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Director: Jean-Baptiste Péretié

Authors: Jean-Baptiste Péretié, Olivier de Bannes

Executive Producer: O2B Films, Olivier de Bannes

Broadcaster: Canal +

Release year: 2015

Running time : 80 minutes

International seller: APC

FRENCH BASHING

Watch any Hollywood movie, series or cartoon; switch on Fox News; open a British tabloid or The Economist; and you’ll quickly run into “French bashing.” Those usual, delightful French stereotypes: the French are rude, ungrateful, and their lifestyle is totally out of sync with the modern world.

These stereotypes — particularly present in US and British media and politics— seem to come to the fore especially whenever a diplomatic crisis (the Iraq conflict in 2003) or a political sex scandal (the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011) occurs.

Where do these prejudices come from? What is this urge to portray France as a minor player on the international scene? To bad-mouth French society as a socioeconomic counter-model? To portray French values as corrupt and immoral? What is the role of French bashing in international relations? How is it used in domestic politics in the US and the UK? And finally, what are its consequences?

As French Bashing discovers, the “soft power” of Hollywood ensures French stereotypes remain alive and kicking — and is gradually spreading this label around the world, shaping the image of France and its inhabitants.