The 1960 film Breathless by Jean Luc Goddard tells the story of small-time Parisian hood Michel Poiccard, who is frantically trying to collect enough money to flee the country with Patricia, his American love interest, after he murdered a policeman who tried to pull him over and became the subject of a city wide man hunt. Michel is an interesting character whom evokes a wide range of reactions from a very diverse audience. He tries to be like his hero, the suave and courageous Humphrey Bogart, to the extent he imitates his mannerism (tracing his lips with his thumb), but he falls short for he lacks the charisma of a heroic protagonist, as he does an antiheroic pathos. Michel’s quest to emulate his hero, as well as other instances sprinkled …show more content…
The absence of the values commonly associated with the slave morality as shown in the film are purity, goodness and humility. The casual mention of Michel’s sexual history as well as the scene where Michel and Patricia sleep together are ways in which the director is reaffirming his pursuit of sex, and denying the acceptability of sexlessness. On his way to Paris, Michel comes across two women hitchhikers. He ponders giving them a lift for the price of a kiss per kilometer travelled. As he draws closer, he changes his mind because they weren’t attractive enough. Michel had a choice between the “good” actions, or the action that served him best, however shallow the reason may be. He chose the latter, obviously rejecting Nietzsche’s slave morality, refusing to settle for mediocre women because society thinks he should. In Paris, he witnesses a motor accident. A pedestrian got hit and there is a crowd of people around him. Michel walks way when he could have helped, again showing an absence of “goodness”. Only the strong would be able to walk away in the face of such tragedy, which the weak undermines by glorifying the act of staying, terming it “good”. The absence of humility can also be seen within the character of Parvulesco. The interview of Parvulesco reveals all we need to know about him. His arrogant manner of conducting himself is evident in his replies to the question thrown at him. Nietzsche would say here that that humility is merely the weak glorifying their timidity because of their inability to speak up. Parvulesco shows none of that. His most telling statement is this: “… to become immortal, and then die” says he in response to the question about his greatest ambition in life. The lack of humility here is glaring. Parvulesco would transcend the realm of men, becoming god-like almost, only to die immediately after achieving what most
Persona is a wonderful film that explains the story of a young nurse and an actress. The film presents a mixture of horrific and psychological drama. Animal slaughter is an important element of symbolism in the film. Animal slaughter shows an act of sacrifice for ritual purpose. Most importantly, the act of animal slaughter is used to support themes of death and insanity in a great way. When audience sees the killing and mutilation of an animal, they understand that there is an eminent danger from outside (Bergman).
This paper will discuss various elements of mise-en-scene, specifically; character development, lighting, performance, costume, makeup in the film "Casablanca".(Michael Curtiz,1942) The setting of the story sets the tone for the entire film. Shots of tanks and planes show the violence of war that coincides with the cutthroat city that is Casablanca. From there, those sentiments are reinforced when a man is shot in the street while another man pick pockets someone whom is distracted. The mood of the movie stays on the dark side of things when we enter Rick's Café, where we meet our protagonist played by Humphrey Bogart. In this scene we are treated to the jaded portrayal of night club owner. We see his utter disregard for a French woman
This novel is a classic example of many people's lives, which includes fear, jealousy, pride and their insecurities to name a few. The transformation of the narrator from before his reincarnation until afterwards is filled with tragedy and grief, but it is through the sacrifice of his own life that he is permanently freed from his jealousy and egotism. His "punishment" or his purgatory seemed to prove how good of a person he was all
Elie Wiesel has given the listener a wonderful opportunity to feel the intense movement of his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”. His speech is centered around the need for vigilance in the face of evil. Throughout this speech, with which he moved so many, he shared his experience with being sent to Buchenwald, a concentration camp, the treacherous conditions in which they were living, and the way that indifference has separated human beings. He explained, that through anger and hatred a great poem or symphony can be written, because “One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses.” (Wiesel, 1999/16, p. 78). The three strategies that will be explored throughout this analysis are ethos, logos, and pathos.
It is possible to argue that Leubal was simply a kind man, an aberration to the society of slaveholding men. However, if we examine him closely, we will see that his kindness toward Jeanette could not be applied universally, because it would cause an economic disaster. So his action is most realistically viewed as a special circumstance. Leubal kept slaves to make money, but he certainly deplored certain aspects of slavery, and because he contributed to the system, those aspects were partly his responsibility. To accept the peculiar institution, he had to redeem it by easing the weight of its pain upon him - the pain of guilt.
Casablanca, first released on January 23rd, 1943 is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of Classical Hollywood film. Written and released in the midst of World War Two it explores themes such as love, desire and especially sacrifice. Although the love story of the protagonists is the cause and catalyst for most of the narrative, one would not necessarily associate it with the conventional Classical Hollywood love story. Rather as a fabula based on the principle of the importance of sacrifice in order to overcome a common enemy, in this case the Nazis. Casablanca does indeed contain many of the common characteristics identified with the Classical Hollywood film. An example being the the way director, Michael Curtiz used a mainly chronologically ordered narrative structure and the utilisation of a Cause and Effect chain. In this essay I will looking at the various ways I believe this film does fall into the criteria of a Classical Hollywood narrative and also how some could perceive that it does not.
strength, he chooses to acknowledge Pride’s role in his life and accept defeat in his attempt to practice total Humility. His choice to acknowledge pride
Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown are both good examples of neo-noir. They both carry elements of classical film noir with them, such as the “hard boiled detective” archetype, the “femme fatale” archetype, and they both deal with the gritty side of human nature. But while they both have some overlapping noir tropes that can be seen in classical noirs, these films are actually incredibly different from one another. They both act as examples for John Cawelti’s Modes of Generic Transformation. They both share one mode, but then have different modes in addition, making them noir-like in essence, but still incredibly different films.
Chaplin affirms that one of the main reasons for his success is that he makes films that portray what an audience wants to see. “Even the most inoffensive of us has sometime or other conceived the grotesque idea of pulling those millionaire whiskers––just a fleeting, absurd idea” (Chaplin 6), states Chaplin. As the audience has an innate desire to see a high-class business man lose their composure and status, they also have a desire to see hope in dire situations. The same
In his novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind chooses third person narration to tell the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. And though Grenouille is the character at which the story is based upon, we are also taken through the minds and actions of other characters through the unlimited knowledge of an omniscient narrative voice. By seeing and smelling the world through Grenouille’s eyes and nose while at the same time having it told through several characters instead of him alone, we are somewhat left detached from Grenouille from the very beginning, which only enhances the lack of sympathy and
The third chapter will mainly discuss Woody Allen?s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) to examine how a theme about cinema-goers reflects a desire from the filmmaker and the audience. The film fabricates a fantasy where the protagonist of a film called ?The Purple Rose of Cairo?, Tom Baxter (enacted by Jeff Daniels), ?steps? out of the film during a screening. He joins Cecilia (starred by Mia Farrow), a frustrated waitress and aggrieved wife who has watched this film countless times, and starts an adventure in the real world. Confronting the chaos caused by Tom arbitrarily leaving the screen, Gil Shepard, an actor who impersonates Tom, comes to persuade Tom to return to the film, while pursuing Cecilia at the same time. In the end, Cecilia chooses to stay in reality but ends up alone due to Gil abandoning her for his career in Hollywood.
This essay is about the movie Inglourious Basterds (2009) written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The significant elements of mise-en-scene in the film will be discussed, along with the film’s elements of cinematography in the opening scene. Film often uses editing techniques in its storytelling that infer meaning, subtle though they may be. These techniques will be identified and discussed, and the meanings explained. Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, the film follows a group of Jewish US soldiers as they plan to assassinate the leaders of the Third Reich in a movie theater. Led by Allied officer Lieutenant Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, the “Basterds’” plan coincides with the theater owner’s vengeful plans for the same thing.
Film Noir, a term coined by the French to describe a style of film characterized by dark themes, storylines, and visuals, has been influencing cinematic industries since the 1940’s. With roots in German expressionistic films and Italian postwar documentaries, film noir has made its way into American film as well, particularly identified in mob and crime pictures. However, such settings are not exclusive to American film noir. One noteworthy example is Billy Wilder’s film Sunset Boulevard, which follows the foreboding tale of Joe Gillis, the desperate-for-success protagonist, who finds himself in the fatal grips of the disillusioned femme fatale Norma Desmond. Not only does the storyline’s heavy subject matter and typical character
The debate over Casablanca and Citizen Kane has been a classic argument between film critics and historians alike, and this is because both of these pieces are timeless pictures that have managed to captivate audiences well after their era. On a broad spectrum analysis this is an apples and oranges debate as the two films both have great cinematographic value but for different reasons. However, the real question at hand is which film is the greatest? Which film transformed the future of American film making? It is these questions that I as many others have, will attempt to answer in the following essay as I explain why I believe Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made.
While Estelle's hands were tarnished with the murder of her own baby, both Garcin and Inez are indirectly responsible for the death of those close to them. For Sartre, all three characters are pathetic examples of humankind. Believing that human beings can never hope to understand why they are here, Sartre, like many existentialists, believes that each individual must choose a goal and follow it with passionate conviction, aware of the certainty of death and the ultimate meaninglessness of one's life. Nonetheless, Estelle, Garcin and Inez all exist with no real purpose and therefore are damned to suffer not only in their life, but their afterlife.