Even the French are giving up on arthouse

Independent cinema risks being sacrificed on the altar ofmarket forces. From Jules et Jim to Blue Is the Warmest Colour, that would be aterrible loss

-  Zach Schonfeld

In 2018, the film-maker Paul Schrader made some controversial remarks about how the business had changed since his 1970s heyday, when he wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. "There are people who talk about the American cinema of the 70s as some halcyon period," Schrader said at a Bafta Screenwriters event in London. "There's probably, in fact, more talented film-makers today than there was in the 70s. What there was in the 70s was better audiences." The director added: "We now have audiences that don't take movies seriously, so it's hard to make a serious movie for them."

Just five years later, Schrader's words seem like a grim portent of an era when art films and character-driven dramas struggle to find an audience in cinemas. Though much of the blame lies with the major studios and entertainment companies, which have all but eliminated risk and originality from theatrical releases, the pandemic also got viewers hooked on streaming instead of movie-going.