My friend and colleague Keith Reader, who has died aged 73, was an expert on French cinema who was known for tackling his subject through the lens of politics and intellectual culture, especially of the left. He had particular insights into the film-makers Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson as well as leftwing thinkers such as Régis Debray and Pierre Bourdieu.
Keith was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but grew up in Crawley, West Sussex. His father, Frank, was a store manager for the Co-op and later a school bursar, while his mother, Marie (nee Reich), was a part-time office worker. Keith went to Ifield school in the town and then to Cambridge University, where while studying for a degree in French language and literature between 1964 and 1967 he discovered French cinema.
