Minutes

March 27, 2002

            The class began with an ending discussion on French new wave that we had discussed last time we met.  Dr. Reimer showed several clips from the movie Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959).  This movie shows the mass destruction caused by the bomb that exploded over the city of Hiroshima during World War II.  Two Japanese lovers are discussing this devastation while they make love.  We discussed camera angles but primarily camera movement and what the director was trying to do with the angles and camera movement.  Dr. Reimer stated that generations at this post wartime didn’t want to remember what exactly happened.  Philip asked if the two people in the film ever stop making love. The answer was, yes they do. 

            We then looked at Resnais’s  film Last Year at Marienbad that was made in 1961.  This film begins with a camera going into a huge mansion.  The camera goes deeper and deeper into the house capturing unique fixtures and mirrors.  Ryan remarked about the slowness of the camera and the repetition of images.  Tim stated that the film becomes clearer as you go further into the movie.  Dr. Reimer made everyone aware that in the year this film was released; many critics disliked the film and found it to be confusing.

            Now Dr. Reimer shows a few clips from the movie Breathless.  This film was directed by Godard and released in 1959.  This movie is about a man who imagines himself as a gangster and ends up killing a police officer for no reason.  The felon falls in love with a woman who eventually turns him into the authorities.  We discussed that Godard used natural lighting and sound.  He also had some vibrations in the camera that made it somewhat jumpy.  Dr. Reimer pointed out that the main character addresses the camera and that this behavior is violating the principle of narrative film.  We discussed the editing that Godard used.  He uses reality-based filmmaking, as seen today in reality based television, where he jumps around to different scenes.  The main character talks to himself and discusses the countryside of France and how much he loves it.  We viewed the scene of the main character shooting the police officer and commented on how Godard keeps the audience from becoming emotionally attached to the character.  Dr. Reimer commented on how the scene leaves you guessing.  When watching the movie, you don’t know who has been shot at first.

When the movie ends, the main character is shot by the police and dies.  The police and his so called girlfriend watch him as he dies.  The dying man must close his own eyes to die, an homage by Godard to one of Hollywood’s enduring clichés. 

            We now looked at two films that are almost identical.  One was La Femme Nikita and the other was Point of No Return.  La Femme Nikita was filmed in France and showed a scene where an assassin killed three people while they ate dinner.  We then watched the exact same scene from Point of No Return, which was filmed in Hollywood.  Both movies used mainstream shots and had identical scenes, although the American film placed its emphsis more of action or abstract action..  These two similar movies were both shot in the 1990 ‘s and directed by two different directors.