Hardly surprising then that a call for French directors to stub out smoking on screen has been greeted with a mix of disbelief and outright ridicule. It has also prompted the existential question: what would French cinema be without the cigarette? Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock“Seventy per cent of new French films have at least one scene of someone smoking. “I don’t understand why the cigarette is so important in French cinema,” Buzyn said promising firm action to fight smoking. Photograph: Paul Popper/Popperfoto/GettyThe World Health Organization (WHO) called last year for films featuring smoking to be given an adult rating.

Source: The Guardian November 20, 2017 14:02 UTC