French Impressionism and Surrealism

The effect of Depression lead France to created several films that are inspired by
Depression, such as suicidal, prostitution, as well as sad endings. But that was not the case;
French films have their own specialties because they have different standards of quality
comparing to American films during 1910 above. In this reflection paper, the explanation would
indicate the comparison between American films and French films, as well as how the historical
issues lead to different approach of filming during World War times, until as the way they are
now.

French films mostly focus on the quality of surrealism and artistic approaches, by
which means film makers put ‘weird’ scenes as a symbol to show message to the audience,
comparing to American films, because American films usually focus too much on the stars
quality, in order to increase market sales. In terms of story and artists, most American films
portray social problem issues; which means there is a moralistic message in the story. If you
don’t want to get trouble on drugs, then don’t do drugs. Comparing to French films, usually film
makers focus on the journey of a character. However, in France art creations are supported by the
government, while most American stories might be slightly mainstream, because the culture of
film is set by marketers, and based on public consumption. As a result, inspired by the German
invasion and the monetary crisis, many French films were created in an aesthetically manner,
which are surrealism and poetic realism.

The reason why French films put the element of surrealism is because they wanted to
convey message that France needs to stop the war. Also through the film makers’ psychoanalysis
(self-contemplation for instance), therefore one of the films have greatly shocked the audience at
that time, such as Un Chien Andalous. Another thing that influences the form of French film is
through poetic realism, which means that most endings are set realistically. For instance, one of
the newest films, Blue is The Warmest Color portrays a sad ending when Adele met Emma, her
ex-girlfriend, she secretly hoped that Emma will rekindle their relationship during Emma’s
gallery exhibition, but Emma already brought a new girlfriend, Lise, until Adele finally went
away. This sad ending idea might be caused by the effect of Great Depression, due to the fact
that the ending is very real.

In conclusion, based on these comparisons before, with French movie characteristics it
focuses on poetic realism, as it is been reflected on the last paragraph. Will this approach be
applicable for today’s market? I believe poetic realism is suitable for today market, especially in
this pop culture era. Because nowadays, the effect of globalization assimilates many people in
the world, so that every story does not have to be from cause & effect perspective, but how and
why the character does certain action, whether it is a good deed or a bad deed.