The author's objective in writing this book is to broach the diversity of the contemporary American cinema, while also critically assessing Hollywood's industrial production. This undertaking aims to show how some forms suddenly appear, or become the norm, how others are reinterpreted, and how certain obsessions — formal or thematic — may intersect or split apart. The 50 questions serving as the framework for this book, which at times focus on a specific author or film, and at other times on the industry as a whole, tackle stylistic data as well as issues related to the body, speed, the human and the inhuman, freedom or dependency. This exploration of the American cinema thus strives to give readers a sense of the aesthetic and thematic heterogeneity of this particular cinematography and, in the process, draws an astonishing and colourful portrait of Modern America.

Pascal Couté, who holds an agrégation in Philosophy, teaches Aesthetics and the Cinema at Université de Caen. He has written several articles on David Cronenberg, Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch and Bruce Lee and is currently preparing a thesis on David Cronenberg.

Vincent Amiel is a Professor of Film Studies at Université de Caen and a member of the editorial staff of Esprit and Positif magazines. He recently published two books, Le corps au cinéma : Keaton, Bresson, Cassavetes and Esthétique du montage.