Art
The French Impressionist movement (1919-1929) was
developed by a new generation of filmmakers who sought to explore the cinema as
an art. They saw art as a form of expression conveying the personal vision of
the artist. In Happy Together (Wong
Kar-Wai, 1997), the shot of Iguazu Waterfall (2.1) appeared twice in the movie, one
is the beginning of the movie and another one is at the ending part. Iguazu is a sign
of urban people’s dreamscape, magical in a sense that the beauty of nature can
reunite the people’s broken spirit; in this case, heal Lai Yiu-Fai and Ho Po-Wing’s sick
relationship. Art also helps to build the experiences
and lead to the emotions. Art creates an impression and feeling, but not by fact, is
through suggestion and evoke.
For example, we see Ho Po-Wing alone in Lai
Yiu-Fai’s old apartment, crying and trying to arrange cigarette packages as
reminders of Lai Yiu-Fai’s affection (2.2).
2.1
2.2
Flashback and Fantasy
The interest of French Impressionist not on external
physical behavior, but on inner action. Impressionist film manipulates plot
time and subjectivity through flashbacks. It is very common, and sometimes it
might be a series of flashbacks in a film. In Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997), the beginning part
of the film from the bed scene (2.3) until lost at highway while on the way to Iguazu Waterfall (2.4) are the flashbacks of Lai Yiu-Fai explaining why they are in Argentina now.Yet, the exploration of psychological had been
emphasized and causes to reveal of character’s mental states, dreams or fantasies.
In La Souriante Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, 1923) consists almost entirely of the main character's fantasy
life, her imaginary escape from a dull marriage, a dream is what she hoping for. While in Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997), there a scene that showing the Hong Kong city
that upside down in order to emphasize that Hong Kong and Argentina are at two
very different ends of the earth. This also show that Hong Kong and Argentina are so much different and is a big distance between these two countries. Fantasy world can be seen in Le Voyage Imaginaire (René Clair, 1926) as well. In the film, Herr Clair creates
a dream world which plunges the audience into a universe full of fantasy. There
are lady fortune tellers, fairies, a man-eating door and even modern heroes such as
"Charlot", not to mention the "Notre Dame" roofs and the
museum "Grévin" as well.
2.3
2.4
Superimposition
Superimposition is when two or more images are placed over each other in
the frame. This effect can be accomplished by exposing the same piece of film
more than once as we see with double exposure effect. Superimposition may convey
a character’s thought or memories. In La Roue, The smoke from a locomative superimposed with the image of Norma, representing the fantasy of the engine driver, who is in
love with her. (2.5) While in Coeur Fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923) the
heroine looks out a window, and the foul jetsam of the
waterfront superimposed with that image to convey her dejection at work as a barmaid in a dockside tavern. (2.6)
2.5
2.6
Slow Motion
The visual depiction of mental states in French
Impressionist film through cinematography and editing. One of the
cinematography is slow motion shot to focus on a significant element in a
character’s subjectivity. For example, in Happy
Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997), when they are sharing the tinder of cigarette,
the smoke flows slow. This indicates the moment of togetherness (2.7). In the movie, their relationship always come with an argument, so when there is a happy moment, they will hope the time goes slow so that they can fully utilize the time and appreciate it.
2.7
Camera movement
Besides that, camera movement also one of the
aspects that very impactful in French Impressionist film, it can affect how the
audiences feel the moment of the characters. The cinematographer of Happy Together (Wong
Kar-Wai, 1997), Christopher Doyle utilizes the shaky camera movement in the
scene of after Ho Po-Wing running after
having a big argument with Lai Yiu-Fai in his room (2.8) . This indicates he is not
calm or anger, this is because usually human being get angry, their emotion and psychological status are unstable, so with a shaky shot can emphasizes it.While in the scene of Lai Yiu-Fai playing football with his
colleagues (2.9) , the shaky camera movement emphasizes the excitement. When people in an excitement status, they are usually very high and energetic, using a smooth or slow camera movement cannot present the feeling of that moment.
2.8
2.9
Distortions
The distortion element might use in a film to
show the occurrence of an event or incident is not in an ordinary way. When a character in an
Impressionist film gets drunk or dizzy, the filmmaker shows the experience through distorted or filtered shots or vertiginous camera movements. Normally, the Impressionists would shoot into a curved mirror to create a distortion effect such as in
Eldorado (Howard Hawks, 1921) a man's
tipsiness is conveyed by means of a curved mirror that stretches his body
sideways (2.10). In La souriante
Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, 1923), Dulac uses distortion images to paint Beudet's various emotional
states onscreen (2.11).
2.10
2.11
Filters
Filter in French Impressionist films is to show the
mood of that moment, it can be colorful, black and white or even in a specific
color. Mostly black and white indicates the character or that moment is sad or negative.
For example, in Happy Together (Wong
Kar-Wai, 1997), the black and white indicating the sadness of
both protagonists or mourning of them breaking up (2.12). During that moment, Lai Yiu-Fai's feeling is like the end of the world and he is losing hope and down, so he feels that the world is not in colorful mood in that moment. Moreover, Usually people present happy mood or positive mood with colorful because their world is full of hope and joy.The rich, saturated color scenes in Happy Together indicate
happiness or they are back together (2.13).
2.12
2.13
Framing
The framing of a shot can be seen as characters’
points of view or inner states. For the film Happy Together (Wong
Kar-Wai, 1997), the whole movie is the point-of-view of Lai Yiu-Fai. We can
hear that he is the narrative of the film and he is telling his own story from
the beginning he broke up with Ho Po-Wing then they start over and over again
until at last they are not getting back together anymore.
Rhythmic Editing
The Impressionists also experimented with pronounced
rhythmic editing to suggest the pace of an experience as a character feels it,
moment by moment. The rhythm accelerates and the shots getting shorter and
shorter, building to a climax in order to unstable mental state. This also
helps to influence the audience to be involved nervous environment of the
scene. In the La Roue (Abel
Gance, 1923), fast
editing had been used in the scene of a train crash and a man's last thoughts
before he falls from a cliff. Besides that, the playing with extreme
fast-motion in Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997), to film Buenos Airies (2.14) and Taipei traffic (2.15) so
that we feel the compressed, giddily accelerated pace of urban time.
2.14
2.15
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