FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM AND SURREALISM (1918-1930)

IMPRESSIONISM

"Another period arrived, that of the psychological and impressionist film.

It would seem stupid to place a character in a given situation without penetrating into the secret realm of his inner life, and the actor's performance is explained by the play of thoughts and of visualized sensations."

- Germaine Dulac, director

After World War I, the French film industry was in crisis. There’s no money, no support from the government and by the end of 1917, the Hollywood cinema dominated their market. But in the 1920s, they tried several ways to recapture their market. And the younger French directors whom are: Abel Gance, Louis Delluc, Germaine Dulac, Marcel L’Herbier, and Jean Epstein, contributed the most significant move. These young directors experimented with cinema that eventually created a new movement of film which is “Impressionism”. 

The Impressionism gives the films’ narratives psychological focus and displays the exploration of the characters’ emotion onscreen which shows subjectivity that makes the impressionist films more striking. Through the cinematography and editing style of impressionism, the subjectivity of the film could be intensified. For instance, through the style of camera movement, one can get inside a character’s head that suggests its perceptual experience and point of view. Another technique used by this film is rhythmic editing which suggests the pace of an experience as what the character feels. For example, fast cutting can show that the character’s consciousness or mental state is unstable.

Because of the subjective shooting and editing patterns in Impressionist films to reinforce the narrative treatment of psychological states, technological innovations were demanded that helped to improve their films. But unfortunately, in 1929, Impressionism as a distinct movement came to an end. Nevertheless, the influence or the impact that French Impressionism had brought – the psychological narrative, subjective camera work and editing still remain

SURREALISM

Surrealism was a more radical art movement emerged in 1920s producing unrealistic films, shocks the audiences and sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind.

The surrealist movement was founded by Andre Breton. He was fascinated by Sigmund Freud and his ideas about dream analysis. Automatic writing, the search for strange or strong imagery and unpredictable shots are the features of Surrealism as it developed.

Since surrealist films are intended to show the logic (which is absent) and flow of dreams, these films are naturally structure less and also the character psychology is non-existent.

One of the best example of a Surrealist film would be Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog, 1928)