THINKING ABOUT FILM

Order Description

Analyse ONE of the following films that you have studied on this module through reference to TWO of the critical perspectives (and associated thinkers) listed below:

FILMS:

1. La chute de la maison Usher / The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein, 1928, France, 66 min)
2. Alexander Nevsky (Sergei Eisenstein, 1938, Russia, 112 min)
3. Le journal d’un curé de campagne / Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, Fr., 1951, 110 min)
4. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria, 1966, 116 min)
5. Une vague nouvelle / A New Wave (28 min), episode 3B of Histoire(s) du cinéma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-98, France, 4hr 27 min)
6. Sans toit ni loi / Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985, France, 105 min)
7. Roma, città aperta / Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945, Italy, 100 min)

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES:

1. FILM AS A NEW SOURCE OF HISTORY (Boleslaw Matuszewski)
2. FILM AS A NEW ARTFORM (Ricciotto Canudo, Élie Faure, and Jean Epstein)
3. “VERTICAL MONTAGE” and “AUDIOVISUAL CINEMA” (Sergei Eisenstein)
4. REALIST FILM THEORY (André Bazin)
5. MARXIST/BRECHTIAN FILM THEORY (Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni)
6. AUDIOVISUAL THEORY AND CRITICISM (Jean-Luc Godard)
7. FEMINIST FILM THEORY (Laura Mulvey)
8. FILM PHILOSOPHY (Gilles Deleuze)

Your essay should be approximately 2,000 words in length. It should be carefully planned in advance, include a full bibliography, and be word-processed and double-spaced. The introduction should include a full statement of aims, and there should be a clear conclusion at the end. The film to be analysed should of course be watched numerous times.