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UC Center Program
Spring 2005
PCC 120. Paris through film
City of Light Since 1895
| Lecture: Wed 1:30-4:30pm |
Prof.
Christian-Marc Bosséno |
| Film: Fri 10am & Tue 5:30pm |
Office Hours TBA |
“Cinema is an art, but it is also a business.” André Malraux, Minister of Culture under General de Gaulle, thus highlighted the ambivalent attitude of the French towards the moving image: film is a commercial product for mass consumption and it is the “seventh art” catering to an elite of “cinéphiles” (film lovers). From the beginning, Paris was the center of French film-making, and a central image and representation of French cinema. This course considers the complex networks of links between Paris and French cinema from as many angles as possible – aesthetic, historical, economical, philosophical, social and political – focusing in particular on the question of audience reception. It is at once a panorama of French cinema history since its beginnings, with the Lumière brothers 1895, but also an exploration of how cinema - as one of the principal channels of modern mass culture, and one of the mainstays of today’s cultural industry – and the city of Paris are enmeshed in webs of relationships that constitute territorial, political, social, and mythological entities. Meets once a week plus screenings and on-site excursions in Paris (film archives, cinemathèques, relevant movie theatres, studios, and famous film locations). 6 quarter credits
[Film, Film Studies, Communication, Media, History, Visual Culture (Art History)]
COURSE MATERIALS
- Alan Williams, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard University Press, 1992)
- Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema: From its Beginnings to the Present (Continuum, 2002)
- Course Reader (hereby referred to as [CR])
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
- Participation, screenings, in-class discussion: 15%
- Short paper (3-5 pp): 15%
- Longer paper (7-10 pp): 25%
- Midterm: 20%
- Final: 25%
Screenings take place at Accent on Friday mornings and at the UC Study Center on Tuesday nights and are discussed the coming Wednesday.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1. February 21-25
The Emergence of Cinema in Paris « Fin-de-siècle » Mass Culture
Readings:
- Leo Charney &Vanessa R. Schwartz, Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life, (University of California Press, 1998), p. 298-317
- Richard Abel, “Turn-of-the-Century France”, The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896-1914 (University of California Press, 1994), p. 1-46 [CR]
- Sue Harris, “Cinema in a Nation of Filmgoers”, in William Kidd and Sian Reynolds, Contemporary French Cultural Studies (Arnold, 2000), p. 208-219 [CR]
Week 2. February 28-March 4
A Night at the Gaumont-Palace: Film as Popular Culture (1910s-1920s)
Screening:
- Episodes from Louis Feuillade’s Fantomas (1913).
Reading:
- Richard Abel, “Crime Pays”, The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema; 1896-1914 (University of California Press, 1994), p. 354-388 [CR]
- Susan Hayward, “Magical Moments of Film Silence”, French National Cinema (Routledge 1993), p. 68-117 [CR]
Week 3. March 7-11
Film as the 7th Art, Movies in 1920s Paris Avant-garde and the “First Wave” of French “Cinéphilie”.
First Short Paper due March 9th
Screening :
- Entr’acte (René Clair, 1924) and the « 10 août 1792 » and the « Marseillaise » episodes from Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927)
Reading:
- Alan Williams, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard University Press, 1992), pp.77-100
- Kevin Brownlow, Chapters 16-17, Abel Gance’s Classic Film, (Jonathan Cape, 1983), p. 161-176 [CR]
- Richard Abel, “Napoleon”, French Film Theory and Criticism 1907-1939 (Princeton University Press, 1998), I, p. 400-408 [CR]
- Richard Abel, “Napoleon”, French Cinema, the First Wave 1915-1929, (Princeton University Press, 1984), p.428-446 [CR]
Week 4. March 14-18
Poetics and Politics: Paris and the 1930s “Réalisme Poétique”
Tuesday Screening:
- Le Jour se Lève (Marcel Carné, 1944)
Reading:
- Alan Williams, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 213-242
- Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema : From its Beginnings to the Present (Continuum, 2002), p. 53-102
- Colin Crisp, “Class, Authority, Oppression and the Dream of Escape”, Genre, Myth and Comvention im the French Cinema, 1929-1939 (Indiana University Press, 2002), p. 72-106. [CR]
Friday Screening:
Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945)- Le Dernier Métro (Truffaut, 1980)
Week 5. March 21-25
Filming under the German Occupation
Tuesday Screening:
Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945)- Le Dernier Métro (Truffaut, 1980)
Reading:
- Rémi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present, (Continuum, 2002), p. 102-142
- Evelyn Ehrlich, “A French School of Cinema”, Cinema of Paradox : French Filmaking under the German Occupation (Columbia University Press, 1985), p.71-112 [CR]
Friday Screening:
- Casque d’Or (Jacques Backer, 1952)
Week 6. March 28-April 1
Rediscovering the “Old Paris”
Tuesday Screening:
- Casque d’Or (Jacques Backer, 1952)
Reading:
- Rémi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present, (Continuum, 2002), p. 170-194.
Friday Screening:
- Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
Week 7. April 4-8
Paris in the “Qualité française” Comedy
Tuesday Screening:
- Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
Reading:
- Alan Williams, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 272-292
- Colin Crisp, “Formation of Audiences”, The Classic French Cinema (1930-1960), Indianapolis University Press 1997, p. 213-265 [CR]
- Roy Armes, “Tradition of Quality 1951-57”, French Cinema (Secker & Warburg, 19850, p. 146-168 [CR].
Midterm Exam: Friday, April 8 (10am-noon)
Spring Break (April 11-17)
Week 8. April 18-22
Back in the Streets: Paris and the “Nouvelle Vague”, Part I.
Tuesday Screening:
- Les 400 Coups (François Truffaut, 1960)
Reading:
- Rémi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present, (Continuum 2002), p. 194-244.
- Ann Gillain, “The Script of Delinquency: François Truffaut’s Les 400 Coups”, in Susan Hayward & Ginette Vincendeau (ed.), French Film: Text and Context, second edition, Routledge, 2000, p.142-157. [CR]
Friday Screening:
- A Bout de Souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
Week 9. April 25-29
Paris and the “Nouvelle Vague”, Part II.
Tuesday Screening:
- A Bout de Souffle (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
Reading:
- Alan Williams, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking (Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 327-378.
- Michel Marie, “It Really Makes You Sick: Jean-Luc Godard’s A Bout de Souffle”, in Susan Hayward and Ginette Vincendeau, French Film, Text and Context, second edition (Routledge, 2000), p. 158-173 [CR]
Friday Screening:
- La Maman et la Putain (Jean Eustache, 1973)
Week 10. May 2-6
Paris in the 1970s “New Naturalism”
Tuesday Screening:
- La Maman et la Putain (Jean Eustache, 1973)
Reading:
- J. Forbes, “Jean Eustache”, The Cinema in France: After the New Wave (BFI-McMillan, 1992), p. 125-152 [CR].
- Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present (Continuum, 2002), p.245-297.
Friday Screening:
- Subway (Luc Besson, 1985)
Week 11. May 9-13
Paris in the “Post-cinéma”: the 1980s
Tuesday Screening:
- Subway (Luc Besson, 1985)
Reading:
- Suzan Hayward, “Pastiche Culture: A Last Look at the Cinema of the 1980s”, French National Cinema (Routledge, 1993), p.283-305. [CR]
- Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginning to the Present, (Continuum, 2002), p.299-348.
Second Paper Due May 11th
Friday Screening:
- La Haine (Mathieu Kassowitz, 1995)
Week 12. May 16-20
Rediscovering the Suburbs: Paris and Cinema in the 1990s
Tuesday Screening:
- La Haine (Mathieu Kassowitz, 1995)
Reading:
- Rémi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present, New York, Continuum 2002, p. 348-418.
- Christian Bosséno, “Immigrant Cinema / National Cinema: the Case of Beur Film” in Richard Dyer & Ginette Vincendeau (dir.), European Popular Cinema, (Routeledge, 1992), p. 47-57. [CR]
- Richard Dyer and Emma Wilson, “Paris, City of Light,” in French Cinema Since 1950, Personal Histories (Duckworth, 1999), pp. 130-6. [CR]
Friday Screening:
- Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
Week 13. May 23-26
Paris and Cinema at the Turn of the Century
Tuesday Screening:
- Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
Optional Screening:
- “Americans in Paris”, extracts from Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo Mc Carey, 1934), An American in Paris (Vincente Minelli, 1951) and Everyone Says I Love You (Woody Allen, 1997)
Reading:- Remi Fournier Lanzoni, French Cinema from its Beginnings to the Present (Continuum, 2002), p. 349-418.
Final Exam: Friday, May 27 (10am-noon)
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