World Film History II

From Neorealism to the New Wave

Felix A. Morlion, “The philosophical basis of Italian cinematic neorealism” Neo-realism's thesis is that the screen is a magic window

which opens out on to the "real"; that cinematic art is the art of recreating, through the exercise of free choice upon the material world, the most intense vision possible of the invisible reality inherent in the movements of the mind. The basis of every good work of art is not what people think about reality, but what reality actually is. Through a shared vision of existence, both artists and audiences forget with pleasure those artistic inventions which merely served as means for the creation of that new-born thing ... The neo-realist school has taken a great step forward. It has forsworn vanity to reach the true aim of cinema: to express reality.

Luigi Chiarini: ”Neorealism betrayed” (1955) People derived from the audiences' own reality

replaced the pre-conceived characters in conventional narratives of the past

The chronicle (if we can call it that), events and facts culled from the daily existence of men, replaced the prefabricated adventures of novels and comedies

The throbbing photographic document replaced pictorial and figurative virtuosity

The cities and countryside, with people effectively living there, replaced the papier-maché scenery of the past

Geoffrey Nowell-Smith’s criteria for neorealism (1968)

Realistic treatment of subject matter Popular environments Social content Historical accuracy Political commitment

Neorealism: major directros and their films LUCHINO VISCONTI: Ossessione (1942), La Terra

trema (1948) ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: Roma, citta aperta

(1945), Paisa (1946), Germania anno zero (1947) VITTORIO DE SICA: Sciuscià (1946) Ladri di

biciclette (1948), Umberto D (1952) ALBERTO LATTUDA: Senza pietà (1948) PIETRO GERMI: In nome delle legge (1949) GIUSEPPE DE SANTIS: Riso amaro (1948)

”Neorealismo rosa”

ROBERTO CASTELLANI: Sotto il sole di Roma (1948), Due soldi di speranza (1952)

LUIGI COMENCINI: Pane, amore e fantasia (1953), Pane, amore e gelosia (1954)

DINO RISI: Pane, amore e ... (1955), Poveri ma belli (1954)

Toward existential cinema

Lighter camera equipment, more rapid film More freewheeling, ’natural’ style of shooting Episodic, lingering, minimalistic storytelling Problematizing the relationship between the

characters and their environment The question of the ’human condition’ Character motivation often obscure

Toward new cinema

ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: Stromboli (1949), Viaggio in Italia (1953)

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: Le Amiche (1955), Il Grido (1957)

FEDERICO FELLINI: Lo Sceicco bianco (1952), I Vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954), Il Bidone (1955)

The staggering rise of Italian cinema The economic miracle and the crisis of American cinema Cultural life ideologically polarized by cold war

antagonisms Social change further acerbated the cultural battle Films taking a social stand could reach mass audiences Commedia all’italiana, italowesterns The growth of volume: from the 1958 production of 141

feature films to 246 films in 1968 The proportion of domestic films in terms of box-office

receipt rose from 30.8% in 1958 to 62.3 % in 1972

The golden era of Italian cinema PIETRO GERMI: Divorzo all'italiana (1961)

LUCHINO VISCONTI: Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Il Gattopardo (1963)

FEDERICO FELLINI: La Dolce vita (1960), Otto e mezzo (1963), Satyricon (1970), Roma (1972)

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L’Eclisse (1962), Il Deserto rosso (1964)

ERMANO OLMI: Il posto (1961) PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: Accattone (1959), Il Vangelo secondo

Matteo (1964), Ucellacci e ucellini (1966), Edipo re (1967), Teorema (1968)

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: Prima della rivoluzione (1964), Strategia del ragno (1970), Il Conformista (1970)

FRANSCESCO ROSI: Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Le Mani sulla citta (1963)

Characteristic features of Italian political films in the 60s and 70s

Emphasis on subjectivity and individual responsibility

Open plot, relative fragmentarity The structure of the film as a part of its

message Revolutionary political and social content Basic themes: corruption, colonialism,

exploitation, revolution

Institutions created during the occupation Comité d'Organisation de l'industrie

Cinématographique (C.O.I.C.) founded in 1940 under former UFA producer Rouil Ploquin

Grand Prix de Film D'Art Francais Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques

(I.D.H.E.C.) under Marcel L'Herbier Cinémathèque Francaise, founded by Henri

Langlois together with Georges Franju strenghtens its position

Major producer: Continental Films led by Alfred Greven

Films and directors during the occupation CHRISTIAN-JACQUES: La symphonie fantastique

(1942) MARCEL PAGNOL: La fille du puisatier (1940) MARCEL CARNÉ: Les visiteurs du soir (1942), Les

enfants du paradis (1945) HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT: Le corbeau (1943) JEAN GRÉMILLON: Le ciel est a vous (1944)

Other artists working in the industry: Jacques Prévert,Pierre Laroche, Alexander Trauner, Joseph Kosma,Pierre Fresnay, Arletty

French ”cinema of quality” Part of a national cultural project – although based

on institutions created during the occupation Big budgets and shining stars – often international

co-productions Adaptations of major literary works Production values: elegant and glamorous sets and

costumes Carefully articulated dialogue Spiritual and moral issues foregrounded but seldom

problematized Historical rather than contemporary topics

Quality films

JACQUES DELANNOY: La Symphonie pastorale (1946)

ANDRÉ CAYATTE: Justice est faite (1950), Nous sommes tous des assassins (1952)

CLAUDE AUTANT-LARA: Le Diable au corps (1947), L’Auberge rouge (1954), Le Rouge et le noir (1954)

RENÉ CLÉMENT: La Bataille du rail (1946) Jeux interdits (1952)

French 50s masters MAX OPHULS: La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir

(1952), Lola Montès (1955) JACQUES BECKER: Casque d'or (1952), Le

Trou (1960) ROBERT BRESSON: Le Journal d'un curé

de campagne (1950), Un condamné a mort s'est échappé (1956), Pickpocket (1959) Jean d'Arch (1961)

JACQUES, TATI: Jour de fête (1949), Les Vacances de monsieur Hulot (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), Playtime (1967)

Anticipations of the New Wave in writing ALEXANDER ASTRUC: ” Naissance d’une

nouvelle avant-garde” – caméra-stylo ANDRÉ BAZIN & JACQUES DONIOL-

VALCROZE: Les Cahiers du Cinéma (periodical founded in 1951)

FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT: "Une certaine tendance du cinema francais" (1954)

Social and cultural background Big generations reached adolescence Rapid urbanization, quickly constructed suburbs American way of making business and industrial

production replace small scale enterprises National income more than doubled from the

post war period → consumer society American popular culture The rise of existentialism, structuralism,

semiotics, Neo-Marxism, Lacanian psychoanalysis

Rive gauche AGNES VARDA: Cléo de cinq à sept (1958) JACQUES DEMY: Lola (1961), Les Parapluies de

Cherbourg (1964) ALAIN RESNAIS: Hiroshima mon amour (1959),

L’Année dernière à Marienbad (1961), La Guerre est finie (1966)

ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET: Trans-Europ-Express (1966), L'Eden et après (1970)

CHRIS MARKER: Lettre de Sibérie (1958), La Jétée (1962), Le Jolie mai (1962)

Nouvelle vague

CLAUDE CHABROL: Le Beau Serge (1958),Les Cousins (1959), Les Bonnes femmes (1960)

ERIC ROHMER: Le Signe du lion (1959), La Collectionneuse (1967), Ma nuit Chez Maud (1969), La Femme de l’aviateur (1981)

JACQUES RIVETTE: Paris nous appartient (1960), Suzanne Simonin, la religieuse de Diderot (1965), L’amour fou (1968), Out One (1970)

FRANÇOISE TRUFFAUT Les Quatre cent coups (1959), Jules et Jim (1962)

JEAN-LUC GODARD: A bout de souffle (1959), Pierrot le fou (1965), Le Gai savoir (1968)

400 what? « Faire les quatre cent coups » - to get into a lot of trouble, be a

real troublemaker. The title, Les quatre cent coups is literally translated as The 400

Blows; however, since it's an idiom, a direct translation is imperfect. The phrase loosely means "Raising Hell", and, while that's not an English interpretation, it's a reasonable approximation. The 400 Blows sounds like a movie about violence and abuse, or (if you're thinking in sexual terms) something salacious. When the film opened in the late '50s, more than a few viewers were treated to an entirely different experience from what they expected. (A widely circulated, possibly apocryphal story says that the Weinstein brothers attended this movie expecting a sex flick. They were so astounded by what they saw that their entire perspective on cinema changed, eventually leading them to found Miramax.)

Godard’s philosophical starting points Philosophical basis: Sartre and Merleau-Ponty - Hegel Continuity from writing to filmmaking – philosophy by

means of film Detachment from surface realism in order to gain a more

intimate relationship with reality What do images hide as they reveal? Continuity between documentary and fiction, actuality

and abstraction, visual and narrative Counterpoint between a variety of materials Collage rather than unity as an aesthetic ideal ”Intertextual terror” (Rivette) Deconstruction of all forms of representation

Some of Godard’s major films

A Bout de souffle (1960) Vivre sa vie (1962) Banded a part (1964) Pierrot le fou (1965) Weekend (1967) Gaie savoir (1968) Tout va bien (1972) Histoir(es) du cinema (1989)

Few other French filmmakers ROGER VADIM: Et dieu créa la fémme

(1956) LOUIS MALLE: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

(1958), Les Amants (1958), Le Feu follet (1963)

JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE: Le Silence de la mer (1963), Le Samourai (1967), L’Armée des ombres (1969), Le Cercle rouge (1970)

England after the war The country was significantly impoverished and had lost

its empire Monarchy and class society survived Restoration of traditional values; fair play and decency Extolling the nation, its unity, history and traditions:

"Small is beautiful, old is good." 1952 coronation was thought to begin a new

’Elizabethan’ era Arts Council founded to promote fine arts - exclusively Arthur Rank’s monopoly thwarted competition but was

able to compete with Hollywood in the domestic market

England after the war: films LESLIE ARLISS: The Wicked Lady 1945 LAURENCE OLIVIER: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) ja

Richard III (1955) DAVID LEAN: Brief Encounter (1945), Great Expectations

(1946), Oliver Twist (1947) ALBERTO CAVALCANTI: They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) CAROL REED: Odd Man Out (1947), The Third Man (1949),

The Man Between (1953) JOHN and ROY BOULTING: Brighton Rock (1947), The

Magic Box (1951), Lucky Jim (1956), I'm All Right, Jack (1959)

LEWIS GILBERT: Emergency Call (1952) BASIL DEARDEN: The Blue Lamp (1950), The Victim (1961)

Ealing-studios

CHARLES CRICHTON: The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK: Whisky Galore (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Lady Killers (1955)

HENRY CORNELIUS: Passport to Pimlico (1948)

ROBERT HAMER: Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Father Brown (1954)

Other popular films

GERALD THOMAS Carry on Sergeant (1958), Carry on Nurse (1959) ... Carry on Doctor (1968) …

RALPH THOMAS Doctor in the House (1954), Doctor at Sea (1955), Doctor at Large (1957)

TERENCE FISHER The Curse of Frankenstein (1956), Dracula (1958) , The Hound of Baskervilles (1959) The Mummy (1959).

VAL GUEST The Quartemass Experiment (1955), Quartemass II – the enemy from space (1957)

Cultural pressures Free cinema movement changed the tradition

of documentary filmmaking Working class theatrical plays John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956)

followed by a wave of works by ’angry young men’

The breakthrough of the French New wave at Cannes Film Festival

American youth culture

New Cinema – stylistic features Shot in dreary Midlands industrial milieus Domestic settings and problems, ´Kitchen

sink drama’ Characters genuinely working class, unheroic

and deglamorized Language of the streets Unknown young actors Black and white cinematography Jazzy music

New Cinema films and directors JACK CLAYTON: Room at the Top (1959),

Look Back in Anger (1959) TONY RICHARDSON: The Entertainer

(1960), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

KAREL REISZ: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

JOHN SCHLESINGER: A Kind of Loving (1962), Billy Liar (1963)

Swinging sixties Labour returns to power in 1964 after a 13 year

period of Conservative administration It is ’pop’ to be young, working class, fashion

conscious, dress colourfully, go to discos … The spirit of the age is crystallized in the ecstatic

reception of the Beatles In serious filmmaking there is a shift from social

issues into depicting internal conflicts British film industry is flooded by American money

and independents face tough competition

Majior swinging sixties films

JOHN SCHLESINGER: Darling (1965) RICHARD LESTER: A Hard Day’s Night

(1964), Help (1965) TONY RICHARDSON: Tom Jones (1963),

Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) LINDSAY ANDERSON: If ... (1968), O Lucky

Man!

Foreign directors in Britain

JOSEPH LOSEY: The Servant (1963), Accident (1967)

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: Blowup (1966)

ROMAN POLANSKI: Repulsion (1965), Cul de sac (1966)

STANLEY KUBRICK: A Clockwork Orange (1971)

John Schlesinger: Billy Liar (1963) Based on a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse Adapted also into a play, musical and a TC sitcom –

and inspired a few popular songs Total Film has ranked it as the 12th in a list of the

greatest British Films of all time Protagonist is a Yorkshire lad who dreams about

success and obsessively fools around with women Schlesinger’s fundamental theme: the need to

accept what appears second best because the best is not attainable – or, how to cope between your desires and the real world

The staggering rise of Italian cinema The economic miracle and the crisis of American cinema Cultural life ideologically polarized by cold war

antagonisms Social change further acerbated the cultural battle Films taking a social stand could reach mass audiences Commedia all’italiana, italowesterns The growth of volume: from the 1958 production of 141

feature films to 246 films in 1968 The proportion of domestic films in terms of box-office

receipt rose from 30.8% in 1958 to 62.3 % in 1972

The golden era of Italian cinema PIETRO GERMI: Divorzo all'italiana (1961)

LUCHINO VISCONTI: Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960), Il Gattopardo (1963)

FEDERICO FELLINI: La Dolce vita (1960), Otto e mezzo (1963), Satyricon (1970), Roma (1972)

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI: L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L’Eclisse (1962), Il Deserto rosso (1964)

ERMANO OLMI: Il posto (1961) PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: Accattone (1959), Il Vangelo secondo

Matteo (1964), Ucellacci e ucellini (1966), Edipo re (1967), Teorema (1968)

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: Prima della rivoluzione (1964), Strategia del ragno (1970), Il Conformista (1970)

FRANSCESCO ROSI: Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Le Mani sulla citta (1963)

Characteristic features of Italian political films in the 60s and 70s

Emphasis on subjectivity and individual responsibility

Open plot, relative fragmentarity The structure of the film as a part of its

message Revolutionary political and social content Basic themes: corruption, colonialism,

exploitation, revolution

Cinema in East Germany Nationalization of the film industry: Deutsche Film

Aktiengeschellshaft (DEFA) Socialist realism, struggle against American imperialism Production hindered by endless debates about

ideological purity; no toleration of ”formalist” experiments Thaw period only lasted from 1953 to1958 Back to depicting ”the ideal conditions of the workers

and peasants state” and the historical struggle of the working class

Also fantasy, westerns and espionage films Children’s films sold even to the West

Cinema in the West Germany De-nazification imposed by the Allied forces Necessity and need to come to terms with the past Commercialization of the film industry – Freiwillige

Selbstkontrolle, but also state control Dubbing made even American war films palatable ”Unpolitical humanism”, Heimatfilme Victim mentality in war and return from the war films The rehabilitation of the German main – soldiers included The ideal of the modern, non threatening woman

Post-war film in Germany

HANS BURGER: Die Todesmühlen (1945) WOLFGANG STAUDTE: Die Mörder sind

unter uns (1946) ALFRED WEIDENMANN: Canaris (1954) HELMUT KÄUTNER: In jenen Tagen (1947),

Des Teufels General (1955), Ludwig II (1954) BERNHARDT WICKI: Die Brücke (1959)

The Oberhausen manifesto 1962 26 screenwriters and directors sign a manifesto in which

they proclaim the death of the old production system and call for a new young German cinema

Severe criticism of popular culture following Adorno and other Frankfurt school thinkers

A social and political rather than aesthetic programme Earned the subsidies both from the Federal and state

governments Film schools established in Munich and Berlin as well as a

film archive in Berlin Some twenty films made in 1965-68 on this funding Stylistic features: breaking of diegetic illusion, non-

psychological acting, documentary effect

Young German Cinema

ALEXANDER KLUGE: Abschield von Gestern (1966), Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: ratlos (1968)

VOLKER SCHLÖNDORF: Der junge Tröless (1966)

JEAN-MARIE STRAUB & DANIELLE HUILLET: Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1968).

Germany in the 1970-80s Subsidies often end up in the production of commercial

farce and soft-core pornography Conflict between terrorism and authoritarian control Still undigestured past Feminism, gay movement and counter culture Filmverlag der Autoren co-operative

Formal beauty and abstraction Non-explicit argumentation Sensuality, colours, emotions – to the point of morbidity Vulnerability of the individual Heavy symbolism and satirical realism

German films in the 70s and 80s VOLKER SCHLÖNDORF: Der Fangschuss (1976), Die

Blechtrommel (1980) MARGARETHA VON TROTTA: Die verlorene Ehre der Katarina

Blum (1975), Die bleierne Zeit (1981), Rosa Luxemburg (1986). RAINER WERNER FASSIBINDER: Warnung vor einer heiligen

Nutte, Der Händler der vier Jahreszeiten (1971), Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Die dritte Generation, In einem Jahre mit 13 Monen (1979), Berliner Alexanderplatz (1980), Lili Marlene, Lola (1981)

WERNER HERZOG Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (1971), Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972), Jeden für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974), Herz aus Glas (1977), Fitzcaraldo (1982)

WIM WENDERS: Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (1971) Alice in der Städten (1974), Paris, Texas (1982), Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)

HANS-JÜRGEN SYBERBERG: Ludwig, Requiem für einen jungfraulichen König (1972), Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland(1977)