| 01 | M-W---- | 4:00P-5:30P | Cupples II / 203 | Allen | May 4 2018 6:00PM - 8:00PM | 16 | 14 | 0 |
Desc: | REALISM, SURREALISM, FANTASY. French cinema has vacillated between the poles of "the real" and "the fantastic" since the earliest experimental films of the Lumière brothers and Georges Méliès. In this history of French cinema, we will be exploring the tension between these two cinematic currents. The first melodramas depicted social classes with realistic care, yet often employed the theme of the "monstrous" to enhance their manichean morals. Similarly, Poetic Realism's careful attention to historical and realistic detail in no way diminished the heightened and almost metaphysical symbolism of their working-class dramas. The New Wave is also marked by an intriguing tension of documentary narrative styles juxtaposed with an often absurd anti-realism. Finally, we will explore the use of the "conte" to describe contemporary films that prefer "le happy end" to the conventional ambiguity signalling the conclusion of a French film. Why are happy films necessarily "fairy tales"? How does the "fanciful" ending affect the psychological realism of the characters? Realist, naturalistic and neo-realist films will include works by Renoir, Carné, Rohmer, Laurent Cantet and the Dardenne brothers, while surrealist and anti-realist films will include much of Bunuel's and Godard's work; La Science des rêves; and Emmanuel Carrere's La Moustache. "Fairy tales" include Amélie, Marius et Jeannette, and Samba. |
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