Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- Provide in-depth analysis of New Wave films;
- Situate the New Wave cinema in its historical context;
- Identify the formal and thematic innovations introduced by New Wave directors;
- Define and assess critically the New Wave conception of cinema ('auteur' theory);
- Discuss and assess critically the impact of the New Wave on film-making in France.
Indicative Module Content:
For key topics, see general module descriptor description.
Set Films:
Les Quatre Cents Coups, François Truffaut (1959)
A bout de souffle, Jean-Luc Godard (1960)
Hiroshima mon amour, Alain Resnais (1959)
Chronique d'un été, Edgar Morin & Jean Rouch (1960)
Cléo de 5 à 7, Agnès Varda (1962)
Prescribed Texts:
Michel Marie, La Nouvelle Vague: une école artistique, 4e édition revue et augmentée (Paris: Armand Colin, 1998).
Additional required reading materials in French and English will be made available online.
General Bibliography:
Baecque, Antoine de, La Nouvelle Vague: portrait d’une jeunesse (Paris: Flammarion, 1998).
Douchet, Jean, Nouvelle vague (Paris; Hazan, 1999).
Graham, Peter and Vincendeau, Ginette (eds), The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (London: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
Greene, Naomi, The French New Wave: A New Look (London: Wallflower, 2007).
Monaco, James, The New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).
Neupert, Richard, A History of the French New Wave Cinema (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).
Sellier, Geneviève, La Nouvelle Vague, un cinéma au masculin singulier (Paris: CNRS, 2005).