Poetic realism was a film movement in France of the 1930s. More a tendency than a movement, poetic realism is not strongly unified like Soviet montage or French Impressionism but were individuals who created this lyrical style. Its leading filmmakers were Pierre Chenal, Jean Vigo, Julien Duvivier, Marcel Carné, and, perhaps the movement's most significant director, Jean Renoir. Renoir made a wide variety of films influenced by the leftist Popular Front group and even a lyrical short feature film.
Characteristics
Poetic realism films are "recreated realism", stylised and studio-bound, rather than approaching the "socio-realism of the documentary".
[Susan Hayward Cinema studies: the key concepts, Routledge, 2006, p.151] They usually have a fatalistic view of life with their characters living on the margins of society, either as unemployed members of the working class or as criminals. After a life of disappointment, the characters get a last chance at love but are ultimately disappointed again and the films frequently end with disillusionment or death. The overall tone often resembles nostalgia and bitterness. They are "poetic" because of a heightened
that sometimes draws attention to the representational aspects of the films. Though these films were weak in the production sector, French cinema did create a high proportion of such influential films largely due to the talented people in the industry in the 1930s who were working on them. The most popular set designer was
Lazare Meerson. Composers who worked on these films included
Georges Auric,
Arthur Honegger,
Joseph Kosma, and
Maurice Jaubert. Screenwriters who contributed to many of the films included
Charles Spaak and Jacques Prévert.
[Thompson, Kristin, Bordwell, David. (2010) Film History: An Introduction, Third Edition, New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. p. 265-268] The movement had a significant impact on later film movements, in particular Italian neorealism (many of the neorealists, most notably
Luchino Visconti, worked with poetic realist directors before starting their own careers as film critics and directors) and the French New Wave.
Notable examples
Forerunners of the poetic realist movement include:
Poetic realist works from leading filmmakers of the mid-to-late 1930s/mid-to-late 1940s include:[ The Criterion Collection][ Movie movements that defined cinema: Poetic realism|Movies|Empire]
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L'Atalante (1934) by Jean Vigo
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La Bandera (1935) by Julien Duvivier
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La Kermesse héroïque (1935) by Jacques Feyder
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La Belle Équipe (1936) by Julien Duvivier
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Les Bas-fonds ( The Lower Depths) (1936) by Jean Renoir
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Pépé le Moko (1937) by Julien Duvivier
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La Grande Illusion (1937) by Jean Renoir
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La Bête humaine (1938) by Jean Renoir
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Le Quai des brumes (1938) by Marcel Carné
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Hôtel du Nord (1938) by Marcel Carné
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La Règle du jeu (1939) by Jean Renoir
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Le Jour se lève (1939) by Marcel Carné
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Remorques (1941) by Jean Grémillon
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Lumière d’été ( Summer Light) (1943) by Jean Grémillon
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Le ciel est à vous ( The Woman Who Dared) (1944) by Jean Grémillon
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Children of Paradise (1945) by Marcel Carné
Further reading
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COMOLLI Jean-Louis, « RÉALISME POÉTIQUE, cinéma français », dans Encyclopædia Universalis , consulté le 28 juillet 2019.
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PINEL Vincent, "Réalisme poétique" dans PINEL Vincent, Ecoles, genres et mouvements au cinéma, Larousse, Comprendre et reconnaître, Paris, 2000. p. 184–185
External links
