French Impressionism

French Impressionism

According to Bordwell and Thompson (2010), French Impressionists claimed that cinema is also a form of art that is similar to poetry, painting, and music that enables the artists to express their feelings. To achieve French Impressionism, certain traits have to be included in the film.

Theory Discussion

First of all, French Impressionists’ films manipulate the plot time and its subjectivity. Flashbacks are often used to present the memory or the past of a character. It could bring the audience back to the story before the present timeline of the story and see what the character had seen in the past. Besides, French Impressionism also emphasizes on expressing the characters’ dreams, fantasies, and mental state through cinematography and editing. Editors tend to include irises, masks and superimpositions function to show the thoughts and feelings of the character.  For instance, distorted, filtered and vertiginous camera movements are used when the directors want to show the state of dizziness or drunkenness of the character.

Moreover, French Impressionists often highlights the emotion of the characters and it creates a profound psychological focus in the films’ narratives. French impressionists also experimented with an intensely rhythmic editing to bring out the pace of an experience faced by the character. For example, a shorter and faster shot is taken when the scene is intended to express the excitement or fear of the character. Point of view cutting often used in the film to show the view that is seen by the character. Furthermore, French Impressionists had developed frame mobility with a smooth camera movement for the film. The cameras are usually strapped to cars, carousels, and locomotions so that it could be able to move easily by a person.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

Synopsis

Mr Chow and Mrs Chan were the new neighbors of an apartment. They often feel lonely because their spouses are always away. As they realized their spouses cheated on them, Mr Chow and Mrs Chan fell in love with each other. They always spend time together alone without getting noticed by others. However, they didn’t stay together until the end because they still want to remain as a loyal spouse.

Analysis

There are a lot of French Impressionism’s examples can be found in this movie. First of all, let us look at the “breathing space” for the characters throughout the whole narration. There are a lot of shots of Mr Chow interacting with Mrs Chan throughout the movie. Before both of them falling in love, their interaction is quite open so we can see the “breathing space” throughout the shot is really big. On the other hand, when they started to fall in love with each other, the “breathing space” in the shot where they interact with each other had become really narrow and their appearances sometimes are not fully revealed. This is to show that their relationship is a secret to the public. For example, there is a scene whereby Mrs Chan was with Mr Chow staying inside his room and she did not manage to get out before the housemates were back. The “breathing space” that shows them talking inside the room is really narrow. After Mr Chow found that the housemates are busying playing mahjong and he knows that no one will notice the presence of Mrs Chan inside the room, the “breathing space” of them inside the room in the next frame had become wider.

Before 

After

As Mr Chow said that he wanted to start writing a martial-art book, he asked Ms Chan to help and she agreed. In this scene, there are two things to discuss about French Impressionism. Mr Chow did mention that he was not really good at writing a martial art book earlier in the movie so it will be difficult for him to write this book. He smoked when he was writing the book and the thick smoke coming out from the cigarette is greatly expressing his situation at that moment. As for Mrs Chan who did not want anyone to know about their relationship, she secretly helped Mr Chow in writing this book. When the frame is showing her, her “breathing room” in that frame is really narrow as it was mostly blocked by the door. This had also brought out the secret of Mrs Chan for helping Mr Chow.

 

Next, let us talk about the missing shot. There is a scene of Mrs Chan visiting Mr Chow in his new hotel. When Mr Chow is looking out to the window, Mrs Chow knocked the door. Then the next shot is Mrs Chow leaving his room after her visit. This movie does not show anything happened between this two shots while both of them were still inside because it is meant to show the secret between them inside the room that did not want to be realized by others, including the audiences as well. It can also show that time pass really fast at the same time while both of them are together.

Mr Chow did tell Ah Ping how he kept a secret by burying it under a tree. At the end of the story, we can see Mr Chow found a hole at the wall of an ancient temple and he keep his secret to the hole. When he was talking to the hole, there is no sound throughout the scene because the director wants the audiences to feel secret is really unknown. Besides, I think that the ancient temple is chosen as the place for him to “bury” his secret instead of a big field or land is because the ancient temple can be used to bring out the mysterious feel for the secret was that told by Mr Chow.

Conclusion

French Impressionism is a form of art in a film which expresses the emotions, sight, thoughts or feelings of a character. In the Mood of Love is a remarkable French Impressionism film as it makes the audiences feel the loneliness of the characters with the absence of their spouse and the feeling they had when they are loving each other.

Reference

Bordwell, D & Thompson, K. (2010). Film Art: An Introduction. New York, America: McGraw-Hill.