ABSTRACT
Postwar French non-fiction cinema contributed to a rapid shift in the representation and perception of Germany. Considered as a “hereditary enemy” since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, West Germany became in a few years the key partner of France in the construction of Europe. The signing of the Elysée Treaty in 1963 sealed this transformation of what is now referred to as the Franco-German duo or couple. Our chapter traces the role played by non-fiction films (newsreels, documentaries, institutional films) in the construction of the image of the other during the postwar period, in overcoming the fear of a resurgence of Nazism, and in the appearance of a feeling of closeness that gradually turns into empathy and friendship.
