FR268-15 French Cinema and Society from the First to the Second World War
Introductory description
A survey of canonical or otherwise influential films produced between the world wars in France, studied in relation to their social context in such a way as to introduce students to both a period of French history, cinematic and beyond, and the rudiments of film analysis.
Module aims
To introduce to key works, artists, techniques and debates in the so-called ‘classical’ period of French cinema from the late 1910s until the mid-1940s.
To survey key events, actors, debates and problems in French social and political history of the period from the First World War to the Liberation.
To explore and critically debate the relationship of mutual influence and interpenetration between the social and political history of France and its cinematic representations during the same period.
To show how specific audiovisual techniques are used in filmmaking to convey ideas and emotions.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
- Introduction: Studying history through film; looking at film historically; France between
the wars - French Cinema and the First World War: J’accuse (1919)
- A French social cinema: Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932)
- The Popular Front: La Belle Équipe (1936)
- ‘Poetic realism’: Le Jour se lève (1939)
- Reading week
- Renoir the Master: La Règle du jeu (1939)
- Filming under the Occupation: Le Corbeau (1943)
- The Summit of Classical French cinema: Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
- Looking back: Panique (1946)
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- To understand and explain how cinematic forms and representations are historically determined by diverse economic, technological, social and cultural factors.
- To demonstrate how diverse social, economic, ideological and cultural factors brought about and shaped key events and episodes in modern French history.
- To understand and critically analyse the relationship between social, cultural and political history, on the one hand, and cinematic forms and representations on the other.
- To show how medium-specific techniques are used to convey narrative, ideas and opinions in the cinema. To communicate ideas and historical analyses in writing.
- To research, prepare and present an audio-visual presentation using film stills and clips as required to demonstrate analytical points.
- To identify and evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources on French social, political, cultural and cinematic history.
- To conduct independent research into French film history and its relation to wider social and cultural history.
Indicative reading list
Dudley Andrew and Steven Ungar, Popular Front Paris and the Poetics of Culture (Harvard,
2005).
Jonathan Buchsbaum, Cinéma engagé: Film in the Popular Front (Illinois, 1988).
James Chapman, Film and History (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013), 181pp.
Colin Crisp, The Classic French Cinema, 1930-1960 (Indiana, 1993)
Jonathan Driskell, Marcel Carné (Manchester, 2012).
Evelyn Ehrlich, Cinema of Paradox: French Filmmaking under the German Occupation
(Columbia, 1985).
Margaret C. Flinn, The Social Architecture of rench Cinema, 1929-1939 (Liverpool, 2014).
Julian Jackson, The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-1938 (Cambridge,
1990).
Julian Jackson, France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944 (Oxford, 2001).
Ben McCann, Julien Duvivier (Manchester, 2017).
Siân Reynolds, France between the Wars: Gender and Politics (Routledge, 1996), 296pp.
Robert A. Rosenstone, History on Film, Film on History (Pearson, 2012), 240pp.
François Rouquet and Fabrice Virgili, Les Françaises, Les Français et l’Épuration (Folio, 2018).
Alexander Sesonske, Jean Renoir, the French Films, 1924-1939 (Harvard, 1980).
Edward Baron Turk, Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema
(Harvard, 1989).
Ginette Vincendeau and Keith Reader (eds), La Vie est à nous!: French Cinema of the Popular
Front 1935-1938 (BFI, 1986).
Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s (Norton, 1996), 402pp.
Prakash Younger, Boats on the Marne: Jean Renoir’s Critique of Modernity (Indiana, 2017).
View reading list on Talis Aspire
International
All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.
Subject specific skills
This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of French culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of French cinema and society from the two world wars will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.
Transferable skills
All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Seminars | 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Private study | 124 hours (87%) |
| Total | 142 hours |
Private study description
Students will be required each week to watch films, preferably more than once, taking detailed notes. They will be given further reading suggestions in relation to each week, which it will be particularly important to follow up when choosing topics for presentation and (especially) essay. they will also produce a Powerpoint (and/or clip) for their presentation.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Presentation | 20% | 8 hours | |
|
10 minute presentation |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Assessed Essay | 80% | ||
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
Feedback will be provided in the course of the module in a number of ways. Feedback should be understood to be both formal and informal and is not restricted to feedback on formal written work.
Oral feedback will be provided by the module tutor in the course of seminar discussion. This may include feedback on points raised in small group work or in the course of individual presentations or larger group discussion.
Written feedback will be provided on formal assessment using the standard SMLC Assessed Work feedback form appropriate to the assessment. Feedback is intended to enable continuous improvement throughout the module and written feedback is generally the final stage of this feedback process. Feedback will always demonstrate areas of success and areas for future development, which can be applied to future assessment. Feedback will be both discipline-specific and focussed on key transferrable skills, enabling students to apply this feedback to their future professional lives. Feedback will be fair and reasonable and will be linked to the SMLC marking scheme appropriate to the module.
There is currently no information about the courses for which this module is core or optional.