French Film Culture

Called "the seventh art," film has a long tradition of serious popular appreciation and academic study in France. This course will offer an overview of French cinema, including the origins of film (Lumière brothers, Méliès), the inventive silent period (which created such avant-garde classics as Un chien andalou), the poetic realism of the 30s, the difficulties of the war years, the post-war emphasis on historical/nationalist themes in the "tradition of quality" films, the French New Wave's attempt to create a more "cinematic" style, the effects of the political turmoil of May '68 on film culture, the "art house" reception of French films in the US, and the broader appeal of recent hyper-visual ("cinéma du look") films, such as La Femme Nikita and Amélie. While the primary focus of the course will be on French cinema, we will also discuss the reciprocal influences between American and French film culture, both in terms of formal influences on filmmaking and theoretical approaches to film studies. French film terms will be introduced but no prior knowledge of the language is expected. REQUIRED SCREENING: Wednesdays @ 4 pm.

Course Attributes: EN H; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM

French Film Culture

FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES 325

Section 01

Section A