ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a history of popular music in the French cinema from the beginning of the sound era to the present, focusing on the post-war period. It shows how popular music in film is an index of social change, notably in negotiations around the issue of community. Popular music in French cinema is at the heart of negotiations over French national identity, and evidences the slow disintegration of specifically French cultural forms. The musical film is best represented by the films of Rene Clair, such as Sous les toits de Paris, where the popular songs of music-sheet sellers bring people together at street level. The year 1945 is a far too convenient date in French history, and musical forms bring out its artificiality for conceptualizing cultural activity. Music in the film plays a key role in helping the groups to move closer together for the audience.
