French Cinema Weeks 1-4

8/7/2019 French Cinema Weeks 1-4

1/23

Cinema and Nation:French Cinema

Weeks 1-4


2/23

National cinema

The cinemaofan "imaginedcommunity"?

cinemais a culturalartefactthatarticulates the nation's myths. thecinema speaks the nationaland the

national speaks the cinema

(Susan Hayward, French National Cinema).


3/23

Amelie as:1. A visionofFrance forforeigners.......

2. A fantasy versionofFrenchness.......

3. An engaged rejectionofthe New Wave......

4. As a conservative response tomulticulturalism.......

5. As afilm about Paris.......


4/23

Not everyfilm is national cinema inmicrocosm, and yet cinemais partofanational culture.

Lookingacross manyfilms we see patterns,ideas, influences and pleasures thatareculturally specific.

Thus, we need to examine single films ascomplex engagements withhistoryandculture.


5/23

A film doesntneed to representthe nationdirectly, totella storyaboutnationalidentity

Allfilms are caught up in multiple ways withthe cultures thatthey come from and add to.

Sowe wontalways be askingthe questionofnation directly

Butwe will considerhowtextual systems takepartin creatingand changingimaginedcommunities.


6/23

Politics ofrepresentation We canthink aboutAmelie, Pepe Le Mokoand otherfilms onthe course in relationtotheir'national' politics, butalsointerms of

theirgender, racial, class, regionalorotherpolitics.

Withnational cinema, we almostalwayscome up againstthese issues directly,because nationalaudiences, critics,governments, and soon, are all partofpublicdebates onwhata Frenchfilm should looklike.


7/23

Whatimage ofour country dowe wanttoprojectabroad

Whatimage ofour country dowe wanttobelieve inourselves?

Ifsocialissues are tobe engaged, whichones are important, oracceptable tofilm?

Ifwere lookingatafantasyor escapistfilm, whatare the desirable fantasies, andwhatitis we are escapingfrom?


8/23

Our premise is thatall culturaltexts have arelationship tothe ideologies oftheirtime whetherthey replicate dominantideas, orcontestthem from a marginal position, or playa partin changingthem.

Partofouranalysis ofthe nationalisinterrogatingwhatthese ideologies are a

national culture is a varied and constantlychangingthing.


9/23

Another partofouranalysis is consideringthecomplex and dynamic role offilm withinthatculture.

So, you willbe asked tolook beyond easyclaims ofonly entertainmentor "authorialintention", and considerfilms withinalarger

historicaland cultural context


10/23

Interwar Period:1918-1939 The setting up ofmanyofthe keyterms and

debates for post-1945 French cinema:

A. --popular vs avantgarde

B. --realism vs poetry

C. --politics vs aesthetics

The above are not straightforwardlyoppositions, butbinary sets oftensions,debates and intersectingideas


11/23

Popular vs. avantgarde Aitken describes the interconnected

movements ofpictorialnaturalism,documentary, Surrealism, Impressionism and

poetic realism

Popularand avantgarde forms were cross-pollinatinginthe interwaryears

Aitken points outthe lack ofdemarcationbetweenthe avantgarde and themainstream, with many people workinginboth


12/23

Andrew sees poetic realism as somewherebetween popular cinemaand politicallyengaged, radical cinema.

There are many elements ofthe popularinPepe Le Moko:

gangsterand crime genres, romance, the

centralityofJean Gabinas a star persona,pleasure in spectacle, exoticism.


13/23

Politics as both "radical" and "popular":

Vincendeau sees Gabinas partofthehistoricalimaginaryofthe Popular Front the notion of stars as an index ofhistory: whois popularata certainmoment, what kind ofactor, body, personaseems toanswerthe desires and needs ofan era?

Durovicova sees crime and style asconnected in French cinema: genre is akey way in which national culture is

articulated.


14/23

Realism and poetry

The influence ofnineteenth-centurynaturalisms and realisms, including

representations oflived social spaces (ruraland urban), as wellas claims aboutinjusticeand poverty(mile Zola, 1840-1902).

French cinematic realisms see themselves as"artistic" and/or "literary". (French cinemaand'Art'/'Literature'are cultural spheres whicharenot separated as stronglyas in UK or US)


15/23

Inthe twentieth century, growthofmodernisms:

non- oranti-realistforms, includingthehistoricalavantgardes.

Yet, as Aitken points out, these movements

were stillinfluenced by realisms in France(unlike inother places)


16/23

RenClair draws bothon "realism" and"poetry" elements ofnaturalism inthe

documentaryfootage inParis qui DortbutalsoSurrealism, modernism, play.

BothClairand JulienDuvivier(Pp le

Moko) were influenced bythe avantgardes.


17/23

"PoeticR

ealism" Andrew reads poetic realism as includingboththe popularand the serious, combiningpoetryand realism

Williams talks ofthe difficultyin definingpoetic realism nota school, oragenre, butmore thana style

Would itbe usefulto see itas a cinematicstylistic mode attached toa particularstructure of feeling?


18/23

The "Historicalimaginary"

The sense that cinematic styles emerge outofa specific time and place.

Connected tothe ideaof"national cinematiccharacters"

Andrew reminds us thatthis idea canbecomea clich, buthe stilllocates a "lyrical" and"realist" French cinematic character.


19/23

Qualities ofrealism Concernwith revealing what is beneath the

surface:

A. Ontology, theories ofrealism; naturalism,

engagementwith material space, countryandcity

B. Modern constructionofnation; a refusaltomoralise, a demand thatwe see the world ascomplex and the spectatoras takingan ethicalposition

C. Politics.


20/23

Qualities ofPoetry

The radicality ofanti-realism

We need fantasy, the unconscious, orthepersonalbecause mimesis doesntalways oradequatelygettothe truth

Inotherwords, poetry canbe "political", or"romanticist", or "inward-looking"


21/23

Politics and aesthetics inthe

Interwaryears (1918-1939)

...were deeplyintertwined,and quite polarised.


22/23

How canwesee theFrenchhistoricalimaginaryarticulated inPepe Le

Moko

(1937)?


23/23

How canwesee the Frenchhistorical

imaginaryarticulated inLe Sang des

btes (1949) or

Les Yeux sansvisage (1959)?

Documents

French Cinema Weeks 1-4