Within French cinema, a specific sense of momentum comes from the release, in close succession, of a series of films that betray a characteristic awareness of cinema’s sensory impact. These include: Adieu; A ma soeur; Baise-moi; Beau Travail; La Blessure; La Captive; Dans ma peau; Demonlover; L’Humanité; L’Intrus; Les Invisibles; Lady Chatterley; Leçons de ténèbres; Romance; Sombre; Tiresia; Trouble Every Day; Twentynine Palms; Vendredi soir; La Vie nouvelle; Wild Side; Zidane and un portrait du XXIème siècle. Martine Beugnet shows how these films offer alternative approaches to questions that are at the heart of the most burning socio-cultural debates.