french new wave

MD4703 – French New Wave – 05/05/2015 – Harry G Cooke

‘French New Wave’

Paris, 1940-1944, a city known for passion was under the grasp of German

occupation, Imposing blackouts and taking away the people’s links to the

outside world.

For the populace occupying the city, there weren’t many methods of

entertainment, thanks to the Germans; there was however one form of

entertainment the French could still use which was the cinema. There were

only around 200 films that they could watch due to the Germans preventing

imported films, because of propaganda. So the only films the French could

watch were censored, which also led to them priding in values such as the

freedom of expression and this in itself became important for the rest of

cinema.

Once the Germans were defeated and their occupation no longer in place, the

French could finally contact the rest of the world and in result, cinema became

really popular as ten years worth of films were created in one single year.

In the years that followed, film clubs, critiques, groups and short films all came

into play. For example there was a film club called ‘Cinematheque Française’

which was created by ‘Henri Langlois’ and became so popular that it almost

became a temple for film fanatics. ‘Langlois’ was the type of man to believe

that those that attend the club, watch the films to not just enjoy them, but to

learn, understand them and see them for the art they truly are.

There were also journals that sprung up, one of them, which rose from the

ashes of another was called ‘Cahiers du Cinéma’, that used the best critics of

the current time to write articles, that later received a massive boost in it’s

sales, due to a new wave of critics. Much younger and more enthusiastic, for

example ‘Claude Chabrol’ and Jean-Luc Godard were among these new

generation critics.

‘Andre Bazin’, one of the founders of the journal, became close to ‘Francois

Truffaut’ who later in life became one of the founders of New Wave Cinema,

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ended up agreeing with one of the new, younger critics about the current style

of mainstream cinema. They believed it to be unworthy.

‘Trauffaut’ backed up the younger critic by writing an article for the journal,

called; ‘A Certain Tendency of the French cinema’, in which he argued that

the current method for making films just wasn’t visual enough and relied to

heavily on the screenwriter.

‘Bazin’ postponed the release of this article for fear of losing readers and

making film-makers angry, yet upon the release of the issue that included the

article, there were cases of offence caused though on the other hand many

film-makers actually agreed, and thus ‘Truffaut’, ‘Godard’, ‘Rivette’, ‘Chabrol’

and ‘Rohmer’ were then able to develop their own theories and ideas whilst

writing about their favourite directors.

With all these critics, aspiring directors and new films, you can see where a lot

of contemporary filmmakers in the 20th century get a lot of their ideas. For

example, ‘Quentin Tarantino’ is one of the many directors, who was

influenced by the ‘French New Wave’ and was often criticised for stealing the

styles, ideas and so on of previously made films such as those from the

French New Wave. ‘Reservoir Dogs’ is a good example of one of the films he

made in which was largely influenced by the new wave of film. It was a movie

with a low budget, like a lot of the new wave movies, and also most of the

actors had to supply their own costume from their own every day life

wardrobes. ‘Quentin Tarantino’ knew exactly the look he was going for, thanks

to the big influences, his film also allowed the audience to know what has

happened yet at the same time not giving away how it has happened.

Tarantino chose to have real locations for most of his films because this would

allow for the films to look more natural, and thus was inspired by the ‘French

New Wave’ because a lot of ‘New Wave’ directors set out to make use of real

locations, instead of building sets, as it would look more realistic and flow

better.

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There is a psychological thriller called ‘Stay’, that was created in 2005 and

directed by ‘Marc Forster’. This film used the idea of having the main

character as the antagonist, as such it was inspired by the ‘French New

Wave’, for example ‘Breathless’ which is a film created by ‘Jean-Luc Godard’;

starred the main character as also being the antagonist. A good reason for

this is because it goes against the norm, as most people expect a happy

ending with films.

The subject of style is very important when it comes to ‘French New Wave’

because as there are still effects seen today in the 21st Century. A good

example could be ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’, created by

‘Michel Gondry’ and takes into account a lot of the styles that were present in

‘French New Wave’ such as intricate and delicate camera work (a lot of which

was handheld), and had lots of jump cuts.

‘Jean-Luc Godard’ made use of spaces such as bedrooms, staircases,

hallways and so on, which were definitely noted visually in this film which

starred ‘Jim Carrey’ and ‘Kate Winslet’.

There are still a lot of other directors, in which were influenced by the ‘French

New Wave’, such as ‘Martin Scorsese’; who’s latest film was ‘The Wolf Of

Wall Street’ which had a lot of scenes pay homage to the ‘New Wave’, such

as when ‘Jonah Hill’s ’ and ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’s’ characters are smoking

crack together for the first time in a tight space, which looks to be all

handheld.

A lot of the styles used back in the 1950’s and 60’s are very much so still in

use now, however it is very clear to see that the Second World War left an

aftermath of creation, and a legacy which gave birth to the ‘French New

Wave’, and so with that, modern day motion pictures as we know today.

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Bibliography

Film Studies: French New Wave. (2012). Influences & Impact on Contemporary film. Available: http://welovefrenchnewwave.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/influences-impact-on-contemporary-films_08.html. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. (). Jean-Luc Godard. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000419/?ref_=nv_sr_2. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. (). Jim Carrey. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000120/?ref_=nv_sr_3. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. (). Jonah Hill. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1706767/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. (). Kate Winslet. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000701/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. Leonardo DiCaprio. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. Marc Forster. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0286975/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. Martin Scorsese. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. Michel Gondry. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327273/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

IMDB. Quentin Tarantino. Available: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 06th Apr 2015.

Jean-Luc Godard (1972). Godard on Godard. New York City: Viking Press. p7-9.

Simon Hitchman. (2008). A History of French New Wave Cinema.Available: http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/history-of-french-new-wave.shtml. Last accessed 05th Apr 2015.

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