The Current State of the Cinephile

I am a French cinephile. Two years ago, I left Paris, the homeland of ci¬nephiles, seeking cleaner air on the shores of the English Channel. Here, I’ve been faced with the disheartening reality of the general state of the art of cinema, which my provincial exile has brought into starker relief: two cinemas for a population of 27,000—one specializing in “art house” films, primarily European and shown in their original versions to a very sparse audience; the other boasting eight screens, all of them devoted to blockbust¬ers dubbed in French.