Les Parapluies de Cherbourg -The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' (the umbrellas of Cherbourg), was made in 1964, directed by Jacques Dem.
The opening music instantly creates a sad atmosphere due to the use of the violins. The camera shows us a view from above, as rain begins to fall on the bricks. People begin to open up umbrellas of different colours. This scene cuts to a train station and then we see a couple.
This film is completely sung in french. I may not speak french, but it is clear by the music and expressions of the characters what this film is about (with or without the subtitles).
The young woman is clearly devastated, as her lover is leaving her behind. The male has a pained expression, which indicates his sadness and guilt for leaving his companion behind. She begs him to stay, though he does not have a choice, as he is to go to war. He will return in two years if he survives the war and she has promised to wait for him.
When they say their final goodbyes at the train station, the female becomes smaller and smaller as the camera moves further away. This is to show the painful separation the young couple have to endure.

Link to this scene
    

Dancing at the cafe - Bande a Part (AKA Band of Outsiders)

This is a famous scene from the french film 'Bande a Part' (band of outsiders), directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It is a black and white film, made in 1964. This scene shows three people randomly dancing in a cafe, repeating the same steps over and over again. This dance is commonly known as 'the Madison'. The music used is upbeat and is true to the time the film was made. The music would stop at randomly for the narrator to comment. They are outsiders to the people in the cafe, hence the name 'band of outsiders'. I found this dance annoying and overly repetitive. This scene drags on for quite a while. It may have been original and amusing for its time, but personally I think it's quite dull. This was said to be a 'comedy', though I don't really see what's so funny about three people dancing in cafe.
 
Although I have only seen this particular part of the film, I have researched the storyline. In short, it is basically about three people, whom we saw in this scene, who plan a robbery. From what I've read, this scene really has no purpose to the film whatsoever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pOXjQLh7Y&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pOXjQLh7Y&feature=related

Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit

Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit is a short story written by Sylvia Plath. It highlights the realisation of the cruelty of reality through the eyes of a child. 

Characterisation of characters: Uncle Frank, David and mother:
Uncle Frank: his niece looks up to him and is depicted as a heroic figure in the story. Frank is waiting to be drafted to the Army, as it is in the middle of WWII. He shows much love and compassion towards his family, as well as understanding. He seems to want to aid everyone's problems and keep the peace. This is shown when he says 'we'll pay for another snowsuit anyway just to make everybody happy'. He is kind and considerate of others and is a good role model to his niece.

David Sterling: David is a good friend of the girl, who he lives down the road from. Him and the girl are almost inseperable in the beginning of the story as they always played games together. Their friendship ends after the incident with Paula Brown and her snowsuit. He basically turns on her when he informs the girls mother of this occcurence.

Mother: the mother is a caring and sincere character. She is distressed about the war and appears slightly unstable, especially as her husband is dead.   

Snowdrops- Leslie Norris

In class, we analyzed the short story ‘Snowdrops’, written by Leslie Norris.

Snowdrops are used in the story to reflect humans in a state of vulnerability and fragility, much like the delicacy of the flower. The unnamed boy in the story represents the innocence and naivety of children. His fellow school mate, Edmond, is quite the opposite to the boy. We see the contrast between the two characters as Edmond is much more mature and aware of the world around him.  Whereas the boy is full of imagination and is oblivious to the imperfections of life. He sees life as exciting and full of adventure. This is shown when he exaggerates little things such as his bacon sandwich. He seems to find minor things such as this fascinating, even though 'its just bacon', as Edmonds points out.  

Ms Webster, the teacher, stays strong for the children by putting on a brave face. It is evident that she is deeply affected by the death. Although it was not widely known of their romantic relationship, it becomes quite obvious when she deliberately takes the children out to see the snowdrops and the exact time of the funeral.   

After witnessing his teacher crying due to the death of her lover, the boy is confronted with the realisms of reality.  We see a change in this character as he has a growing awareness of his surroundings. He sees the world is not as glamorous as he had once thought.

Favorite scene from a film

Over our last lesson, we discussed many film techniques commonly used in movies such as light, camera angles, audio etc. This was to help us with film study for an upcoming task. From this, we were asked to think about our own favorite scenes in a film and what made them significant to us.

My favorite scene from a film would be in 'A Walk to Remember', starring Shane West and Mandy Moore. It would have to be one of my favorite book's and movie's of all time. The story takes place in North Carolina, where two teenagers from different crowds fall in love. Landon Carter is a popular and rebellious teen, who cares greatly about his image. On the other hand, Jamie Sullivan quite independant and is not bothered by what others think of her. She is also the religious daughter of the town Pastor, who is very protective of her. Although at first they don't see eye to eye, a series of events lead them to develop strong feelings for eachother and eventually fall in love, despite the opinions of their peers.

The downfall of this love story is met when Jamie confesses to Landon that she had been suffering Leukemia for sometime and she had stopped responding to treatment. Although devastated by this news, Landon remains faithful to Jamie and continues to support her.

After this shocking bombshell regarding Jamie's health, I was instantly brought to tears.

Which leads me to my most memorable scene:

When things begin to look bad, Landon's father, who is a doctor, without Landon's knowledge, decides to give Jamie special medical treatment. Landon's father sees how special Jamie is to him, which led him to make that decision. Landon visits his father to thank him for his genorosity. This is a big step in their relationship, as Landon had not spoken to his father for many years after his parents had been divorced. The pure emotion on Landon's face made me cry harder. You could see that watching Jamie suffer was killing him. It was very touching to me watching Landon cry for Jamie.

Landon surpises the audience by hugging his father tightly. It goes to show that tragedies may be hard, but are able to bring people together. Despite all the loathing he had had for his father, the fact that he had helped someone he cared about made all the difference. It's a beautiful moment between father and son. :)

Other factors that make this memorable include:

- The angle of the camera in this scene, as it is a close up of Landon and his father

- The music played in the background creates a spiritual mood. The song in this scene is called 'Reconciliation' which is appropriate given the circumstances.

- The dim lighting also adds to this mood.



This may be a short scene, but it was very significant to me, the film would not have been the same without it. :)



Psycho (1960)

Over the last few lessons of the term, we watched the 1960 classic, Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, a busy town in which the main character, Marion Crane, lives. The mood at the beginning is calm, but soon leads up to a big climax. Upon stealing $40,000 from a client, the young and beautiful Marion fleas town to be with her lover. As a result of her actions, Marion ends up being murdered. On her way out of town, Marion becomes very paranoid. She decides to swap her car, knowing she could be easily tracked, as she had earlier given the police her license and registration. As night falls, Marion decides to check into the Bate's Motel. Phoenix is quite safe and comforting in comparison to Bate's Motel. The Bate's Motel lacks the busy atmosphere of the city, which creates an eerie mood in the film. Initially, the motel looks friendly and at pace, though the audience is able to see there is something off about it. Marion meets Norman Bate's, a shy young man who claims to live with his mother. Marion registers herself under a false name, putting the audience further on edge. The use of violins in the music build up the tension as the film continues. The identity of Norman is mother is still a mystery at this point in the film. We hear murmurs coming from Norman's house, which we assume is Norman and his mother. Norman arrives back to his office with food for Marion and himself. They make awkward conversation as the camera pans the office, showing many dead owls, which Norman claimed to have stuffed himself. The piercing stare of the owl’s eyes shifts the mood, which becomes quite spooky as the uneasiness rises. Whilst Marion is undressing, Norman peeps through a hole in the wall, but quickly turns away. In this scene, we take note of the change from a white bra to a black bra. This is an indication of the transition from good to evil that has taken place within Marion. Norman does not allow himself to feel the attraction to other women. Later in the film, it is discovered that Norman lives alone. Norman had adored his mother, and the thought of his mother being with another man traumatized him. Finding his mother in bed with another man drove Norman to insanity, forcing him to commit the murder of his mother and her lover (which had been a secret for many years).

Norman had created an illusion for himself that his mother was not dead. He remained faithful to his mother years after her passing, which is the compelled him to kill Marion Crane. The shower scene is a key feature of the film. There is a variety of angles the scene was shot. She is brutally stabbed by, what seemed to be, an old woman in a long dress. Norman arrives too late, but like the dutiful son he carefully cleans the room and disposes of the body and the evidence in the swamp.

 The shower scene of her death is famous in the world of horror movies. This would have been the very first horror film created. This motion picture was the core of all modern horror films. Many ideas involved with the horror industry were sprung from this film. It was also very uncommon, in the time this was filmed, for the main character to die in the middle of the film. Alfred Hitchcock's ideas were considered very original and not fully accepted by viewers at the time, but eventually became a hit.

An investigation of Marion’s whereabouts is carried out. The detective follows a trail to Bate’s Motel, where he is also killed. After this fishy death, Marion’s sister and boyfriend decide to take matters into their own hands by going to the Bate’s Motel themselves. Marion’s sister, Lila, comes across Mrs. Bate’s corpse decaying in the cellar. Norman, dressed as his mother, attacks her, but Marion’s boyfriend manages to overpower him.

In the last few minutes of the film, it is revealed that Norman had murdered his mother and her boyfriend. He preserved her body, as he could not bear to live without her. He developed a multiple personality (a split personality, his mother and himself). The mother side within Norman was the one who had done the killing.

Alfred Hitchcock’s movie was considered very unique for the time, which made himself a name in the movie industry.           

They're not your husband by Raymond Carver

The author, Raymond Carver, used real life experiences to write this story. Just like the husband in his story, Earl Ober, he too was an alcoholic with no respect towards women. the main character reflects the authors personality. Earl is also an jobless alcoholic  I think it bothers him that he is unemployed and the fact that he has nothing to be absorbed in, makes him feel useless and insignificant. This is partly the reason why he starts drinking and suddenly visits Doreen at her job.

One night after going to the bar, Earl decides to visit his wifes workplace in the hopes of getting a free meal. He sits down with a few workmates, when his wife, Doreen, comes to take their order. One of Earl's collegues comment about her 'big ass', while she is bending over scooping up ice
cream. "But some jokers like their quim fat," the man continues to his friend. Earl does not tell his friends of his relationship to the woman, as he is ashamed of her given their earlier comments. Later that night, he convinces Doreen to lose weight. This shows how conscious Earl is of others thoughts and opinions to stoop to this level. Until this point in the story, Earl had never thought of his wifes weight to be an issue. But seeing it from a strangers point of view made him rethink the idea. Rather than sticking up for his wife, he sits back and agrees with them. He did nothing to defend the woman he was supposed to love.

The language in this piece is descriptive and clearly shows the ignorance of Earl's character. '"Slob," Earl said. "Go ahead, eat! Go on!" This example depicts the husbands rudeness and selfishness.

After a few weeks, the weight drops off Doreen, though she is feeling tired and run down due to her lack of eating. People at work had also noticed her dramatic weight loss. Doreen confronted her husband of this issue, but Earl wouldn't hear of it. "They're not your husband." He told her firmly.  Still, Earl pushes her to lose more weight, despite the damage it is doing to her health. Earl is a sexist pig of a man who cares more about the views of strangers than his wifes wellbeing.

Another night after drinking, Earl decides to stop by the cafe his wife works at. He plays dumb to the waitress and says, "Who's your friend?" (referring to Doreen). He watches her behind the counter, proud of what he's accomplished. He sleazily says to the man beside him, "What do you think of that?" The man ignores him, though Earl continues to try to get his attention, but he won't budge. Doreen reveals who the man is to a fellow co-worker, after she's questioned ("who is this character?").

It is safe to say that Earl went too far with his obsession for his wife to be thin and desirable to other men. Earl and Doreen may be husband and wife, but they are in relationship without love and commitment (mostly Earl). He thought far strongly of others perspectives and not enough about what was best for his wife. Doreen felt the need to make him happy and was pressured into going on a diet, risking her health in the process.