Bresson tried to show his characters as looking for the thing that will make them happy through the film, they start out unhappy
The only world you live in is the protagonist’s, there are no cuts, no other realities
Jacques Tati was similar to Chaplin, he disliked strong story telling, preferred detail and context, his world was a jigsaw of detail and big picture
Mon Oncle (1956) dir. Jacques Tati shows the difference between old world and new world France
He never used close-ups, he wanted to show the bigger picture, static frame that allows our eyes to do the moving
Federico Fellini loved circuses, the color, crazy stunts, and grandeur
Nights of Cabiria (1957) dir. Federico Fellini a man’s wife is a prostitute, she later asks for Virgin Mary’s grace but nothing happens, she is lost in her feelings, the film changes style many times as she finds herself
8½ (1963) dir. Federico Fellini the film was improvisation, Fellini loved his actors, and allowed them room to take the scene where it naturally wanted to go
French filmmakers once again took the spotlight
They had new ideas about existentialism, their movies were more intellectual an self-aware
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Agnès Varda starts in color, slowly transitions to color, they told their thoughts out loud
Last Year at Marienbad (1961) dir. Alain Resnais the film questions what is real, from a normal scene up to a greek statue, and the scene changes around it
Jean-Luc Godard was the most influential french filmmaker, called his approach to film right wing anarchist
Preferred close-ups which isolated people from the world, didn’t star women as glamorous love interests
Wanted film not to capture life but to be part of it, used cuts not to show a new angle but to show how a frame looks in different light, background, etc.
Italian society was changing rapidly, poverty was moving into cities, cinema had another burst out of this country
believed peasants had the highest moral duty in a society
Senso (1954) dir. Luchino Visconti bright colors look like a celebration, however it is really a protest of aristocratic society from ordinary people, used crane shots to look down on rich people and up at peasants
Antonioni saw life abstractly and kept important figures in the edge of the frame
L’eclisse (1962) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni their relationship is conveyed by their framing. Ends with the woman walking out of frame and doesn’t reappear, the paces they went are shown empty, as if their relationship killed those places
The Passenger (1975) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni the camera leaves the main character and seems to go on a walk, when it returns the character is dead
The Wheelchair (1960) dir. Marco Ferreri used wheelchairs to mock living conditions as a way of mimicking life at the time, and the government
Viridiana (1961) dir. Luis Buñuel used this film to mock old filmmakers and politicians of the time