France between the Wars

Question 1

What are the big cinematic movements?

Answer 1

Surrealism and Poetic Realism

Question 2

Basic characteristics of Poetic Realism?

Answer 2

Focus on working class characters
Blending of comedy and tragedy (shifting of emotional gears)
The use of long shots and long takes, minimum editing
Stories function as critiques of the society

Question 3

What are the characteristics of Jean Renoir’s films?

Answer 3

Looking at the war cloud in Europe, he made anti war films but not showing battlefield
Absurdity of wars
Less focus on editing but more on the freedom of the audience to choose what to pay attention to in the scene
Warm humanism
Based on novels, influenced by contemporary literacy
Novelistic quality

Question 4

What are some of Jean Renoir’s films?

Answer 4

The Little Match Girl 1928
Toni (1935)
Grand Illusion (1937)
The Rules of the Game (1939)