European Cinema

AA310 - Tutorial 5

Structure for the Session

• How to approach this unit• Overview of general themes and

considerations• Case studies of each national cinema

covered in the course book

How to approach the unit

• Follow the same principleso In other words, use the four approaches to analyse

each national cinemao Consider links between European cinema and other

national cinemas already covered on the course• Plan a reasonable workload for your study

o You are expected to be more independent in selecting viewing material

o Watch at least one feature film from each nation and think carefully about your choice of which films to watch

How to approach the unit

• TMA04 Option One• This is ostensibly a question about aesthetics, but consider what

links these cinemas from the social, economic and technological approach as well

• TMA04 Option Two• Discuss at least one film from any two nations in reasonable detail• Consider the concept of the ‘vision of the national past’

General Considerations

• While the essay questions seem to naturally lend themselves to aesthetic interpretations, think about how you can incorporate all four approaches and support them with historical evidence

• Your reading material covers post-1973 (or post-1945 when you study West Germany) - Think about what historical events impacted on this period and hence why films from this era have been chosen.

• The films discussed in the course book are generally middle class, ‘intellectual’ cinema. However, each nation covered has its own popular genres (e.g. Heimat films in Germany, Polar/policier in France) - It is quite often illuminating to consider how popular cinema fits in with the trends of a nation’s more intellectual films, and the implications this has for claims that particular films represent ‘national’ consciousness.

West German CinemaSince 1945

West German CinemaImmediate Post-War Context

• In immediate post-war West Germany, it was largely America that controlled both the production and the distribution of films - Consider the implications of this for German cinema and society

• British and American occupying forces jointly produced Welt im Film (World on Film) - If you are a German speaker you can view an example here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StawZ5_p750

• Despite this, the export of German films was also adversely affected by the revulsion many countries felt for German films in the aftermath of the war (Course Book p. 7), further hampering the development of a ‘national’ cinema.

• In 1948, the western powers introduced a currency reform (the Deutsche Mark), dramatically lowered taxes and removed price restrictions on goods to revitalise the German economy, and in turn entrenched the split between East and West.

Papas Kino

• Referred to a style associated with Nazi Germany and its immediate aftermath, of which Jew Suss (Viet Harlan, 1940) (about a Jewish businessman, Suss Oppenheimer, who connives his way into government for his own financial gain, raping a German girl and torturing her family in the bargain) is an interesting example. Suss is sentenced to death at the film’s conclusion.

• An example of the press book for the film is here- http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/judsuss2.htm

• While this is an extreme example, as late as 1957 about 70 per cent of West German feature films were made using the services of a director or scriptwriter who had worked under the Nazi regime (Course Book p.5).

• You can also view a clip from The Murderers are Among us (Wolfgang Staudte, 1946) - an example of the Trummerfilme.

Young German Cinema

• Young German Cinema - comes from the manifesto created at a 1962 short film festival in Oberhausen. Lasts until the late sixties.

• Alexander Kluge’s debut, Abschied von Gestern (Yesterday Girl) (1966), focuses on a young Jewish woman from East Germany who fails to make a new start in West Germany.

• Based on the Sight & Sound article on Kluge’s work, discuss how the form of Kluge’s films was influenced by German society, and to what extent they marked a departure from Papas Kino.

New German Cinema

• The two most prominent filmmakers in this movement were Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, followed by Wim Wenders, the most commercially successful director of the German New Wave.

• Watch the clip of Veronika Voss (Fassbinder, 1982) on your course video and discuss its relationship to Germany’s past and contemporary issues.

• In July 1990, the two Germanys joined in a monetary, economic and social union, and in October they united politically under the aegis of Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democratic Party, heralding the end of the New German Cinema.

New German Cinema - A Case Study of Werner Herzog

• Watch an example from either Aguirre, Wrath of God (1971), The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1972) or Fitzcarraldo (1982) and consider the similarities and differences between Herzog and Fassbinder’s work

• Herzog describes himself as a Bavarian, rather than German director, and he certainly appears to portray outsider characters at odds with society. This is enhanced by his tendency to focus on historical settings. But do any of the Herzog films you have seen relate to contemporary German society? How ‘national’ are they?

• A good indication of Herzog’s filmmaking philosophy can be seen in this monologue from Burden of Dreams (1982) about the making of Fitzcarraldo

German Cinema in Autumn?

• In 1955, German made films accounted for approximately 50 per cent of the total domestic film market, a figure that declined to 30 per cent in the early 1970s (Course Book p. 20).

• in 1990, only 5 per cent of the market share of films was claimed by German productions, with American films claiming 85 per cent (Course Book p. 20).

• Consider the reasons for this decline and how it relates to the TMA questions.

French Cinema, 1974-2000

French Cinema: 1974-2000Social Factors

• Politicso May 1968 - Did a legacy of protest permeate throughout

French cinema? Or instead, was there a more conservative, backward looking reaction to these events?

o 1974 - Election of Giscard d’Estaing heralded a programme of liberalisation that mirrored Britain in the late 1960s (legalising abortion, divorce etc.)

• Audience/Nationalityo By 1979- French films accounted for 50.1% of the cinema

audience, with American films constituting 29.3%o By 1993 only 34.6% were French, and American 57.1%o Why did this happen? Consider from aesthetic, social,

economic and technological viewpoints.

French Cinema: 1974-2000Economic and Technological Factors

• Strong film funding arrangements put in place with cinema in France supported by TV revenue

• Strong tradition of independent filmmaking supported by lightweight, portable cameras and massive indigenous audience base

French Cinema, 1974-2000Aesthetic Approach

• Crisis of masculinityo Perhaps related to the previously mentioned changes in 1970s

French legislation?o See Les Valsuese for an example of this

• Fetishised portrayals of womeno 40 to 50 per cent of French cinema releases between 1976-78

was pornography, and the fetishised portrayal of women has a long lineage in French art cinema

• Criticism of style over substance (Cinema du Look)o Seen in Diva (Jean-Jaques Beineix, 1981) and

La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)• Refuge in the Past

o As seen in Jean de Florette (Claude Berri, 1986)o Can this be due to war guilt?

The Sorrow and the Pity (Dir. Marcel Ophuls) was released in 1969

French Cinema, 1974-2000Case Study - La Haine

• Interestingly, the French cinema discussed in the course book branches away from the auteur legacy (despite Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol and Resnais still making films during this period). In many ways the work covered could be called a ‘new French cinema’, and youth is certainly a key factor.

• Despite this, La Haine (1996, Dir. Matieu Kassovitz) shares similar traits - But is it style over substance? Watch the extract from the course video and assess the social, economic, technological and aesthetic influences

Italian Cinema, 1973-2000

Italian Cinema, 1973-2000Social Factors

• Censorshipo Censorship laws were relaxed in 1965

• Legislative changeso Italy in the 1970s followed a similar legislative path to Britain in

the late 1960so The voting age was lowered to 18 (1974), and divorce (1975) and

abortion (1978) were legalised

Italian Cinema, 1973-2000Economic and Technological Factors

• Televisiono Television becomes more dominant in the 1970s, prompting a

shift towards ‘spectacle’ in the cinemao Unlike in France, there was not the same support for cinema from

Italy’s TV companies• In addition, there were a number of dominant popular Italian

genres, so ‘art’ cinema did not have as strong a financial foundation

Italian Cinema, 1973-2000Aesthetic Approach

• ‘Polished camerawork and editing’o ‘In keeping with the tradition of Italian painting’

• ‘Touches of the melodramatic’o Again, following Italian operatic traditions

• The Second World War and its legacyo Similarly to France, the national myths about Italy’s role in the

conflict are troublesome• Internationalism

o Particularly with foreign actors appearing in films• I would add ‘realist traditions’

o As seen in the neo-realist movement of the late forties and fifties (Rosselini (Roma, Citta Aperta/Rome, Open City, 1945), De Sica (Ladri di Biciclette/Bicycle Thieves, 1948))

• What other national cinema you have covered on the course had similar traits?

Italian Popular Genres

• Peplumo Otherwise known as ‘Sword and Sandal’, for example Le

Fatiche di Ercole/Hercules (Pietro Francisci, 1958) starring Steve Reeves

• Gialloo Named after pulp crime novels with yellow covers (‘giallo’ is

Italian for ‘yellow’), these are similar to the French Policier/Polar, but more graphically violent

• Gothic Horror/Fantasyo The major Italian popular genre - See Ricardo Freda, Mario

Bava & Dario Argento for key examples of this. The majority of these featured non-Italian actors (e.g. Barbara Steele, David Hemmings, Christopher Lee)

Case Study of La Vita e Bella

• La Vita e Bella/Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997) - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PorTC447hbQ&feature=related (unfortunately this is the dubbed version – best to watch in conjunction with your course book commentary)

• How do these examples follow the trends outlined in your course book?

Further Sources of Research

• Films & Extra Resources on Course Website• French Cinema

o Cine Lumiere - http://www.institut-francais.org.uk/o A Short History of French Cinema

• Italian Cinemao Italian Cultural Institute -

http://www.iiclondra.esteri.it/IIC_Londra • German Cinema

o http://www.german-films.de/index.php - brilliant resource for stats and synopses of films - check out the film archive and statistics links on the home page.

o The Goethe Institute - http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/enindex.htm

o All videos discussed in this session on squrl.com

• At the OU’s main London venue in Camden, from 10am-4pm• 16 July – TMA05 Deadline 4 August• Covers the entire TV Genres unit

Details of the Next Tutorial

Good Luck!

• Any further questions?• P.moody@open.ac.uk• If you have not already done so, add your name to my e-mail

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