Claude Chabrol (1930-)
Transcription
Claude Chabrol (1930-)
Claude Chabrol (1930-) Le Beau Serge 1958, Les Cousins 1959 Long considered “lazy and prolific” 1997 Cahiers du Cinéma “Perhaps the greatest French filmmaker” Special issue devoted to his work Rien ne va plus His 50th film La Fille coupée en deux 2007 Contradictions Rejects “auteur” cinema Works within the confines of established genres Yet Wants to “give a very personal vision” Sometimes indulges in auteurist gestures A very full life A Catholic family man Yet Married three times Friendship with Paul Gégauff 1950-1983 A drinker and womanizer Racist and anti-Semitic Collaboration on screenplays incl. Les Bonnes Femmes Political leanings Left-wing humanist with Marxist leanings La Cérémonie 1995 Interest in women’s problems Une affaire de femmes 1988 Yet sometimes ambiguous position Crime thrillers Chabrol’s favourite genre “least boring” Leads to exploration of society Interest in the “fait-divers” Disruption of the norm No psychological explanations for crime Chabrol’s thrillers Literary adaptations Ruth Rendell’s Judgement in stone La Cérémonie 1995 Adaptations of fait divers: Landru 1963 Violette Nozière 1978 Une affaire de femmes 1988 Chabrol’s thrillers Les Bonnes Femmes 1960 Le Boucher 1960 Les Noces rouges 1973 Influences Fritz Lang (1890-1976) German Expressionism Use of objective camera work to evoke theme of fate Manipulation of objects to convey atmosphere and meaning Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) Master of suspense Hitchcock by Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer, 1957, transl as Hitchcock: the First Forty-four Films, 1988. Les Bonnes Femmes 1960 “Bonnes femmes”: “Women”, “girls” Slightly derogatory “Ah, les bonnes femmes!” Not a critical success at the time Chabrol “The one I like best of all my films” Themes A depiction of the lives of Paris shop girls in the 1950s “Four girls, but in fact one” For Gégauff a film about stupid, vulgar characters For Chabrol girls are simple, brutalized A crime thriller Neorealism Cinematographic movement which began in Italy after the 2d WW Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini Reveals the everyday life of common people Portrays the individual as part of society Neorealism and Les Bonnes femmes Picture of alienation of four shop assistants Prisoners like the animals in the zoo Girls shown as social cases not individuals Neorealism and Les Bonnes femmes Attempts to change their lives lead to encounters with Sexual exploitation Class prejudice Jealousy within the group A murderer Main means of escape: men A shop in the fifties Overstaffing A cashier Four shop assistants Economic exploitation Long hours Boredom, waiting in real time Paris in the fifties A documentary The streets The Metro, the swimming-pool, the night club, a restaurant, the Jardin des Plantes Bleakness accentuated by black and white pictures Bleak encounters Men as predators Escalating violence The night clubs Sexual exploitation The The The The pick-up scene boss pool murder Unsavory male characters The shop owner Albert and Marcel Henri André Albert and Marcel The evening out Fun? The stripper Jane ends up “afraid” Of what? Contraception and Abortion in XXth c. France 1946-1967 Abortion and female contraception illegal 1967 Contraception legalized 1971 Manifesto signed by 343 women declaring they had an abortion 1974 Abortion legalized: Veil Law The pool scene Girl watching A brutal game Jacqueline “saved”? Henri A bourgeois Illusion: “distinguished”, “from a good family” He is going to introduce Rita to his parents A big step His advice Pretend to know about high culture Order the father’s favorite dessert Mystère Illusion vs reality Henri’s family Not cultured Only bookish knowledge Not upper class Family money made in trade Narrow mindedness The music-hall scene Ginette’s act as the Italian singer Angela Torrini Similarity with Dalida (1933-1987) Egyptian singer of Italian origin Bambino 1956 She fears discovery Why? Building of suspense Music Carmen André’s unexplained presence Unsettling elements Unsettling elements The Jardin des Plantes Madame Louise’s fetish Afternoon in the country The Jardin des Plantes Equation of André with the tiger Jacqueline “An adorable pussycat” He growls at her Foreshadowing Madame Louise’s fetish A handkerchief soaked in blood Sadistic serial killer Weidemann Guillotined at Versailles in 1939 Equation of death and love Element of danger Afternoon in the country Clues Coarse behavior in restaurant Attraction “Perhaps something other than love” Praise of Jacqueline’s neck Gloomy landscape Identification with the victim Romantic expectations Lunch in country restaurant Walk in the woods Fear that something will happen Jacqueline’s fragility and naïveté Silence, then birdlike sounds Climax Surprise effect Expectation of love scene Instead sexual violation, murder Conclusion Uncertainty of André’s fate A fifth girl dancing at a night club or “thé dansant” She has no identity Man’s face unseen Lark mirror: a snare, a delusion