Thursday 16 November 2017

French New Wave Essay (not finished)

French new wave


French new wave was made in Paris during the late 1950's when film enthusiasts discovered that there was a lack of innovation in the industry that caused films to feel stale and boring, this was due to French films being forced into a standard which tried to copy the norms from Hollywood films. These film enthusiasts discussed how to change cinema with the little money they had and soon filmmakers began creating their own films with originality and a different format to others. The purposes of the films made during this time were to present real French life during the 50's and 60's through cinema.

La nouvelle vague made cinema feel more personal as the directors would use their films to show their own life and thoughts. Each director’s film would create an accurate representation of their life that caused new wave films to be differentiated from the past, outdated French films. An alternative way of filmmaking was created that had a new style of presenting the narrative to the audience. The filmmakers showed that things could be done differently by taking already existing methods and creating new techniques for them.


Jean Luc Godard


Jean Luc Godard, born 3rd December 1930 is a French/Swiss film director, screenwriter and critic. He was studying at the Sorbonne in 1949 where he met François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Éric Rohmer. In 1950, Godard, Rivette and Rohmer founded ‘Gazette du Cinema’ which Godard published many articles for, at the time he was also working on 2 films written by Rivette and Rohmer until his funds were cut off by his family in 1951. In 1952 he began writing for ‘les cahiers du cinema’ as a film critique and later travelled America to shoot a film (however nothing more than a single tracking shot was accomplished from this).

In 1953 Godard became a construction worker in Switzerland to save money which he used to make a short film in 1954. Godard then went back to writing for ‘les cahiers du cinema’ and created his first French film ‘Charlotte et Veronique’ in 1957, shortly after he began working with Truffaut again on the publication of ‘Temps de Paris’. 1960 is the year in which Godard began working on Breathless; a film that changed cinema.


Breathless


Breathless was Jean Luc Godard’s first feature film released, it was the breakthrough that started the French new wave movement of the 1960's where new modes of production were used while experimenting to change and rethink the way films are formed. Real life sets were used because resources that were already available were cheaper, they had a low budget to create French films so they saved money this way as well as having small filming crews.
Godard used a lot of the same filming techniques throughout Breathless and many other of his films, these techniques include sudden jump cuts using different angles, realistic lighting, grainy/over-exposed shots, and hand-held cameras.

Breathless was one of the most influential films made, the story was originally written by François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol however they decided not to make the film themselves so they have the idea to Godard. Godard made the film very different to the original idea and makeup some dialogue whilst shooting as he wanted more spontaneous and natural feeling moments to capture real life.

Godard used each films structure to present certain themes that pre- occupied him such as existentialism, death, betrayal, and the impossibility of love. These are themes found throughout the majority of Godard’s films, they are presented through characters and events that are shown in the story.

The impossibility of love is played out in Michel and Patricia’s relationship as the two often fail to understand each other as shown in the bedroom scene which is played for almost a third of the film. In this scene it is made clear to the audience that the 2 lovers personalities are very different to each other. This scene is said to be “an unforeseen form of naturalism”, this gives the audience the impression that realism is being used. Another way naturalism is presented is through the use of spontaneous dialogue and mis-en-scene.

Throughout the scene the 2 lovers talk to each other and get to know each other with the camera angles changing throughout as each character speaks, this represents the difference between men and women and overall shows the changing relations between them. Patricia says to Michel “I want us to be like Romeo and Juliet” which presents the character as being stereotypical for wanting such a romantic ideal. However, it is unclear what Patricia wants as her journalistic career is her main priority, this shows the characters conflict between love and career.

Death is a common theme used in Godard’s work, the theme of death is present from the start to the end of Breathless, the first shot of the film is foreshadowing Michel’s death as he is reading a newspaper with an image of a woman on the front which is then moved from the frame to show Michel, this predicts Patricia being the one who’s responsible for his death. Another way Michel’s death is predicted is when an interviewer asks Parvulesco “Who is most moral, a man who abandons or a woman who betrays?” to which he replies, “a woman who betrays”, this scene foreshadows Patricia betraying Michel.

Michel’s obsession with death is shown throughout the film, he says to Patricia “Do you ever think of death? I never stop thinking of it.” Godard wanted to make a film about a boy who thinks of death and a girl who does not. The theme of death is also shown through Michel as he often asks what the time is, this shows that he is scared he is running out of time. The technical aspects also reflect a theme of death as the overall pace of the editing is fast and there are many quick jump cuts used which could be representing Michel’s time running out.


My life to live


My life to live was made in 1961 also with a low budget, however they needed a larger film crew as Godard used more traditional filming methods and conditions. Godard was questioning his own filmmaking and criticizing his own work, Vivre sa Vie gave Godard the change to redesign his cinematic vision and incorporate his philosophies into his work in different ways to his older films. Godard believed the camera moved too much during the filming of Breathless so he decided to use different methods of filming such as using heavier equipment with lit locations and sounds captured whilst filming instead of editing the sound into his work like he had done in the past.

Having a larger crew also meant that time would have to be spared appropriately as setting up the equipment would be a lot more time consuming. To save money while filming, Godard used longer shots, some of which last over 3 minutes long, and were usually accomplished from the first take. The idea to tell the story through 12 scenes was inspired by ‘the three penny opera’ , this technique was referred to as ‘distancing effects’ which would become important to Godard in his later career. Using this technique makes it easier for the audience to follow the story while also giving it a sense of mystery as it is unknown what events may have happened between these scenes. My Life to Live was a breakthrough for Godard as it used a different style of filmmaking as he changed the subject matter, form, and technicalities from his past films, overall Vivre sa Vie was very influential.

The impossibility of love is a theme also found in Vivre sa Vie, this theme is shown through the character of Nana, in the first scene it is made clear to the audience that she wishes to leave her husband as the attachment to her family fails to make her happy, she believes that this isn't the life she was meant to live. She leaves her husband and child but soon realises she can't afford to live so she soon resorts to occasional prostitution, then later becomes a professional. Godard presents prostitution as a metaphor for exploitation, this goes for all relationships based on materialistic/economic values. When we see Nana at the theatre watching The passion of Joan Arc, Nana cries as she relates to the victimisation the character is put through, she too understand being exploited by males as she is a prostitute being managed and sold by male pimps and predators and being cast aside by others. 








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