Week 19

Question 1

Auteur Theory

Answer 1

origins in postwar France

Question 2

The French New Wave

Answer 2

-Cahiers du cinema
-Young critics & cinephiles (Godard, Truffaut & others) vs. French film establishment
* Vast knowledge of cinema (including Hollywood films)

Question 3

The Idea of the Film “Auteur”

Answer 3

-Alexandre Astruc’s essay “Caméra Stylo” [camera
pen], 1948
– Cinema as medium of personal artistic expression
–
“art” requires an “artist”

Question 4

Hollywood Auteurs

Answer 4

FNW theorists saw “artists” within the commercially-driven Hollywood studio system
– Eisenstein, Ozu, Welles, others had long been regarded as auteurs
– For FNW theorists Hitchcock, Hawks, Ford, Wilder, Minnelli, Tourneur & others were artists, too

Question 5

Andrew Sarris: The “Auteur Theory”

Answer 5

Sarris, “Notes on the Auteur Theory” (1962 essay)
– An auteur must . . .
* Be able to create a well-made film
* Demonstrate a distinguishable personality
* Produce films which, collectively, share an interior meaning
– tensionbetweendirector’svision and subject matter

Question 6

Critiquing the Auteur Theory

Answer 6

Pauline Kael vs. Sarris:
– Approach ignores collaborative nature of filmmaking
* e.g., Citizen Kane
– Favours repetition and devalues variety within filmmaker’s body of work

Question 7

Other Critiques

Answer 7

Freudian-influenced critiques
– The “artist” is not a unified subject
* Marxist-influenced critiques
– Social forces crucial

Question 8

From Theory to Practice: The French New Wave 1958

Answer 8

Truffaut the outspoken critic banned from Cannes

Question 9

From Theory to Practice: The French New Wave 1959

Answer 9

Truffaut “Best Director” at Cannes

Question 10

From Theory to Practice: The French New Wave 1960

Answer 10

Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless

Question 11

Characteristics of the New Wave

Answer 11

Contemporarysettings and stories, usually involving young people
* Style is spontaneous, unpolished, kinetic, disjointed
* Ambiguity(causes, motives, outcomes)
* Playful&self-reflexive: in-jokes, allusions to other films

Question 12

Influence of Italian Neorealism

Answer 12

• Films shot quickly, on location (usually Paris), with low budgets
• Novice/amateurish actors often used
• Minimal crews involved
• Used new, cheaper and more portable 35mm cameras & sound- recording equipment