ENGL 404(F) Auteur Cinema and the Very Long Film (Same as Comparative Literature 324)
This course will focus on six master works by six major film directors:
Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura; Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last
Emperor; Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander; Francis Ford Coppola's
Apocalypse Now!; Federico Fellini's 8 1/2; and Akira Kurosawa's The Seven
Samurai. These films were not always well received: the audience to
L'Avventura at Cannes yelled "Cut!" in exasperation with Antonioni's desultory
editing; Pauline Kael regarded both Fanny and Alexander and The Last
Emperor as far inferior to Bergman's and Bertolucci's youthful efforts, arguing
that both had betrayed their former intellectual rigor with a new sentimentality;
Fellini was roundly criticized for narcissism and egotism in casting the
heartthrob Marcello Mastroianni as himself and devoting such a long film to his
personal creative blockage; and Coppola's Apocalypse Now! was perceived as a
disaster in terms of its budget, its prolonged shooting schedule in a jungle
environment, and its devastating impact on the health of its cast and crew. Only
The Seven Samurai seems to have been recognized immediately as a
masterpiece. All of these films are self-reflexive works, representing both the
distinctive personalities of their directors and their individual stylistic and
thematic concerns-what makes them examples of auteur cinema. During the
first half of the course, we will meet to discuss these films individually together
with selected readings. At the same time students will be assigned one of these
directors to research for a long paper and oral presentation during the second half
of the course.
Format: seminar. Requirements: oral presentation and one long (15-20 p.) paper
Prerequisites: one 300-level English class or permission of the instructor.
Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 15). Preference given to junior and senior
English majors.
(Criticism)