Three Electric European Cinematic Forms — Expressionist Collection
1. Tornatore and Truffaut — Nostalgia in European Film within Film
The nostalgia and importance of life are so well reflected through cinema. And the impassioned film endeavours of the Europeans are ones that powerfully echo the beauty and pathos of everyday living and community. The colourful tasting menu that Italian and French films offer and resemble holds cinematic versatility, a career in cinema having those soulfully express themselves. Thus, for a movie to be about movies themselves is the fairytale dreamy cultural comment on the everpresent human condition.
François Truffaut’s and Giuseppe Tornatore’s masterworks that are Day For Night (La Nuit américane) (1973) and Cinema Paradiso (1988) show us pain and pleasure — our spirit and passion for purpose overtaking any measure within our art. Where film holds ideas, it holds ambition and a great longing for something more — narratives to be told, dreams to be fulfilled. For cultural magic in the medium of film to be a depiction of life is to better understand ourselves; looking through a lens, utilising emotion, direction, musicality, and visualising a tale. And this is something that we need — educating those on the cultural movements and reflections of films about film. Movie lovers and amateurs can relish and learn a new thing about how filmmaking is so much more than a job or passion, but a purpose.
Giuseppe Tornatore’s masterwork that is ‘Cinema Paradiso’ shows us pain and pleasure — our human spirit and passion for our purpose overtaking any measure. Where film holds ideas, it holds ambition and a great longing for something more. Film is reflective of life itself in all its versatility, openness, direction, emotion, and visualisation of the human condition. This is something that we need. For a film about film, movie lovers relish and may learn a new thing about how filmmaking is so much more than a job or passion, but a purpose in itself.
And Cinema Paradiso teaches us a formative lesson on joy, pain, and togetherness. From the confines of a small Italian theatre, Alfredo the projectionist reflects a film onto the side of a building in the Sicilian town from his booth, the whole town can watch, knowing the simple and wonderful joy of his cinema. This is a grand testament to cinema bringing people together. Film writer Allen Almachar wrote on Rotten Tomatoes, summing up Tornatore’s work by stating, ‘ask me what it is about movies I love so much, and I’ll tell you to see Cinema Paradiso for your answer.’
Truffaut’s 1973 drama Day For Night celebrates the treasured workshop process of creating the cinematic work. It is people, story, narrative, and the impassioned work behind the collaboration with those who hold an ardent love of art. Director of the film within the film, Ferrand comments on the process of movie-making by saying “At first you hope for a nice ride. Then you just hope to reach your destination”. It is the connection between the hope in film and its melancholy process — much like being alive. From the confines of a small Catholic Church in Italy to a million-Euro budget French cinematic collaboration — there are hardships in concluding an artistic project, much like us.
Theatrically artistic evidence of the phenomenal impression that film and togetherness make on one’s community. Think of the joy in the cinema? The drama, the gorgeous emotion! Day For Night celebrates the high life in the summertime and a Eurocentric, surrealist moment of the buzzing filmmaking process. Difficulties of a cat acting, the cranes sweeping overhead, relentlessly repetitive shooting days, and the pure difficulty of creating a high-budget art piece are communicated so wonderfully and effectively. When a technical difficulty takes place, the director asks them to speak amongst themselves as an exercise and shot, but tells them ‘don’t talk about cinema!’ An article by The Guardian describes it as ‘a Pirandellian affair’ with the theatrical movements of actors on strings like Pinocchio, moments dramatising.
And I think of Roberto Begnini’s La Vita e Bella — an Italian homage to life itself expressed through cinema. The grand scale of reactions, discussion, and beauty in one man’s acceptance of an Academy Award had him leaping out of his seat and embracing none other than Sofia Loren.
The power of the turn to cinema when life becomes darkened is a ubiquitous premise in our industry. And impact it does have, the enlightened trivia of the filmmaking extravaganza in Truffaut’s ‘Day For Night’ and exhilarating reactions from children in the front row of a visit to ‘Cinema Paradiso’. We think of the 1896 reaction to ‘Train Arriving At The Station’ in coming to conclusions about our joint emotion and its beauty when watching a piece of cinema. The real romantic reels should never cease to amaze and entrance us into a cultural whirlwind that doesn’t just reach Western audiences (though heavily focused upon in this piece, I grant it), but is a worldly feel expressed in just one sector of our planet.
2. What History and Meaning is in German Expressionism? Fritz Lang’s ‘M’ & Further
The dark days of the Germans aren’t a line that is difficult to distinguish. A history lesson from the Treaty of Versailles to the anguish of the Second World War. Trendy Berlin, dark Munich. Where do the Germans stand in cinema? And are they greatly underrepresented? There aren’t the twisting, romanticised emotions in loved-up French films or whimsical Spanish cinema, but there is German expressionism. Simply ahead of its time, Fritz Lang’s M (1931) holds a top place in modernist, sharp-witted psychological thought and production design. 1931? It seems difficult to believe that just a few years before there were starry-eyed, controversial films like The Jazz Singer (1927).
Expressionist director Fritz Lang’s M is a projection of society that is so forward for its time, making morals and sharp motifs the basis of cinema. Where German proficiency is ejected in their culture, their straight-laced and faced ways are nicely conveyed in the expressionism genre. Dark house, industrialised stylistic measures in architecturally-structured noir German cinema. They have a way of being emotionally direct and communicative in a way that fits a mould of structuralist thought, which is and very much can be beneficial in telling a story. Fritz Lang’s M has us delve into the underworld of Berlin, with visuals of spilled beer and criminals almost reflecting the unfortunate nature of Germany’s history, the Great Depression, all combined with the emerging sexual expression of the 1930s. Lang grew up in Berlin amongst the squalor of underground society during the Second World War, as his wife was a part of the Nazi Party. The cinematographic choices in expressionism reflect the visceral and underlying unconscious of directors who specialised in the era, like Lang. Automotons and automobiles.
We too have the German Bauhaus movement and gorgeousness that is the expressionist culture in itself. The interweaving and conveying of every idea of artistry on a black-and-white murderous backdrop! A new and exciting approach that has the films like ‘Metropolis’ seeming years ahead of its release date. Is German wit and strength still executed today? Do we still seep in their history and original artistic communication styles? An insight into David Wnendt’s politically-rousing comedy ‘Look Who’s Back’ showcases the overarching grey, modernistic and tight timing of a German film, contrasting with expressionist ideas that can be seen to oppose stereotypical German thought itself, yet still reflect their far-from laissez-faire approach.
To express the pale background of Germans within their brightening cultural concepts, blackened history, and original artistry, expressionism plays a vital role. It separates them from other conventions of cinema in neighbouring countries and further establishes the beauty of their manufactured, structuralist society that walks in their own boots. The chiaroscuro of cinema is inspiring in that it is a standalone area of art, educating us on a new, influenced, and influential perspective from Deutschland. We really just have progression and impressive impressions they capture on camera.
3. French Cultural Feminist Moves in the Movies — A Study on Sciamma and Guy-Blanché
The stereotype of the French, culturally, has them seem conceited due to their marvelling history, art, and overall more impressive ways of life. Yet is this reflected in cinema? Do the fairy-like ladies have a feministic grit? They really do. Pioneers like Agnès Varda paved the way for New Wave cinema and a feminist-like approach, though she bashfully claims she wasn’t a feminist. But who was it that came before and after her?
As the Lumiere brothers may be applauded for their inventions of cinema itself, Alice Guy-Blanché was an unlikely pioneer, The Consequences of Feminism (1906) being an early 20th-century commentary on women’s unlikely ruling and presence. It is unbelievable in the fact that it is from 1906. 1906? The world’s first female director has fallen far behind on the recognition front. A wonder of satirical content, The Consequences of Feminism has men and women switch household and work roles, showcasing the humorous intent of Blanché. The powerhouse that is Blanché may have created over 1,000 films in her time, with differing lengths and points of interest. Focusing on the importance of the narrative (The Cabbage Fairy is possibly our first ever fantasy film), she so cleverly tells the incompetent position of sexism in society, said through mainstream cinema in the early 20th century! Decades prior to any second-wave feministic thought was the silent screaming of Blanche’s hilarity through a reverse in gender roles.
Today, modern directors’ films like Céline Sciamma’s have always remained prevalent in that they discuss topical conventions of girlhood such as sexuality, ambiguity, and performance. Generally, she always involves female characters who electrify the screen with their realism. Her avant-garde-esque approaches are a great insight for audiences new to feministic film. Focusing on women in an authentic light, Sciamma herself expresses herself as an up-and-coming auteur. With the minimalistic themes and visuals, there is no need for extravagance when there are powerful female tales to tell. Sciamma’s Petite Maman (2021) deals with themes of grief, anguish, loneliness, and friendship. A childhood story bringing light to the perspective of a young girl holds an emotionally intact intent to showcase a new, vulnerable voice. We need not only just womanhood, but girlhood in cinema, Sciamma providing us with an alternate and new perspective on young women that are not often seen or heard onscreen. The developments in adolescence are essential in feminism, to notice and empower young beings; giving them a voice to relate to.
Further, in conversation at the Freud House’s ‘Women Directors Portraying Mental Illness Onscreen’, the irony is that within the context of the sexist notions of Freud, the character of women that were discussed (Sciamma included) was far from the man’s conclusions of gender and its implications.
The varying women from the 20th and 21st Centuries carry a similar message with differing modes of expression to allow women to have a louder voice in characterisation and creativity. Us film buffs must know the ways of women in the movies — where they come from & what they so poignantly have to say through their essay-like art.
