The development of French cinema. Discussions, oral and written reports will be based on the viewing of films from the work of major French film directors.

French cinema is a cinema of desire, from melodramas of heterosexuality in the pre- and postwar periods, to the rescripting of desire through a feminist lens in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the emergence of queer counter-currents. It is a cinema in which fantasies of masculinity and femininity intersect with myths of family, race, and nation, shaping (and sometimes challenging) cultural norms and ideals. In this course, we will examine the historical contexts, politics, and aesthetics of French cinema’s century-long problematization of sex, gender, and desire. Our (mandatory) weekly film viewings will be accompanied by readings of both theoretical and literary texts. No prior experience with film analysis is necessary. Please note: the course touches on topics of a potentially sensitive nature and includes some sexually explicit materials, including scenes of (fictional) sexual violence. Indeed, one of our key questions is why images and narratives of transgression have played such a key role in French literature and cinema, and we will also ask how and why French film-makers in the 21st century have veered in the direction of an explicit treatment of non-normative sex, from Catherine Breillat’s Romance (1999) to Abdellatif Kechiche’s La Vie d’Adèle (2013) and Alan Guidaudie’s L’inconnu du lac (2013).

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills