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COM 320, History of Film French New Wave (1959-c. 1970)

Origins: -“Romantic image of the young director fighting to make personal films that defy the conventional industry”—Rebelling against what came before in France…although they did admire the works of Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir, and Jean Cocteau (all together, a mixture of poetic realism and surrealism) -Young, mostly male film fans self-educated at French Cinematheque in Paris (founded by Henri Langlois); all wrote for the journal Cahiers du Cinema (co-founded and edited by Andre Bazin) in their 20's--a very coherent group--Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette -The Cahiers group set in place many of the important film theories--genre, auteur, realism -Also, the “Left Bank” French New Wave group included such filmmakers as (Alain Resnais), Chris Marker, Louis Malle, Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda -All knew each other and sometimes worked together, shared talent (e.g., actors, composers); e.g., Jean-Luc Godard, his wife Anna Karina, and composer Michel Legrand appear in Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7 -The FNW group all loved genre and auteur films, and the Soviet Montage -All put their ideas about filmmaking into practice around ‘60 due to “prime de la qualite” (subsidy for quality)–begun by Centre National du Cinema in ‘53, with an added script-proposal process in ‘59 Substance: -“Film of the camera, not of the pen” -A wide variety of genres and approaches, almost always treated in a “revisionist” way -Urban scenes “captured with the immediacy of Direct Cinema” Form: -Totally eclectic--whatever (that almost becomes the style); some call it “eccentric” -Emphasis on the mise en scene -Low budget, fast and light-weight (e.g., handheld camera); benefitted from technical advances in documentary shooting; style a lot like “indie” style today Impacts on films to follow: -Film School Generation (e.g., Spielberg, Scorsese) -American indie movement; So many influences Key works: Le Beau Serge, ‘58, Claude Chabrol The 400 Blows, ‘59, Francois Truffaut Hiroshima Mon Amour, ‘59, Alain Resnais Breathless, ’59, Jean-Luc Godard Shoot the Piano Player, ‘60, Truffaut Jules and Jim, ‘’61, Truffaut Last Year at Marienbad, ‘61, Resnais Cleo from 5 to 7, ‘62, Agnes Varda Umbrellas of Cherbourg, ‘64, Jacques Demy Alphaville, ‘65, Jean-Luc Godard Fahrenheit 451, ‘66, Truffaut Contempt, ‘66, Godard Weekend, ‘68, Godard My Night at Maud’s, ‘69, Eric Rohmer

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