Lecture 5 - Film Theory 2 - French New Wave, 1950s & 1960s Cinema

French New Wave Cinema is a name for the changes made in film in Britain but the most influential movement was in France and Paris.  

A Group of French Filmmakers who were all once film critics with backgrounds in film theory started to write for Cahiers du Cinema.  These filmmakers were called; Jean-Luc Goddard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer.

La Pointe Courte (1954), by Agnes Varda – Starts off the New Wave

French New Wave: existentialism

(Philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) 

Existentialism is generally considered to be the philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the individual and the experiences of the individual, that moral thinking and scientific thinking together do not suffice to understand human existence, and, therefore, that a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to understand human existence.  (Authenticity, in the context of existentialism, is the degree to which one is true to one's own personality, spirit, or character.)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

Existentialism:

Stressed the individual.

Experience of free choice.

Absence of any rational understanding of universe.

Sense of absurdity in human life.

In indifferent world, existentialist seeks to: 

Act authentically

Use free will

Take responsibility for all their actions.

Avoid playing out roles pre-ordained by society.

Cinema du Papa were against films shot in a studio, films that were set in the past, films that were contrived and over- dramatised and films that used trickery and special effects.  The new wave celebrated American film noir because they reflected contemporary urban life and characters in contemporary dress.

French new wave had a particular style of editing which consisted of Free style, Did not conform to editing rules, Discontinuous, Jump Cuts, Insertion of extraneous material 

Shooting on location Natural lighting Improvised dialogue and plotting Direct sound recording Long takes Many of these conventions, the overall goal was to ensure the audience remembered they were watching a film.

This movement within film brought with it a shift in mood: Heroes are aimless, stylish and act silly and can also be cowardly.  Mood Shifts:  Infatuation, Romanticism and Boredom.


Lecture delivered by Sam Broadhead, Leeds College of Art.