Syllabus

FRE 404

Great French Actresses and Their Film Roles
Fall Semester 2005
MWF 11:00-11:50 AM, H-105

Professor Beth Mauldin
Office: H-309
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 12:15 - 1:45, and by appointment
Telephone: 404-441-8604
e-mail: bmauldin AT oglethorpe.edu

Description

Female stars, many of whom have succeeded in creating an almost mythic renown with a wide public, have been a common feature of French cinema for decades. Representative of the culture, and even the French nation as a whole, they have become veritable institutions by virtue of their roles and personalities. This course will study these actresses and their roles in an attempt to better understand the situation of women in France in the last half of the twentieth century. The presence of several female directors in the series of films studied will also be of interest.

Who are these actresses, and what do their roles tell us about women, and women in France in particular? Answers will be supplied by a diverse group of actresses representing several generations, various approaches and by recent and classic films. No group of actresses could be exhaustive and no response complete. We will, however, hope to be able to draw some conclusions from a study of the work of the following women who have contributed greatly to cinema in France: Isabelle Adjani, Fanny Ardant, Brigitte Bardot, Emanuelle Béart, Juliette Binoche, Sandrine Bonnaire, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Simone Signoret, Isabelle Huppert, Irène Jacob, Audrey Tautou, Virginie Ledoyen, Miou-Miou, Anne Parillaud, Firmine Richard and Ludivine Sagnier.

A secondary goal of the course will be to experience the enormous delights of French cinema. It will seek to encourage students to become passionate fans and critics. The real work will therefore truly begin with the dozens of additional French films in the Oglethorpe collection which remain to be seen and the numerous French films that continue to be made and will open in Atlanta movie theaters in the future. Many of the actresses in the course are active today and continue to make one interesting film after another.


Required Textbook:

There is no required text for this course. All readings are available as .pdf files.

Viewing the Films

The 18 films are available in DVD or laserdisc format on reserve in the library. They cannot be checked out and should be viewed before the date assigned for discusssion in class. This must be done in the library during its open hours. Two small viewing rooms and several individual carrels are available for viewing. Many of the films can also be rented at commercial outlets in Atlanta, in particular at Movies Worth Seeing in Virginia Highlands (see reviews and information on the webpage of Citysearch):

http://atlanta.citysearch.com/profile/2997431/atlanta_ga/movies_worth_seeing.html

Students may wish to organize themselves informally in small groups and reserve the small viewing rooms. IF YOU CANNOT ARRANGE YOUR SCHEDULE TO SEE ALL OF THE FILMS OUTSIDE OF CLASS, YOU CANNOT TAKE THE COURSE. Class time is reserved for discussion and study of the films, not for viewing. Clips and stills will be used in class to enhance discussion, and students will be asked to identify parts of the films for study. The largest part of the work for the course will be to view all of the films, reflect and then write briefly about each film.

Written Work

Each student will prepare an analysis of one page (approximately 450-500 words) for each of the films. The assignment should include the following three sections: 1) the main actors and their roles, the director and a short synopsis of the film, 2) an analytic discussion of some feature, or features, of the film based on the reading for that film, 3) a discussion of one or more of the questions on the handout. This assignment will be due at the outset of each film discussion. The professor may ask students occasionally to describe their work orally to the class.

Exams

Three exams during the semester will treat the films viewed in each period preceding the exam. Students should know the principal actors, the directors, the setting and story for each film. There will also be interpretive questions to answer about one of the films as selected by each student. Students will also be expected to make use of the readings in their answers.

Final Exam

The final exam will treat all of the films in a general manner. Questions will focus on comparisons of films and the notion of women as portrayed in the roles of the actresses. Students should show good analytic ability to speak to these issues in a variety of essay questions.

The Oglethorpe Césars

At the end of the semester students will vote to decide Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film, and even Best Actor of the semester. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on the last day of classes Monday, December 8. Clips from the films will be presented, and guests from the entire university community will be welcome.




Program


August 25 Introduction to the course

August 27 How to Read a Film

August 29 Simone de Beauvoir - Introduction to The Second Sex

September 1 LABOR DAY

September 3 Camille Claudel **Isabelle Adjani**
READING: Linda Nochlin - Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?


September 5 Camille Claudel

September 8 Et Dieu créa la femme (And God Created Woman) **Brigitte Bardot**
READING: Ginette Vincendeau – Brigitte Bardot: the old and the new: what Bardot meant to 1950s France


September 10 Et Dieu créa la femme (And God Created Woman)

September 12 Les Diaboliques (Diabolique) **Simone Signoret**
READING: Judith Mayne - Inversion and Lesbian Plot in Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques

September 15 Les Diaboliques (Diabolique)

September 17 Belle de jour **Catherine Deneuve**
READING: Vincendeau - Catherine Deneuve: from ice maiden to living divinity

September 19 Belle de jour

September 22 Indochine **Catherine Deneuve**
Brigitte Rollet - Identity and Alterity in Indochine


September 24 Indochine

September 26 EXAM


September 29 The Unbearable Lightness of Being **Juliette Binoche**
READING: Vincendeau - Juliette Binoche: the face of neo-romanticism

October 1 The Unbearable Lightness of Being


October 3 Une affaire de femmes (Story of Women) **Isabelle Huppert**
READING: Miranda Pollard – “A Story of Women? Vichy and the Politics of Abortion, 1942 – 1944”


October 6 Une affaire de femmes (Story of Women)


October 8 La Cérémonie **Isabelle Huppert/Sandrine Bonnaire**
Ginette Vincendeau -Isabelle Huppert: The Big Chill
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49340

October 10 La Cérémonie

October 13 FALL BREAK

October 15 La Femme Nikita **Anne Parillaud**
READING: Charlene Tung – Embodying an Image: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in La Femme Nikita

October 17 NO CLASS

October 20 NO CLASS

October 22 Jean de Florette/Manon des sources (Manon of the Spring) **Emmanuelle Béart**

October 24 Jean de Florette/Manon des sources (Manon of the Spring)

October 27 EXAM


October 29 Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond) **Sandrine Bonnaire**
READING: Susan Hayward – Beyond the gaze and into femme-filmécriture: Agnès Varda’s Sans toit ni loi (1985)


October 31 Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond)


November 3 Coup de foudre (Entre Nous) **Isabelle Huppert, Miou-Miou**
READING: Carrie Tarr - Heritage, Nostalgia, and the Woman’s Film: The Case of Diane Kurys

November 5 Coup de foudre (Entre Nous)


November 7 Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours) **Fanny Ardant**

November 10 Vivement dimanche!


November 12 Rouge (Red) **Irène Jacob**

November 14 Rouge (Red)


November 17 EXAM


November 19 La Môme (La vie en rose) **Marion Cotillard**

READING: Keith Reader – Flaubert’s sparrow, or the Bovary of Belleville: Édith Piaf as cultural icon


November 21 La Môme (La vie en rose)

November 24 Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amélie)

November 26 THANKSGIVING

November 28 THANKSGIVING


December 1 Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amélie)


December 3 8 Femmes (8 Women)


December 5 8 Femmes (8 Women)


December 8 Last Day of Classes

Commercial Showings
Students will be encouraged to see current French movies appropriate for the course as they are offered in Atlanta art houses during the course of the semester. Students may write on these films and receive extra credit.

Grades

25% Class Participation
25% Written Assignments
30% Exams during the semester
20% Final Exam

Please come and see me if you have problems, questions, or if you simply would like to further discuss the material. Do not let a difficult situation with your studies degenerate into a hopeless impasse. I am available to meet with you at your convenience within reason.


Other Requirements
• Regular class attendance is expected.
• Written work should be turned in at the beginning of each class period.
• Absence the day of an exam without prior permission from the professor will result in a grade of “F.”


Honor Code
The students and faculty of Oglethorpe University expect each other to be truthful in the academic endeavor they share. Faculty assume students complete work honestly and act toward them in ways consistent with that assumption.
Students will pledge to have completed tests honestly by signing a pledge attached to each test and written assignment, as well as the final examination. The instructor will be present in the classroom during portions of tests only to serve in clarifying instructions.

Incompletes
An incomplete for unfinished work at the end of the semester will be granted only for reasons of health, family tragedy, or other circumstances the professor deems appropriate. This procedure is not recommended and will be granted only in exceptional cases. It is particularly inappropriate for this course which depends so greatly upon steady work, film viewing and class participation. The grade “I” has the same effect as an “F” on the GPA. If the student completes the work within thirty days of the last day of exams, the professor will evalute the work and turn in a revised grade. Any “I” not changed by the professor within forty-five days of the last day of exams will automatically be changed to a grade of “F.”