This article is a form of introduction to a future project, whose aim will be to renew the study of Bazinian discourse. It takes stock of the current state of Bazinian exegesis, points out certain limitations and suggests some ways of approaching a new question : « how did Bazin become Bazin ? » Not « how did the famous French critic create himself ? » but rather « how did Bazin, one among many critics of his time, become the author of a system of thought ? » At stake is the understanding of how this recognition of Bazin appeared, our proposition being that in order for the Bazinian discourse to be accepted, it had to be acceptable. In other words, we shall need to situate Bazin within the broader study of discourses on cinema in France between 1945 and 1948. Thus Bazinian discourse will appear less in its singularity (on the contrary we shall try to « desingularise » it) than in its capacity for consensus, as the common ground for the paradoxical qualities of the ways of thinking about cinema at a given historical moment. This article proposes establishing a typology of film discourses in France at that time, in order to see why it is Bazinian discourse, rather than any other, that finds its identity as a system. In conclusion, we suggest the hypothesis that « Bazin » is the name of a coming together of discourses as well as the emergence of a new form of thought – i.e. what Foucault calls a « transformation ».