Film Final Notes

April 11, 2011

Grand Illusiono 1937

Rise of Hitler and people at this time anticipate WWIIo Made in France

o Directed by Jean Renoir

Son of the painter Renoir Based partly on his own experiences in WWI (1914-18)

Germany fighting US, Britain, and France (Germans vs. France) Destructive on Europe economically

o Based on prisoners of war of WWI

o Compare the Iconographic Character and Class types

Pay attention to what they look like, how they move, and how they dress Consider physique, body shape Facial features, mustaches, beards, etc. Dress, costume Movement Forms and props

plants, gloves, crosses, braces, musical instruments gloves - getting dressed as if preparing to die dignified and with

honor crucifixes prevalent

Generals same military class they both see they’re position/officer class will be soon obsolete

after the war clean cut, up-right and professional

Middle-class Thick, messy hair, burly laborer, shabby bulky shapeless suit Not the tidiness of the Germans

Theatrical character Jewish cook Intellectual/engineer

Washing feeto What is the Grand Illusion?

The idea of escape or War itself and the idea that war will solve political issues

Pacifist message

Life itself?o How many illusions are in the film?

The play The gender switch Victory ended this illusion, but also still an illusion of who is really

the “winner” of the battle Borders btwn. countries

Broad sense of where it was, but really didn’t know The German General’s position

Actually a sympathetic character which contrasts with is stern appearance

o French, German and English

Consider their use and possible meaningso Consider light and shadow

o Consider how is the passage of time shown

Slightly ambiguous o Consider how space is shown

Also ambiguous of how scenes relate to a clear ground plano German officer’s room

Art in castle, furs, well decorated Was originally a chapel

A holy place/sanctuary to escape the waro Perhaps Virgin Mary icons/suggestions in nurse figure

April 18, 2011

The 7th Sealo 1957

Atomic bomb and Russian fears at this timeo Bergman

Swedish Theater director of opera and Shakespeare plays Gritty film quality Introverted human emotion in complex situations

o Biblical story of Revelation

o Medieval setting

o The Plague suggests the end of the world

Vacant villages and houses due to the death of the Plague Therefore it is the end of their time

o Characters

Knight (main character) Philosophical side

Jans (Knight’s sidekick, The Squire) More of a physical stoic ‘hero’

Jan’s “girlfriend” Blacksmith’s wife

Death Jesters/travelling musicians/stage performers/artists Witch Lisa - lusty female

Hooks up with one of the performerso Builds on traditional Medieval and Renaissance imagery and literature about the

End of Time and dealing and triumphing over Death Prints of mortals playing Death at Chess as a way of putting off death

(Knight vs. Death) The Knight is playing for his life, trying to escape Death

The Chess game reappears as Death reappears and is fairly calm Death of Macabre - idea that all people of different ranks dance off to their

deathso Flagellants

Torturing oneself to show piety and devotion so God would somehow spare you

o Tavern people

Piggish and let the bad things go on Going on with the crowd

o Burning at the stake

Woman declared a Witch and how the Knight’s fate is connected with the Witch’s understanding of Death

o Pay attention to music and how it is used to convey emotion of a scene and help

define character typeso Comic relief despite it was fairly serious overall

mix of emotion Death himself wasn’t very scary, but actually has humor and fairly neutral

o Existentialism

Questioning purpose of life Alone in the journey of life

Knight dealing with death on his own termso Ends with the musician family saved from and outwitted death

Artistic and creative spirits have visions that reveal to them things that common people don’t see

Christian allusions w/ Mother (Mia, a variant of Maria) and Child and the strawberry and milk Eucharistic sharing of the food

o Eventhough the characters try to cheat Death (knocking over chess pieces and

faking suicide) they cannot get away from it and Death is the only thing that is certain