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Schedule of Meetings, Readings, & Screenings

Note: Many of the films in this series contain violence, profanity, drug usage, and/or frank sexual content. These films are intended for mature audiences and are not suitable for children under 17 who are unaccompanied by an adult. If you are disturbed by R-rated film content, you should drop the course.

All screening times given below are approximate.

Key to abbreviations for assignments listed on this page:
HFNW Neupert, Richard. The History of the French New Wave. Wisconsin, 2004.
FNW Marie, Michel. The French New Wave: An Artistic School. Blackwell, 1997.
CDC1-CDC2 Hillier, Jim, ed. Cahiers du Cinema the 1950s -1960s. Harvard, 1985-6

Please note: this syllabus is subject to change (with notice).

Section 1: Early Influences 

Week 1         Early Italian, French, & American Influences

Tuesday, January 8

Reading: CDC1: André Bazin, "Umberto D" (180-181)
  CDC1: Eric Rohmer, François Truffaut, Fereydoun Hoveyda, and Jacques Rivette, "Interviews with Rossellini" (209-216--okay to skip 214-215)
Tuedsay in-class screening: Excerpt from Il Mio Viaggio in Italia (My Voyage in Italy) (Martin Scorsese, 1999)
Assignment: Writing assignment #1 distributed & due Thursday

Thursday, January 10

Reading: HFNW, "Jean-Pierre Melville" (63-72)
  HFNW: "Agnès Varda" (56-63)
View for Thursday: Bob le flambeur (Bob the Gambler) (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1955; 97 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday
Writing assignment #1 due
Sign up for Group Presentation

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946; 114 min.)
  Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948; 133 min.)
  Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954; 118 min.)
  La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) (Jean Renoir, 1939)
  Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945; 100 min.)

 

Week 2      Auteurs & Aesthetics: A "Nouvelle vague" 

Tuesday, January 15

Reading: HFNW: "Roger Vadim" (73-85)
  CDC1: Eric Rohmer, "Ajax or the Cid?" (111-115)
  CDC1: Jacques Rivette, “The Genius of Howard Hawks” (126-131)
Tuesday in-class screening: Et Dieu… créa la femme (And God Created Woman) (Roger Vadim, 1956; 95 min.)
View: Rebel without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955; 147 min.)

Thursday, January 17

Reading: FNW Ch. 1: "A Journalistic Slogan and a New Generation" (5-25)
  HFNW Ch. 1: "From Ciné-Clubs to Film Journals" (26-36)
View: The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946; 114 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
  A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956)
  La Ronde (Max Ophuls, 1950)
  Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) and Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)

 

Week 3        Influences & Manifestos: Astruc, Bazin, & the Cahiers Cohort

Tuesday, January 22 - Thursday, January 24

Reading: FNW, Ch. 2: “A Critical Concept”
  HFNW, "Alexandre Astruc & the Caméra-stylo" (45-56)
  HFNW, Ch. 7: "The Cahiers du cinéma Cohort" (247, 279-298; okay to skim 281-285 and 292-295)
View: La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) (Jean Renoir, 1939; 106 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday; Group Presentation PowerPoint/outline due Thursday by 11:59pm on D2L Assignments folder

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  CDC2: Cahiers du Cinéma, "20 Years of French Cinema: The Best French Films since the Liberation" (82-83)

 

Week 4      Group Presentations: French New Wave Directors

Tuesday, January 29 - Thursday, January 31

FNW Director Presentations:
(Submit finished PowerPoint slides to D2L Assignments folder by 12p noon on Tuesday)
1) Claude Chabrol: Austin and Steven 5) Agnès Varda: Marina and Tyler
2) François Truffaut: Erin Leigh and Anthony 6) Jacques Rivette: Erynn and Jacob
3) Jean-Luc Godard: Jackson and Karl 7) Louis Malle: Alexanderia and Nia
4) Eric Rohmer: Akanke and Quinn 8) Jacques Demy: Kerrian and Justin

 

Section 2: Realism & the Critical Legacy of Bazin

Week 5        Truth Cinema: Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette

Tuesday, February 5

Reading: FNW, Ch 4: “A technical practice, an aesthetic”
CDC1: Rivette, “Notes on a Revolution” (94-97)
  HFNW, Ch. 7: "Eric Rohmer" and "Jacques Rivette" (247-279)
Tuesday in-class screening: The Girl at the Monceau Bakery (Rohmer, 1962; 22 min) and
an excerpt from Six in Paris (Gare du Nord) (Jean Rouch, 1965; 15 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday (skipped to make up snow day presenations)
5pm Optional Screening: Les Bonnes femmes in UC 272 (Optional but recommended)

Thursday, February 7

Reading: HFNW, Ch. 4. "Claude Chabrol" (125-151 and bottom of 159-160; okay to skim 152-159)
  CDC2 on D2L: Labarthe, "The Purest Vision: Les Bonnes Femmes" (49-53) on D2L
View Les Bonnes Femmes (The Good Girls) (Chabrol 1960; 93 min.) ONLY AVAILABLE VIA LIBRARY DVD
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Le beau Serge (Chabrol, 1958; 98 min.)
  Les Cousins (Chabrol, 1959; 112 min.)
  Les Biches (Bad Girls) (Chabrol, 1968; 100 min.)
  L'Enfer (Hell) (Chabrol, 1994; 100 min.)
  Paris nous appartient (Paris Belongs to Us) (Rivette, 1960; 140 min.)
  Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette, 1974; 193 min.)
  La Belle Noiseuse (Rivette, 1991; 240 min.)
  Any films from "The Moral Tales" series and "The Four Seasons" series (Rohmer)

 

Week 6        Autobiography & Adolescence: François Truffaut

Tuesday, February 12

Reading: HFNW: "Francois Truffaut: The New Wave's Ringleader" (161-206)
T in-class screening: Les Mistons (The Brats) (Truffaut, 1957; 17 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday (skipped to catch up from snow day)

Thursday, February 14

Reading: CDC1: Godard, "Les 400 Coups" and Fereydoun Hoveyda: "The First Person Plural" (51-58)
  Gillain, “The script of delinquency…” on D2L
View Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows) (Truffaut, 1959; 95 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Tirez sur le pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player) (Truffaut, 1960; 92 min.)
  Jules & Jim (Truffaut, 1962; 105 min.)
  La Peau douce (Soft Skin) (Truffaut, 1964; 113 min.)
  La Nuit Américane (Day for Night) (Truffaut, 1973; 115 min.)

 

Week 7        Gangsters & Modern Love: Jean-Luc Godard

Tuesday, February 19

Reading: HFNW: "Jean-Luc Godard: Le Petit Soldat" (207-224, 235-247--especially the pages on Vivre sa vie/My Life to Live)
T in-class screening: Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live) (Godard, 1962; 85 min)

Thursday, February 21

Reading: Michel Marie, “‘It really makes you sick!’…” on D2L
View: A bout de souffle (Breathless) (Godard, 1959; 89 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier) (Godard, 1963; 88 min.)
  Les Carabiniers (The Riflemen) (Godard, 1963; 80 min.)
  Le mépris (Contempt) (Godard, 1963, 103 min.)
  Alphaville (Godard, 1965; 99 min.)
  Eloge de l'amour (In Praise of Love) (Godard, 2001; 115 min.)

 

Week 8   Color & Modern Love: Godard / Midterm Exam     

Tuesday, February 26

Reading: HFNW: "Jean-Luc Godard: Godard and Color" (225-235--especially the pages on A Woman is a Woman)
T in-class screening: Une femme est une femme (A Woman is a Woman) (Godard, 1961; 84 min.)
5pm Optional Screening: Pierrot le fou in UC 267 (Optional but recommended)

Thursday, February 28

View Pierrot le fou (Godard, 1965; 110 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday
  Midterm Exam on D2L availalbe Thursday 5pm-Friday 5pm
Requires Respondus Lockdown Browser and Webcam Monitor

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  La Ronde (Max Ophüls, 1950; 95 min.)
  Lola Montès (Max Ophüls, 1955; 110 min.)
  The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930; 99 min.)
  Les Amants (The Lovers) (Malle, 1959; 88 min.)
  My Dinner with Andre (Malle, 1981; 110 min.)
  Au revoir, les enfants (Goodbye, Children) (Malle, 1987; 104 min.)
  Vanya on 42nd Street (Malle, 1994; 119 min.)

 

Week 9       Spring Break

Tuesday, March 5 - Thursday, March 7

Week 10       SCMS Conference 

Tuesday, March 12 - Thursday, March 14

 

Section 3:  The Politics & Poetics of the Left Bank Group

Week 11 Modern Love & Sexual Themes: Louis Malle & Jacques Demy

Tuesday, March 19

Reading: HFNW: "Louis Malle" (85-124)
T in-class screening: L'Ascenseur pour l'eschafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) (Louis Malle, 1958; 92 min.)

Thursday, March 21

Reading: FNW, Ch. 5: “New Themes & New Bodies…”
View: Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961; 90 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Les Amants (The Lovers) (Malle, 1958; 90 min.)
  Le feu follet (The Fire Within) (Malle, 1963; 108 min.)
  My Dinner with Andre (Malle, 1981; 110 min.)

 

Week 12      Color, Musicals, & Silent Cinema: Demy & Malle

Tuesday, March 26

Reading: Jean Douchet, Ch. 4 & 16: “Favorite Directors” & “Composers” (book also on reserve) on D2L
T in-class screening: Zazie dans le Métro (Louis Malle, 1959; 89 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday

Thursday, March 28

Reading: HFNW, Jacques Demy (360-361)
View Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (Jacques Demy, 1964; 91 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  La Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) (Demy, 1963; 79 min.)
  Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) (Demy, 1967; 125 min.)
  La Peau d'âne (Demy, 1970; 90 min.)

 

Week 13     Memory & Time, Love & War: Alain Resnais, Chris Marker

Tuesday, April 2

Reading: Alan Williams, “Filmmaking at the Margins” (354-355 and bottom of 361-373) on D2L
  HFNW: "Alain Resnais" (299-304 and 330)
T in-class screening: Les Statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die) (Alain Resnais & Chris Marker 1953, 30 min.) and
Nuit et brouillard (Night and Fog) (Alain Resnais, 1955; 31 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday
5pm Optional Screening: Hiroshima, mon amour in UC 272 (Optional but recommended)

Thursday, April 4

Reading: HFNW: "Alain Resnais" (304-322)
  CDC1: Domarchi, Doniol-Valcroze, Godard, Kast, Rivette, Rohmer, "Hiroshima, mon amour" (59-72)
View Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959; 86 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad) (Resnais, 1961; 94 min.)
  Muriel ou le temps d'un retour (Muriel) (Resnais, 1963; 115 min.)
  Je t'aime, Je t'aime (I love you, I love you) (Resnais, 1968; 91 min.)

 

Week 14       Documentary + Fiction: Chris Marker, Agnès Varda

Tuesday, April 9

Reading: HFNW: "Agnès Varda" (330-333 and review 56-63)
Nora Alter, "Filmed Intelligence" and "La Jetée" from Chris Marker on D2L
T in-class screening: La Jetée (The Jetty) (Chris Marker, 1962; 30 min.)
  Ulysse (Agnès Varda 1982; 21 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday

Thursday, April 11

Reading: HFNW: "Agnès Varda" (333-354)
  Jean Douchet,: “Cleo from 5 to 7" Le Monde interview with Varda and review of the film on D2L (p. 219)
View Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo from 5 to 7) (Agnès Varda, 1961; 90 min.) 
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday
5pm Optional Screening: The Dreamers in UC 272 (Optional but recommended)

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  La Pointe courte (Varda, 1956; 86 min.)
  Le Bonheur (Happiness) (Varda, 1965; 79 min.)
  Black Panthers (Varda, 1968; 47 min.)
  Une chante. l'autre pas (One sings, the other doesn't) (Varda, 1977; 120 min.)
  Ulysse (Varda, 1982; 22 min.)
  Sans toit ni loi (Vagabonde) (Varda, 1985; 100 min.)
  Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I) (Varda, 2000; 82 min.)

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Lettre de Siberie (Letter from Siberia) (Marker, 1957; 62 min.)
  Le Joli Mai (The Pretty Month of May) (Marker, 1963; 165 min.)
  Le Fond de l'air est rouge (Grin without a Cat) (Marker, 1977; 240 min.)
  Sans soleil (Sunless) (Marker, 1982; 100 min.)
  Le Tombeau d'Alexandre (The Last Bolshevik) (Marker, 1992; 120 min.)
  Immemory (Marker, 1999; CD-ROM)

 

Section 4: New Wave Now

Week 15       Sex, Politics, & Revolution in May '68 / Class & Race

Tuesday, April 16

Reading: Alan Williams, "Winds of Change" (386-391) on D2L
  CDC2: "The Langlois Affair April-May 1968" (307) on D2L
  CDC2: "The Estates General of the French Cinema" (309) on D2L
View before Tuesday: The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003; 115 min.) ONLY AVAILABLE ON DVD IN LIBRARY
T in-class clips: "Events of May '68" (22 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday

Thursday, April 18

Reading: Ginette Vincendeau, “Designs on the banlieue…” on D2L
View before Thursday La Haine (Hate) (Kassovitz, 1995; 96 min.)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday
  Course Evaluations this week online

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Loin du Viet Nam (Far from Vietnam) (Marker, Godard, Resnais, Varda..., 1967; 115 min.)
  À bientôt, j'espère (See you soon, I hope) (Marker, 1968; 55 min.)
  Le Fond de l'air est rouge (Grin without a Cat) (Marker, 1977; 240 min.)
  Lion's Love (Varda, 1969; 110 min.)
  Weekend (Godard, 1967; 105 min.)
  La Chinoise (Godard, 1967; 96 min.)
  2 o 3 choses que je sais d'elle (2 or 3 things I know about her) (Godard, 1967; 90 min.)
  Tout va bien (All's Well) (Godard, 1972; 165 min.)

 

Week 16       New Wave International: Ming-liang Tsai, Assayas, Tarantino...

 Tuesday, April 23

T in-class screening Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996; 97 min.)
Reading: FNW, Ch. 6: “The New Wave’s International Influence…”
Assignment: Quiz on Tuesday
Writing assignment # 2 assigned

Thursday, April 25

Reading: HFNW: Conclusion (355-363)
Assignment: Quiz on Thursday
Writing assignment # 2 due
  Course Evaluations this week online
Class party potluck on Thursday: Bring food to share with your classmates!

 

Recommended additional screenings this week:
  Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959 US; 87 min.)
  Knife in the Water (Roman Polanski, 1962 Poland; 94 min.) & Rosemary's Baby (1968, 136 min.)
  Bonnie & Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967 US; 111 min.)
  Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene 1966, Senegal; 65 min.)
  Aguirre, Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972 Germany; 100 min.)
  The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972 Germany; 92 min.)
  Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) and Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
  Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett 1978 US)
  Mi vida loca (Alison Anders, 1993 US; 92 min.)
  Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994 US; 92 min.)
  Chungking Express (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994 Hong Kong; 102 min.)
  Kids (Larry Clark, 1995 US; 91 min.)
  The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg 1995, Denmark)
  Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996 UK; 94 min.)
  Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson, 1996 US; 92 min.)
  Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999 US; 86 min.)
  Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet 1999 France)
  Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001 Mexico; 105 min.)
  Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003 US)
  What Time is it There? (Ming-liang Tsai, 2003, Taiwan/France; 116 min.)
  Girlhood (Celine Sciamma 2015)
  Félicité (Alain Gomis 2017, Senegal/Democratic Republic of Congo/France; 129 min.)
  Roma (Alfonso Cuarón 2018)
  And many others!

 

Final Exam / Class Choice: New Wave Now

EXAM: Tuesday, April 30 2:45-4:45pm in UC 272