French 335:
Fall 2006
Instructor: McRae Amoss Office Hours: M 2:00-2:50
Office: Grainger 100 W 9:00-9:50
Telephone: 395-2177 TR 10:50-11:30
and by appointment
E-mail: amossbm@longwood.edu
Course Description:
An introduction to cinema in French focusing on one of any
number of particular topics within the broader subject. Topics may include: the history of French
cinema, great directors, films treating a specific subject matter (love, war,
family), films and literature, films and history, a particular director
(Renoir, Truffaut, Godard) or group of directors (“le réalisme poétique” or “la
Nouvelle Vague”), Francophone cinema, or films from a particular period. Students will learn the vocabulary required
for describing and analyzing films in French.
Prerequisite: FREN 202 or
equivalent. 3 credits.
Text:
Singerman,
Alan. Apprentissage du cinéma
français: livre de l’étudiant.
Course Objectives:
Students will demonstrate the ability to:
1. Understand and respond in speech and in writing to a series of selected films in French.
2. Discuss films in French employing the proper technical vocabulary.
3. Summarize films and analyze them with respect to their themes, structure, and style.
4. Identify important French directors and characterize their oeuvre.
5. Relate individual films to the historical period in which they were produced and to the society they reflect.
6. Find related information using resources available in the Library and through the internet.
7. Report their analyses and information through e-mail, oral exposés, answers on written examinations, one-page critiques and a formal paper.
Course requirements:
Students will view films outside of class. The films will be available in the Library or the Language Lab for individual viewing and they will be shown Monday evenings beginning at 6:30 in Grainger 216.
At least one hour before the beginning of the first class at which a film is to be discussed, students will submit by e-mail a one-page appreciation or critique of the film, reporting their reactions to its themes, structure, or techniques (not a summary of the plot) and ending with a series of questions for further discussion. Since these appreciations will form the basis for part of the class discussion of each film, late submissions will not be accepted.
Students will participate in class discussions and will present exposés on the scheduled topics (students will submit a typed, detailed outline of each exposé on the day of its presentation to the class).
A mid-term and a final examination will give students the opportunity to demonstrate their comprehension of technical terms, their knowledge of the individual films studied, including their social and historical contexts, and their ability to produce a critical argument in response to a given question or topic.
Students will write a critical essay of 5-6 pages on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. Possible topics include the analysis of a particular theme in one or more films, the importance of a particular setting, character, or motif, a comparison of two or more films from a particular point of view. Students must discuss their first draft of the essay with the instructor.
Distribution of the final grade:
Presence and participation (including exposés) 20%
One-page critiques 20%
Mid-term examination 20%
Final examination 20%
Critical essay 20%
Participation and Attendance:
Since participation in class, besides being an important means of improving students’ ability to understand and speak French, is also a part of the final grade, class attendance is obligatory. The attendance policy is the one stated in the catalogue, to wit:
Students
are expected to attend all classes. Failure to attend class regularly impairs
academic performance. Absences are disruptive to the educational process for
others. This is especially true when absences cause interruptions for
clarification of material previously covered, failure to assume assigned
responsibilities for class presentations, or failure to adjust to changes in
assigned material or due dates.
It
is the responsibility of each instructor to give students a copy of his or her
attendance policy in the course syllabus.
Instructors
may assign a grade of “0” or “F” on work missed because of unexcused absences.
Instructors have the right to lower a student’s course grade, but no more than
one letter grade, if the student misses 10 percent of the scheduled class
meeting times for unexcused absences.
Instructors
have the right to assign a course grade of “F” when the student has missed a
total (excused and unexcused) of 25 percent of the scheduled class meeting
times.
Students must assume full responsibility for any loss incurred because of absence, whether excused or unexcused. Instructors should permit students to make up work when the absence is excused. Excused absences are those resulting from the student’s participation in a college-sponsored activity, from recognizable emergencies, or from serious illness. Faculty may require documentation for excused absences in their attendance policy. Student Health Services can provide documentation only for students hospitalized locally or absent at the direction of Student Health Services personnel.
Progamme du
cours (sous réserve de modification):
29 août
Introduction: le langage du cinema
film: René Clair, Entracte (1924)
31 août
film: Abel Gance, Napoléon (1925-27)
lecture: Singerman
pp. 3-7; pp. 27-36;
5 septembre
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 16-17
exposé: les
événements de la Révolution
la carrière de
Napoléon
7 septembre
film: Luis
Buñuel, Un chien andalou (1929)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 19-24
exposé: André
Breton et le Manifeste surréaliste
le surréalisme
en art
le
surréalisme en littérature
12 septembre
film: Jean
Renoir, La règle du jeu (1939)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 101-12
exposé: la
carrière de Jean Renoir
14 septembre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 112-22
exposé: tradition
et modernité: le théâtre classique de Marivaux, Beaumarchais et Musset
la
lutte des classes aux années 30
19 septembre
film: Marcel
Carné, Les enfants du paradis (1945)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 141-53
exposé: l’occupation
de la France (1940-44)
l’histoire
de la pantomime
21 septembre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 153-61
exposé: Frédérick
Lemaître
le
théâtre romantique
26 septembre
film: Jean
Cocteau, La belle et la bête (1946)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 163-71
exposé: la
tradition du conte de fée en France et Mme Leprince de Beaumont
l’art
de Vermeer
l’art
de Gustave Doré
28 septembre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 171-77
exposé: les
idées artistiques de Jean Cocteau
le
mythe de Diane et Actéon
The
Uses of Enchantment de Bruno
Bettelheim
étude comparative: La belle et la bête de Cocteau et de
Disney
3 octobre
film: Jacques
Tati, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 191-199
exposé: vacances
et traditions en France
5 octobre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 199-201
exposé: le
comique physique au cinéma
10 octobre
film: René
Clément, Jeux interdits (1952)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 179-84
exposé: la
France en 1939 et 1940
12 octobre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 185-89
exposé: comment
les enfants comprennent la mort
19 octobre Examen
partiel
24 octobre
film: François
Truffaut, Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 233-42
exposé: André
Bazin
les Cahiers
du cinéma
26 octobre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 242-52; pp. 229-31
exposé: les
principes de la “nouvelle vague”
31 octobre
film: Jean-Luc
Godard, A bout de souffle (1960)
lecture: Singerman,; pp. 271-78
exposé: conformisme
et révolte aux années 1950
à faire: consulter
le professeur pour identifier le sujet de votre essai
2 novembre
lecture: Singerman, pp. 278-86
exposé: la carrière de Jean-Luc Godard
7 novembre
film: Alain
Resnais, Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 253-59
exposé: Marguerite
Duras
l’emploi
de la bombe atomique au Japon à la fin de la 2eme guerre mondiale et ses effets
9 novembre
lecture: Singerman, pp.260-70
exposé résistance et collaboration en France pendant la 2e
guerre mondiale
la vie et l’oeuvre d’Arletty
14 novembre
film: Eric
Rohmer, Ma nuit chez Maude (1969)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 305-17
exposé: la
tradition “moraliste” en France: du 17e au 20e siècle
16 novembre
lecture: Singerman,
pp.318-27
à faire: consulter
le professeur au sujet de la première ébauche de l’essai
21 novembre
film: Agnès
Varda, Sans toit ni loi (1985)
lecture: Singerman,
pp. 347-67
exposé: le
problème du chômage et la vie des jeunes dans la société française
28 novembre
film: Régis
Wargnier, Indochine (1992)
lecture: Michèle
Bacholle, “Camille et Mùi ou du Vietnam dans Indochine et L'Odeur de la papaye verte,” French Review:
Journal of the American Association of Teachers of French, 74:5 (2001 Apr):
946-57
exposé: l’histoire
de l’Indochine
le colonialisme
et la décolonisation
30 novembre
exposé: le nationalisme et le communisme en Indochine
5 décembre
film: Michael
Haneke, Code inconnu (2000)
lecture: Robin Wood, “In Search of the Code Inconnu,” CineAction 62 (2003): 41-49 (available online through InfoTrac OneFile)
exposé: les
immigrants en France aujourd’hui
7 décembre
à faire: remettre
l’essai
Examen final: le
mardi 12 décembre, 11.30 – 14.00.
Honor Code:
Students are expected to live by the Longwood College Honor Code. All work done for the class must be pledged.
Bibliography:
Required of
all students:
Bacholle, Michèle. “Camille et Mùi ou du Vietnam dans Indochine
et L'Odeur de la papaye verte.” French Review: Journal of the
American Association of Teachers of French, 74:5 (2001 Apr): 946-57. (available online through J-STOR)
Singermanman,
Alan. Apprentissage du cinéma
français: livre de l’étudiant.
Wood, Robin. “In Search of the Code Inconnu.” CineAction 62 (2003): 41-49. (available online through InfoTrac OneFile)
Other references:
Betton, Gérard. Histoire
du cinéma. 2nd ed. Paris: Presses universitaires de France,
1987.
Pinel, Vincent. Techniques
du cinéma. 3rd ed. Paris: Presses universitaires de France,
1989.