BA122 French Film Discussion

COURSE DESCRIPTION: For this advanced French course, you will watch a film at home (available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Canal Plus, Orange, YouTube and other platforms) before a lively and engaging discussion in class. Each month a new film provides a basis for an immersive lesson with authentic spoken language and cultural reference points. If you love movies, there’s no more enjoyable way to increase vocabulary, improve conversational skills, and deepen your understanding of French cinema and culture. 

Each discussion will focus on analyzing the film from different angles:

• Creation; production; and reception, both critical and commercial
• Screenplay, direction, and artistic collaborations such as script, cinematography, acting, and music
• Specific features in the director's filmography and its place in the French cinema of his/her era.

 For the spring trimester, we will be discussing the following films:

1. L'Armée des ombres (1969) de Jean- Pierre Melville. Avec Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse. Canal VOD, Orange, Arte Boutique

2. A nos amours (1984) de Maurice Pialat
Avec Sandrine Bonnaire, Dominique Besnehard, Maurice Pialat
Universciné

3. Sans toit ni loi (1988) d’Agnès Varda
Avec Sandrine Bonnaire
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Canal VOD

• ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and ESCP Business School with a master's in political philosophy, Pascale Borenstein co-founded the first professional training course for screenwriters, the Conservatoire Européen d'Ecriture Audiovisuelle (CEEA), which she subsequently directed. From 2004 to 2017, she was Director of International Relations and Continuing Education at France's national film school, La Fémis, where she collaborated with the film departments at NYU, Columbia University, and Calarts. Pascale is the co-author of "Histoire de films français" published by Bordas and a lecturer at l'ICART (École du Management Culturel & Marché de l'Art).