Three weeks ago, the magazine Les Cahiers du Cinéma was bought by about twenty shareholders. Yesterday, all the editors resigned abruptly. Godart, Truffaut, Rohmer had been there. The bible of moviegoers knows one of the most violent turns in its history. The eighteen journalists left, including the editor-in-chief, Stéphane Delorme. What happened among journalists and critics? The new acquisition was to revive the magazine, make it more beautiful and flashier. The express rescue came from personalities "in love with the 7th art" such as Xavier Niel, Marc Simoncini, Alain Weill, Marc du Pontavice, Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral, Pascal Caucheteux…Many producers in short, which represented a red line for the editorial. 
Journalists feared conflicts of interest
This new group of shareholders represented everything that Les Cahiers du Cinéma had fought against until then. This old cinema "à la papa", conventional and far from the eccentricities they used to defend. The new director of the company had tried to reassure them of their independence. But journalists have repeatedly pointed to the likely conflicts of interest to come. Also, when contradictions appeared with the charter of independence (and in particular the obligation of a rapprochement with French cinema), the reaction was unanimous. In a long tear, the editorial staff chose to separate from the newspaper, refusing a partisan look at the cinematographic releases. To avoid suspicion of complacency and to remain faithful to what they have always written, they have used "their assignment clause". This system allows them to leave the company by receiving redundancy payments if the newspaper changes ownership. It remains to be seen who will join the new team. This one will probably have a different tone than the elitism of the previous one. Sold by Richard Schlagman, formerly of Phaidon editions, it does not prevent that Les Cahiers du Cinéma have always been in deficit since 1951.
