POSTWAR CINEMA
THE FRENCH NEW WAVE
(“la nouvelle vague”)
THE “TRADITION OF
QUALITY”
French films of late 1940s & 1950s
known as “Tradition of Quality”
 3 general characteristics:

– High PRODUCTION VALUES
– THEATRICAL & LITERARY
– Made in a STUDIO SYSTEM
BRESSON & TATI
2 important directors Post-war Era who had
an important impact on New Wave, but were
not part of it
 Also were outside of mainstream filmmaking
of the period
 Common an obsession with perfection

– Films took years to make, financed
independently (not by major studios)
– Demanded complete control of their films,
refusing the contributions of anyone else
– Their films share a meticulous subtlety
ROBERT BRESSON
Films consist mostly of close-ups,
details of mise-en-scène
 Rejects extensive use of nondiegetic
sound, using instead natural sounds
 Keeps dialogue to a minimum, often
relying on voiceover narration
 Leaves out exciting stuff, puts in
"boring details"

ROBERT BRESSON

Known for his treatment of actors
– He disliked them & thought they were generally
stupid, esp. those who had been trained in acting
– Preferred to think of them as part of the miseen-scène
– Refused to let them contribute; they did what
they were told or were fired

Films tend to be depressing dramas about
hopeless situations
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest (1950)
Robert Bresson, A Man Escaped (1956)
JACQUES TATI

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Like Bresson, but made comedies
Began career in 1930s, as vaudeville mime &
acrobat (this is evident in his films)
Influenced by silent film comedians, esp.
Hollywood actor/directors Chaplin & Keaton
But comedies are subtle, never sentimental,
not exactly slapstick
Instead, comedies based on film form itself
JACQUES TATI

We refer to Tati as a parametric
filmmaker
– Tended to use the parameters, or
extremes, of film style
– All of elements of film style
choreographed to make jokes about
possibilities of film form
– Best known are Jour de fete (1949; Mr.
Hulot's Holiday (1953); & Playtime (1967)
Jacques Tati, Mon Oncle
Jacques Tati, Play Time
THE “AUTEUR THEORY”

THE GROWTH OF FILM CRITICISM IN
FRANCE
– ALEXANDER ASTRUC


Wrote an article in 1948 on the “CAMERA-STYLO”
Camera to the filmmaker what the pen is to the
writer
– CAHIERS DU CINÉMA


Founded by ANDRE BAZIN
Promoted 2 basic principles:
– Mise-en-scène aesthetics
– “AUTEUR THEORY”
ANDRE BAZIN
THE “AUTEUR THEORY”

CHARACTERISTICS
– Film should be a MEDIUM OF SELF-EXPRESSION
– The best films bear the director's PERSONAL
SIGNATURE
– A director's OEUVRE more important then any
particular film
– Worst film of an auteur is better than the best
film of a non-auteur (or “metteur-en-scène”)
THE “AUTEUR THEORY”

Rejected the French Tradition of Quality
– Too concerned with being literary, not
cinematic
– Jean-Luc Godard:

“Your camera movements are ugly because your
subjects are bad, your casts act badly because your
dialogue is worthless; in a word, you don't know how
to create cinema because you no longer even know
what it is.”
THE “AUTEUR THEORY”

Auteur critics preferred:
– Directors of French Poetic Realism
– Obscure French directors of 1940s & 1950s
(Jacques Tati)
– French documentary filmmakers (Alain Resnais,
Jacques Cousteau)
– Italian Neorealism

Hollywood directors: John Ford, Alfred
Hitchcock, Orson Welles & Jerry Lewis
FRENCH NEW WAVE,
1959-68

Directors of the New Wave were critics 1st
– Influenced by films instead of stage & literature
– Became critics; couldn’t get into the industry
– Borrowed money & services to finance low-
budget productions

The New Wave Arrives in 1959
– FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT made The 400 Blows
– JEAN-LUC GODARD made Breathless
– ALAIN RESNAIS (not a critic, older) made
Hiroshima, mon amour
FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT, The 400 Blows
FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT, The 400 Blows
JEAN-LUC GODARD
JEAN-LUC GODARD, Breathless
JEAN-LUC GODARD, Breathless
ALAIN RESNAIS
ALAIN RESNAIS, Last Year at Marienbad
ALAIN RESNAIS, Last Year at Marienbad
ALAIN RESNAIS, Last Year at Marienbad
FRENCH NEW WAVE:
FORM & STYLE

NARRATIVE FORM relatively
DISCONTINUOUS
– Lack GOAL-ORIENTED PROTAGONISTS
– CAUSAL CONNECTIONS are loose
– Less CLOSURE than the CHC
FRENCH NEW WAVE:
FORM & STYLE

CHARACTERISTICS OF CINEMATIC STYLE
– CASUAL LOOK
– LOCATION SHOOTING
– NATURAL LIGHTING
– IMPROVISATION of lines, actions, etc.
– THE MOVING CAMERA
– DISCONTINUOUS EDITING; JUMP CUTS are
common
– THE LONG TAKE
SELF-REFLEXIVE CINEMA &
THE OPEN TEXT

New Wave films tend to be SELF-REFLEXIVE
– Remind us that we are watching a film, don't
allow us to get too involved with the story
– AESTHETIC DISTANCING
– Self-reflexivity result of style & form in
general, but also of 2 specific techniques:

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DIRECT ADDRESS
HOMMAGE
THE OPEN TEXT
DECLINE OF THE
FRENCH NEW WAVE
Came to an end around 1968
 ABSORPTION INTO STUDIO SYSTEM

– Many directors absorbed into studio
system
– Directors & films attractive to the
studios:
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Low-budget, little financial risk
Popular at the box office
Critically praised internationally
DECLINE OF THE
FRENCH NEW WAVE

THE “BIG 3” DIRECTORS
– FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
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Became a mainstream director
Made literary adaptations with high production values
Died in 1984
– ALAIN RESNAIS
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Made big-budget films for a number of French studios
Critically acclaimed but obscure
– JEAN-LUC GODARD

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Became increasingly political
Films popular with intellectuals but not audiences
INFLUENCE OF THE
FRENCH NEW WAVE

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Popularized the open text
Major step in rise of European Art Cinema
Influenced other movements & national
cinemas (American, British, Australian)
Conventions (freeze frames, jump cuts,
etc.) absorbed into mainstream cinema &
TV
Auteur theory became common
“Personal expression” approach influenced
directors worldwide