Choose one of the following clips and do a full analyzation of the scene, just as you would do for the final oral presentation. Be sure to discuss the scene cinematically and include discussion of the scene and its relation to the film as a whole, a quote from a review or critique, the sociocultural context in which the film was made. Here is the direct wording from the top markband on the rubric:
"There is a coherent, incisive, insightful and detailed evaluative interpretation of
the extract, displaying an excellent understanding of how meaning is constructed
through the use of film language, with an excellent awareness of the extract’s
relationship to the film as a whole. There is a persuasive explanation for the selection
of the extract. The critique shows an excellent awareness of the film’s genre and/
or its place in a broader sociocultural context. There is an insightful analysis of
the director’s intention. Simple description is negligible and analysis is clear and
thorough."
Clip 1
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/245569/Jules-and-Jim-Movie-Clip-The-French-Girl.html
Clip 2
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/245567/Jules-and-Jim-Movie-Clip-Our-Friend-Thomas.html
Clip 1, which depicts the meeting of Jules, Jim, and Catherine, is in my opinion the most important scene in the film. Jules and Jim is a particularly long film, at least in my opinion, and this scene is effective because it sort of sums up the whole film. If this three minute scene were just a short film of its own for example, I believe it would be well received. It shows us everything that we see throughout the entirety of the film.
ReplyDeleteThe scene opens with Jules and Jim on the island of the stone/rock which is the basis for the rest of the film. For the first time in the film, it seems, we are in a positive though also mysterious environment. Mise en Scene was partially important to this scene because they both had the same white suit made for the occasion which for me symbolized that they were almost one at this point but after Catherine comes into their lives they split and are never the same, The pair is outside and the island seems almost surreal, when i first watched I thought it might even be a dream (which ironically is how the scene in which they meet catherine is described) but, I digress. The stone is described almost too admirably, it seems as if someone who has owned it for years that had sentiment toward it were talking. This was interesting because it was before they had met catherine. This scene seems almost as if it were better suited to be the opening scene to the film to start it off with a question.
The island scene makes a smooth transition into a shot of an amusement park in Paris and other attractions to show that Paris had "gently let the pair back in". In the next shot we see the two at a men's club of sorts playing and boxing and what not. Again, important because it is meant to show their close relationship as best friends. Jim decides to read Jules a passage from his book which gives off the impression that their friendship means the world to him, but he speaks of a girl he's known even longer than he's known Jules, perhaps referring to the statue that they feel they've fallen in love with? The shower shot is very interesting to me because it introduces the idea of the two meeting a pair of girls which at this point signals even to the common audience that they will be meeting the girl of their dreams (very literally). The shot dissolves into the next which is the two at their date.
The shot is oddly similar to that of the island with the stone showing us that this is the instance spoken of where the men encounter the human version of the stone, and essentially, never let go. With the earlier shots of the stone we see several different shots giving us angles on the stones face and particularly the nose. We see this again with the shots of cAtherine, again showing us that THIS is the girl. The four immediately decide to be close and hide nothing showing us that (at least for the main 3) they'll be together for a while. Jules immediately takes over as the "organizer of this gathering" giving us the idea that he will be the one to take Catherine's hand first. The scene ends with a long shot of Catherine and Jules (the rest of the screen black) showing us again, that this will be the relationship we see for the next hour or so of the movie.
I chose Clip 1 because it sets up the foundation for the entire relationship between Jules, Jim, and Catherine that exists throughout the film. In the beginning of this scene when Jules and Jim go to see the statue, they instantly fall in love with it. The importance of this statue is established in one very interesting shot. The shot begins as a medium shot of Jules and Jim standing over one less impressive statue. The camera then quickly pans to show another less impressive statue. This is repeated multiple times until the camera finally lands on the statue that Jules and Jim had come to see. It stops on this statue, establishing the importance of it, which is then exaggerated by a Hitchcock effect. There are three more consecutive shots of this same statue, in each of which the camera moves around the statue in a bumpy fashion. It is important that these shots make an impression on viewers because a very similar technique is used when Jules and Jim first meet Catherine later on in the same scene. After an establishing shot of Catherine coming down the stairs with the other girls, it cuts to a medium close up of just Catherine. This shot must have been filmed using a wide angle lens because she appears to move a great deal closer to the camera than she actually does, attracting attention to this shot. The big connection that can be drawn between these first few shots of Catherine and the shots of the statue is that Catherine is then shown in 8 more different shots, only these shots appear much harsher in transition than those of the statue, especially when the camera zooms in on Catherine at such a quick speed that it becomes jarring. The similarities between the two sequences create a connection between Catherine and the statue in relation to Jules and Jim's feelings for the two, but the differences foreshadow the fact that Catherine is not nearly as pure as the statue is and that their relationship with her will not be as healthy as they hope at this point. And later on in the film, as this scene foreshadows, Jules and Jim's light and airy relationship with Catherine turns sour. As Roger Ebert felt, "the movement from comedy to tragedy was all the more powerful for audiences who expected one or the other."
ReplyDeleteAfter Jules and Jim return to Paris from seeing the statue, they are shown boxing together in a very friendly way, wearing matching outfits for the second consecutive time, and later they are shown showering next to each other, which helps to create an understanding in viewers of how close the two really are to each other. However, a strain is put on this relationship when Jules takes Catherine back to Austria to marry. The film takes place during the first World War, placing the Austrian Jules and the French Jim on opposing sides, preventing them from visiting each other during the war. The war and its effect on Jules and Jim's relationships are not foreshadowed in this scene, however Jules beating out Jim and winning the heart of Catherine is foreshadowed here when Jules becomes the main focus by making his speech. This is emphasized in the final shot when the majority of the screen goes black, leaving a small rectangle of the screen showing only Jules and Catherine, informing viewers that he will pursue her until he wins her heart.
Clip 1: The long establishing shot to begin the scene introduces the viewer to the setting of a statue yard. The quick pan to the statue makes us feel as this object grabs the two characters attention, and now a close up of it makes it seem all the more important to the two characters. the camera is now panning from statue to statue, as though they are looking and examining each one. Their focus is then centered on one particular statue. Multiple angles of this object are displayed, portraying their obsession with the statue. The old footage of the streets act as a good transition between the statue yard and the boxing studio. Then the long shot of all the different activities in the room lets the viewer soak in action that is occurring. Cutting to the shot of those two talking, the camera remains on this exact shot for about a minute, the camera then follows them as they walk out of the room. Cutting to them in the showers. A medium shot to stay modest, also a barrier between the two to build privacy. This shot is very balanced, letting the viewer feel comfortable with the fact that there are two men showering so close together. And then zooming randomly into a random part in the ceiling. Adding a lot to the film, but most likely just acting as a good transition. And then an establishing shot of the back yard, introducing the viewer to the scene. Similar to the way the statue was obsessed over by the camera, the same is for Catherine. As the narrator dotes over her beauty the camera shows us many closeups and different angles of her face. The final shot of the sequence is one of the artificially boxed shots. Contained in the box is a smiling Jules and Catherine.
ReplyDeleteI decided to focus on clip 2 as it contains a lot of cinematic elements worth discussing and captures the carefree nature of the first act of the film. The scene opens with closeups of Jules and Jim ascending a spiral staircase. When they reach the top, the camera switches to a low angle. Next, we are shown a shot from behind Catherine as she watches the mn entering her home through the window. The men are only briefly seen through the window and are not framed by it. This same shot tracks catherine as she goes to the door to greet the men. The next shot is a wide shot of the entire room. Jules and Jim are shaking hands with Catherine on the right hand of the screen in the background. In the foreground, there appears to be a bedframe. This is reminiscent of the groundbreaking shots in Citizen Kane, in which major characters are placed in the background of the shot. This shot continues for a while, briefly cutting to show Catherine putting on clothes. The camera pans across as Catherine comes out of the room. This is followed by a close up of Jim putting a mustache on Catherine and calling her, “Thomas.” Catherine is seen, in the next extreme close up, looking into a mirror with her back to the camera but her face reflected and framed by the small mirror. The group then exits the home. This sets us up for the next part of the scene in which the trio challenges gender stereotypes and the then-controversial issue of cross dressing. After a tracking shot of the three going down the stairs, the camera pans with them along the street. They stop by a man who asks Catherine/Thomas for a light for his cigarette. This goes to an extreme close up of Catherine lighting the man’s cigarette. The trio leaves after this shot. The next is a shot from the bottom of some stairs with the group coming down. The camera pans across with the group as they arrive at the bottom of the stairs and Catherine points out a long bridge. She quickly challenges them to a race and the men take their places. As the countdown begins, Catherine cheats and leaves before the countdown is finished, the men desperately trying to catch up with her. The camera mainly focuses on Catherine with a tracking shot of her from the side. Catherine wins and the group stops at the end of the bridge in a shot facing them. This last sequence, when viewed through the feminist lens displays how women can overcome gender roles when the two men are beaten by Catherine. This also sets up how she will lead both of the men on through the rest of the film.
ReplyDeleteIn the scene in which Jules and Jim discover the statue and eventually meet Catherine, there are many cinematic techniques which serve to compare her to the statue and also to show the friendship between Jules and Jim. Voiceovers play a major role in the film and denote what is going on and also usually provide external information which augments the story. Voiceover is used in such abundance and with such novelesque diction most likely because Jim is writing a story about the friends. When the two go and visit the statue, the voiceover says that they had the same outfit made for it. However strange this may be it shows the friendship and close bond that they have. Their clothes are white as is the general tone of the outdoor museum that they visit and the statues within it. This extremely sanitary use of color almost shows the purity that they have currently. Editing in the scene is quick and jump cuts are used to keep up the inquisitive attitude about the statute. There is a shot which can be taken as a pov shot where the camera looks at all of the statues in the museum and in one take goes to the next and the next and eventually finds the one they are supposed to look at. A dolly-zoom or the Hitchcock effect is used to denote it as “the” statue and to also cast an importance on it. There are jump cuts of different dollies around the statue in different direction that express the time that Jules and Jim spend looking at the statue and their attempt to see every angle of it. Next there are shots of Paris and then an establishing shot which very smoothly transitions them to a building where they box and where others play what is known as “The Awesome Sport”, fencing. This transition is very quick and seems jarring but the voiceover tells us what is going on, “They go back to Paris”, and what the result is “It took them in gently”. When Jim reads his novel for Jules in the fencing building there is a recognizable similarity in the sound of the novel and the voiceovers used in the film which suggest once again that the voiceovers are part of the novel. When they are in the showers there is a zoom into the ceiling which is used as a transition between the scene and the dinner the next day through a dissolve. It makes it less harsh than dissolving between people in the shower and people in a dinner. This sequence is an example of the French New Wave’s classic loose narrative. They see the statue, Jim reads his book, Jules tells him about the dinner, then the dinner happens on screen. These are all packed into less than 3 minutes and push the narrative along in a way that seems random but is also quick and forms into a narrative this way quite quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhen Catherine is first introduced there is a clear comparison between her and the statue which Jules and Jim thought so highly of. This is shown through cinematic techniques. There are jump cuts and plain centered shots as well as profiles and profile shots with zooms. These look similar to the way the statue was portrayed on screen and once again show the length and the detail with which Catherine is observed. When the dinner guests put their feet iunder the table, there are shots that show this but the voiceover also helps to express what is going on by saying that Jim tries to put his feet near Catherine’s but she gently moved them away. This shows the denial by Catherine towards Jim and to end the sequence Jules and Catherine are framed in a box created through editing. This shows that there most certainly is a possibility of romance between Catherine and Jules.