Hiroshima mon Amour

Question 1

what movements was the Nouvelle Vague influenced by

Answer 1

french documentary movements

Question 2

give five characteristics of the Nouvelle Vague movement

Answer 2

1. subjectivity over objectivity
2. less stylised and formal
3. restricted budgets impacted on their style
4. subversion of realism
5. abrupt transitions draw attention to the art of film and role of the director

Question 3

what two things influenced Resnais’ style and content

Answer 3

documentary style, experience of ww2

Question 4

how was the tragedy of the bombings conveyed in the film and why?

Answer 4

through images, as words cannot fully express the emotion and horror

Question 5

what is the term for an actor playing an actor in a film

Answer 5

mise-en-abîme

Question 6

give a brief analysis of the opening scene

Answer 6

establishes the exploration of the past and present- boundaries unclear, body as an important image (emphasis on intimacy and physicality),
ambiguity to what the bodies are covered with: mystery, juxtaposition of sensuality with pain and vulnerability, mental and physical aspects of memory are inseparable

Question 7

give a brief description of the opening scene

Answer 7

tangled bodies, covered in dust, then glitter, then perspiration, close-up, dim lighting, sensual lovers’ theme

Question 8

discuss the theme of identity

Answer 8

our interpretation of our past impacts our identity, 2 characters have different ww2 exper., actor and architect (reconstructing their lives like the citizens reconstruct their city), taking on the names of nevers and hiroshima

Question 9

what type of shots are used in the hospital/museum scene

Answer 9

panning, point of view shots

camera wanders through hospital

Question 10

how is tension created in the hospital scene

Answer 10

Lui contradicts elle’s statement of having seen everything in hiroshima

Question 11

what do her first pieces of dialogue show

Answer 11

the anguish of forgetting

Question 12

how does Elle gradually come to terms with her past?

Answer 12

by discussing it verbally

Question 13

what is Lui’s role in Elle’s trauma

Answer 13

as an architect, he is symbolically reconstructing and healing her trauma

Question 14

in what way do we doubt Elle’s words sometimes

Answer 14

she says she hasn’t invented everything about hiroshima (contradicts Lui), contradiction between her words and the images of hiroshima, the fact that she is an actor, film within a film, attention drawn to the fallibility of memory

Question 15

give an image that represents Elle’s anxiety of letting go of the past

Answer 15

nails scraping the walls of the basement in Nevers

Question 16

how do past and present come together in the film?

Answer 16

architect becomes the dead lover to her, memory becomes a part of the present through flashbacks, use of present tense to recall the past, remembrance events in the town bring history to present

Question 17

explain how place is key to memory

Answer 17

Nevers represents the memory of the soldier to Elle, Hiroshima is forever associated with what happened there- inescapable, they both take on the names of “nevers” and “hiroshima” at the end

Question 18

give an example of an how the viewer plays a part in reconstructing fragments of memory in HMA

Answer 18

we are shown an image of Lui’s fingers but cannot understand why it provokes a flashback for Elle until later in the film

Question 19

what type of camera shots show the reconstruction of Hiroshima

Answer 19

tracking and panning shots

Question 20

what do the dissolving shots show

Answer 20

how Elle clings to the past, the impact of the past on the present

Question 21

what do font and forme mean

Answer 21

the theme/content and the technique/creation

Question 22

what defines resnais as a significant author “engagé”

Answer 22

his emphasis on confronting the past, dealing with sensitive issues and controversy like the german-french collaboration

Question 23

give three approaches to cinema

Answer 23

pschoanalytical, political and semiologic

Question 24

what does semiologic mean

Answer 24

study of signs

Question 25

what is eisenstein famous for popularising

Answer 25

the montage

Question 26

describe french impressionist cinema

Answer 26

explored the perception of reality through the concepts of subjectivity (the internal state of a character, incude the audience as a subjective participant) and photogénie (defamiliarisation of the spectator with what happens on screen. the meeting of the profilmic with the mechanical and filmmaker)

Question 27

give a brief description of munsterberg’s film theory

Answer 27

saw film as a spectator’s medium, photoplay is in the mind of the spectator, cinema is the art of the mind as film imitates the mental process, emotions can be triggered through acting and images, cross cutting imitates the way our mind pays attention to things

Question 28

give an overview of how rudolf arnheim saw art and perception

Answer 28

form and content are indivisible-> patterns created by artists reveal the nature of human experience, the meaning of the world can be perceived in patterns and shapes, vision and perception are creative, active ways of understanding

Question 29

how did rudolf arnheim see cinema

Answer 29

as a form of art, not mechanical process

Question 30

what did siegfried kraucauer think about cinema

Answer 30

cinema should represent the reality of the viewer, realism is the most important function of cinema

Question 31

what did siegfried kraucauer think about memory

Answer 31

technology is threatening memory, photos are replacing memory but cannot communicate a feeling or impression of an event like memories can

Question 32

describe andré bazin’s ideas on cinema

Answer 32

realism is the most important function of the cinema, no montage, interpretation of film up to spectator, not filmmaker, deep focus,

Question 33

what is the mise-en-scène

Answer 33

everything in the frame- props, actors, movements, setting

Question 34

what does diegetic mean

Answer 34

its a part of the narrative, rather than added afterwards

Question 35

what links Nouvelle Vague directors

Answer 35

they draw attention to the creative processes of cinema