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Blog 5 - Critical Reception

The focus of prior blogs have all been on the French New Wave, for this particular one, I will be looking at the critical reception of this era. In order to accomplish this, I will be choosing a film to analyze and looking to see how critics view these works and the effects the director takes to improve or continue some of their practices. I’ve talked a lot about Jean-Luc Godard over the course of my previous blogs and I feel as though he may be the single most influential director to come out of the French New Wave which is why I want to continue with his work for my last blog post on the topic. I thought Breathless was an iconic piece of work which I had gone into depth in my second blog entry but the film I decided on for this particular one was Pierrot le Fou which is French for “Pierrot the Fool” and was released in 1965 and just under the two hour mark. This film fits the description of a romantic, crime, and comedy all in one and is yet another one of Godard’s most influential films to this day. The film hovers around two married individuals who live a rather boring life and feel trapped within their marriage. After leaving his home, Ferdinand Griffon or better known throughout the film as Pierrot finds his former lover and inevitably causes trouble as they spend time together. Starting off with the car Pierrot stole, and many more events subsequently, the police get involved as the two flee across France looking for freedom.

The first critical reception I looked at was by a film critic Roger Ebert who is known for winning the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. He gave this film three and a half stars out of five which is an overall decent score and had some interesting thoughts on the film. He basically explained how most people would not enjoy Pierrot le Fou as for most of Godard's films as they didn’t tend to make sense to the general audience. However, he did mention, “You probably won't like "Pierrot le Fou." One of Godard's films, seen by itself, can be a frustrating and puzzling experience. But when you begin to get into his universe, when you've seen a lot of Godard, you find yourself liking him more and more.” (Ebert). Another critic by the name of Peter Bradshaw had stated, “Viewed again in this restored version, Godard's lovingly remembered Pierrot le Fou now looks more like an essay on estrangement than a gorgeous romance.” (The Guardian). The main idea from the comments on the film all exemplify Godard’s relentless experimental uses as well as a lower value of popularity particularly from his films in general but specifically focused towards Pierrot le Fou. Although there is quite the criticism with this film, it is also very highly appreciated for many aspects pertaining to production, storyline, and the film as a whole. I wanted to look at a more modern day perspective to compare to the previous criticisms and found that critics pointed out the films “beautiful color”, “artistic, cinematic, political and personal concerns” and how it is overall, “poetic, quiet, introverted, personal.” Jean-Luc Godard took this critical reception unlike most as he continued to do his own thing regardless of what people thought of it. He was content with his style of film making and had a purpose for each of his films which all displayed in the world of Godard's film fiction. The idea of a traditional movie and storyline did not appeal to the famous Frenchman as he had a much deeper meaning behind his construction which involved being unique and taking characteristics and ideas of his own and finalizing it. I think it is well known by the general population of film critics as well as Godard himself that the number of viewers of his films are never on top of the charts but there are always countless people who watch and appreciate his work as it is simply different and portrays a story unlike any other director. When taking into consideration the general sense of critics reviews and comments on the film Pierrot le Fou and on the entirety of Godard’s film collection, there are some common themes that I picked up on within my research and can even attest to these myself as I have seen some and looked at his work over the course of the semester. First thing is no matter what criticism Godard receives, he will always be one of the most influential and important directors to the modern day film industry and is forever known as one of the founding and big name directors of the French New Wave era. What I’ve concluded over the course of my research is that work produced by Godard is generally confusing and unlikeable to the public eye as this is the case for many of the critics that commented on this film in particular as well as his mainstream cinematography. Another prevalent side of critical reception he got was much more positive and looked at the bigger picture. His overall creation of movies which seemed to connect in what I’ve heard by many critics as his own type of unique fantasy world which makes sense the more you think about it. Putting it all together, I would say that the combined view of Godard’s critical reception is that if you’re not familiar with his work, you probably aren’t going to like his films, but if you’re a person who wants to explore different types of cinema and are open minded, then there is much to appreciate in Jean-Luc Godard's film selection.

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(The first video in the above link)

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Blog Entry 4

Over the course of my blogs, my approach has heavily focused on the French New Wave and all it’s brought to the film industry over the years. For this blog, I will be focusing on a later film and comparing it to the generic aspects of the French New Wave. Since this movement didn’t expand past the 1970’s, I will be using a famous director that I seemingly focused on the most throughout my writing on this topic and that happens to be Jean-Luc Godard. His directing skills have popularized many trademarks in filmmaking and are continuously being used by current directors today. The film I chose to view and discuss is titled Goodbye to Language and was released in 2014 so it is fairly new in comparison to the majority of Godard's work. The film focuses on the love of a couple and a dog and has many turn points that look as if they could lead in different directions but ultimately ends in a surreal manner. It is highly experimental and is known for its unconventional use of 3D technology. Another interesting aspect of the movie is that it is split into two separate parts and had several themes that I picked up on which consisted of love, death, and the idea of reality itself. It’s hard to pinpoint the personalities of the characters as Godard’s film seems to focus more on the themes and morals of the story rather than traditional storylines that include character development. The visual and auditory values are what make this film so unique and different from most films being made in 2014 especially since it was created and released in more recent times. Overall I thought it was a very interesting film and although it is not something I would particularly watch without reasoning, I appreciate the growth and advancements from some of Godard’s earlier films as this was a much more speculative approach to filmmaking.

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Blog Entry 3

The French New Wave is an era in history that has extreme influence on modern cinema with famous directors dating back from the 1960’s having a direct impact on how films are created today. One intriguing aspect of this movement was the overall freedom that the directors had when filming these cinematic works which ultimately carried on through generations of film types and again with the concept of modern day cinema. Although there were many film directors involved and well known during this movement, Jean-Luc Godard seems to be the most influential in terms of making an impact on the film industry. A statement I read that I felt held great importance to the memory of Godard stated, “He showed future directors the importance of breaking the rules in order to create meaningful works.” (Kesler, 2022). Two large name directors that are more familiarly known in our lifetime named Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan were heavily influenced by Godard and used methods of his work and incorporated it into their own pieces of on-screen work. One aspect of Godard that showed true professionalism was his relentlessness and hunger for making entertainment with a meaningful background. Godard himself stated, “We in France must find something that means something—find the French attitude as they have found the American attitude.” (Kesler, 2022). His style of filmmaking was truly inspirational to not only future directors, actors, and producers but his colleagues during his time period as well. An aspect of the industry in particular consists of the set design he used. The atmosphere, theme, and overall development of his films were the heart and sole of his designs and created this new yet very much needed perspective for the characters to follow upon. An interesting yet unorthodox way of filming at the time by Godard consisted of things like, “Jump cuts, natural lighting, long takes, freeze frames, on-location shooting…” are all now a major part of contemporary motion pictures. (Shachat, 2022). Godard symbolizes a genius and an icon for cinematography and his constant hard work and innovations didn’t go unnoticed as starting from hand held cameras and jump cuts, he evolved to experimenting with 3D style works as nothing was too bold for him to try. His reluctance to stop creating more was what made him such an iconic film director as most people weren’t willing to go to the limits that he did. If it wasn’t for him, the film industry could have painted a completely different picture as the modernization of cinema had many outlooks relating back to Godard and his style of filmmaking. Inspiration starts from somewhere as Godard himself had idols he looked up to and influenced his drive and obsession to create cinematic masterpieces. It’s hard to know if directors are going to flourish when they first start out but some aspects of a true professional consist of perseverance and determination, both in which Godard possessed. There are plenty of influential directors to choose from when looking into the depths of the film industry but a popular name that always comes up especially when referring to the French New Wave is and always will be, Jean-Luc Godard.

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Blog Entry 2

Film Trailer for Breathless:

Going more in depth about specific examples of the films created during the French New Wave, I decided to view one of the most popular films of this time era titled, Breathless. This 90 minute film was brought to the cinema industry by well known French director, Jean-Luc Godard who I mentioned in my previous blog about having one of the main influences on the birth of the French New Wave. Breathless is a highly rated crime and drama film released in 1960 and is highly rated by critics. I personally thought Godard did an exceptional job taking into consideration the time period as well as the small budgets these directors had. The film revolves around Michel who is a male criminal and creates an even larger problem for himself when he shoots and murders a policeman. Michel was driving in a stolen car when a motorcycle officer followed him and tried to confront him. Out of panic, Michel didn’t hesitate to pull out a pistol and killed the officer for the sake of eluding immediate trouble although he would soon be in even more conflict than he started out with. His love interest is an American journalist named Patricia who he hasn’t known for long but spends a good amount of time trying to convince her to flee Paris with him and move to Rome. Officials quickly gathered evidence and information on Michel being the murderer of the police officer and the word started to spread rapidly around the city. His face and name was in every newspaper but that only increased the urgency of his main goal which was to salvage enough money to escape to Italy as well as bring Patricia who he proclaimed to be in love with. Michel has gone to many extents as a thief from stealing cars, money, taking a life and now in a hurry to flee the consequences. Patricia, oblivious to Michel’s mischief, lets him stay with her and even contemplates if she loves him back as the two seem to have a romantic relationship building up. This all changes once she is confronted by authorities and comes to the realization that Michel is a murderer and begins to have second thoughts on what to do. Godard does a great job of showing the conflict Patricia faces with her feelings as she covers for him at first but we soon find out that she turns him in so that he would have no other choice but to leave Paris and the love we saw spark would come to an end. The film finishes with a friend of Michel trying to help him defend himself from officials by giving him a gun but he refuses to take it. He heads to escape but ends up getting shot in the back by an officer, he continues to run until he collapses. Patricia and law officials stand above him as he takes his last breath and mutters his last words, ultimately insulting his former love interest and ending the film.

One scene that I felt was absolutely essential to the film was when Michel is in Patricia’s apartment with her and is repeatedly trying to convince her to move to Italy as well as the idea that he loves her. His idea of true love is something most people would call lust or simply attraction considering he hasn’t known her for long and Patricia is taking a more mature approach as she doesn’t fully understand her feelings. This scene alone sets up a good majority of the movie as from there on we truly knew what Michel had on his mind.

I found two articles that relate to the film and take on different perspectives. The first one written and published by The New York Times indulges into the outside perspectives of the movie and how the viewers feel about it. I found it interesting how different gender and ages answered differently to how they felt about the movie. I really appreciate how the author emphasizes some of the important conversations he had including one that mentioned how this film symbolizes young adults at the time and although it is not picture perfect, it was the reality of young people. (Scott, 2010). The second article takes a seeming approach to appreciate the film and how it has influenced cinema while being, “one of the most influential examples of the French New Wave…” (Collins, 2022). Breathless is an exceptional, symbolic, and close to perfect piece of cinema reflecting the French New Wave.

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Blog Entry 1

French New Wave (Godard, Truffaut, Varda, Rohmer, Chabrol, Resnais) 

The focus of my first blog will be on the French New Wave which was notably developed in the late 1950s in Paris. The primary people and essential factors of this movement consist of directors Jean Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Agnes Varda, and Alain Resnais. This movement was the rise of French cinema in a way that was never seen before. Many innovations such as cut scenes and hand held cameras were used to make an overall more experimental approach to creating a different type of cinema. Interestingly enough, given a brief explanation of what the French New Wave is and the time period it peaked, it is often claimed to be the “birth of modern cinema”.  This film type was developed from the influence of Italian Neorealism or better known as the Golden Age. This classification of motion pictures was based on the poor and working class and like the French New Wave, used amateaur actors that either weren’t professional or were not well known; mainly due to the reality that these directors didn’t have the finances to support proper filming standards, but the more liable answer to all this is about experimentation. Also related to how they were produced, the French New Wave typically consisted of films that held more personal values and were shot in a very different manner which could be compared to more of a documentary style in today's day in age. The main concept was that the director had a more free flowing control of the work which is where the “auteur theory” came alive which simply means that the director is the main driving force of the cinematic work and has the ability to use his creativity to implement it into the film. The complexity of these pieces varied depending on the director but overall created a more difficult concept of morals for viewers to pick up and understand. This was done purposely as it was a repetitive theme throughout the movement. There was a constant drive from each of the directors to try and challenge the viewers in some way whether it’s coming from the concept or the way the film was created. Personally, the characteristic that interested me the most and essentially the most important aspect was the idea of rejecting large studio companies in order to illuminate the ideas and constructive ways of the director to focus on their ideas specifically. This was interesting because studio productions provide the filmmakers and participants with ample resources to create the best possible film with a given budget but with this case, it was different as movies made during the French New Wave were all alike in the aspect of ways of filming and of storytelling. Because of its early success and production, the influence on various global film movements has become prominent which all began with this creative group of French directors who felt they could change the way entertainment was viewed as a whole. Although there are plenty of influencing factors from this movement in today's film industry, this wave was said to have ended in the early 1960s around the year 1964. An intriguing movement with a great deal of popularity and praise, the French New Wave has made a remarkable impact in the film industry.

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