Europe in Cinema

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The aim of this module is to examine contemporary European cinema to discover what national cinemas reveal about national identity, culture, and values. How does a Nation tell its unique story through its cinematic production? One of the key features of globalisation is the movement of vast numbers of people across national boundaries, a process that has had very significant consequences for notions of national identity in many western European countries. Over the last twenty years or so, European filmmakers have begun to explore the consequences of these multiple diasporas to the extent that it is almost impossible to understand European culture without experiencing its cinematic output. The first part of the module will be devoted to contemporary French films, with particular attention to diverse representations of French national history and identity through the study of La Haine (dir. Kassovitz, 1995) Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain (dir. Jeunet, 2001) and Les Miserables.