European cinema encourages us to understand how our reality itself is a medium whose symbolic configuration and hidden foundations we tend to overlook. By taking seriously recent developments in film theory, it will be shown the extent to which nothing gets more real than film: what European cinema allows us to appreciate is precisely that there is no reality for us except through complex networks of fictional representation. Through the analysis of a selection of classic as well as contemporary European films, the module will probe questions concerning the constitution and dissolution of subjective identities as well as social and symbolic settings. While the films studied in this course are embedded in specific historical contexts, which will be discussed in depth, they also transcend those contexts, opening up areas of investigation beyond what they explicitly connote.       

• Critically investigate a body of eminent European films by situating them in a historical and comparative context, as well as within their wider symbolic and theoretical significations.
• Use a range of analytical approaches to think and write critically about film.
• Formulate and express ideas about the distinctive features of European cinema.
• Appreciate changing cultural and political conditions together with the impact these have upon film production and subject matter.

The course is taught by means of two lectures per week accompanied by seminars (25-30 contact hours overall) and by regular feedback sessions. Lectures focus on single films while also introducing theories and empirical approaches to film analysis. Substantial emphasis is placed on the use of brief film clips, which are intended as an illustrative source with a view to demonstrating how theories and critical methods can be applied to the study of film and its significance for wider issues. Seminar groups provide students with the opportunity to work in teams to develop and understand lecture material, to discuss and debate ideas, and to acquire the critical skills needed in essay writing. Students are expected to attend each lecture and seminar while preparing thoroughly for the seminars. Please bear in mind that studying is a continuing process in which students are expected to be active. Studying requires not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the exchange of ideas, opinions and arguments with others. You will receive continuous feedback throughout the semester and formal feedback for the coursework essay. There will be a revision session (examination preparation) as well as extended office hours in the final week and guidance on how to write a quality essay will be given throughout the semester.

Generic Intellectual Skills:

• Analyse films independently, using a range of theoretical and empirical frameworks
• Engage critically with major intellectual debates within the field of film studies and put them to productive use
• Understand European film cultures as they have emerged historically and appreciate the processes through which they have come into being, with reference to social, cultural and technological change
• Grasp the importance of film in relation to wider political and philosophical issues that European cinema often unconsciously embodies
• Develop a reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement
• Reflect on his or her own learning and make use of constructive feedback
• Manage his or her own learning self-critically

The generic skills will be manifest in the following activities: literature searches, compilation of bibliographies for essays, presentation of written work.

Personal Transferable Skills:

• Learn to process information disseminated through lectures and seminars by means of note-taking and interactive discussion.
• Learn to apply lecture and reading material independently and present it in an academically-sophisticated essay form.
• Communicate ideas effectively and fluently, both orally and in writing
• Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time-management
• Collaborate with others and contribute to the achievement of common goals

Essay (2000 words) - 30%

Written exam - 2 hours - Spring exam period - 70%

The opportunity for reassessment in this module -  

Single re-assessment: unseen 2 hour written examination (100%) during the University re-sit period in the summer. The re-assessment examination will be structured exactly like the end-of-the-module examination.

The module requires the mandatory study of nine post-war European films in their cultural, historical and theoretical contexts. These films will be presented in their original languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish), each reflecting specific filmmaking traditions. With the potential addition of films from other European languages (Danish, Swedish, Greek, Portuguese, etc.), the module attempts to give as comprehensive an outlook on post-war European Cinema as possible. English subtitles will be available for each film. Rather than on national cultures or single filmmaking traditions, however, the main emphasis of the module will fall on the study of how these films enhance our perception of the basic existential mechanisms sustaining our everyday reality.

Because of the original methodology and intellectual approach adopted in this module, ad hoc readings (journal articles, short essays, etc.) will be provided and will be made available in advance of seminar preparation and essay writing. While no single textbook is required, the following reading list covers each studied film in its contexts.    

On National Cinemas and Directors    

• Acevedo-Muñoz, E. R. (2007). Pedro Almodovar. London: BFI.
• Allinson, M. (2001). A Spanish labyrinth: the films of Pedro Almodóvar. London: Tauris.
• Armes, R. (1985). French Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Austin, G. (1999). Claude Chabrol. Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Badley, L. (2011). Lars von Trier. Illinois UP.
• Bainbridge, C. (2008) The Cinema of Lars Von Trier: Authenticity and Artifice. Columbia UP.
• Barotsi, R. and Antonello, P. (2009). ‘The personal and the political: the cinema of Nanni Moretti’, in Postmodern impegno: ethics and commitment in contemporary Italian culture, edited by Pierpaolo Antonello and Florian Mussgnug. Oxford/New York: Peter Lang. 

• Bergfelder, T., Carter, E. and Göktürk D. (eds.) (2002). The German Cinema Book. London: British Film Institute.

• Bondanella, P. (1990). Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present. New York: Continuum.
• Bondanella, P. (2014). The Italian Cinema Book. BFI/Palgrave: London.
• Braad Thomsen, C. (1997). Fassbinder: the life and work of a provocative genius. Boston/London: Faber and Faber.
• Braucourt, G (1971). Claude Chabrol. Paris: Seghers.
• Casetti, F. (1975). Bernardo Bertolucci. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.
• Cardullo, B. (2009). Committed Cinema: the Films of J.-P. and Luc Dardenne: Essays and Interviews. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Collins, R (1981). WDR and the Arbeiterfilm: Fassbinder, Ziewer and others.  London: BFI.
• Cooke, P. (2013) The Lives of Others and Contemporary German Cinema: a Companion. Berlin: De Gruyter.
• Cooke, P. (2005) Representing East Germany since unification: from colonization to nostalgia. Oxford-Bern: Peter Lang.
• Cooke, P and Homewood, C. (2011). New Directions in German Cinema. London: Tauris.
• Cox, D and Levine, M (2012) ‘The Lives of Others: Moral Luck and Regret’, in Cox and Levine, Thinking through Film. Doing Philosophy, Watching Movies. Chichester; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Davies, A. (2007). Pedro Almodóvar. London: Grant & Cutler.

• Dalle Vacche, A. (1992). The body in the mirror: shapes of history in Italian cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

• De Bernardinis, F. (1987). Nanni Moretti. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.
• Delgado, M. and Fiddian, R. (2013) Spanish Cinema 1973-2010: Auterism, Politics, Landscape and Memory. Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Dyer, R. (2002). ‘Reading Fassbinder’s Sexual Politics’, in R. Dyer, The Culture of Queers. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 175-86.
• Elsaesser, T. (1996) Fassbinder's Germany: history, identity, subject. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP.
• Gott, M. and Schilt, T. (2013) Open Roads, Closed Borders: the Contemporary French Language Road Movie. Chicago UP.
• D’Lugo, M. (1991). The films of Carlos Saura: the practice of seeing. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Douin, J.-L. (1985). La Nouvelle vague 25 ans après. Paris: Cerf.

• Edwards, G. (1995). Indecent Exposures: Buñuel, Saura, Erice and Almodóvar. London: Boyars.
• Elsaesser, T. and Wedel, M. (1999). The BFI Companion to German Cinema. London: British Film Institute.
• Ezra, E. and Harris S. (eds) (2000). France in Focus: Film and National Identity. Oxford: Berg.
• Guy, Austin (1999) Claude Chabrol. Manchester: MUP.
• Hake, S. (2002). German National Cinema. London; New York: Routledge.
• Halle, R. and McCarthy M. (eds.) (2003). Light Motives: German Popular Cinema in Perspective. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
• Hayward, S. (1999). French National Cinema. London: Routledge.
• Higginbotham, V. (1988). Spanish Film under Franco. Austin: University of Texas Press.

• Hope, W. (ed.) (2005). Italian cinema: new directions. Oxford; Bern: Peter Lang.

• Hopewell, J. (1986). Out of the past: Spanish cinema after Franco. London: British Film Institute.
• Hughes, A. and Williams J. S. (eds.). Gender and French Cinema. Oxford: Berg.
• Jefferson Kline, T. (1987). Bertolucci’s dream loom: a psychoanalytic study of cinema. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
• Jordan, B. and Tamosunas, M. (1998). Contemporary Spanish Cinema. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Kinder, M. (1993). Blood Cinema: The Reconstruction of National Identity in Spain. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Kolker, R. P. (1985). Bernardo Bertolucci. London: British Film Institute

• Landy, M. (2000). Italian film. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press.

• Lazaro-Reboll, A. and Willis, A. (eds.) (2004). Spanish popular cinema. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press.
• Liehm, M. (1984). Passion and defiance: film in Italy from 1942 to the present. Berkeley/London: University of California Press.
• Limmer, W. (1981). Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Filmemacher. Hamburg: Rowohlt.
• Mosley, P. (2013) The Cinema of the Dardenne Brothers: Responsible Realism. Columbia UP 2013.
• Mai, J. (2010) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Illinois UP.
• Magny, J. (1987). Claude Chabrol. Paris: Cahiers du Cinéma.

• Marcus, M. (1986). Italian film in the light of neorealism. Princeton-Guildford: Princeton University Press.
• Marcus, M. (2002). After Fellini. National Cinema in the Postmodern Age. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Mazierska, E., Rascaroli, L. (2004). The cinema of Nanni Moretti: dreams and diaries. London: Wallflower Press.
• Monaco, J. (1976). The French New Wave: Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, Rivette. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (1996). The companion to Italian cinema. London: BFI.

• Perriam, C. (2003). Stars and Masculinities in Spanish Cinema: From Banderas to Bardem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Powrie, P. and Reader, K. (2002). French Cinema: a Student's Guide. London: Arnold.
• Rayns, T. (ed.) (1979) Fassbinder. London: BFI.
• Reiter, G (2014) ‘The Lives of Others: the Others of Our Lives’, in G. Reiter The Shadow Self in Film. Projecting the Unconscious Other. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press.
• Richardson, N. E. (2002). Postmodern paletos: immigration, democracy, and globalization in Spanish narrative and film, 1950-2000. Lewisburg [Pa.]: Bucknell University Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses.
• Royo-Villanova, J. (2006). Almodóvar mon amour. Madrid: Temas de Hoy.
• Sánchez, A. (1991). Carlos Saura. Huesca: Diputación Provincial.
• Sánchez Vidal, A. (1988) El cine de Carlos Saura. Zaragoza: Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada de Aragón.
• Sargeant, J. and Watson, S. (eds.) (1999). Lost Highways: An Illustrated History of Road Movies. Creation Cinema Collection, vol. 15.
• Scott. E. C. and Taylor, F. (eds.) (2014) Totalitarianism on Screen: the Art and Politics of The Lives of Others. Lexington: Kentucky UP.

• Simons, J. (2014). Playing the Waves: Lars Von Trier’s Game Cinema. Amsterdam UP.
• Sorlin, Pierre (1996). Italian national cinema, 1986-1996. London-New York: Routledge.

• Temple, M. and Witt M. (eds.) (2004). The French Cinema Book. London: BFI.
• Tonetti, C. (1995). Bernardo Bertolucci: the cinema of ambiguity. New York: Twayne Publishers; London: Prentice Hall International.
• Töteberg, M. and Lensing L. A. (1992). The anarchy of the imagination: interviews, essays, notes / Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Ungari E. and D. Ranvaud (1987). Bertolucci by Bertolucci. London: Plexus.

• Vighi, F. (2006). Traumatic Encounters in Italian Film: Locating the Cinematic Unconscious (Bristol: Intellect).
• Vighi, F (2005) ‘Nanni Moretti: Trauma, Hysteria, and Freedom’ in William Hope (ed.) Italian Cinema: New Directions. Oxford-Bern: Peter Lang (79-106).
• Vighi, F. and Nouss, A. (eds.) (2010). Pasolini, Fassbinder and Europe: between utopia and nihilism. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

• Vincendeau, G. (1996). The Companion to French Cinema. London: BFI.

• Wood, M. P. (2005) Italian cinema. Oxford: Berg.
• Wood, R. and Walker, M (1970). Claude Chabrol. London Vista.

• Willem, L. M. (2003) (ed.). Carlos Saura: interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

On European Cinema

• Aitken, I. (2002). European Film Theory and Cinema: a Critical Introduction. Indiana University Press.

• Dyer, R. and Vincendeau, G. (eds.) (1992). Popular European Cinema. London: Routledge.
• Elsaesser T. (2005). European cinema: face to face with Hollywood. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP.
• Ezra, E. (2003). European Cinema. Oxford: Oxford UP.

• Forbes, J. and Street, S. (2001). European Cinema: an Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Fowler, C. (2002). The European Cinema Reader. London: Routledge.

• Holmes D. & Alison S. (eds.) (2000) 100 years of European cinema: entertainment or ideology? Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Maule, R. (2008). Beyond auteurism: new directions in authorial film practices in France, Italy and Spain since the 1980s. Bristol: Intellect.
• Mazierska, E. (2006) Crossing new Europe: postmodern travel and European cinema London: Wallflower Press.

• Wayne, M. (2002).The politics of contemporary European cinema: histories, borders, diasporas. Bristol: Intellect.
• Vighi, F. (2009). Sexual Difference in European Cinema: the Curse of Enjoyment (London/New York: Palgrave).

• Wood, M. (2007) Contemporary European Cinema. London: Hodder Arnold.

On Film Theory

• Braudy, L. (1984). The World in a Frame: What We See in Films. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
• Braudy, L. and Cohen, M. (2004). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Cohan S. and Hark, I. R. (eds.) (1997). The Road Movie Book. London – New York: Routledge.
• Corrigan, T. (2004). A short guide to writing about film. New York: Pearson/Longman.
• Easthope, A. (1993) (ed.). Contemporary film theory. London: Longman.

• Fuery, P. (2000). New developments in film theory. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
• Grant, B. K. (1986). Film genre reader. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Hallam, J. and Marshment, M. (2000). Realism and Popular Cinema. Manchester: Manchester UP.

• Hayword, S. (2000). Cinema Studies: the Key Concepts (2^nd edition). Routledge.
• Holmes D. and Smith A. (eds.) (2000). 100 years of European cinema: entertainment or ideology? Manchester: MUP.
• Kaplan, A. E. (ed.). (1980). Women in film noir. London: BFI Publishing.

• Lapsley, R. and Westlake, M. (1988). Film theory: an introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Lebeau, V. (2001). Psychoanalysis and cinema: the play of shadows. London: Wallflower.
• Mast, G., Cohen M. and Braudy, L. (1992). Film theory and criticism: introductory readings. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Miller, T. and Stam, R. (eds.) (1999). A companion to film theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Rodowick, D. N. (1991). The difficulty of difference: psychoanalysis, sexual difference & film theory. New York: Routledge.
• Sabbadini, A. (2014). Moving Images. Psychoanalytic Reflections on Film. London: Routledge.
• Silverman, K. (1992) Male Subjectivity at the Margins. New York: Routledge.

• Stam, R. (2000). Film Theory: an Introduction. Blackwell.

• Stam, R. (1992) (ed). New vocabularies in film semiotics: structuralism, post-structuralism and beyond. London: Routledge.
• Willemen, P. (1994). Looks and frictions: essays in cultural studies and film theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press / London: British Film Institute.