The Golden Age of women's films is happening right now-not here, but in France-and Mick LaSalle is your guide.

Mick LaSalle has been the film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1985. He is the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood (2000) and Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man (2002), both of which were named "Book of the Month" by Turner Classic Movies. LaSalle has been a panelist at the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals and has served on the jury for the Cinema for Peace Gala in Berlin.

"Of special note are the profiles of French actresses based upon personal interviews and critiques of their films by LaSalle. Not to be missed are the appendices on 'How to See French Films in the United States'. The Beauty of the Real is a welcome and unique contribution to the growing body of cinematic studies literature."