Film Persona

  Agnes Varda's "Le Bonheur" I've got to say that I feel as though Agnes Varda's 1965 film " Le Bonheur " is one of her strangest films that I've come across. It tells the story of a man who seems incredibly happy in his home life: he's got a beautiful and adoring young wife, two lovely children, and spends his days laughing, playing, and spending time with them. However, he decides to take on an attractive postal worker as a lover, and feels that it would only increase the happiness that he already feels. After telling his wife, she kills herself and he replaces her with this new lover as a wife and mother. This whole strange affair is filmed by Varda through a 'picturesque' lens. Not only is this film beautifully shot with great use of color, but Varda surrounds her images with that of the beauty of nature. We are even shown a blossoming sunflower right off the bat when the film begins. We are continually surrounded by beauty and visual...

  Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" It is not an overstatement to say that Satyajit Ray's 1955 debut film " Pather Panchali " not only changed Indian cinema in the 20th Century, but is a landmark film in the global film community all together. I would even venture as far to say that " Pather Panchali " is one of the greatest films ever made. It depicts the impoverished life of little Apu and his family, as they try to navigate in their small hut with little to nothing to eat, live on, or do. Despite this desolation, Ray's camera and its ability to capture these narrative events somehow elevates it to the spiritual realm. The film established Ray as a force to be reckoned with in the global market and started his career as a true film auteur.  Ray started his journey as a visual artist in 1940, at the age of 19, when he attended Visva-Bharati University at the insistence of his mother. There, he fell in love with the visual arts, especially Orien...

  Federico Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" By 1957, Federico Fellini had established himself as a creative force in the Italian film industry. He had already won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival as well as an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the U.S., both accolades for his incredible 1954 film " La Strada ." For his next film, he wanted a story centered on a waifish prostitute. The only problem is that no one was willing to fund a film feature prostitutes as heroines. Nobody except Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian film producer and businessman who produced or co-produced over 500 films in his lifetime, including classic films that would stand the test of time, like Sidney Lumet's " Serpico ,' David Lynch's " Blue Velvet ," and Federico Fellini's iconic 1957 feature film " Nights of Cabiria ."  The film centers on a lowly prostitute named Cabiria who time and time again gets let down by various life...

  Preston Sturges' "The Lady Eve" The 1940s were the twilight years of the standard Hollywood genre of "screwball comedy." Its heyday in the 1930s had reached a more tired, standard format. Despite this, the genre was still flourishing with many of the day's high earning stars signing on to get their screwball on. One director who had spent plenty of time writing the screwball formula in the 1930s was Preston Sturges. By 1940, he became a director himself and was able to direct his own scripts, something that did not occur very often in the Hollywood industry. In 1941, he was able to enlist Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, two of the biggest stars at the time, to star in his screwball comedy " The Lady Eve ."  " The Lady Eve " centers on a classy card shark named Jean who spends the entire film trying to both swindle and romantically entice an heir to an ale fortune, Charles.  After he finds out her intentions the first time, she transfo...

  Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's "One of Our Aircrafts is Missing" Once again, another British propaganda film from the Powell & Pressburger gang during their nation's darkest hours. This time, 1942's " One of Our Aircrafts is Missing " plays like an inverted " 49th Parallel ." In " 49th Parallel ," it is the Nazi stranded in enemy territory (Canada), as their team begins to disintegrate due to in-fighting and being taken down one by one by the Allied forces. In " One of Our Aircraft is Missing ," it is the Allied forces who are stranded in enemy territory (Nazi-occupied Holland). Only, the Allied forces continue working together as a cohesive unit to make it out.  I've got to say that I much preferred " 49th Parallel " to this film. I felt as though " 49th Parallel " really engaged me in more complex ways, especially how the Nazi ideology continues to get challenged throughout the film...

  Max Ophuls' "La Ronde" After shooting his last U.S. film " The Reckless Moment ," Max Ophuls returned to Europe. He did not, however, go back to Germany, where he started his career. Instead, he entered the French film industry, an industry that was becoming known for producing far more creative and artistic ventures than its American counterpart. There, he and writer Jacques Natanson adapted the 1897 stage play " La Ronde " by Arthur Schnitzler into a feature length film. " La Ronde " is an anthology of stories all introduced to the viewer by a 'master of ceremonies.' We are told by this master of ceremonies that the stories we are seeing all center around love. We are shown various episodes, whereby one of the lovers from the previous episodes has another lover in the next. This goes all the way around until we end up on the Simone Signoret character we started from. As the master of ceremonies says, we've spun around 'la ...

  Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard's "Pygmalion" I think we all know the story of " Pygmalion ," whether you realize it or not. Based on the famous 1913 stage play by George Bernard Shaw, " Pygmalion " tells the story of a linguist professor who turns a lowly street peddler into a duchess. Whether you know this story as " My Fair Lady ," " Educating Rita ," " Can't Buy Me Love ," " She's All That ," or even stories with a similar vein like " The Princess Diaries ," for example. Regardless of its form, the story is ever-present and always timely.  The main thematic conceit of the story regardless of the form it takes is that of class division and social mobility. By taking someone from a lower class, along with their lower-class behaviors and mannerisms, and instilling in them the behaviors of the upper class, you begin to draw analysis of the constructs between them. Proper grammar, proper po...