French cinema: history and stages of development, features

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the history of world cinema production, it is French cinema that is of the greatest interest, since this art was born in this country. The first movie was shown here, the first film studio appeared, and many outstanding actors and directors were born.

The Lumiere Brothers

The history of French cinema dates back to December 28, 1895, when cinema was shown publicly for the first time in the world at the Grand Café on Boulevard des Capucines. It was a tape taken by Auguste and Louis Lumière on the apparatus they had invented. It is believed that it was on this day that cinema was born.

A few months earlier, there had been an experimental film screening in Paris showing "Workers Leaving the Factory of Industry". At the next session, the audience was already presented with seven films, among them were the famous "Sprinkled waterer", "Tomorrow child", "Arrival of the train", which were shown in the "Grand Cafe".

Then it became obvious whichThis new art form is of great interest to the public. Sessions of 20 minutes went on all day almost without a break. The ticket price was equal to one franc. Over two thousand people visited the cinema in the first three weeks.

At the dawn of cinema

The second iconic figure in the development of cinema after the Lumiere brothers was Georges Méliès. He was born in 1861, had a technical education, but had a strong attraction to art. He drew caricatures, worked in the theater as an actor, director and decorator.

When cinema appeared, it initially became a means for Méliès to diversify the theatrical repertoire. The film turned into one of the numbers of the entertainment program that he was preparing. However, this art soon absorbed him so much that in 1896 he began to shoot himself.

It was Méliès who discovered the methods of fast and slow shooting, and eventually began to use blurs and blackouts. He was the first to build a pavilion at his own dacha near Paris. Everything for stunt filming equipment was also equipped there - lifts, hatches, carts for departures and camera arrivals. Méliès even made an attempt to move from black-and-white to color cinema, trying to color the frames by hand. The duration of the picture at that time rarely exceeded a quarter of an hour, but it was still a complex and painstaking process, especially in the production of fairy tales, of which Méliès had especially many.

In 1897, the paintings "Faust and Margarita", "Mephistopheles' Cabinet" were released. Exactly thenfor the first time an attempt was made to remove the voice synchronously by recording it on a phonograph roller. The first years of the 20th century turned out to be fruitful for Méliès, when the first fantastic films of French cinema were made - Journey to the Moon, Man Orchestra, 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. His works have always been distinguished by originality and invention, varied and rich technical solutions. They combined vulgar comedy with sincere charm.

What Méliès did was a real breakthrough in the development of not only French cinema, but also the world. The recipe for his success lay in the playful dramatization of stories rehearsed in advance by the actors.

Birth of genres

The increase in production has led not only to the need to improve technical capabilities, but also marked an acute problem of shortage of personnel, especially directors. In the early years, random people were often involved in the work, photographers at best.

The emergence of markets stimulated the expansion of production and offered a variety of products. French cinema, although it appeared the very first, began to lag behind in a short period. Distributors had to buy films in England and the USA, where even then the audience was offered many original stories.

Leading directors began to shoot on location more and more often. The pursuit of new stories at the very beginning of the history of French cinema leads to the widespread use of the repertoire of booths and circuses, as well as adaptations of literary works.

Vanguard

After the FirstWorld War II in the French cinema of the 20th century there was a movement against the use of cinema for commercial purposes. It was headed by representatives of the avant-garde of that time. They were experimenting, while significantly expanding the possibilities of cinema.

Fernand Léger's Mechanical Ballet, which was released in 1924, is considered the first film of French cinema of the new direction. It was followed by a whole series of short films that belonged to the Dada, abstract, surrealist trends. The directors experimented with form while practically ignoring content.

Surrealists in cinema

At that time, stylistic directions of French cinema began to take shape. For example, there were many supporters of surrealism. By the end of the 20s, it was presented in two forms at once - sharp and calm.

Calm surrealism in cinema included the creator of beautiful photographic visions, Mann Ray, and sharp, the Spanish director Luis Buñuel, who worked with artist Salvador Dali.

Works by Cavalcanti and Renoir

For avant-garde cinema, the works of the Brazilian director Alberto Cavalcanti, who worked in France, were of great importance. In 1926, he made his debut with a sentimental report on the life of everyday Paris, which was called "Only Time". It was the first attempt to capture the life of a big city, its social and architectural contrasts.

In the painting "On the Road" in 1928, he createsthe romantic atmosphere of a port tavern in Marseille, demonstrating the emerging contrast between the dream of distant wanderings and real everyday life.

Around the same period, the son of the impressionist Auguste Renoir, Jean, made his film debut. In his paintings "Girl with Matches", "Daughter of Water" he seeks to find on-screen expression for a classic fairy tale plot.

At the end of the silent period

The first sound films in France appeared in 1928. Then it became obvious that silent cinema is rapidly dying. Many considered the appearance of sound a real disaster. They were afraid that because of this, theatrical traditions would be transferred to the screen, and the laws of film expression would be forgotten.

The avant-gardists, who found themselves in a dead end, were most sensitive to the advent of sound cinema. Lacking funds for further experimentation, most of them stopped their creative activities.

Those who stayed went on a creative quest. One of the brightest representatives of that time is Jacques Fader. He began working in cinema as early as 1912 at the Gaumont studio as an actor. Four years later, he made his first film - "Mr. Penson - Policeman".

His merit lies in the fact that he simultaneously tried to resist commercial cinema and the avant-garde, creating films that appealed to all segments of the public, while possessing artistic merit. In the golden film fund of French cinema, you can include his works "Kiss", "Biggame", "Mimosa Boarding House", "Heroic Kermessa".

New wave

In the 50s and 60s, it was France that became the ancestor of fashion in cinema. This is where the "new wave" direction is born. One of its fundamental differences from commercial films is the rejection of the shooting style that had exhausted itself by that time and the predictability of the narration.

Representatives of the French "new wave" in the cinema are young directors who previously worked as journalists and critics. In their publications, they criticize the existing system of film production, adherence to bourgeois values, use experiments that were radical for that time.

Their films are distinguished by a sharply negative attitude towards the world of elders and established morality. They are looking for a new style and new heroes - uninhibited and free-thinking young people who personify the impending era of youth revolution.

The first film of the "new wave" is "Handsome Serge" by Claude Chabrol. This is the story of François, suffering from tuberculosis, who returns from Switzerland to his homeland after a ten-year absence. Alané René's existential drama "Hiroshima, my love", the crime film "Four Hundred Blows" by François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard's drama "Breathless" by Jean-Luc Godard, which were released from 1958 to 1960, were a resounding international and commercial success.

Directors' views

At the same time, the participants of the "new wave"denied the existence of a single aesthetic concept. They were united by their antipathy towards the stars of the 50s and the idea of the need to create auteur cinema, that is, works that would express the essence of their creators with the help of individual style.

Representatives of the "new wave" really have different goals. Chabrol ridiculed the romantic view of man, Truffaut demonstrated the absurd consequences of the untenable rebellion of the individual against the bourgeois world. The most significant was the figure of Godard, who gave the floor to lonely rebels, whose anarchism was born of a spontaneous protest against the transformation of a man into a robot.

"New Wave" played an important role in the development of the entire world film language, influencing the next generation of independent filmmakers. These paintings laid the foundation for cinematic theory that emerged in the 70s. According to her, the director must be an author who takes part in all stages of film production in order to develop his own unique style.

Our time

Modern French cinema is basically a sophisticated spectacle, where drama and psychologism are often combined with outstanding camera work. The style of modern cinema is determined by fashionable directors, whose names are constantly heard.

By the beginning of the 21st century, these include Luc Besson, Francois Ozon, Jean-Pierre Genet. The best films of the French cinema of these masters are the crime drama "Leon" and the fantastic action movie"The Fifth Element" by Besson, the thriller "In the House", the melodrama "Young and Beautiful" and the drama "Franz" by Ozon, the fantasy "City of Lost Children", the historical drama "The Long Engagement" and the family adventure film "The Incredible Journey of Mr. Spivet" by Genet.

Pascal Lodge stands out in genre cinema. He seeks to use the traditions of classic horror to rethink important moral and philosophical issues. At the moment, his most striking work is the 2008 drama thriller Martyrs.

French comedies

The hallmark of French cinema throughout the 20th century is comedies. Perhaps no other country has given the world so many comedians and funny stories.

In the 40-60s, the inimitable Fernandel shone, he was replaced by Bourville, Louis de Funes, Pierre Richard. Almost each of them had a memorable image of a hero who wandered from one tape to another - commissioner Juve for de Funes, Francois Perrin for Richard. The latter became famous for several famous comedies in an acting duet with Gerard Depardieu - "Unlucky", "Dads", "Runaways".

Dani Boone and Jean Dujardin should be noted among contemporary artists of the comic genre.