FRENCH 291: Women in Contemporary French and Francophone Cinema (FRENCH 391)

Course Description

Women as objects and subjects of the voyeuristic gaze inherent to cinema. The evolution of female characters, roles, actresses, directors in the French film industry from the sexual liberation to #metoo. Women as archetypes, icones, images, or as agents and subjects. Emphasis on filmic analysis: framing, point of view, narrative, camera work as ways to convey meaning. Themes include: sexualization and desire; diversity and intersectionality in films; new theories of the female gaze; gender, ethnicity and class. Filmmakers include Roger Vadim, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, Claude Chabrol, Colline Serreau, Elena Rossi, Tonie Marshall, Houda Benyamina, Eléonore Pourriat, Céline Sciamma, Mati Diop. VISIT BY FILM DIRECTORS Elena Rossi and Sciamma (pending). Films in French with subtitles; discussion in English.