FRENCH 749

French Cinema Since the New Wave

Description

An in-depth investigation of major developments in French cinema since 1970, with a particular focus on the 1990s and beyond. The course is organised around a series of films and topics, each of which focuses on a specific aspect of contemporary French cinema, as it relates to French culture, politics, history and society as well as to major trends in world cinema.

Each lecture will introduce and discuss important cultural, philosophical, aesthetic and theoretical issues, such as surrealism and the carnivalesque; realism versus self-reflexivity; intertextuality; the ethics of representing otherness; modernism and postmodernism; feminism(s) and hegemonic masculinity; nativist versus constructivist theories of gender and sexuality; postcolonial theory; and the representation of history.

FRENCH 749 is open to graduate students of French, Media, Film and Television and European Studies. Lectures are concurrent with FRENCH 349 and students may also attend 349 discussion classes. Dedicated graduate seminars will be timetabled by agreement with the course coordinator.

The course presupposes a good knowledge of film “grammar” (shot analysis, mise en scène, editing techniques and so on) and will provide all students with ample opportunity to develop existing knowledge. Students are also expected to demonstrate a level of sustained engagement with theoretical issues introduced in lectures.

French students will complete all assessments in French. Extra resources (reading list and recorded audio lecture in French with accompanying notes, lexiques and web references for film terms in French and English) will be available.

If you are interested in taking this course, please contact the Postgraduate Adviser well in advance.

 

Availability 2025

Not taught in 2025

Lecturer(s)

TBA

Points

FRENCH 749: 30 points