FR104: French Cinema: Society, Culture and History

Module Provider:

French

Number of credits:

20 [10 ECTS credits]

Level:

C (Certificate)

Terms in which taught:

Autumn and Spring

Module Convenor:

Dr A Simons

Pre-requisites:

Co-requisites:

Modules excluded:

Current from:

2005/6

Aims:
The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the ways in which French Cinema has articulated the experience of the individual within the changing political, social and cultural climate of twentieth-century France. The course is designed to introduce students to key features of film analysis and to develop their ability to apply them to the films studied.

Assessable learning outcomes:
By the end of the course it is expected that students will be able to:

Additional outcomes:
This module also aims to encourage the development of:

Outline content:
The course introduces students to the ways in which French Cinema developed along two different but increasingly interrelated lines - cinema as an imitation and mimesis of reality (historical, social, political and cultural) and cinema as the creator of illusion and the imaginary - by an initial exploration of sequences of films by directors from Lumière and Méliès onwards to the present day and the nature of their relationship to the context of reality. Students will be introduced to the basic language and theory of film - signs and syntax, concepts, genres, techniques, audience. Through the detailed study of major films - La Grande Illusion by J. Renoir, Jules et Jim by F. Truffaut and Le Journal d'une femme de chambre by L. Buñuel they will then learn to apply the major technical, aesthetic and theoretical criteria for evaluating film, assess the characteristics of each film and their relationship to the themes, to evaluate differing critical judgements on the nature of the films studied, and offer a personal analysis of them. By the end of the course they will thus be able to demonstrate a critical awareness of historical, social and political differences, the ways in which cinema language has shaped meaning, and appreciate the different contextual approaches to French film production and its reception.
The films will be timetabled for screenings and are also available for borrowing from the French Departmental Library.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
There will be twenty sessions of one hour per week of lecture and interrupted lecture. Within each session, students will be expected to listen to information given in a lecture format, to watch sequences from films, and to engage in group/pair collaboration on the sequences in relation to the ideas given in the lecture, and to present their negotiated conclusions and evaluations to the whole class. The range, length and nature of such activities will vary as appropriate according to the nature of the task.

Contact hours:

Assessment:
Coursework
This course will not be assessed by coursework
Relative percentage of coursework: 0%
Examinations
Students will take 1x3-hour examination at the end of the course. The examination will require one comparative, thematic question to be answered.
Requirements for a pass
40%
Reassessment arrangements
Re-examination in September.