Munro, Emily J. (2006) The language problem in European cinema: Discourses on 'foreign-language films' in criticism, theory and practice. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3776/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Language Problem in European Cinema Discourses on 'Foreign-Language Films' in Criticism, Theory and Practice Thesis by Emily J. Munro Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Glasgow Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies 2006 (Submitted April 2006) © Emily J. Munro 2006 i Abstract The Language Problem in European Cinema. Discourses on 'Foreign-Language Films' in Criticism, Theory and Practice The thesis describes a range of discourses on language in cinema as they have emerged in film reception, production and exhibition contexts in Europe, and assesses their implications for the critical construction of European cinema. The thesis argues that the 'problem' of language is constituted in a number of pervasive but seldom acknowledged discourses which have circumscribed the ways in which the category 'European cinema' is understood. The primary sources utilised in the research, which date from the 1920s to the present day, are film magazines and journals, trade journals, policy documents and interviews. The thesis pays particular attention to the exhibition and reception cultures surrounding 'foreign-language films' in Britain. It takes a historical approach in addressing the cineaste attitudes promoted in the magazines Close-Up and Sight and Sound, and reflects upon the reaction against the film appreciation tradition communicated by the journal Screen. The thesis also explores the positioning of European cinema at film festivals and contemplates the translation issues therein, including the contemporary correspondence between the practice of subtitling and rhetoric on the 'original version' and the culturally 'authentic' film. It examines how language is implicated in the argument for a 'cultural exception', which was used in 11 defence of European film industries during the 1993 GATT negotiations, and considers how filmmakers in Denmark have attempted in their production activities to test the parameters ofthis discourse on exceptionality by producing Dogma '95 and English­ language 'cross-over' films. The thesis fmally looks at the relationship between Scottish cinema exhibitors and the European Commission, organisations which are institutionally linked through the Europa Cinemas network, and suggests that a similar ethics of consumption is articulated by each with respect to European cinema. The thesis argues that while the status of European cinema as foreign-language cinema is rarely addressed, its framing as such nonetheless impinges significantly upon the ways in which European films are consumed. While not attempting to provide a history of language and translation in European cinema, this thesis does offer some historically grounded explanations for the circulation of discourses on language and translation in European cinema cultures and the competing interests at work in shaping these. iii Acknowledgements This work was made possible by financial assistance from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (ARRC). The AHRC also subsidised my research trip to Denmark, for which I am most grateful. I wish to thank all of those who gave their time to speak to me about their professional lives and experiences for the betterment of the thesis. In particular, I would like to acknowledge those interviewees to whom I have referred in the thesis text: Jennifer Armitage, Marianne Christensen, Allison Gardner, Thomas Gerstenmeyer, Peter Albrek Jensen, Morten Kaufmann, Kim Magnusson, Marianne Moritzen, Lars Bredo Rahbek, Natja Rosner, Michael Sandager, Lone Scherfig, Ib Tardini, Emma Valentine, Thomas Vinterberg and Vibeke Windel0v. Special thanks to Jennifer, Kim, Lone, Marianne, Michael and Peter for providing me with documents, scripts, DVDs and photographs. Warm thanks go to my supervisors, Professor Christine Geraghty and Dr. Dimitris Eleftheriotis, who have offered their encouragement and expertise. I would like to thank my colleagues and friends in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of Glasgow for their helpfulness, energy and inspiration. Special mention also goes to Christophe Dupin, Lars Kristensen, Melanie Selfe and Steve Woollock who provided motivation just when it was needed and without whose knowledge, guidance and support I would be the worse off. Lars and Melanie especially have been sources of intellectual stimulation and generous commentators. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to Ulrich Hansen for his unwavering support and understanding, and to my parents for the same. This thesis is dedicated to Elizabeth M. Renfrew Munro (1909-2005) iv Contents Abstract 1 - 11 Acknowledgements iii 1. Introduction. The Language Problem in European Cinema. Discourses on 'Foreign-Language Films' in Criticism, Theory and Practice 1 - 22 2. Sound Motives. Language Problems and Cultural Ideals in the Transition to Talking Pictures 23 - 62 3. Film Criticism, Specialised Cinemas and Subtitles: 'For Filmgoers Only' 63 - 103 4. European Cinema Studies? The Status of Art Cinema, 'Post-Theory' 104 - 137 5. Film Festivals, Film Industries. Debating Inequity and the Cultural Exception 138-185 6. English-Language Films and the Global Cultural Economy. Building an International Profile at Denmark's 'Film City' 186 - 237 7. Educating the Citizen-Consumer: Foreign-Language Films and the 'Europa Cinemas' Network 238 - 270 8. The Language Problem and Cinema: Themes, Limitations and Findings 271 - 287 Notes 288 - 316 Bibliography 317-358 1 Chapter 1 Introduction. The Language Problem in European Cinema. Discourses on 'Foreign-Language Films' in Criticism, Theory and Practice I began watching 'foreign' films as a teenager in Scotland in the mid-1990s. The films I encountered in this period of discovery invariably came from continental Europe and were critically acclaimed. I developed a fascination with contemporary European films by chancing upon late';night, subtitled films shown on BBC 2 and Channel 4 which I began habitually recording onto VHS to see after school. Without exception and unquestioningly I watched these films subtitled and regarded them almost generically as 'world cinema'. My enjoyment of subtitled stories tempted me, infrequently at first, into the Cameo and the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, then as now regarded as more specialised 'art' or 'cultural' cinemas. Although I know certain of my contemporaries have had different adolescent experiences with foreign films in Britain, sampling so-called 'cult' imports (often genre filmmaking from Western Europe or Hong Kong, appearing subtitled, dubbed or without translation on video and later DVD), my own burgeoning awareness of film culture outside popular American and British movies was limited to the purportedly intellectual films produced in other European languages. As is arguably often the case, my experience of European cinema quickly became circumscribed by the conditions under which I could have access to the films and by the reception activities surrounding the films' exhibition contexts. The self-consciously grown-up, quality film recommendation 2 in the television guide, the extended promotional blurbs in art house cinema programmes or the film reviews in Sight and Sound magazine undoubtedly influenced my perception of foreign films and their privileged status in the alternative film culture which had captured my curiosity. The ways in which my own and other film consumers' perceptions of the apparently diverse body of films sheltered under the umbrella of 'world cinema' might be structured or directed has become a topic of fascination for me. This thesis has been strongly motivated by my desire to understand historically what conditions and opinions have led to the particular ways in which European films have been identified, treated and consumed in Britain. In particular, I am interested in the broad-brush differentiation taking place in the British exhibition sector which sees Hollywood films in their more popular manifestations domesticated in ways that subtitled, foreign-language films, in all forms, are generally not. Language and its translation appear to be a sticking point in the separation of the familiar and the foreign and the popular and the specialised in Britain. The objective of this thesis is to examine this dynamic. Although there is an increasing amount of research being conducted into the mechanisms of cinema economics and marketing, up until now there has been little effort made by film scholars to understand what it means to consume films as 'foreign-language cinema'. Few have attempted to address how the consumption of foreign-language films is done and in relation to which critical reception cultures. The history of foreign cinema exhibition in Britain has been shaped by the