Mists of Regret: Culture and Sensibility in Classic French Film by Dudley Andrew; Vital Crises in Italian Cinema: Iconography,

Stylistics, Politics by P. Adams Sitney Review by: Gilberto Perez Cinaste, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1995), pp. 54-55 Published by: Cineaste Publishers, Inc Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41687430 . Accessed: 22/04/2014 21:46
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BOOK of Regret: Mists Culture and Sensibility in Classic French Film Andrew. NJ: Princeton Princeton, byDudley 409pp., illus. 1995. Press, University $24.95. Paperback:

REVIEWS

OlmiandPasolini andRosi. Andrew's imagination; andon therealistic sidebythe conti, culminant moment is thestyle known as more outward cinema ofJean more Renoir, which he regards as the concerned with thesocial andmaterial envi"poeticrealism," most distinctive fruition ofFrench filmmak-ronment. Ren Clair andJean Vigoinsome thewar.Rather thanstyle, or waysanticipated butClair ingbefore poeticrealism to use the term wastoodetached andironical andVigotoo genre,Andrewprefers to cinema ofRoland surreal andspirited. , hisadaptation optique Barthes's : "The term MostofallAndrew contrasts realconceptof criture poetic involves a study ofelements ofstyle ismwith the"theatrical model" that optique gained andofgenre, butgoesbeyond these inaim- ascendancy after thecoming ofsound:"If thespecific ofexperi- youletyourself be inundated with French in Vital Crises type ingtodistinguish to thepublic." films enceoffered ofthe1930s, bya setoffilms youwillremember priItalian Cinema: I'm notsureI agree thechoice with ofcul- marily theactors that comebackfilm after minant moments Andrew andSitney make: film.. a randomly chosen film, .Scrutinizing Iconography,Stylistics,Politics realism seems tomeneither artistical-or calculating theglobal effect ofhundreds poetic TX: of Austin, byP.Adams Sitney. University themost modeof ofthem, orannoyed important lynorsocially youcanbe charmed by illus. Texas 1995. 239pp., Press, Paperback: prewar andina discus- theegregious French manner with which filmmaking; they play $17.95. Italian cinema I wouldn't up to theaudience." sionofpostwar realism doesn't Poetic theFifties, the that as Andrew seesit,it Thatnowalmostextinct skipped years yield- play up totheaudience; species,the have works as Umberto D. and Voyage to is theopposite ofwhat TomGunning calls for an alternative to the ed such moviegoer looking The White Sheik and Le Amiche. But the if "cinema of attractions." And y looked to French movie, Italy yet, you Hollywood chiefly their choice offocus Andrew and Sit- lookat a few ofitsmain be film inthe with film inthe Thirties andtoItalian works, youwill us informed and studies struck an actor who comes film back the war. Promotion and distribuafter ney give perceptive by years - the andI'mnotgoing tocomplain. film: after Gabin. Poetic because he is tion had something to do withit Jean What was realism? The French beautiful and realistic because heis theproremarkable cinema of the Thirties, poetic Japanese is notonly Gabin the hero ofpoetic , one might answer, for example,remainedunseen in the Kammerspiel looking letarian, - butthequality tothe dramas ofGer- realism butits definition. and appealof the back West gloomy everyday walking cinema. The French Gabindoesn't films intoit as mansilent , themselves entered filmnoir playup to theaudience: surely other forward to the like movie heseems scarceanswer, well.France before thewarwas a nation one might stars, looking great crime movies of in the to be at the kind of who actor soontobe defeated; after the war was a all, ly murky Hollywood playing Italy First used in reference to Pierre doesn't reach outtousbutdraws usinlike a nation from defeat. Yetthey tri- Forties. emerging la Chenal's 1933 Rue sans nom the term draw us To into the mists of an in their Art even the , magnet. umphed filmmaking. sometimes andelusive to envelop us in , though artoftheloneunappreciated world, potique loosely alluring genius, Emily ralisme - ismade to allFrench cinema oftheThirties, an atmosphere of seductive is Dickinson orVincent vanGogh in applied gloom, the a group ofatmosphericcharacteristic ofpoeticrealism. effect For andunder theconditions ofsociety. properly designates society films mademainly toward the Andrew this is a novelistic rather than a theIn principle in a andfatalistic we canall agree that only In hisendeavor to char- atrical effect: heargues, because it will certain kind ofsociety a certain kind of endofthedecade. novelistic, ofpointofview, ofourbeing art that certain condi- acterizethe optiqueof poetic realism, is an effect be made, under only examines what surrounded iton all limited tothe andperceptions of will a certain be formed and Andrew tions perspective sensibility - thatQuai des brumes sides, what camebefore andwhat followed theGabinhero.Butit is no less,I would findexpression elsewasbeing doneatthetime. argue, an effect ofacting and mise-en-scne in it,andwhat could beenmadenowhere elsethan have , wasbounded on thepoetic a theater that in thelateThirties France and TheBicycle Poeticrealism maynotplay up to theaudiallthesame. The"imagiin Italy in thelate side by the moreinwardcinemaof the encebuta theater nowhere elsethan Thief schooland theavant-garde,nary that Christian Metz theorized Forties. Butin practice thespecific relation impressionist signifier" with and the for allcinema, theillusion ofoneness with a between an art anda society andculture is a moreconcerned subjectivity worldthatis not there, Andrew andoften matter for applies complex tangled calling to theoptique ofpoetic realism. attentive Thetwo books under review specifically study. It is,as he seesit,an optique ofidentificaare attentive studiesby twoprominent ofourdrive to identify ourselves with scholars whoshedmuchlight on French tion, theother, to fusewiththefilm screen as film ofthe Thirties andpostwar Italian film. onceupona time wefused with the mother: and P. AdamsSitney DudleyAndrew "theclassic realist texts take identifidealwith ofnational rich filmmakpoetic periods cation as bothmeans and end."Hencethe andeach takes as hiscentral focus a pering, doomthat awaits theGabin hero in Pple in that ceived culminant moment filmmak- twoculminant Moko andQuaidesbrumes humaine in Sitney' moments s , la Bte ing and leJour se lve: for thedriven of crises" as he callsthem, borcase,or "vital pursuit an ever can unattainable oneness end Pasolini's term for the first of these only rowing indeath. themoment ofItalian neorealism moments, Marcel thedirector of Quai des after the war. s second vital criCarn, right Sitney' brumes and leJour se lve characsisis themoment oftheItalian "economic , themost teristic works ofpoeticrealism, miracle" ofthe late Fifties andearly a Sixties, preferred theterm social for hiswork and moment that a cinematic miracle Marcel fantastique Carn's leJour se lve produced (1939) of sawitsorientation as social rather than in works andFellini andVis- (photo courtesy Photofest) psybyAntonioni 54 CINEASTE

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andle ButbothQuaidesbrumes La strada, Il bidone And , Nights chological. ofCabiria. ofthe selve setupa triangle Fellini's is noteccentric to Jour composed episodic plotting a woman andvery Gabin theneorealist where hero, tradition, (evenifone very young sinister older andan unaccountably leavesaside theseveral films madeup of pretty, man: a triangle oneneedn't take to likePaisan or Love in the separate oedipally episodes, And betempted tointerpret an episodic narrative structure is not City) psychologically. havesomething at their theexception bothfilms buttherule(one needgo no murky further than that resists The I suspect Sitcenter, understanding Bicycle something Thief). theoldermanin le doesJules hasto do with hiswanting to ney's (why Berry, reading room andallbut dividemodernism se lve, from butthat realism, Jour go to Gabin's and invites excavation of cannot be donein anyclear-cut askto be killed?) way. Sitney fathers and is a penetrating hidden "To saythat criticof modernist and meaning. inthese for survival andhiseyefor adolescent sonsstruggle innovacinema, avant-garde ofvulnerable tionandlongstanding anddo so with thefate concern with films, experiin their himwellin hisscrutiny mentation serve women of hands, openup may young the a crudesociology of theperiod,"writes cinema ofpostwar groundbreaking Italy. DeSica'sThe Thief (1948) Bicycle inviewing films as Vittorio Andrew. "Uncomfortable thesubpolitics: Iconography, stylistics, of Photofest) courtesy he (photo ofsocialconditions," title ofSitney's bookgives a fair direct reflections of summary which he his His discussion of It is useless todelude about it: approach. optsfora moreformal analysis, Open City oneself notable acumen andfeeling neorealism textMeyer carries outwith wasnota regeneration; itwas citesa little-known Schapiro wrote at the time the filmcame out, andwhich for these films, a vital crisis however yields significant only , excessively optiand in which use ofthemedium to an article T. intotheir James and enthusiastic at thebeginning. responding mistic insight the for the New Intertheir of Farrell, Thus action outran writing Trotskyist way engaging spectator. poetic thought, formal hadconstrued thefilm as a Stalinrenewal the preceded reorganization ofthe national, Iteludes defi- culture wasneorealism? that view itsvitality s not Schapiro argued against (le through forget istwork. states at theoutset the and noted the film's nition, slant, Now the sudden Sitney religious pointing '45!). year withering outitsuseofthesacraments andthe its What ofhisdiscerning book,declining ofneorealism is thenecessary way fateofan him improvised, one:the term for two the and the toprovide the Communist, martyrs, priest attempt necessary, although superthemartyrdoms ofPeter "hasstuck" on some structure: andPaulin is merely a labelthat itisthe a lack price for ofmature "recall films andnovels... sub- thought, Rome." his cue from Sit"remarkable a Taking Schapiro, crudely of complete reorganization of examines thefilm's didproduce the sacrasumed under [it]."Neorealism culture. ney systematically but evenmore mental and Christian someremarkable works, imagery iconography oftheItalian it has wielded with itspicture resisis theinfluence remarkable After thewartheChristian Democrats, together buton films notjustin Italy inconcert with theCatholic Church andthe tanceand thepoliticsof theimmediate everywhere The joint consideration thathas UnitedStates, of on almost to keepin place aftermath. important everything managed andpolitics is an enlightening infilms Neorealism much thesameruling classthat had ruled iconography subsequently. happened of Sitney's and underFascism. book.La dolce vitais cinema oftheItalian was liberation, So there fthe was,as Pasolini specialty film readin this manner bothas a its call to takethe cameraout into the says, no regeneration ofItalian no another society, a modern Inferand makethedis- true to taketherisks streets, ofthe culture. Butan art kindofChristian allegory, reorganization world outthere, hasinspired responds coveries ofthe totheconditions butalso no, and as a politicalparableaboutthe notonly and thedangers of neo-Fascinematic liberation (Carn to theaspirations ofa society and culture, temptations internationally. have anesthetic biasbuthe for thecinema to "go down andthevitality toohadcalled ofneorealism, thechange it cism. Sitney may inthesocial, fills wasas a critic, and enacted andpolitical butthat into the cultural, streets," in artevenifno suchchange was aptly ofthe inthe coming films hevalues hehadthestreets built as a filmmaker inlife, vital- context about tothe esthetically. responded Fora long time the totherecent film schol- ity esthetic andthe social nods inpostwar ofthose studio.) Sitney Italy. aspirations beentreated as separate, thecontinuity Sitney's that "hasemphasized crisis" was more havebyand large second"vital arship antithetical concerns. Andrew's cinema before andafter continuous between theItalian neorealism than he some- even with Dudley thewar, in a laudable effort at demytholo-timesallows.Antonioni and Fellini both and P. Adams Sitney'sbooks are both IfI seem to cameoutoftheneorealist ofa salutary revolution. theneorealist movement examples approach gizing and, admirable I that not that the esthetic and the social run it is that current here, from brings against it, departed though they significantly where Both arebooks it is because contest that thesis; rather, films areofa piece with itatleast my their they belong. upto together than that serious students of film willwantto . esthetic is more The Red Desert and and the films emphasis ultimately 8xi2' early - Gilberto andtopossess. is incon- ofOlmi, Perez andRosi(Il posto andThe read sociological."The continuity Pasolini, - andnotonly Fiancs butso is thechange testable andMamma Roma , Accatone , Salvathefact that theItalians tore the esthetic Giuliano andHandsover the took change, City) films after thewarthanthey up theneorealist madebetter it. The tradition andrevitalized Graham butalso thechanged In hisastute had underFascism, ofLa dolce vita analysis Sitney and purport ofthose better discusses socialpurview Film thefilm's construction: Greene episodic In films. hisbookSitney anepicvision ofthe decaelaborates postwar judiciously "Fellini thecircumstances andapprecia- dence documents ofthe for the first time a Reader: capital, using ofthelib- modernist, elucidates theachievements The film's Reviews, Essays, structure... tively paratactic eration that wasneorealism andofanother thirteen are so autonomous that Interviews & Film Stories episodes of Italiancinema thatensueda they seem time.. .Fellini outside ofsequential flowering NY: Parkinson. New York, byDavid later. decade theconven- Edited andhisscriptwriters abrogated 1995. 738 Hardcover: Books, Applause pp.f Like liberation that has so far come andsuspense." tions ofplot every development an aspiration Thisaccurately to pass,neorealism wasmore theuncon- $35.00. characterizes than an attainment. inStagecoach Pasolini, ventional narrativestructureFellini a sequence inhis quotes Sitney Analyzing in hisfirst whosaidas much on the employed on thefilm intheBFIClasin La dolce vita.Butnotfor the fine essay monograph offilm, a noteon Nights Ed Buscombe for a rhetortime: he employed a similarly ofCabiria first subject pauses episodic sicsseries, in 1957: written in a Western inhisprior in I vitelloni,icalquestion: construction "Who, work, shooting CINEASTE 55

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