Romance films have enthralled audiences since the inception of cinema. In France during the French New Wave, a film called Un Homme et Une Femme debuted in 1966. This film tells the story of a widow and widower that meet and fall in love though a series of chance events. An American film released in 1995 called Before Sunrise explores similar themes of romance and chance. The French new wave was a movement in French that emphasized simple dialogue, new filming techniques, and realism. All these themes are present in Un Homme et Une Femme. Likewise, Before Sunrise explores these same ideas with similar mechanics to tell a more modern love story. The similarities between these two films can be observed immediately if the viewer has seen both.
Aside from sharing the love story theme, Un Homme and Before share the element of chance. In Un Homme, the two main characters are unlikely to meet, due to different schedules although their children attend the same school. It is doubtful that the two will ever meet. In Before, the main characters are from different parts of the world on vacation, taking the same train, and met by accident. These chance encounters add an element of fancifulness to the romances the movies portray. The main lovers in both films have wistful romances that capture the heart of the audience.
A characteristic of the French new wave was the use of minimal and improvisational dialogue. In Un Homme, large amounts of the dialogue of the script were made up on the spot with the story being mostly an outline. The pinnacle of this improvisation was during the climax of Un Homme. The lead actress, Anook Aimee, was largely unaware that the director chooses to have the main character end up together. The loo...
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.... When looking at Un Homme and Before, the similarities are striking. It is straightforward to see the influence that the french new wave had on american filmmakers thirty years later, when looking at these two films. The unlikely circumstances of the characters’ meetings, the artistic elements, the reluctance of the characters to be together, and the existence of an extremely alike sequel all show how these two films are noticeably likable and similar to viewers of both.
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...tail. Also, many camera angles that exploit the atmosphere of sexuality make these films very similar in the eyes of a regular viewer. Both movies allow the viewer to experience how life is much tougher under social pressures from the point of view of many characters. Not only do these movies focus on small details in various scenes, they show the complexity of making movies while incorporating a unique story line and keeping the viewer involved with each and every characters problems.
There is no doubt that Louis Malle while making the movie Lacombe Lucien wanted the eyewitness to feel uncomfortable when watching it. In the film we have to judge for ourselves but at the same time try to understand what leads people to do things that they choose to do. Louis Malle attempted to tell a 'real' story of 'real' people, rather than the good vs evil caricature. Possibly Malle wanted us to feel discomfort while watching the movie so that we identify with the individuals more and in some way, very minor, experience the feelings they experienced which due to the times they lived were very complex and uneasy. He wanted to manipulate the medium of film in order to make the audience reconsider their preconceptions and because the film acts upon the conscious mind far more than any other form of art he managed to achieve his goal effectively. In the movie there are many scenes in which the audience can feel uncomfortable. Whilst it begins we see Lucien cleaning the floors in a hospital. As he walks towards the window, he sees a singing bird. Making sure that nobody is looking he takes out his slingshot and shoots the bird dead. When we see a close up shot of his face, Lucien seems rather proud of himself. << We don’t know whether to laugh at boy’s mischief or to be horrified by a cold blooded killing. >> Despite the fact that the bird is dead, Django Reinhardt’s joyful music is starting to play in the background. This is one of the first times when the audience gets a feeling of discomfort as we wonder why this music was chosen for the particular scene. At the same time we are aware it definitely was not a coincidence. Despite Lucien’s previous reaction, few scenes later he is shown as moved by stroking a dead horse whic...
The purpose with this paper is to study and compare two different directors, and to compare and contrast the two different works. How are they working with their movies and how do they use mise-en-scene? By studying two different directors that uses different techniques when making movies, we are going to find out how important mise en scene really is, and how it affects the movie.
Babette’s Feast Like probably most of the people in our class, I grew up watching and enjoying Hollywood movies and have never really tried to appreciate European cinema. I initially thought of it as something boring or something that required too much analysis and interpretation. took the “fun” part out of watching a movie. However, watching the film, Babette’s Feast, certainly changed my viewpoint. Though it didn’t fully transform my view into instant admiration and outright appreciation, my viewpoint on European cinema definitely changed.
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In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
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It was not until the mid 1930s that the brutish dictator truly recognized the potential power of media, where in 1935 a special funding was given to the production of Italian films which was used to open up film institutions like the ‘Centro Sperimenale di Cinematografia’ (CSC) film school, and ‘Cinecitta’ (Cinema City) studios in 1937 (Ruberto and Wilson, 2007). The development of these institutions sparked the appearance of early sound cinema, specializing in genres such as comedies, melodramas, musicals and historical films, but were all categorized as ‘propaganda’ and ‘white telephone’ films by many critics due...
Mise-e-scène is one of the most recognizable conventions in filmmaking. It translates literally from the French to “staging” or “to put in the scene” in English. When applied to film studies, mise-en-scène refers to all the visual elements within a particular shot or sequence. Mise-en-scène consists of 5 distinct categories which assist in the development of a film’s visual narrative: Setting and Design, Costume and Make-up, Lighting, Acting and Movement, and Framing. These elements together and separately help to inform the viewer by giving them visual cues as to the nuances of meaning within a film’s structural form. Mise-en-scène may gives the viewer insight into the nature of a film’s characters and their subsequent state of mind, the time and place in which events are occurring, the mood and meaning intended by a particular scene, and also help the viewer to form expectations based upon the filmmaker’s interpretive point of view. In the film, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Director Michael Gondry utilizes mise-en-scène to denote the complex temporal relationships between his characters, their circumstances, and a fragmented plot structure which progresses through elliptical patterns between memory and reality. In fact, the use of mise-en-scène in Spotless Mind is central to understanding the inner construct of Joel (Jim Carey) and Clementine’s (Kate Winslet) personalities and personal motives, as well as the antagonistic mechanism at play in their relationship.
The genre of romantic comedies sets up a framework of generic conventions for each film. Although they usually have the construction, each film is developed in their own unique way. The amusing, comical, and dramatic movies follow the basic structure of the unfulfilled desire of love in the lives of the main characters, a situation that they are put in that provides a chance for potential romance, and then though several obstacles, a realization that they are a perfect match and live “happily ever after”.
Analysis of Movie Moulin Rouge In this essay I will be analyzing in depth four scenes from Baz Luhrmann's critically acclaimed Moulin Rouge that was released in 2000. I will be analyzing the opening sequence, the sequence in the Moulin Rouge itself, the two dancing sequences 'Like a Virgin' and 'Tango Roxanne' and the final scenes of the film. Throughout this essay I will be commenting on the filming techniques that Luhrmann uses and what affects these have on the audience, also I will be analyzing how the film is similar and different to typical Hollywood Musicals.
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