"Highly recommended (for) lower-division undergraduates through faculty."--RP Kinsman, Choice

"Through its breadth, depth and the many films referenced, this book is a celebration of French cinema. The balance between detailed descriptions of the films, concise argument and clear language broadens this book's audience."--Caroline Walters, Film-Philosophy

"Written intelligently and with great fervour, Brutal Intimacy is a successful first book from Palmer and a welcome addition to French film scholarship. Not only should it be of great help to undergraduate students, but also to existing cinema literates and teachers, looking to further their learning and understanding of the modern French film environment."--Leo Collis, Film International

"Ultimately, Brutal Intimacy will prove to be a useful guide for students (undergraduate and postgraduate), teachers and lovers of contemporary French cinema..."--Andrew Asibong, H-France Review

"Highly recommended (for) lower-division undergraduates through faculty."--RP Kinsman, Choice

"(P)erhaps Palmer's defence of the young and the new is precisely what French film studies needs at this present moment."--Emma Wilson, French Studies

"Surveying the film d'auteur of the last decade or so, Brutal Intimacy accomplishes something rare and noteworthy: to study contemporary art works with the critical distance of a cultural historian. This is truly a 'history of the present time.'"--Alan Williams, author of Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking and professor of French and cinema studies, Rutgers University

"These beautifully balanced, sensitive analyses of mainstream and popular films--as well as the rich group of films by young and well-established women directors--Palmer explores how French cinema is inescapably French even when it tries not to be.""--Phil Powrie, professor of cinema studies, University of Sheffield, general editor of Studies in French Cinema