Le cinéma français - Francesca Guerrero, Olivia Colliersmith, Iva

Francesca Guerrero, Olivia Colliersmith, Ivan Fernandez, Hollis Adler


I. Sondage
A. What do you know about the history of film? It started in late nineteenth century (American film anyway), one of the earliest films called The Kiss and was banned by the Church because a man/wife were playing tonsil hockey. Nickelodeons were basically slot machines that played a 20-second film that I think you had to turn the crank for after losing a nickel. Films were silent until [enter date you want to here], and I think the first color film was The Wizard of Oz in 1939 (I could be wrong). The internet, may it be praised, says I'm a liar, and that the first color film was actually Cupid Angling (1918) but as early as 1902 films were hand-tinted with color.
B. Have you ever seen a French film? Au revoir les enfants; Le Pacte des loups; Le Placard; Jean de Florette; Cyrano de Bergerac. French films are like American films, but decidedly different. Dramas are cheesier, or if NOT cheesier, more pronounced; comedies are raunchier.

II. The History of French Cinema
A. Les débuts.
i. Auguste and Louis Lumiére are credited with the invention of the cinematic camera in 1895, based in part on the Kinetoscope of thomas Edison. People think Léon Bouly actually invented it, but Louis had the money for the patent (Feb. 13, 1895). The first short film was shown on Dec 25, 1895.
ii. Aice Guy-Blache (1920s) - special because she was female, owned the first French filmmaking company
Louis Feuillade (1910s) - credited with developing many of the thriller techniques used famously by Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, and others.

III. Parler le cinema français.
comédie, drame, truquage, scénario, montage, découpage, bande sonore

IV. Comparisons
ii. Le Placard (Veber, 2001) & I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Dugan, 2007)
a. Le Placard: A man, François Pignon, claims to be homosexual to make it impossible for his boss to fire him, turning it from a simple "We can't stand you" to a possible hate crime in the eyes of the law. While playing the gay man, he falls in love (with a woman), gets closer to his teenaged son (in the legal way), has an Is-he-gay-or-straight man fall in love with him, falls out of love with his ex-wife, has sex in front of Japanese businessmen, and still manages to "find himself." Site gags galore, and he's no longer a loser after 90 minutes.
b. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry: Larry forgot, in his grief, to change the insurance beneficiary from his late wife to his children, but a legal loophole is to get married. Not trusting anyone else to take care of his kids, he convinces his best friend Chuck to enter into a domestic partnership and later a marriage. Chuck is about as non-gay as you can get, and something of a nymphomaniac, which causes problems when trying to convince everyone they're legitimate.

Similarities: Discrimination against homosexuals and eventual acceptance; "coming out"; the outlooks of children of gay parents

Differences:
INPYC&L: Chuck and Larry pretend to be gay so, in the case of Larry's death, he knows his children will be looked after - Chuck is the only one he trusts at the time to do that for him. Larry's son is gay, and throughout the movie he learns to just accept his son for who he is. By the end, Chuck and Larry have both matured and moved on from various pasts: Larry moving on from his late wife, Chuck moving on from his man-whore ways.

LP: François pretends to be gay to save his job. His son, who's always thought his dad was a loser, now respects him for being brave enough to "come out of the closet" and is finally looking up to him. In the beginning, François is generally considered a loser. By the end, he has gained self-confidence in who he is and no longer allows himself to be pushed around.

V. Discussion générale.
A. What did you find most interesting about French film history?
F: I never knew the French gave us the first cinematic camera. I also never knew I have the French to thank for freaking me out in "Psycho." I could have done without that second bit. The end, with the interrogation room, the smile fade-out, and the shot of the car... I had nightmares for a week after that.

B. In your opinion, what are the most important similarities and differences between French and American films, in general?
F: It seems like French films are more emotive than American, although God knows American films are trying to catch up. Sex in French films is treated more like what it is, a fact of life, whereas in American films sex is still something of a cultural taboo. I still hate La Moustache, but only because I don't feel like thinking about a movie for hours: "Do we define ourselves by a certain characteristic we have? Hey, let's just get rid of that characteristic (moustache) and see if, or how, that changes everyone's perception (and my own) about how I'm viewed. Wait, why has she suddenly always been in Hong Kong all this time when I've been here alone, for months, regrowing my moustache!?"