Buttressed by state subsidies and partly sheltered from Hollywood predators, the French film industry has traditionally been regarded with envy by its European neighbours, reports The Guardian.
Yet the Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius has painted an altogether different picture. The domestic industry, he claims, has been damaged by inflated salaries and a culture of complacency. Quantity not quality, he suggests, has become the order of the day.
Hazanavicius, who won the best picture and director Oscar for his silent comedy The Artist in 2012, took to the pages of Le Monde to lambast what he sees as a well-meaning but outmoded system of French film production. "Today our responsibility is to denounce the failings of a once virtuous system that is being devoured by gangrene."
The French film industry is reliant on around €700m in government subsidies, principally generated by a 10.72% tax on ticket sales, together with a commitment from TV broadcasters to channel 3% of their budgets to developing feature films.
More than 200 French films were produced in 2012, compared with 159 in the UK.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.