André Bazin
Andre Bazin is commonly regarded as the most important or influential writer on cinema
since the end of World War II. An almost mythical figure in the history of film criticism, Bazin was an early
advocate or defender of Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, Italian Neo-Realism and Charlie Chaplin's post-Tramp
films. He was a co-founder of the major French film review Cahiers du cinema, one of the most influential and
long-lasting publications in the history of film-writing.
Bazin and his wife Janine were a major influence on the life and career of critic and
future film-maker Francois Truffaut. Truffautes first full-length feature, Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400
Blows) was dedicated to André Bazin and was one of the films that launched what became known as the French
"Nouvelle Vague" or "New Wave."
Bazin was also a significant influence on many film critics, including Eric Rohmer and
Jean-Luc Godard, each of whom wrote for Cahiers du cin�ma and went on to make films known and appreciated
around the entire world.
This unofficial site is written in homage to André Bazin, his life, his work, and
his positive effects. Although the site is dedicated to André Bazin, other writers, such as, but not
limited to, Louis Delluc, Germaine Dulac, Roger Leenhardt, Georges Sadoul, Alexandre Astruc, Eric Rohmer,
Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Henri Agel, Gilbert Cohen-Seat, Etienne Souriau, Jean
Mitry, Christian Metz, and Serge Daney will be discussed or receive mention on the site itself, as well as
Bazin influences such as Henri Bergson, Andre Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Emmanuel Mounier.
The pages already refer to Bazin writings on directors such as Robert Bresson, Jean
Cocteau, Jacques Tati, Carl Th. Dreyer, Luis Bueuel, Erich von Stroheim, Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto
Rossellini, William Wyler, Vittorio de Sica, Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Jacques Becker, Nicholas Ray,
Federico Fellini, and Jean Vigo. I hope you will find the content helpful, of interest, and not
intimidatingly technical, and that it will help stimulate all of us to learn more about the cinema and ways
of experiencing and discussing it.
I am providing an onsite search engine to facilitate your review of this
site.
I hope to be adding to this site soon. There is now text on the "Bazin Brief Biography"
and "Bazin and Truffaut" pages. There is also text on the "Bazin and Cahiers" page, particularly as to the
pre-Cahiers du Cin�ma magazines, such as L'ecran francaise and La Revue du Cinema, but that page also has
much more to come.
There are many bookcovers from around the world and other images on the "Bazin Gallery"
pages, many articles and books are presently cited on the "Bazin Bibliography" pages, and approximately 200
links appear on the "Bazin-related Links" page. There is much more to come! Please be patient; a lot of work
has been done for this site, but a lot more will be necessary to bring it to a more complete though
preliminary stage.
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