The
rise of French New Wave (1959-1964) can be studied from the earlier 1940 to
1944 during World War II. In that time, Paris was a dark city, especially
during night time, the blackout imposed by the occupying German forces meant
that lights had to be turned off, shortage of petrol kept cars off the road
while most people off the streets at night due to implementation of curfew.
Nevertheless, numerous regulation, censorship and propaganda had made the
occupation totally unbearable. However the French citizens still can go to the
cinema but choice of movies was limited. American films were banned, and aside
from German productions which consisted mainly of imitations of Hollywood
musical comedies and melodramatic propaganda movies, they only had access to
the 200 odd French films that were produced during these 4 years period. For
the generation of cinephiles like Andre Bazin, Alain Resnais and Eric Rohmer
who had grown up in rich cinematic culture of the 1920’s and 30’s, they already
could felt the consequence of the war. Not to talk about the banned American
genre films, the experience of loss that represented above has become their
central of later work. Therefore, this phenomenon has made the filmmakers who
born around 1930 created a new movement or “New Wave”. There are few
acknowledgeable films made during the occupation such as Lumiere d’ete (1943)
by Jean Gremillon, Les Visiteurs du Soir (1943) by Carne and Prevert, Le Destin
Fabuleux de Disiree Clary (1941) by Sacha Guitry, Goupi Mains Rouges (1943) by
Jacques Becker, and above all, Le Corbeau (1943) by Henri-Georges Clouzot.
In 1944, the year of liberation, cinema becomes even
more popular in France. Several French Films were produced while Italian and
British imports were in demand. Meanwhile, most popular of all were the
stockpile of films now streaming in from Hollywood. American films that banned
by Nazi were ready to discover and catch up after the 1946 Blum-Byrnes
agreement.
Film clubs in other hand highlighted one of the
important elements of French New Wave. The first film club opened its door in
1948 named Henri Langlois’ Cinematheque Francaise. Langlois believed that
Cinematheque was a place for learning but not just watching. They want the
audience understand what they were seeing. Therefore, it became his practice to
screen films with different style, genre and country of origin. This approach
was to make sure audience kept more attention in the technique.
In 1951, the most important and famous film journal
appeared,
called La Revue du Cinema which is set up by Jacques
Doniol-Valcroze and Andre Bazin.
Figure 1.0 Jacques Doniol Valcroze Figure 1.1 Andre Bazin
The
yellow cover is the first issues of the review featured the best critic’s
article toward film. And during mid of 1950s, there are a group of young people
that really to make the waves, they are Rohmer, Godard, Rivette, Claude Chabrol
and Francois Truffaut and wrote Cahiers du Cinema. Cahiers
du Cinema like to critic on the artistic and respected filmmakers
during that time, they have critic the tradition filming way which is filming
them in the studio which is old fashioned and unimaginative way, this way is
wasn’t visual enough and yet filmmakers are too rely on the screenwriter. “Your
camera movements are ugly because your subjects are bad, your casts act badly
because your dialogue is worthless; in a word, you don’t know how to create
cinema because you no longer even know what it is” (Godard, n,d.). Besides
giving negatives comments on the filmmakers, those young men also praise on
some directors like D.W Griffith, Victor Sjostrom, Buster Keaton, Charlie
Chaplin and Erich von Stroheim, which those directors are in its early years.
With the inspiration from them, silent movies become an element for the New
Wave directors.
Figure
1.2 La Revue du Cinema Figure 1.3 Cahiers du Cinema
The
concept of “Auteur” also develop at that time, there are some argument
between Andre Bazin and others about a film should reflect the director’s
personal vision, “There are no works, there are only auteurs” (Giraudoux, n,d.),
quoted by Truffaut who first talking about this when he mentioned that the best
directors have a distinctive style, and it is a individual creative vision that
made the director the true author of the film. Writing criticism cannot satisfy
those young men, and finally they started to shoot short film by borrowing
money from friends and shoot on location. By 1959, Rivette filmed Paris
nous appartient (Paris Belongs to Us); Godard made A Bout de
soufflé (Breathless); Chabrol made his second feature, Les Cousins;
and in April Truffaut’s Les Quatre cent coups (The 400 Blows) won
the Grand Prize at the Cannes Festival.
Figure 1.4 Francois Truffaut Figure 1.5 Jean Luc Godard
Journalists
have nicknamed all the young energetic and high spirit directors la
nouvelle vague – the new wave. They have made 32 featured films in
between 1959-1966, so many films and for sure are all different, but there are
also enough similarity to make us recognize the new wave style and form.
The
French New Wave was starting to end by the mid 1960’s from being a major
movement. This is due to the occurrence of financial problem from the state and
most importantly is the change different styles by using new characteristic
form among directors in making their own film that become diffused and imitated
(For instance, Tony Richardson in his 1963 English Film, Tom Jones).
There
is a timeline of how French New Wave movement was created and the important
incident happen at the period of time, please refer to:
References:
Austerlitz, S. (2011). Jazques Rivette. Retrieved
March 5, 2012 from http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/rivette/
Bordwell, D., & Thompson,
K. (2010). The French New Wave (1959-1964). In Film Art: An Introduction
(pp. 475-477). New York: McGrawHill.
Hitchamn, S. (2008). A History of French New Wave
Cinema. Retrieved February 25, 2012, fromhttp://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/FILMST_101/FILMST_101_FILM_MOVEMENTS/FrenchNewWave/TimeLine_FrenchNewWave.pdf
Jacques Rivette: A Differential Cinema. (2011).
Retrieved March 5, 2012 from http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2006winter/rivette.html
Philips, C. (2005). French New Wave. Retrieved
February 25, 2012 from http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/fnwave1.jsp
The Nouvelle Vague: Where to Start. (2008).
Retrieved March 6, 2012 from http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml
Timeline of the French New Wave. (2010). Retrieved
February 25, 2012, fromhttp://soma.sbcc.edu/users/davega/FILMST_101/FILMST_101_FILM_MOVEMENTS/FrenchNewWave/TimeLine_FrenchNewWave.pdf
http://filmdirectors.co/french-new-wave-film-techniques/
Unique
Characteristic Narrative and Stylistic of French New Wave
The
uniqueness of French New Wave film movement is also inspired by the Italian
Neo-Realism film movement, and driven by the concept of “auteur” as well as budget
restrictions. Hence, these factors highlight the characteristics of this film
movement in aspects of narrative, mise-en-scène and mise-shot. In order to make
this part more organize and consistent, we are giving examples by using
“Breathless” or “A Bout de Souffle” (1959), directed by Jean-Luc Godard which
the film is recognized as being the first film in the emerging movement of the
French New Wave.
Adjustment
is made on the narrative aspect of French New Wave films. In our previous blog
post, we made a mistake by mentioning that French New Wave’s films use
non-linear narrative to present stories. However, we found out that the
narrative structures of French New Wave films are actually adopting
non-traditional ways in narrative development to against the Hollywood
traditions of scriptwriting but not on using non-linear structures. Narrative
is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in
time” (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). In traditional Hollywood films, the
narrative acts to order events into a certain way which helps to create meaning
for the spectator. According to Todorov’s theory, the narrative begins ‘with
equilibrium...an initial situation where everything is balanced...followed by
some form of disruption, which is later resolved. With the resolution at the
end of the narrative a new equilibrium is usually established. The equilibrium
is usually a state of security for the protagonist. For example, the narrative
of “Breathless “shows Godard’s breaking in the codes and conventions
of modern cinematic practices with consistent traits that can be found in
Godard’s work in this film that also highlight his auteur style . In
“Breathless”, Michel Poiccard steals a car and he kills a policeman display the
acts of criminality. This figure immediately displays to the audience that he
is an anti-hero and is the centre of the audience’s focus, therefore exhibiting
him as the protagonist, but he displays antagonistic qualities. This develops a
state of anti-equilibrium that challenges modernist cinematic in terms of
narrative.
Besides
than narrative, the characteristics of French New Wave can be identified
through setting, lighting, staging and sound in terms of mise-en-scène. The
setting of this film movement usually shoot on real or natural locations,
therefore the films usually had a casual and natural look due to the choice of
location filming in and around Paris. Eventually, the mise-en-scène of Parisian
streets (Figure 2.0) and coffee bars became favorite shooting spots of the films.
For example, “Breathless” is shot on location in the urban setting of Paris.
Shots of famous historic monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de
Triomphe, were placed in the film. Moreover, the action of this film centered
on locations such as the cafe scene where Patricia meets journalist Van Doude,
the scene of Michel and Patricia take off for St-Germain in a stolen car at the
street of Place de la Concorde, Boulevard Montparnasse, Paris and so on. The
use of on location shooting eventually became a trademark of French New Wave
films that refused the constraints of the studio.
Figure
2.2 Cinema Mac-Mahon, avenue Mac-Mahon, Paris where Patricia leaves the cops
behind
Figure
2.3 The old office of the International Herald Tribune, rue de Berri, Paris
(Patricia’s working place as a journalist)
Next,
the staging in French New Wave film movement has its own style especially in
actor’s performance including speech or dialogue patterns. The actors were
encouraged to improvise their lines, or talk over each other’s lines as would
happens in real-life. This leads to lengthy scenes of inconsequential dialogue
in “Breathless” film included the use of vernacular speech and colloquial
expressions of main male character, Michel. His casual and informal language
with a wealth of popular and slang terms and expressions result in using
dialogue that is often mumbled which reflected on his original background from
a poor immigrant family and hoping for a greater status and wealth. Besides
that, the actors in this movement were not big stars prior to the French New
Wave. As an example, the characters of Michel and Patricia in A Bout de Souffle
(1959) are played by unknown actors, Belmondo and Seberg which used to portray
real life through its use of ordinary actors besides than emphasized the low
budget nature of the new wave films. In addition, the characters in French new
Wave films are often marginalized, young anti-heroes and loners, with no family
ties, who behave spontaneously, often act immorally and are frequently seen as
anti-authoritarian. . In Godard's “Breathless”, the male protagonist, Michel
Poiccard is an anti-hero and a socially alienated character that kills and
shows no remorse. Hence, he is seen masking his face with a newspaper, which is
a typical crime behavior that suggesting he is a morally ambiguous character
who is distancing himself from society at the beginning of the film. Moreover,
French New Wave films have the characteristic of female characterization that
does not conform to the convention films. Female characters were often given
strong parts too, for example, Patricia in “Breathless” was portrayed as
desexualized woman that reshaping and resisting the stereotypical film femme
fatale. She represented the modern women who are independent and active within
the narrative, opposing the traditional representation of women as passive in
tradition classic Hollywood cinema by being journalist in earning own money to
gain independence. For instance, Patricia betrays Michel, by informing the
police for both moral and selfish reasons. Her innocent appearance exhibits her
as incorruptible, and she only flirts with criminality throughout the film,
which does not conform to the femme fatale. Nevertheless, she also betrays him
for selfish reasons, aligning herself with the femme fatale, as she wants to
retain her independence and her income. The film ends in an inconclusive way,
with Patricia being depicted as detached from Michel, ending with no sense of
melodrama, which is associated with film noir films such as High Sierra (1941).
This detachment from the protagonist enhances her status as the femme fatale,
rather than a lover, which had been previously built up in the bedroom
sequence.
In addition, the
characteristic of cinematography changed in French New Wave was using a lot of techniques
to highlight mise-en-shot like panning, tracking to follow the character’s
movements, handheld, long takes, and point of view of the character.
Long takes are used commonly in
French New Wave film to create an uninterrupted shot as in order to create an
attraction among audience to let them having expectation on something. Godard
also uses disjointed shots, for example shifts in location and rapid shifts
from close-up shots to long shots, which disorientates the viewer. Sometimes, the
characters are shot from behind, rather than the conventional
shot-reverse-shot, which challenges the viewer’s expectations too. Meanwhile,
pan shot and track shot are used in shooting for long takes too. Both pan shot
and track allow the director to control the mise-en-scene that he or she wants
the audience to see as well as to follow a character’s movement. Besides that,
track shot can show the audience on the action of people in the surrounding
environment at the same time. In “Breathless”, one of the pan shot can be seen
when Michel was running away in a field after he killed a policeman.
Besides that handheld shot
was a popular film characteristic of French New Wave. A lot of handheld shot
was used to follow the character’s movement. This technique can also be seen in
Breathless, when Michel found Patricia who was selling newspapers along the
Champs-Elysees.
(Video
New York Herald Tribune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4l00kP2XWM)
Point of view shot also often
applied in French New Wave films. This technique was used “Breathless” when
Patricia was looking at Michel’s reaction through a rolled poster in the hotel
room. The same technique is also being used on Michel’s point of view when he
was driving in the early scene of the film.
Figure
2.7 Patricia’s point of view through a rolled poster
Figure
2.8 Michel’s point of view when he was driving.
Elliptical editing
technique that used to removes the continuity in time and space between shots
was often applied in French New Wave film. The most extreme form of elliptical
editing is jump cut. “Breathless” utilizes jump-cuts that challenge the conventional
editing style of Hollywood cinema. The montage of disjointed shots distances
and disorientates the viewer as there is an ellipsis in time and place in
between jump cuts. This challenges the naturalization, fragments the image and
creates an uneasy sense of narrative progression. The jump cut involves the
removal of whole parts of sequences, providing a sense of discontinuity and
discordance. Therefore, Godard rejects the codes and conventions of genre and attempts
to challenge genre as “a means of preventing a text from dissolving into
'individualism and incomprehensibility” (Gledhill 1985: 63). By experimenting
with film practice, Godard attempts to add his own signature to the narrative,
creating a sense of modernity. In addition, the editing highlights the romantic
exchange between the two characters. One
of the obvious jump cut scenes in the film was when Michel drove Patricia to a
cafe to meet up with an American journalist. There were about eleven jump cuts
in 1 minutes and 14 seconds.
(Video
breathless 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNUplP7GZ8)
Lastly,
the French New Wave explored many of the same common themes. These themes
included loneliness, a self-awareness of cinema, the nature of memory and the
past, and the quick and sometimes violent nature of love. Often, characters in
the new wave films were ultimately alone by the ends of the movie. For example,
in A bout de Souffle, Michel gets shot in the back and is left running and
struggling by himself until he dies on the street.
References:
A Bout de Souffle film locations. (2001). Retrieved
February 25, 2012, from
http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/a/aboutdesouffle2.html
Francis, D. (2011). Characteristics of French New
Wave. Retrieved February 25, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/info_8185347_characteristics-french-new-wave.html#ixzz1nknl5vsP
Ager, R. (2009). The Gold Watch Story in Pulp
Fiction. Retrieved February 26, 2012, from
http://www.collativelearning.com/pulp%20fiction%20-%20gold%20watch%20story%20analysis.html
Pulp Fiction Chronological. (2011). Retrieved
February 26, 2012, from
http://www.tarantino.info/wiki/index.php/Pulp_Fiction_chronological
Pulp Fiction FAQ. (2011). Retrieved February February
26, 2012 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/faq#.2.1.22Influences & Impact on Contemporary Films
In 1950’s, a group of
young directors brought out a new cinema movement named French New Wave
(Nouvelle Vague) which was influenced by the Italian Neorealist. Besides
directing the films, the directors also play a role as the author. They used
film as a medium to express their thinking, feeling, and critic things that
happened around them. From that time on, French New Wave had become a
mainstream film movement in 1960’s and it brings influences to the film makers
until today. The influences of French New Wave to the film industry are wide
driven by the famous directors such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard,
Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Nowadays, there are many Film
makers inspired by them and adopt the characteristics of the movement into
their film.
François Truffaut
The
French Connection in 1971
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
The influences of French New
Wave are reached until 1980’s. During this period of time, there are some
pioneer of filmmaking has produced film which has nicely echoes of French New
Wave movement. Examples of film that had been produced are La Bande des quatre in 1988 by Jacques Rivette and Un étrange voyage in 1981by Alain Cavalier. They
are well known in produced New Wave movement of film especially, Jasques
Rivette. He starts his film journey since 1961. In the La Bande des quatre (1988), Jacques Rivette
intentionally creates more mystery than it can account for, leaving a buzzing
sensation of forces outside of our understanding, operating in modes beyond our
comprehension. Another film produced by Jacques Rivette is Marry go round in1981. This film was captures
an unexplainable level of cinematic truth in the realm of something that is
completely untruthful. Perhaps it’s hard to understand just how fascinating it
is to watch something so bizarre unfold in the utmost convincing way. The
narrative seems to roam in every which direction with multiple events going on
nearly all the time. This kind of narrative used in producing films showed that
the film makers are still influenced by the New Wave movement in films making.
Marry Go Round(Jacques Rivette,1981)
French new wave is then widespread until 1990s. Quentin
Tarantino, a famous postmodern director that often been criticized for stealing
or copying from other directors film. Tarantino claim that although he had a
heavily inspired in plot and style but he had created a unique style that is
all his own, combining styles from his favorite genres into brand new mash-ups,
making his own authorship.
Obviously, he had influenced by French new wave movement
and later he had implied the style in the movie, Reservoir Dogs in
1992, which is a popular independent crime film of the decade. We can found out
some French new wave’s echoes in this movie. As evidences, it is a low
budget film as many of the actors have to use their own costume as their
character’s wardrobe. The film is a non- linear storyline as we can see break
of pieces of the past and present of the story, An example, the heist story
unfold as they're intercut with Freddy’s back story as to how he managed to get
involved with Cabbot’s gang and his overall plan to capture them. The style of
the storyline has created tension and interest of the audience. People know
what is happened yet just don’t know how. Other than that, the setting in the
opening sequence in the movie is a restaurant where the characters are
seated eating breakfast. This has show that the implication of the French
new wave movement because Tarantino choose to use a real or natural location as
shooting location so that it looks usual and nature. Also, the conversations of
the character are informal, which sound not scripted yet are
more rambunctious and jovial dialogue. The ways they talk are reflecting
their background of the characters. Additionally, monologue is used in the film
as well, for an example, the wise old veterans like Edward Bunker, gets the
film firmly started with his virtuoso monologue about the real meaning of LIKE
A VIRGIN.
Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino film style seem is simply a rehash of what went
before, nevertheless Reservoir Dogs was given the Critic's Award at the
4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in 1993 and was voted
"Best Independent Film Ever" by Empire Magazine and even was voted
"Most Influential Movie of the past 15 years" by movie
magazine. Although it is not the best films of the decade but it deserve
as an honorable, remarkable film which should not be diminished and most
significant filmmaking of Tarantino in the early 90s. The staple elements which
contain in the film is then become an authorship of Tarantino. Another good
example will be shown in his masterpiece which is Pulp Fiction.
The
“Pumpkin” and “Honey Bunny”(Pulp Fiction)
Pulp Fiction is
an American crime film portrays after Reservoir Dogs in 1994 which is another
film of Tarantino’s work owes much to the New wave. The echoes of the movement
apparently can be found in the film. For examples, the film is out of sequence,
which is Tarantino‘s trademark of non-linear storytelling. Each storyline seem
focuses on different series of incident yet they are interrelated and connect
in various way. The opening scene of the film is shooting in the diner where
the “pumpkin” and “honey bunny” are having their breakfast and planning to rob
the diner. In the entire film, the characters are talk in a casual way and most
of the time we can found out the vulgarity words in the movie. A long
tracking shot technique is used in the film, for instance, camera moving by
followed Vincent in the theme restaurant. Besides that, jump out occur when Mr.
Wolf walking to his car direction. These are the evidences showing that
Tarantino is still implying some of the new wave movement and innovate it
become a brand new film.
With his well done job, this film has received a lot of
awards such as “Best film award in National Society of Film Critics”, “Best
Screenplay in Golden Globe Awards” and etc. Again, this film has raised his
reputation in the film industry and indubitably became the most imitated
screenwriter of the last decade. After Reservoir dogs and especially after Pulp
Fiction, there are more young directors’ attempts to duplicate his films.
Others movie of Tarantino that heavily influenced by French new wave
movement are Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death
Proof (2007), and Inglorious Basterds (2009).
Jackie Brown (1997)
Kill Bill (2003, 2004)
Death Proof (2007)
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
The 400 Blows.
Other than that, there are still few examples of directors
who influenced by the French New Wave movement in this modern cinema, such
as Madame Bovary (1991) and La Ceremonie (1996),directed
by Claude Chabrol, The Prisons(1994), directed by Jacques
Rivette, Rendezvoux in Paris(1995), Summer's Tale, A(1996), directed
by Eric Rohmer, Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevitch, A(2000), Case of
the Grinning Cat, The(2004), directed by Chris Marker and Libera
me(1993), Filmman(2005), which is directed by Alain Cavalier. It is
truth to say that French New Wave movement is successful remains intact and
become a technique for the mainstream to practice.
Marc Forster is another director who also influenced
by the French New Wave movement. Stay(2005) which is a
psychological thriller film in American. This film is fits to the criteria for
the new wave movement. The main character is an anti- hero. Forster directed
this film in artistic style which including vertigo and revolves around the
dream, depression, death and false realities.
It is also a diversion of French New Wave echoes can be
found in other movement. In Denmark 1995, a clearly evident that show
influenced by French new wave was Dogme95, which is created by Lars von
Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, then later joined by Soren Kragh-Jackobson and
Kristian Levering. Dogme 95 is like a “rescue movement”, which wants to
rescue from the predictable plot. It used radical and usual technique to do the
filmmaking and excluding use of the special and flourish special effects
technology. This movement have the similarity rules with the New Wave movement
which are filming must be done on the location, extra props and sets need not
to brought in, camera must be handheld, no special lighting is added in, no
superficial action such as weapons or murders, and the film must take place in
the present day and in the country for filming.
Thomas Vinterberg
The first Dogme film is Festen which also known
as “The Celebration". It is a simple and
naturalistic performance of film. In this film, Vinterberg use natural
lighting and handheld camera which had blown up to 35mm to shoot the content of
the story. It then created disorientating images as disturbing the content of the
story. The aesthetic of the film is similar to the French New Wave which used
hand help camera extensively without extra technical considerations.
Festen won a lot of awards and it has become a significant film of Vinterberg.
The second film of the Dogme group is “The Idiots” by
Lars von Trier, however he had directed and famous for Breaking the
Waves in 1996, with a inspired way where the actors are free to move
anywhere in the shooting location as the camera will follow them moving
around. There are still lists of number of dogme 95 film, it has shows
that the filmmakers often used the limitation placed as their inspiration for
filmmaking.
Incidentally, that there were other national 'New Waves' -
including that in Hong Kong bear the obvious influenced by the French New Wave,
like Wong- Kar Wai’s film – Chungking Express in 1994. He created the
cinematography style which is influence by the New Wave movement. He included
the handheld camera in most of the time in film because most of the shots are
action or chasing scene. It shows blurred and distract to the audience,
creating the effect like someone with no experience on camera work. Indirectly,
he wan to increase the reality of the everyday life appears in the film.
It is clear that the French New Wave influence is still alive and
spread well today. French New Wave brings out the messages that it is not
necessary to have big lights, experienced actors, enormous budgets, flourished
of technique and movie sets. The postmodern filmmakings have resurgence the New
Wave ideas and create new blood for the modern cinema. This is little shaking
up is exactly the need of the film industry for the profit given.
References
Truffault, F. (2010). Shoot the Piano Player. Retrieved March 6, 2012 from http://www.thecityreview.com/shoot.htm
Truffault, F. (2010). Shoot the Piano Player. Retrieved March 6, 2012 from http://www.thecityreview.com/shoot.htm
Cannon, D. (1997). Hiroshima mon amour (1959). Retrieved
March 6, 2012 from http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Hiroshima_Amour.html
Film Analysis
In order to give a better understanding of the influences of French New Wave in Pulp Fiction, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino, we have added some of the visuals and specific shots.
Pulp Fiction is influenced by French New
Wave whereby the narration of this film does not follow the conventional
approach like normal films. The teasing opening, unexpected plot twist and
ambiguous ending actually distinguishes
this film from Hollywood films. For example:
The available light and simple supplemental sources
In order to give a better understanding of the influences of French New Wave in Pulp Fiction, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino, we have added some of the visuals and specific shots.
Figure 4.0 The film started with
the conversation of two robbers, Ringo and
Yolanda in a diner.
Figure 4.1 This shot shows the last conversation between Ringo
and Yolanda before they proceed to robbing.
Figure 4.2 After the above shot, they are pointing their guns at the
diner’s customers.
Figure 4.3 Then, it fades into black and shows the opening credit
Figure 4.4 After the opening credit, a new scene begins, showing the
conversation between Jules and Vincent in a car. This scene that we are
watching now is not a continuous scene from the previous one above.
The ending part of Pulp Fiction is interesting,
where the scene gets back to the same location and it is actually a continuous
scene from the opening teaser.
Figure 4.5 This shot shows Vincent
and Jules having breakfast in the same diner as Ringo and Yolanda.
Figure 4.6 The
similar shot from the beginning of this film appears again in the ending part. It is purposely done in the editing to act as a connecting point of the start
and the end of this movie. It also lets the audience know that the conversation
between Vincent and Jules and the conversation between Ringo and Yolanda are
actually going on at the same time.
Figure 4.7 The
next scene then shows the incident that happens next.
Characters
Women characters are portrayed a lot in the film as it depicts woman status during that era. In story 1 and 3, the two women portrayed are rebellious, independent and going against the law. Mia, Marsellus’ wife is independent as she is able to live on her own when her husband is not around. She is even daring enough to out for dinner with another man and she breaks the law by taking cocaine every day. As for Yolanda, the robber, she is femme fatale as she is able to use a gun and threaten the customers in the diner to hand over their wallets.
In story 2, Bruce’s girlfriend Fabienne’s character is vice versa. She is kind, timid and follows what Bruce says to her. She has a poor memory as she forgets to bring Bruce’s father’s watch and is easily scared when Bruce went on rampage because of the missing watch.
Shooting on location
One of the unique characteristic of French New Wave is the shooting location. The director chooses to shoot at the real location rather than in the studio because the scenes will look realistic to the audience. Real shooting locations is influenced by Italian Neo-Realism. Shooting on location also saves the production budget as the setting and composition of mise-en-scene can originally be used as the real location's setting.
The shooting locations of Pulp Fiction is shot in a mix of location and studio sets which includes coffee shop, pawn shop, apartment, corridors and club.
Figure 4.8 An example of the film been shot in the
studio is obvious when only the background is moving.
Figure 4.9 This
scene shows the design of this coffee shop is simple.
Figure 4.10 The
pawn shop does not look fake as we can see from this visual. It is full of
things like electrical appliances, music instrument and accessories.
Figure 4.11 In
a normal film, the room will be clean and tidy in order to get a beautiful visual but in Pulp
Fiction, it shows the condition of a real room lived in by guys, which is messy
and untidy.
Figure 4.12 The
club where Vincent meets up with Marsellus and
Butch.
The available light and simple supplemental sources
Some of the lighting used in Pulp Fiction is specifically designed and unlike the use of available light in French New Wave.
Three point lighting is a lighting concept that is usually used in film production.
Figure 4.13 Because of the usage of natural light, some places are
darker, some places are lighter. It shows the imbalance of lighting and it is
too dark that even where the audience cannot see the faces of the characters.
Figure 4.14 In contrast to the above shot, this shot is over
exposed and dazzle.
Camera movements
The camera tends to pan and track to follow character's movement. This is one of the characteristics of French New Wave. For example, the camera following Vincent's movement in Jackrabbit Slim's, a bizarre retro 50's club and at the same time giving the sudience a clear image of the place.
Figure 4.15 When
Vincent and Mia first step into Jackrabbit Slim’s, it gives the audience an
image that this club is designed on a rock and roll theme with a car racing
track for entertainment.
Figure 4.16 However, when the
camera pans right to the surrounding, then only the audience can notice that
Jackrabbit Slim’s is a restaurant.
Figure 4.17 Then,
the camera follows Vincent’s movement to explore the rest of the restaurant and
then we can see a bar
Figure 4.18 When
the waiter shows Mia her reserve seat, this totally impressed the audience
because the whole design of Jackrabbit Slim’s is very unique and amazing.
The whole scene in Jackrabbit Slim's arouses the audience's curiosity and it also lets the audience feel the wonderful environment. Besides, for an Asian audience like us, we will be attracted to that place and wish ourselves to have our meals in such an interesting place.
Lack of goal-oriented protagonist
In the film, we see the protagonist Vincent drift aimlessly. He does not have any plans, smokes, taking drugs and committing murder. At first, we will think that he is protagonist of the film who connects all the scenes together but the audience loses the direction when Vincent is killed by Butch at Butch's house.
Figure 4.19 The bloody scene above shows Vincent is dead in the
bathroom of Butch’s house.
Dialogue
There are some dialogues that provide some casual humor to the film as a feature in French New Wave. In The Bonnie Solution, after Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the car, Jules makes a phone call to Marsellus to solve the problem. Jules explain what will happen if Jimmie's house comes home and find out there is a dead body. In the film, Jules's imagination is made into a scenario. The dialogue are as follows:
Jules: You got to appreciate what an explosive element this Bonnie Solution is.
Figure 4.20 A
imaginative scenario appears of Jimmie’s wife coming from the front door...
Figure 4.21 ...putting
her keys in the living room...
Figure 4.22 ...goes to
the kitchen...
Figure 4.23...and shocked to see the husband and the
gangsters taking out the dead body.
Jump cut
Jump cut has always been avoided to produce a continuity scene or shot in order to smoothen out the film. In this film where influences by French New Wave is available, it has gone against the normal film editing process where it allows jump cut. For example:
Figure 4.24 A man and women open the car doors.
Figure 4.25 The car moves.
Sound
Throughout the whole film, the majority of sound used is diegetic sound. Diegetic sound can either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.
In one instance, non-diegetic is used. A mood music Cowboy theme song synchronises the situation that shows Vincent all set up for a date with Mia under the order of his boss, Marsellus.
Budget
In French New Wave, budget for film production is tight. This is a common phenomena during the era of the 50's and 60's.
In conclusion, we can see that in making Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino does not fully display the influences of French New Wave, which is against the characteristics of normal film production, from the non-linear narrative, mise-en-scene, mise-en-shot, sounds, lighting and dialogues.
References:
Merry-Go- Round in 1981. (2008). Retrieved March 6, 2012, from http://cinematalk.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/merry-go-round-1981/
Huggo. (2010). Breathless - 1960. Retrieved March 8, 2012 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053472/plotsummary
