Abstract
The exoticism of the Antipodes has for centuries been a major focal point of European fantasy. French critical reception of Australian cinema, and French constructions of Australian cultural identity, reflect the enduring popular image in France of an Australia that is a cultural as well as a geographical opposite – an orientalist relationship that ensures European centricity as much as it perpetuates the marginalisation of Australian cultural identity. The theme of perpetual discovery that emerges in French critical writing on Australian film is indicative of a sustained cultural marginalisation as much as a practical and commercial marginality. Similarly, Australian as well as French organisations, in their attempt to create a niche market in France for what is labelled the Cinéma des Antipodes, perpetuate the notion that each and every identifiably Australian film offers the potential for a fresh European ‘discovery’ of the Antipodes.
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