TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film

Transcription

1 TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film TCF 340 International Cinema: French Film Catalog Course Description: Study of motion pictures produced throughout the world. Subjects may change each time course is offered. Prerequisites: TCF 112, or permission of instructor. The College of Communication & Information Sciences requires that all students enrolled in upper division courses (300/400 level) have a 2.0 GPA overall. Students who do not have the 2.0 GPA may be administratively disenrolled on the first day of class. Course Number, and Number of Credit Hours: TCF , 3 credit hours Easier-to-Print Syllabus: A easier-to-print version of this syllabus is available in PDF format. To view/print it, you'll need Adobe Reader, a free piece of software that may already be on your computer. Try clicking this link to find out. If that does not work, go over here to download Adobe Reader and then click that link again. Last revised: 23 August :50:32 Copyright All rights reserved. [8/23/ :56:55 PM]

2 TCF 340 International Cinema: The French Film Course Assignments Course Calendar Grading Texts/Resources Course Objectives: TCF 340 assumes the student understands generally the contours of international cinema history. The course's objective therefore is to investigate in some depth the cinematic work of a particular nation and the historical/theoretical issues pertaining to it. This term our topic will be the French cinema. Instructor: Jeremy Butler Office: 430C Phifer Office hours: TT 3:15-4:45, & by appt jbutler@ua.edu Facebook Profile Course Assignments: 1. An analytical exercise based upon the principles discussed in Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art. Worth 15 points. 2. Three open-book, open-note exams. The first two will be during classtime and the third will be administered during the final exam period. Early exams will not be given. Each is worth 24 points, for a total of One take-home essay, which will synthesize concepts presented over the course of the entire semester. Essay topics will be distributed at the last class meeting and the essay will be due at the final exam period. It must be word-processed and, if necessary, properly footnoted. Worth 10 points. 4. Participation an online project (Screenpedia) is worth three points. More details are over here. Screenings & Credits: Most films will be shown on DVD/VHS Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in room 216. You may bring guests with you. There will be no other class screenings of the films, but copies of most of them are on reserve in the Communication and Information Sciences Reading Room (not the Gorgas Library), and a few are available in the audio-visual section of the Gorgas Library (see call numbers below). Credits are available from the Internet Movie Database. Follow the links below to find credits for specific films. Grading Grades will be posted online, if you give us written permission to do so. The only way to access your online grades is through the TCF Website (a link will be added once grades are posted). Grading scale: A C F 59 and below A C A C B D B D B D Course Calendar (subject to changes announced in class): (1 of 5) [8/23/ :56:56 PM]

3 = illustrations Date Topic/Film/Discussion Readings 8/24 Introduction to Course DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut, 1973) 8/29 Film Analysis: Narrative Form Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 2, 3 (except Citizen Kane analysis) 8/31 9/5 9/7 Film Analysis: Mise-en-Scene MY OTHER HUSBAND (Lautner, 1983) (French title: Attention! Une femme peut en cacher une autre; literally, "Watch out! A wife/woman can conceal an other [woman]") Film Analysis: Cinematographic Properties Film Analysis: Editing & Sound 7:00 p.m. Early French Cinema LUMIÈRE SHORTS THE IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE (Méliès, 1904) LE MILLION (Clair, 1931) Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 6 Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 7 Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 8, 9 9/12 Analytical Exercise Due Click here for Exercise illustrations! 9/14 The Avant-Garde: Dada & Surrealism UN CHIEN ANDALOU (Buñuel/Dalí, 1928; Gorgas VCR 84-27) ENTR'ACTE (Clair, 1924; Gorgas VCR 84-27) À PROPOS DE NICE (Vigo, 1929; Gorgas VCR 84-27) Recommended: THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (Dreyer, 1928; CIS Reading Room) ZERO FOR CONDUCT (Vigo, 1933; Gorgas VCR 84-11) L'ATALANTE (Vigo, 1934; Tuscaloosa Public Library) 9/19 Discussion Hughes, ; Bordwell/Thompson, /21 French Cinema Between the Wars I: Sound's Arrival and the Popular Front THE CRIME OF M. LANGE (Renoir, 1935) 9/26 Discussion Fofi, /28 Bazinian Realism: Jean Renoir THE RULES OF THE GAME (Renoir, 1939; Gorgas VCR 84-25) 10/3 Discussion Bazin ("Evolution"), ("Pop. Front"), /5 French Cinema Between the Wars II: Poetic Realism LE JOUR SE LÈVE (Carné, 1939; Gorgas VCR 84-24) 10/10 Exam #1 Bazin ("LJSL"), (2 of 5) [8/23/ :56:56 PM]

4 10/12 French New Wave I: Alain Resnais LES MISTONS (Truffaut, 1957; Gorgas VCR 84-12) HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (Resnais, 1959) 10/17 Discussion Monaco ("Resnais"), /19 French New Wave II: François Truffaut "ANTOINE ET COLETTE" in LOVE AT TWENTY (1962) STOLEN KISSES (Truffaut, 1968, Gorgas VCR 84-14) 10/24 Discussion Monaco ("NW"), 13-36, /26 French New Wave III: Eric Rohmer CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON (Rohmer, 1972) 10/31 Exam #2 Monaco ("NW"), ; Crisp, /1 Last day to drop a course with a grade of "W". 11/2 French Modernism: Jean-Luc Godard & Bertolt Brecht BREATHLESS (Godard, 1959; Gorgas VCR 84-20) 11/7 Discussion Brecht, 33-42; Wollen, 79-91; MacCabe, /9 Godard and Contemporary Feminism VIVRE SA VIE (Godard, 1962) 11/14 Discussion MacCabe/Mulvey, /16 French Feminism, Continued: Agnès Varda and Claire Denis VAGABOND (Varda, 1986, Gorgas VCR 98-72) 11/21 CHOCOLAT (Denis, 1989) (class will run overtime) 11/23 Thanksgiving Holiday 11/28 Discussion Kuhn, /30 Recent Godard SOFT AND HARD (Godard/Miéville, 1985) 12/5 Discussion Take-Home Essay distributed. 12/7 Cinema Ascetic: Robert Bresson Godard/Miéville, 60-73; Penley, Bresson, 1-18 AMÉLIE (Jeunet, 2001) Recommended: A MAN ESCAPED (Bresson, 1956) 12/12, Tuesday Final Exam Period, Exam #3, Tuesday, 8:00-10-:30 a.m. Texts/Resources (3 of 5) [8/23/ :56:56 PM]

5 Available at local bookstores: Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. Seventh Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Available through the Academic Publishing Service (Supe Store): In alphabetical order, not the order in which they are assigned. 1. Armes, Roy. French Cinema. NY: Oxford University, Bazin, André. "The Era of the Popular Front." In Jean Renoir, pp Edited and with an introduction by Francois Truffaut. Translated by W. W. Halsey II and William H. Simon. NY: Simon & Schuster, Bazin, André. "The Evolution of Film Language." In The New Wave, pp Edited and translated by Peter Graham. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Bazin, André. "LE JOUR SE LÊVE... Poetic Realism." In LE JOUR SE LÊVE: A Film by Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert, pp Translated by Dinah Brooke and Nicola Hayden. NY: Simon and Schuster, Brecht, Bertolt. "The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre." In Brecht on Theatre, pp Edited and translated by John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, Bresson, Robert. Notes on Cinematography. Translated by Jonathan Griffin. NY: Urizen, Crisp, C. G. Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, Fofi, Goffredo. "The Cinema of the Popular Front in France ( )." In Screen Reader I, pp London: SEFT, Godard, Jean-Luc and Anne-Marie Miéville. "FRANCE/TOUR/DETOUR/TWO/CHILDREN." Camera Obscura, , pp Kuhn, Annette. Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, MacCabe, Colin. Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, Monaco, James. Alain Resnais. NY: Oxford University, Monaco, James. The New Wave. NY: Oxford University, Penley, Constance. "Les Enfants de la Patrie." Camera Obscura, , pp Wollen, Peter. "Godard and Counter Cinema: VENT D'EST." In Readings and Writings: Semiotic Counter-Strategies. London: Verso, Attendance Policy: Each student is permitted four absences. Each absence beyond four will result in one point being deducted from the student's final grade (maximum penalty: five points). Students who do not attend the first two meetings of class may be administratively disenrolled. Cell-Phone Policy: Cell phones must be turned off during classtime. Students who leave class to take a phone call will be counted absent for that day. Disabilities Accommodation Policy: (4 of 5) [8/23/ :56:56 PM]

6 Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Office of Disability Services, Thereafter, you are invited to schedule appointments to see me during my office hours to discuss accommodations and other special needs. Academic Misconduct Policy: All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct. The Code of Academic Conduct and Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Procedures will be followed in the event of academic misconduct. GPA Requirements: The College of Communication & Information Sciences requires that all students enrolled in upper division courses (300/400 level) have a 2.0 GPA overall. Students who do not have the 2.0 GPA may be administratively disenrolled on the first day of class. Students must earn a "C" or better in all required and elective courses in a C&IS major. A "C" or better is required in all external courses required by the major whether they serve as a prerequisite to a major course or are simply required by the major. This means a "C" of any kind. Home Syllabus Assignments Resources Last revised: 23 August :45:27 Copyright All rights reserved. (5 of 5) [8/23/ :56:56 PM]