TCF 340 assumes the student understands generally the contours of international cinema history. The course's objective therefore is to investigate in some depth the cinematic work of a particular nation and the historical/theoretical issues pertaining to it. This term our topic will be the French cinema.

1. An analytical exercise based upon the principles discussed in Bordwell and Thompson's Film Art. Worth 15 points.
   
   
2. Three exams. The first two will be during classtime and the third will be administered during the final exam period: Saturday, 16 December, 8-10:30 a.m. Early exams will not be given. Each is worth 25 points, for a total of 75.
   
   
3. One take-home essay, which will synthesize concepts presented over the course of the entire semester. Essay topics will be distributed 7 December and the essay will be due at the final exam period: 16 December, 8:00 a.m. It must be word-processed and, if necessary, properly footnoted. Worth 10 points.

A+ 97-100   C+ 77-79    F  59 and below
A  93-96    C  73-76
A- 90-92    C- 70-72
B+ 87-89    D+ 67-69
B  83-86    D  63-66
B- 80-82    D- 60-62

Most films will be shown on videotape/DVD Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in room 216. You may bring guests with you. There will be no other screenings of the films, but Blockbuster Video does carry a few of the titles, and two or three of them are available in the audio-visual section of the Gorgas Library.

Credits are available from the Internet Movie Database. Follow the links below to find credits for specific films.

Each student is permitted four absences. Each absence beyond four will result in one point being deducted from the student's final grade (maximum penalty: five points).

= illustrations

Date	Topic/Film/Discussion	Readings
8/24	Introduction to Course DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut, 1973)
8/29	Film Analysis: Narrative Form	Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 2, 3
8/31	Film Analysis: Visual Style MY OTHER HUSBAND (Lautner, 1983)	Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 6, 7
9/5	Film Analysis: Editing and Sound	Bordwell/Thompson, chs. 8, 9
9/7	11:00 a.m. Analytical Exercise Due Click here for Exercise illustrations!
	7:00 p.m. Early French Cinema LUMIÈRE SHORTS A TRIP TO THE MOON (Méliès, 1902) LE MILLION (Clair, 1931)
9/12	Discussion	Armes, 34-66
9/14	The Avant-Garde: Dada & Surrealism UN CHIEN ANDALOU (Buñuel/Dali, 1928) ENTR'ACTE (Clair, 1924) À PROPOS DE NICE (Vigo, 1929) ZERO FOR CONDUCT (Vigo, 1933)
9/19	Discussion	Hughes, 212-255; Bordwell/Thompson, 462-66
9/21	French Cinema Between the Wars I: The Popular Front THE CRIME OF M. LANGE (Renoir, 1935)
9/26	Discussion	Fofi, 172-224
9/28	Bazinian Realism: Jean Renoir THE RULES OF THE GAME (Renoir, 1939)
10/3	Discussion	Bazin ("Evolution"), 24-51 ("Pop. Front"), 36-52
10/5	French Cinema Between the Wars II: Poetic Realism LE JOUR SE LÈVE (Carné, 1939)
10/10	Exam #1	Bazin ("LJSL"), 5-12
10/12	French New Wave I: Alain Resnais HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (Resnais, 1959)
10/17	Discussion	Monaco ("Resnais"), 34-52
10/19	French New Wave II: François Truffaut THE 400 BLOWS (Truffaut, 1959)
10/24	Discussion	Monaco ("NW"), 13-36, 87-97
10/26	French New Wave III: Eric Rohmer CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON (Rohmer, 1972)
10/31	Exam #2	Monaco ("NW"), 286-304; Crisp, 67-74
11/2	French Modernism: Jean-Luc Godard & Bertolt Brecht BREATHLESS (Godard, 1959)
11/7	Discussion	Brecht, 33-42; Wollen, 79-91; MacCabe, 17-25
11/9	Godard and Contemporary Feminism VIVRE SA VIE (Godard, 1962)
11/14	Discussion	MacCabe/Mulvey, 78-104
11/16	French Feminism, Continued: Agnès Varda and Claire Denis VAGABOND (Varda, 1986)
11/21	CHOCOLAT (Denis, 1989) (class will run overtime)
11/23	Thanksgiving Holiday
11/28	Discussion	Kuhn, 129-177
11/30	Recent Godard SOFT AND HARD (Godard/Miéville, 1985)
12/5	Discussion	Godard/Miéville, 60-73; Penley, 32-59
12/7	Cinema Ascetic: Robert Bresson Bresson, 1-18 A MAN ESCAPED (Bresson, 1956)
12/16	Exam #3 and Take-Home Essay Final Exam Period, Saturday, 8-10:30 a.m.

Available at local bookstores:

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. Sixth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Available through the Academic Publishing Service (Supe Store):

In alphabetical order, not the order in which they are assigned. The format used here adheres to the Turabian style for bibliographies--which is different from its footnote style.

1. Armes, Roy. French Cinema. NY: Oxford University, 1985.
2. Bazin, André. "The Era of the Popular Front." In Jean Renoir, pp. 36-52. Edited and with an introduction by Francois Truffaut. Translated by W. W. Halsey II and William H. Simon. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1973.
3. Bazin, André. "The Evolution of Film Language." In The New Wave, pp. 24-51. Edited and translated by Peter Graham. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968.
4. Bazin, André. "LE JOUR SE LÊVE . . . Poetic Realism." In LE JOUR SE LÊVE: A Film by Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert, pp. 5-12. Translated by Dinah Brooke and Nicola Hayden. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1970.
5. Brecht, Bertolt. "The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre." In Brecht on Theatre, pp. 33-42. Edited and translated by John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964.
6. Bresson, Robert. Notes on Cinematography. Translated by Jonathan Griffin. NY: Urizen, 1977.
7. Crisp, C. G. Eric Rohmer: Realist and Moralist. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1988.
8. Fofi, Goffredo. "The Cinema of the Popular Front in France (1934-38)." In Screen Reader I, pp. 172-224. London: SEFT, 1977.
9. Godard, Jean-Luc and Anne-Marie Miéville. "FRANCE/TOUR/DETOUR/TWO/CHILDREN." Camera Obscura, 8-9-10, pp. 60-73.
10. Kuhn, Annette. Women's Pictures: Feminism and Cinema. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.
11. Hughes, Robert. The Shock of the New. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
12. MacCabe, Colin. Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 1980.
13. Monaco, James. Alain Resnais. NY: Oxford University, 1979.
14. Monaco, James. The New Wave. NY: Oxford University, 1976.
15. Penley, Constance. "Les Enfants de la Patrie." Camera Obscura, 8-9-10, pp. 32-59.
16. Wollen, Peter. "Godard and Counter Cinema: VENT D'EST." In Readings and Writings: Semiotic Counter-Strategies. London: Verso, 1982.

Every effort will be made to accommodate students with disabilities. To request disability accommodations, please contact Disabilities Services (348-4285). After initial arrangements are made with Disabilities Services, contact Jeremy Butler.

All acts of dishonesty in any work constitute academic misconduct. The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.