Series Site
June 4–August 28, 2026
BAMPFA serves up a summertime menu of thrillers and crime films that demonstrate how French cinema has been steeped in the characteristics of film noir through the decades—from the period of Poetic Realism in the 1930s–40s to the Nouvelle Vague beginning in the late 1950s and beyond. Film historian David Thomson joins us to present Jean Renoir’s classic The Rules of the Game; Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le samouraï; and Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou, timed with the launch of Thomson’s latest book, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of the Movies.
François Truffaut was deeply involved in film noir, appreciating the stylistics in playful ways. Laura Truffaut, who was a featured guest during our winter season, is back for an encore: she will present her father’s Shoot the Piano Player and Mississippi Mermaid, two films that explode the concept of noir. The series also features many classics that have been restored digitally and will look glorious on the big screen, such as Bob le flambeur, Elevator to the Gallows, Le cercle rouge, and Rififi. A standout film that is ripe for rediscovery is Bertrand Tavernier’s debut feature, The Clockmaker of St. Paul; and another gem is Georges Lautner’s The Seventh Juror, which is not currently in distribution in the United States.
—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator