Film derives its power from the contradictory link between the image of reality and the reality of the image.

A vehicle for fictional storytelling and collective identification, an anthropological and cultural event, an ensemble of aesthetic creations: cinema was and still is one of the 20th century's greatest mythologies. It is not the intent of this essay to cite the names of directors and their films, but rather to "tell all" – to provide a holistic vision of cinema from a historical and aesthetic point of view, at once analytical and overarching, from the formation of cinematographic expression to contemporary cinema.