Department of Film Studies School of Languages, Linguistics and Film Queen Mary, University of London FLM6205 Contemporary French Cinema Autumn 2019 Pre-requisite: none (overlap with FLM507) Assessment: One 250-word assignment (5%); one 500-word assignment (20%); one 3500-word assignment (75%) Credit Value: 15 credits Level: 6 Semester: 1 Organiser: Hannah Paveck Contact details: [email protected] All students must ensure that they know where to locate the SLLF Undergraduate Student Handbook on QM+, and should follow the School’s guidelines and regulations in all matters regarding this module. Students must note that failure to do so may result in de-registration from the module, which may have a significant impact on their overall degree classification. DESCRIPTION Through a detailed examination of a number of recent French films, this module aims to foster an understanding of the contemporary French film ecosystem since 2000 and the network of forces that have shaped it. It traces the relationship between major trends in contemporary French film, and social, political and cultural shifts in late 20th and 21st century French life. We will critically consider how films represent difference and interrogate issues of “Frenchness” and identity; histories and contemporary relations of colonialism; and immigration, race, and multicultural France. The module will be assessed through the production of a 3,500-word research essay in which students will select a single film from post-2000, and across three written assignments they will progressively develop material about the film that situates it within its historical, cultural, and aesthetic context. The module is research-based and requires a significant commitment to independent study. LEARNING OUTCOMES OF THE MODULE On successful completion of this module students will be able to: • describe the contemporary French film ecosystem (its key trends and the network of economic, cultural and political forces that have shaped it); • respond in a critical and informed manner to contemporary French films and draw connections between them; • critically engage with key debates going on in France and their on-screen representations; • display the core research skills of identifying key questions, collating relevant primary and secondary source materials, planning, tracing, and collecting relevant information, and writing up the material to a particular brief; • demonstrate personal qualities (such as independent learning, writing and researching to a high level) and transferable skills (such as negotiation/working effectively with others, communication, objective-setting, planning and creativity) attained through independent study and in-class participation. ASSESSMENT This module is assessed through the writing of a research essay. Your essay will locate a single contemporary French film within a historical, cultural and aesthetic framework. Further direction will be given during classes and examples of previous student work, are available on QM+. Please see QM+ for further information about assignments, including weightings, word 2 length and submission dates. SUBMISSION OF COURSEWORK Your coursework assignments must be uploaded as a Word or PDF file to the module QM+ page by the set deadlines (25th October 2019, 8th November 2019, 16th December 2019). These must be treated as absolute, and it is your responsibility to make sure you know what the deadline is for each piece of coursework, as you will be penalised if you miss it. You can submit work prior to the deadline, but work submitted after the deadline (even by 5 minutes) will be subject to late penalties as below: • minus 5 marks for the first 24 hours, • and a further 5 marks off for each 24-hour period after that, up to 5 days. • If an assignment is submitted more than 5 days late, it will receive 0 marks and be recorded as ‘Not Submitted’(NS). If you have personal or medical issues that prevent you from being able to complete your work in time, you may ask for an extension to the deadline by completing the Extenuating Circumstances form, which is available online from the Extenuating Circumstances pages of the website. All coursework for this assignment will be submitted via Turnitin. If you wish to see a Turnitin report on your assignment before submitting the final version you will be able to do so. However, you must ensure that you submit your draft version well in advance, allowing at least 24 hours before the deadline to receive and review your report, and amend and upload your final version of the coursework by the deadline. If you plan to review your work more than once, you must plan your initial submission to allow at least 24 hours between reports. MARKING CRITERIA This module uses the generic marking criteria found in the student handbook and on QM+ (see 5.2 MARKING CRITERIA AND SUBJECT BENCHMARKS in SLLF Undergraduate Handbook). ESSENTIAL READING Because your reading/research material will need to follow your own specific line of inquiry it is not recommended that you buy any single book on this module. Suggested reading will be available (and regularly updated) on the module QM+ page. It is essential that you read widely on the Mapping Contemporary Cinema website: http://www.mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/ 3 MODULE SCHEDULE: Please note that the classes in weeks 1-8 will cover key information about the major trends, structures, institutions, and landmark films of the contemporary French film ecosystem, and their relationship to late-20th and 21st French life. These three- hour sessions are designed to be participatory, with students expected to engage in discussion about the designated areas of study and prepared to draw on examples from relevant films (including the key film). Some of the time may be given over to screening of extracts or whole films. There is material relating to each week on QM+ and students are expected to read as widely as possible from it in advance of the session. Weeks 9-12 will have a tutorial/workshop format, with students presenting their topics to the class, and writing, reading and editing each other’s work in order to refine their final assignment. Week 1 Introduction: Landmark films (25.09.19) 1995-2019 1. La Haine/Hate (Matthieu Kassovitz, 1995) Flash presentations! 2. La Vie rêvée des anges/The Dreamlife of Angels (Eric Zonca, 1998) In what ways is your film a ‘milestone’ film in French 3. Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse/The Gleaners cinema? and I (Agnès Varda, 2000) • Wikipedia? 4. Indigènes/Days of Glory (Rachid Bouchareb, • Trailer? 2006) • Poster? • Reviews? 5. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi & Vincent • Scholarly articles? Paronnaud, 2007) Key question: Why has Hannah 6. La Môme/La Vie en Rose (Olivier Dahan, singled out this film for us to 2007) research…? 7. Entre les murs/The Class (Laurent Cantet, 2008) 8. Intouchables/The Intouchables (Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano, 2011) 9. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011) 10. La Vie d’Adèle Chapitre 1 & 2/ Blue is the Warmest Colour (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013) 11. Bande de filles/Girlhood (Céline Sciamma, 2014) 12. 120 battements par minute/120 BPM (Robin Campillo, 2017) 4 Week 2 Lecture: The “Frenchness” of Key film: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis/Welcome to the (02.10.19) French Cinema? Sticks (Dany Boon, 2008) Overview of the contemporary Key readings: French film ecosystem; popular • Tim Palmer, “The Contemporary French French comedy Film Ecosystem,” in Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2011), 1-13. • Raphaëlle Moine, “Stereotypes of class, ethnicity and gender in contemporary French popular comedy: from Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis (2008) and Intouchables (2011) to Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ? (2014),” Studies in French Cinema 18, no. 1 (2018): 35-51. Please browse the film notes published on Mapping Contemporary Cinema. http://www.mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/ Week 3 Lecture: Auteurism and le jeune Key film: La Naissance des pieuvres/Water Lilies (9.10.19) cinéma (Céline Sciamma, 2007) The legacy of the auteur; realism; Key readings: political engagement; women’s • Sophie Bélot, “Céline Sciamma’s La filmmaking and the role of film Naissance des pieuvres (2007): Seduction schools and be-coming,” Studies in French Cinema 12, no. 2 (2012): 169-184. • Guy Austin, “Le jeune cinéma and the new realism,” in Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction, 2nd edition (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008), 221- 241. Draw up a short-list of possible films (post-2000) you might choose to write about. Choosing a film related to something on which there is critical literature will make your life easier. Week 4 Lecture: Screening the Key film: Caché/Hidden (Michael Haneke, 2005) (16.10.19) (Colonial) Past Key readings: Engagements with heritage and • Excerpt from Catherine Wheatley, Caché history; colonialism; ethics (London: BFI, 2011). • Libby Saxton, “Secrets and revelations: Off- screen space in Michael Haneke's Caché (2005),” Studies in French Cinema 7, no. 1 (2007): 5-17 • Ipek A. Celik, “‘I Wanted You to Be Present’: Guilt and the History of Violence in Michael Haneke's Caché,” Cinema Journal 50, no. 1 (2010): 59-80. 5 Let Hannah know your final choice of film for the research essay (and prepare to be guided by her!) Week 5 Lecture: À L’écoute with Claire Key film: Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001) (23.10.19) Denis and Jean-Luc Nancy Key readings: Cinema of the senses; New • Jean-Luc Nancy, “Icon of Fury: Claire French Extremity and the festival Denis's Trouble Every Day,” Film- circuit; film-philosophy Philosophy 12, no. 1 (2008), 1-9. • Martine Beugnet, Cinema and Sensation: French Film and the Art of Transgression (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 32-47. • Excerpt from Laura McMahon, Cinema and Contact: The Withdrawal of Touch in Nancy, Bresson, Duras and Denis (Abingdon and New York: Legenda, 2012).