Characteristics of French Impressionist Films

The Impressionists perceive cinema as an art of emotion, an occasion for the artists/filmmakers to express feelings. (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010, p. 464) The interaction of a few characters, usually love triangle, would serve as the basis for the exploration of filmmaker on fleeting moods and shifting sensations. The Impressionist loves giving narration considerable psychological depth and revealing the play of a character’s consciousness. They focus more on the inner action of the characters but not the external physical behavior.

Moreover, Impressionist films manipulate time plot time and subjectivity. Flashbacks are used to depict memories and the filmmaker will also portray the characters’ dreams, fantasies, and mental states. In the film In The Mood For Love (Wong, 2000), the director used another way to represent memories. The scene where Mr. Chow walking at the corridor in the hotel after he leaves his room, then he and the waving curtains froze in the frame, showing that he is embedding the moment as a memory. (picture 1.1)

Picture 1.1

            As the Impressionist movement is known by its use to film style. The filmmakers use cinematography and editing to illustrate the characters’ mental states. From the film In The Mood For Love (Wong, 2000), the scene where Mr. Chow is sitting at his working desk and smoking in the office. He lights up the cigarette and the expression on his face shows that he is thinking of something. The smoke that is floating above his head represents his confused inner thought, which is clouded like the smoke. (picture 2.1) Another cinematic way that the director used in the film to show the inner states of the character is slow motion. The scene of both Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan going to noodle stall alone separately, the slow motion shots represent their feeling of time going by slowly in their daily routine because of the loneliness. (picture 2.2)

Picture 2.1

Picture 2.2

In impressionist films, the filmmakers use irises, masks, and superimpositions to be functioned as traces of characters’ thoughts and feelings. An example can be found in the film No Regrets for Our Youth (Kurosawa, 1946), the scene where Yukie is sitting in the cell after being imprisoned, a sweeping clock pendulum is superimposed in the frame, which reflects the time is going slowly. (picture 3.1) While in Coeur Fidele (Epstein, 1923), the heroine looks out a window, the foul jetsam of waterfront is superimposed to convey her dejection at working as a barmaid in a dockside tavern. (picture 3.2)

Picture 3.1

Picture 3.2

            Besides, cinematography and editing are also used to present characters’ perceptual experience, which is their optical impressions, to intensify the subjectivity. Point-of-view shot is used to show the objects or subjects that the character is looking at, replicating the characters’ vantage point. The Impressionist also uses distorted or filtered shots and vertiginous camera movements to show the drunkenness and dizziness of the character. For example, a shot of a curved mirror in El Dorado (Hawks, 1921) that stretches the man’s body sideways, which conveys his tipsiness. (picture 4.1)

Picture 4.1

            Furthermore, impressionist experimented with noticeable rhythmic editing to suggest the pace of an experience as a character feels it, moment by moment. The rhythm accelerates when there is emotional turmoil, as the shots get shorter and shorter. One of the examples is in the film In The Mood For Love (Wong, 2000), the fast cut or montage of Mrs. Chan going up and down at the staircase in the hotel, which is portraying the struggle of her on whether she want to meet Mr. Chow.