European Cinema Minutes for 2/20/02

We briefly discussed Carmen before moving on to New German Cinema. 

Dr.Reimer introduced the class to the Spanish concept of "topas;"-the one used here referring to blurring the line between reality and dreams.  This topas is also found in some musicals that blur the line between reality and fantasy.  In Carmen the two merge.  For instance, the director in Carmen creates an idealized image of Carmen, the actress, which he eventually recognizes as a false image, but the audience is never really sure of when we're seeing a rehearsal or when we're seeing the "real" events. In a traditional musical, such as Singing in the Rain, we know when we're watching a dance or fantasy number because there is a clear beginning and end to the number.  Carmen not only blurs the lines, it melds reality and fantasy to the point that the audience cannot be sure of the film's end.  Does Carmen, the character within the ballet, die? Or are we to believe that the director "really" kills his leading lady? The class did not agree about the end and perhaps we are meant to wonder "what really happened?"

We moved on to New German Cinema and a discussion of the movement's great directors.  In 1962, 62 Signatories from German film issued the "Oberhausen Manifesto." Essentially, they felt that German film was too pretty, too upbeat and too conservative. Their influences included the Golden Age of German cinema - the 1920s, French New Wave directors, and Hollywood.  They reacted against Hollywood, however, rejecting the glossy perfect Hollywood image.  R.W. Fassbinder was the movement's most influential director; when Fassbinder died, the movement died as well. We saw a clip from the film The Chronicle of Anna-Maria Bach (directed by Struab and Huillet)Werner Herzog is considered the most daring of the NGC directors but his peer Schlondorff made the transition to English speaking films such as The Handmaid's Tale. Other important directors include the husband and wife team of Straub and Huillet.

Some characteristics of New German Cinema include the elimantion of camera movement, less sympathetic to unlikeable characters, and a lack of concern for story development.  The boredom of 20-something Germans is an important theme in that it reflects the aimlessness and apathy that plagued 1960s German youth (according to New German cinema).