night and Fog": A Film in History a major work of contemporary film historical scholarship. . . . [It] affords genuinely original historical and aesthetic insights . . . in finely wrought prose."-Stuart Liebman, Cineaste "The ultimate authoritative source on Alain Resnais' groundbreaking Holocaust film Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard, 1955). [Lindeperg's] research is remarkable, and the book will be invaluable to those working in European history as well as film. This volume does remarkable service to Night and Fog, a film that in the immediate aftermath of the war challenged viewers to remember the victims of the Holocaust."-CHOICE "Night and Fog gave me a context, a literal frame of art through which I could watch the unwatchable. Slyvie Lindeperg's book does something similar for the film itself, and readers willing to tackle it and the film will find the effort well rewarded."-Documentary Magazine "The definitive study of Night and Fog... Historians should also appreciate it as an excellent example of the type of historical work close attention to film makes possible."-Journal of Modern History "Sylvie Lindeperg's masterful Night and Fog: A Film in History is the definitive work of reference on Resnais's classic documentary. We are fortunate to have an excellent English translation of this important and beautifully written French work."-H-France Reviews