FRENCH 222 French Cinema

A survey of French cinema with a focus on three key periods: the 30s, the 60s and the 90s.  Starting with classics by Jean Renoir, Marcel Carné, and Julien Duvivier, the course will study the stylistic revolution brought about by the New Wave and the mark it has left on recent French cinema.  The films will be analyzed from a variety of perspectives: political and socio-economic contexts, gender representations, narrative patterns, and visual metaphors of subjectivity.  Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, or209 an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.

This course is designed to give students an overview of the evolution of French cinema from 1930 to the present.  Class work will be devoted to a close analysis of major films representing turning points in cinematic practice.

We will concentrate on three significant time periods: the thirties, the sixties and nineties.  These are times when, for historical, artistic or sociological reasons, a certain homogeneity seems to exist in filmic production which allows a clear national profile to emerge.  These are also times when French cinema was particularly successful and influential.

The thirties, especially the years preceding World War II, mark the culmination and end of nineteenth-century models.  Narratives in films take over the format of the classical novel, social and political turmoil of World War II.  In the sixties, the Nouvelle Vague radically modified all pre-existing modes of cinematic expression.  Films from the French New Wave are not only striking examples of a successful redefinition of filmic language; they also transform the conventions of gender representations foreshadowing the sexual revolution of the sixties.  The nineties, with such concerns as unemployment, Aids and the collapse of familial structures, present a harsh vision of contemporary France.  Eminent women filmmakers make their voices heard for the first time in the last years of the XXth century.

Cinema has long been considered less effective than literature in expressing subjectivity.  Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which film represents emotions and feelings.  We will examine the narrative and visual strategies that films have developed over the years in order to evoke inner conflicts, drives and memories.

La Grande Illusion 1937 (Jean Renoir)
Pépé le Moko 1937 (Julien Duvivier)
Quai des brumes 1939 (Marcel Carné)
La Règle du jeu 1939 (Jean Renoir)
A Bout de souffle 1959 (Jean-Luc Goddard)
Jules et Jim 1962 (François Truffaut)
Le Mépris 1963 (Jean-Luc Godard)
Ma Nuit chez Maud 1969 (Eric Rohmer)
La Sirène du Mississippi 1969 (François Truffaut)
Les Roseaux sauvages 1993 (André Techiné)
J’ai pas sommeil 1995 (Claire Denis)
Venus Institut de Beauté 1998 (Tonie Marshall)
Conte d’automne 1998 (Eric Rohmer)