Chapter 3 Talking about the New Wave of European Cinema

Europe is the birthplace of film and has written a glorious chapter in the history of world film.Generations of European film workers have dedicated countless masterpieces to the world with their persistent pursuit of film art. Looking back at the history of European film, it is not difficult to draw these conclusions: 1. Sound and color were first applied to film; (As we all know, in 1928, the 24-minute short film "An Andalou Dog" by the Spanish Luis Bunuel created a precedent for surrealist movies ); 4. The base of New Wave movies. These technological and stylistic film revolutions have fundamentally changed the original appearance of film and made it an art. Today, European filmmakers are still tirelessly making indelible contributions to the seventh art - film. contribute.

Although it is difficult to see the works of those European film masters on the disc market at present, whenever these famous names are mentioned: Ingmar Bergman, Alan Resnais, Federico Fellini, Antonioni, François Truffaut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, many film lovers couldn't help but beam with joy.It's a pity that I can't watch these videos as conveniently as those netizens who have been away all the year round in China, so I can only talk about these masters and their films to comfort myself. When it comes to the new wave, the first thing that comes to mind is the French works of the 1950s and 1960s. Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Golda and Eric Rohmeier are the "film directors". The new wave of cinema started by the editors of Handbook magazine, from 1958 to 1962, although it did not last long, had a huge impact on the entire world of cinema.The representative works during this period are: Truffaut's "Random" (that is, "Four Hundred Blows"), Godard's "Exhaustion" and so on.Immediately there were more than 100 European directors who responded to this turbulent wave, such as Alain Resnais () Agnès Varda, the representative of the "Left Bank School", and Fassbinder ("Sailor Guillere"), a German film wizard. ), there are also Louis Malle ("Goodbye Child", "Love is Seriously Wounded") and some people who are a mixed bag.

As a movement, the New Wave was only a flash in the pan and soon disappeared, but its influence changed the next two generations of filmmakers. Now this wave, which was regarded as anarchism in the past, once again swept the French and European film circles. A new generation of filmmakers challenged the tendency of the 1970s and 1980s to avoid reality and return to "good movies". With Luc Besson ("The Love of the Blue Sea", which reflects the lonely life retreating into the depths of the sea), Jean-Jacques Arnault ("The Name of the Rose", which imprisoned humanity in the church), Carax (the eternal life under the stone bridge without people) A wandering love story that does not go to the shore ("Lovers on the New Bridge") and others have different aestheticism and impersonal imagery, and return to the past with the new wave of movies created by Eric Rochamp, Cory Corral and others. The realism tradition of the Ah era not only has a distinctive era, but also has no fancy photography skills, and relies on the true manifestation of human nature in reality to impress the audience.

In 1989, "Cold Ritual" was like a breeze blowing into the film industry. This film won the Best Actress in Venice, Caesar, and the Toronto Film Critics Award. It describes two women with strong personalities. They got acquainted and became good friends through the experience of forced murder, but in reality they did not develop as they wished, until all passions burst out in the house of the host who was the nanny. Another representative work is "Crazy Night" in 1992. This passionate film, in which the director and starring himself died of AIDS, reflects the true testimony of the current AIDS era. No matter from the perspective of film history or sociology, it is worthy of It is called a milestone because it is the first time to face the real life of AIDS patients and change the society's attitude towards AIDS and its patients with its unique charm. Both "Hate" and (Fresh Temptation) in 1995 belong to this type of film that is drawn from society and is closer to the audience. However, whether this new wave of films is good for the overall development of the film industry and the current social situation does not depend on the factors of art itself Regardless, it is still difficult to draw conclusions.

Now go back and look at Godard's masterpiece "Exhaustion". The film describes a gangster who is doing crimes everywhere and evades the police with the help of an American girl. In the end, he was reported by her and died at the gunpoint of the police. .The reason why the film is a sensation is: "It observes life from a new perspective, showing the randomness, aimlessness and indifference of human behavior, and it also shows the respect for traditional film norms and old technical laws. Contempt and departure, using bold techniques such as flexible narrative methods, picture formats and jump cuts".

Truffaut's "Being Unreasonable" was earlier than "Exhaustion" in the same year. This kid is a "self-taught" director by watching a lot of movies. The director who has a very similar experience with him is the American genius Quentin Tarantino. , It is said that before Quentin directed "Noir Noir", he watched five or six movies a day. This 1959 film depicts the 13-year-old Duval who escaped repeatedly and finally embarked on the road of crime when he was deprived of warmth in school, family and society.There are rumors that this film is Truffaut's autobiography, just like "Noir Noir" is a self-portrait of Quentin, a gangster, and "Sunny Day" is the childhood of Jiang Wen and Wang Shuo. It is better than a simple documentary It also made Truffaut win the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the first time he made a feature film in terms of artistic innovations such as artistic style, strong life atmosphere, delicate psychological revelation and real scene shooting, continuous camera movement, and proper use of long shots. It's exactly the same as Quentin and his "Noir Noir".

Let’s take a look at the German New Wave. Historically, there have been many excellent works of German films. In 1979, Schlöndorff won the award for his life-saving work, which made German films recognized all over the world.The New Wave of German Cinema began in the late 1960s, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder as the most representative figure. This film wizard who died young was the main figure of the "anti-drama theater" genre. Fassbinder, who was only 24 years old in 1969, was famous for his debut work. He was not only a screenwriter and director, but also played the leading role in person. Judging from his short 14-year film career, he made a total of 41 films. , is extremely rare in the history of world cinema, and the "New German Cinema" movement he directed has continued to grow even today with German filmmakers represented by Wim Wenders.

The two most important works of Fassbinder are "The Marriage of Maria Braun" in 1979 and "Sailor Gueller" in 1982. The One is a porn classic, and that's porn because it's full of gay, bi, and possessive middle-aged women incestuously.This is an expressionist work, without a complete narrative structure, and there is no necessary causal relationship between events. The behavior of the characters has neither motivation nor logic. The whole film is like an allegory composed of images. "It is a portrayal of Fassbinder's personal experience, and it is also his model for constructing an extreme world: a world without love, in which people live in a world full of fighting, fraud, murder and sex." To express this world, France Spinder uses the same color in the whole film-orange, which is an erotic color, which makes the audience feel depressed, "as if entering hell, making people breathless".

In the past two years, the works of Vim Wenders have been frequently seen in the mainland disc market, from "Paris, Texas" (1984) to "Until the End of the World" (1990) (3 discs), from "Angel Wings" 〉(1987) to 〈Apocalypse of Violence〉(1997), the success of Wenders proves that he is a well-deserved spokesperson for contemporary German cinema.At the same time, he is also the German director with the most awards. "Paris, Texas" won the Cannes Palme d'Or, and his semi-documentary film "Over Berlin" won the Cannes Film Critics Special Award and the European Film Festival Best Film Award in 1986-87.In addition, "Angel Wings" was remade into "City of Angels" (X Lover) by the shameless Hollywood in 1996.