Routledge Film Guidebook: European Art Cinema

1. Introduction

There was a period around the 1970s when the term ‘European art cinema’ was generally
understood to refer to the films of a pretty definite group of Continental filmmaking auteurs
working at the time. In his essay, ‘The Art Cinema as a Mode of Practice’, published at the
end of that decade, David Bordwell argued that you could consider this body of work, what
he called ‘the “art cinema”,’

…as a distinct mode of film practice, possessing a definite historical existence, a set
of formal conventions, and implicit viewing procedures.
(1979, 56)

The aim of this book is to consider the same term, European Art Cinema, but within a much
wider historical context, to argue in fact that there has always been in some guise or other the
very definite presence within European cinema of filmmakers who have seen their work as
offering, or whose work has been seen by others to offer, an enhanced artistic experience
when set against mainstream cinema of the time. The exact relationship of these various ‘art
cinemas’ to mainstream cinema has been defined differently by different groups of
filmmakers at different historical moments according to their agreed and, just as often argued
over, aims.

Much of what will be considered as ‘European art cinema’, in addition to being part of a
somewhat vague catch-all grouping, could perfectly justifiably be seen as elitist and complicit
in a rather Eurocentric perspective on cinema. Even so, it remains the case that awareness of
the body of work seen to fall beneath the umbrella concept employed here is important to
anyone who may wish to study film. And so, while it does not seek to underplay any negative
features of the term, this book, nevertheless, argues for the importance of having an
awareness of ‘art cinema’ made in Europe over the past 100 years or so. Failing to explore
the concept of ‘art cinema’, and the body of work that has in various senses been seen as ‘art
cinema’, denies us the opportunity of engaging with some of the most profound insights and
challenging questions raised by film texts.

Following Bordwell’s approach to art cinema of the 70s, given above, Janet Staiger has
argued that both ‘independent’ cinema and mainstream Hollywood have

 a definite historical existence,

 a set of conventions,
 implicit viewing procedures.
(2013, 22)

This book will consider the films under discussion here in relation to this same tripartite
perspective. Staiger, we should note, is not under any illusion that some simple ideological
split exists between the two forms of cinema she is discussing. Both independent films and
Hollywood movies, she says:

…exude fairly conservative ideologies as well as occasionally progressive ones. An

alternative film practice, as with art cinema, does not guarantee better representation
 of women, or minorities, or social justice. In fact, often indie films reinforce sexism
and racism, and revel in elitist viewing practices for the initiated cinephile.
(2013, 25)

Again, this is a line of argument that should be seen as underpinning everything found in this
book.

Much of the historical record currently on offer dealing with the development of film in
Europe depends on a conceptualization of European cinema as an ‘art cinema’ that came and
went as a succession of cultural waves throughout the 20th century. This may be a
questionable historical record that can be interrogated on various levels, but it is the
ideologically in-place history and needs to be understood as such before it can be questioned.
The ‘waves’ highlighted in this historical record are usually each seen in relation to the
production of a body of related work made in a specific time and place but may, on occasion,
also be viewed as related to the exhibition and promotion of particular bodies of work. So, for
example, a range of significant films in the late 1950s and early 1960s that challenged what
had gone before are undeniably linked to a group of filmmakers connected to the magazine
Cahiers du Cinéma based in Paris. Equally, various bodies of ‘cutting edge’ European film
work need to be seen from an Anglocentric perspective as linked to the founding of the Film
Society in London in 1925. This was the organization that ensured works such as Battleship
Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1928) from the Soviet Union were shown in a conservative,
class-structured Britain. Of course, within both of these particular contexts – Cahiers du
Cinéma in Paris and the elite intellectual club of the original Film Society – we might see the
making, screening and promotion of films as existing (and being contained) within very
‘safe’ middle class enclaves.

It is not possible to study filmmaking in Europe, nor assess received cinema history, without
investigating the ascribed ‘art’ dimension given to much European film. As part of this
enquiry we should expect to question both the validity and the usefulness of the term ‘art
cinema’. However, we should also expect to acquire an enhanced understanding of the
insights that critical analysis of ‘art cinema’ can continue to offer. It is possible to be too keen
to reject any use of the term ‘art’ as elitist and divorced from the mainstream experiences of
making and watching film. In order to reject anything it is important to know what you are
rejecting. It is also possible that, unless care is taken, that which is rejected may be something
that actually carries useful understandings of the human condition that can be, and should be,
developed and carried forward. When preparing their book, Global Art Cinema: New
Theories and Histories, Rosalind Galt and Karl Schoonover found that:

The sense of art cinema as elitist and conservative remains in such force that many
scholars to whom we spoke about this volume responded with perplexity that we
would endorse such a retrograde category.
(2010, 5)

Galt and Schoonover, however, felt that the category continued to be useful in helping to
define a certain area of ‘cultural, economic and aesthetic meaning’ (5).

The working hypothesis here will be the suggestion that it is possible to view ‘art cinema’ as
a genre, seeing it as ‘art film’ produced specifically for cinema exhibition. One element of
this approach will be to interpret this type of film in relation to various concepts of ‘art’; and
this will involve some exploration of the use of the term ‘art’ within Western cultural history.
At the same time, these films will be categorized as strongly related to, but distinct from, ‘art
film’ made to be exhibited in a gallery space or constructed as art installation. Here our
interest is with film which manages to continue to find a niche within the arena of cinema
exhibition. This is, therefore, film which depends on the commercial market but has an
ambiguous relationship to the concept of being seen as ‘commercial’. Part of its definition of
itself is to see itself as eschewing popularity, the mass market, and, therefore, a mass
audience. Its self-proclaimed aim is usually to achieve something over and above
entertainment, and its proponents tend to view themselves as driven by something beyond the
desire to ‘turn a profit’.

This book will consider the term ‘art cinema’ solely in relation to European films. It would be
fair to say that the implication here is that ‘art cinema’ has been predominantly defined by,
and critically evaluated in relation to, ‘European art cinema’. Whether this elevation of
European film has validity and can be sustained, either historically or within a contemporary
context, should be carefully considered by the reader. Beyond this, the introduction of such a
geographical space brings additional difficulties. Put simply, what do we mean by ‘Europe’?
How are we to define this spatially, politically and culturally, shape-shifting space? Certainly,
in a book of this size it will be impossible to do justice to the full extent of the body of work
we might, like a Victorian taxonomist, classify beneath the overarching term of ‘European art
cinema’. All that can be hoped is that an introduction to some of the key parameters can be
put in place and that the reader will be able to apply these structures of thought to further
films.

Following a short introductory chapter, Chapter 2 briefly considers how we might map out
the problematic parameters of ‘European art cinema’. Chapter 3 then offers a historical
overview of the development of ‘European art cinema’, which the reader should understand
as a version of a history that could be re-evaluated in many ways and from many alternative
perspectives. Chapter 4 considers two important theoretical approaches to art cinema.
Chapter 5 investigates some key themes found in European art cinema. Chapter 6 looks at the
socio-political outlook of certain European art films. Chapter 7 briefly reviews experimental
filmmaking within European art cinema. Chapter 8 offers some reflection on European art
cinema in relation to Hollywood. And Chapter 9 considers eight short case studies, before
Chapter 10 gives a few concluding thoughts.