Back in 1993, French civilization faced its greatest foe yet, and it had nothing to do with Nazis or CGI dinosaurs. More specifically, the French film industry revolted againstJurassic Park. The country’s Culture Ministerwent so far as to call Steven Spielberg’s blockbustera “menace to French culture.” If that should seem an arbitrary target to focus an entire nation’s wrath upon, you’re not wrong. The panic disguised a long decline in the influence and profitability of French movies. Due to a fluke of timing —Jurassic Parkstampeding into theaters the month before — the adventure flick and its charismatic director became the face of “imperialism” for no other reason than convenience. This freak-out became the most cringe-worthy crisis in French filmmaking.
Jurassic Park
Spielberg Hits a Nerve, and Starts a Turf War
This particular farce all stemmed from mundane bureaucratic business, trade representatives sorting out the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). During negotiations, the United States representative proposed that to enable further international relations, both Europe and America should remove existing quotas and tariffs.This innocent suggestion sparked outrage, primarily in France, where they traditionally limited the inflow of US movies and mandated a certain ratio of French-made shows and movies on TV.
According toReason, French filmmakers, actors, and politicians denouncedJurassic Parkas a “threat to [French] national identity,” the family-friendly film designated as a Trojan Horse that would topple European cinema. Easily the most pathetic chapter in European art history since the French government rejected Edouard Manet’s painting.
Trade wars targeting filmsare nothing new. Protectionism is about as old as movies themselves, and one of the great traditions and trade secrets of French culture. Fittingly, actors Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert petitioned the European Parliament for special exceptions, as French Culture Minister, Jacques Toubon, stated that an animatronic Triceratops would lead to a collapse of the French film industry if not stopped.
This was part of an alleged conspiracy of “Anglo-Saxon mercantilist culture,” which also included unlimited access toTom and Jerrycartoons,per theNYT. We’re not joking. “If the GATT deal goes through as proposed, European culture is finished,” director Claude Berri said. In the end, the US dropped its request and didn’t challenge the status quo. France won, or at least in theory, they did.
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A War With Only Losers
Were they justified? Depending on your opinions on quotas and government intervention, maybe. But there’s a catch.In the years leading up to the 1993 protests, subsidized French blockbusters flopped hard one after the other, most being historical films. Unmentioned in the maelstrom of anti-Americanism is that bothBasic InstinctandHighlander II: The Quickeningwere produced by French companies, both high-budget movies themselves, based ondata fromThe Numbers. The whole debate was tainted from the start, with Berri and Depardieu having a movie out in theaters the same month asJurassic Park.
We don’t know what’s more damaging to Gaulish pride: the blockbuster hypocrisy or that they were responsible for one of the worst sequels ever made. Regardless, the French had singled out blockbusters. Suspiciously,the vitriol wasn’t applied to Sylvester Stallone’sCliffhanger(which was also a staggering moneymaker that same summer), co-produced by French company Studio Canal, which had bankrolled and laterbought the rightsto several popular action films belonging to the defunct Carolco. A coincidence? You decide.
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Soul Searching Turns to Searching for Scapegoats
The unhinged gnashing of teeth continued, French intellectuals reveling in playing the victim. Depardieu was the most humble and sober voice, if you can believe it. The rest of the film community collectively lost their minds as they ramped up histrionic and self-aggrandizing statements, contemplating how they were going to cover their monthly Cognac and Gauloises expenses. As explored inSome Big Bourgeois Brothel, director Bertrand Tavernier embarrassingly compared himself to displaced Native Americans:
“The Americans want to treat us like they treated the redskins … If we’re very good, they will give us a reservation; they will give us the Dakota hills; and if we stay nice, perhaps we’ll get one more hill.”
In a moment of self-reflection, theproud French film communitywoke up, looking for someone to blame. French-centric movies were no longer influential or even that profitable at home, let alone overseas, ifBox Office Mojo’s charts are any indication.Underlying the paranoia and rage was uncertainty. Whatever magic and allure that had once imbued French cinema and captured the imagination of viewers around the globe had been lost. The US likewise witnessed a shift away from auteur cinema and adapted to making movies for worldwide audiences.
France refused, except for guys like Luc Besson and Gaspar Noé. The success of theNouvelle Vague(French New Wave) was ancient history. By the ’80s, Jean-Luc Godard was slumming it at Cannon Films, making a movie he hated simply for money. François Truffaut was dead (ironically, a friend of Spielberg), Barbet Schroeder jetted off to Hollywood, and neither Alain Delon nor Catherine Deneuve were international box-office headliners anymore.French cinema embraced hermit status as a badge of honor, easing into a parochial backwater as Asian and Latin American directors filled the void.
