“Run, comrade, the old world is behind you!” Set alight on the Left Bank in May ‘68, the embers of the Cultural Revolution still smouldered in the collective French memory, the illusion being that ‘nothing would ever be the same again’. The Seventies would be marked with a prevailing sense of inoffensive anti-conformism alongside unbridled moral liberation. It was a decade when artistic expression questioned, searched for, found, lost and finally redefined itself. The temptation to rebel found its home in counter-culture. The key word for the era was ‘challenge’. Never before in history had the French public complained, protested and petitioned to such an extent. Pompidou, an academician turned financier, had succeeded De Gaulle and during his 5 years in power his main objective was to modernise France at all costs. His successor, Giscard d’Estaing, was disliked by the electorate, lost the presidency at the end of his 7-year mandate, a period hampered by two badly managed oil crises. The party was officially over. Born on the Left Bank, the reckless carefree years of the Seventies came to a close during a second May protest, this time in 1981 on the Right Bank under the foreboding rainclouds at the Bastille.
- Director :
Patrick Cabouat
- Author :
Alain Moreau
- Distributor :
France 2, France 5
- Year :
2009
- Runtime :
70'
- Release date :
03/05/2009
The Seventies : the carefree years
