{"id":149,"date":"2015-11-30T19:36:52","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T19:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smilingmadamebeudet.sac.lsa.umich.edu\/?page_id=149"},"modified":"2015-11-30T19:36:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T19:36:52","slug":"acting-as-a-vehicle-of-french-impressionist-style-shir","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/smilingmadamebeudet\/performers-and-performances\/acting-as-a-vehicle-of-french-impressionist-style-shir\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting as a vehicle of French Impressionist style"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Shir Avinadav<\/h3>\n

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The dramatic narrative through which character psychology was often explored in French Impressionist films, particularly from the female point of view in <\/span>The Smiling Madame Beudet<\/a><\/span><\/i>,<\/a> demanded of its performers an understated, yet expressive style of acting that complemented the cinematographic style of the era.<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Impressionist filmmakers wanted to explore character psychology, like its other avant-garde counterparts. \u201c[F]ascination with pictorial beauty and an interest in intense psychological exploration\u201d shifted the focus to the inner psyches of characters in Impressionist films, which \u00a0doubtlessly impacted the selection and performance of the actors, as well as the ways in which they were framed and directed to act. Much of the focus on formal cinematic traits during the Impressionist era had to do with film editing and mise-en-sc\u00e8ne. Particularly, the formal style of Impressionist cinema made use of close ups to show characters\u2019 emotions, \u201cbut here [Dulac] turned to the extreme close-up, which she utilizes in a discretionary, yet more intensive manner, in order to isolate individual gestures marking an evolution of character.\u201d\u00b9 Therefore it was important for actors to be able to express a range of extreme emotions through their facial expressions and gestures.<\/p>\n

\"Mdme.<\/a>
Mdme. Bidet looking disgusted as she pictures her husband’s grotesque face.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A choker shot of M Beudet’s face, distorting his laugh into a menacing image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201cplace[ment] [of] characters in extremely emotion-laden circumstances,\u201d helped filmmakers delve deep into character personas.\u00b2 It is evident in <\/span>The Smiling Madame<\/span><\/i> Beudet<\/span><\/i>, in which the main character becomes increasingly distressed by her marriage (setting the foundation for the emotion-laden story characteristic of Impressionist cinema). \u00a0Consequently, silent era impressionist acting served as a vehicle to express the burdensome emotions associated with these situations. Through gesturing, \u201cGermaine Dermoz\u2019s understated acting conveyed the heroine\u2019s bleak, unpromising petit bourgeois marriage.\u201d\u00b3<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDulac, who draws upon a variety of techniques in <\/span>La Souriante Madame Beudet <\/span><\/i>including associative montage to express her feminist vision, [develops] her<\/span> idea of gesture in movement and rhythm within the image,”\u2074 by\u00a0juxtaposing the mannerisms and gestures of M. and Mme. Beudet to contrast their differing temperaments and values and emphasize the tension within their constrained, bourgeois marriage. This tension is heightened in certain moments, where the framing of gestures is more dramatic.<\/span><\/p>\n

EXAMPLES<\/p>\n

\"02\"Gesture is subtly employed in Mme. Beudet\u2019s piano playing, which conveys her only escape from the confines of her marriage. The framing captures both her expression and hand movement, exposing her\u00a0inner turmoil and emphasizing the emotional heaviness of the situation in which she is entrapped.<\/p>\n

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When\u00a0we are introduced to the two characters: Mme. Beudet plays the piano and reads, while her husband counts coins and examines fabric samples. The shot compositions draw our attention to their hands and to the specific activities they are engaging in; while juxtaposing the shots highlights the differences between the two.\u00a0\u201cIn La Souriante Madame Beudet<\/em>, Dulac employed a specifically cinematic system of signification based on the isolation and the opposition or synthesis of expressive gestures, which she used as social critique.\u201d\u2075<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Close up of Mme. Beudet playing with her wedding ring. The tight framing emphasizes her confinement within her time-worn, unfulfilling marriage.\u00a0It intensifies the drama and visually expresses her dissatisfaction and emotional torment.<\/p>\n

\"ScreenIn the shot to the right, her longing for a man other than her husband, is expressed through her\u00a0outstretched arms, reaching out towards her daytime fantasy, as she whiles her time away in the absence of her boorish husband.<\/h5>\n

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1. Tami Williams,\u00a0Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations<\/em>, (Champagne: University of Illinois Press, 2014), Project Muse, Web. Nov 18 2015, p. 129
\n2. Kristen Thompson and David Bordwell,\u00a0Film History: An Introduction,\u00a0Third Edition, (New York: McGraw Hill, 2010), p.\u00a080<\/h4>\n

3,4. Tami Williams,\u00a0Germaine Dulac: A Cinema,\u00a0<\/em>p. 125<\/h4>\n

5. Tami Williams,\u00a0Germaine Dulac: A Cinema<\/em>, p. 129<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shir Avinadav The dramatic narrative through which character psychology was often explored in French Impressionist films, particularly from the female point of view in The Smiling Madame Beudet, demanded of its performers an understated, yet expressive style of acting that complemented the cinematographic style of the era.   Impressionist filmmakers wanted to explore character psychology, … <\/p>\n

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