Gender in French Cinema
French Cinema and Society – Final Paper
Analyse and compare the gender dynamic in Jules et Jim and Les Valseuses.
This essay will attempt to explore the idea that although both Jules et Jim and Les Valseuses explore progressive gender dynamics, ultimately their films remain grounded on traditional gender concepts. Both films move around the French-loved triangular structure between protagonists, around which this paper will explore gender in two ways; through a look at the classic woman-man dynamic, but also in familial terms, looking at fraternal, maternal and paternal gender codings, beginning with how the films portray a positive, equal gender dynamic, continuing into how the films contrarily confirm patriarchal gender dynamics, before coming to a conclusion on Truffaut and Blier’s actual comments on gender.
In the cross-dressing scene in Jules et Jim, we see Catherine emerged dressed as a man, blurring the gender concept and posing herself as member of the brotherhood of, literally, man. Although her femininity is clear, we see her using masculine appearance as a vehicle for her freedom of behaviour as she smokes. Coming down the stairs after proof of her ruse’s success, she walks ahead of the men. When she sits down, the men continue to the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her, as does the camera, from a low angle to convey her empowered state as a woman capable of performing both gender roles, hence superior. The race over the bridge at the end of the sequence is important for two reasons. Firstly, the frontal camera shows clearly their positions of power in deciding the course of the triangular relationship. Secondly, it conveys the sexual tension between the protagonists by using a disconnect between the diegetic sound and the film. The sound plays breath, puffing and hard but elated in the excitement, like sounds from a sex scene. Catherine leads, the men attempt to keep pace, which can be seen as a parallel for Catherine’s sexual power, in
Analyse and compare the gender dynamic in Jules et Jim and Les Valseuses.
This essay will attempt to explore the idea that although both Jules et Jim and Les Valseuses explore progressive gender dynamics, ultimately their films remain grounded on traditional gender concepts. Both films move around the French-loved triangular structure between protagonists, around which this paper will explore gender in two ways; through a look at the classic woman-man dynamic, but also in familial terms, looking at fraternal, maternal and paternal gender codings, beginning with how the films portray a positive, equal gender dynamic, continuing into how the films contrarily confirm patriarchal gender dynamics, before coming to a conclusion on Truffaut and Blier’s actual comments on gender.
In the cross-dressing scene in Jules et Jim, we see Catherine emerged dressed as a man, blurring the gender concept and posing herself as member of the brotherhood of, literally, man. Although her femininity is clear, we see her using masculine appearance as a vehicle for her freedom of behaviour as she smokes. Coming down the stairs after proof of her ruse’s success, she walks ahead of the men. When she sits down, the men continue to the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her, as does the camera, from a low angle to convey her empowered state as a woman capable of performing both gender roles, hence superior. The race over the bridge at the end of the sequence is important for two reasons. Firstly, the frontal camera shows clearly their positions of power in deciding the course of the triangular relationship. Secondly, it conveys the sexual tension between the protagonists by using a disconnect between the diegetic sound and the film. The sound plays breath, puffing and hard but elated in the excitement, like sounds from a sex scene. Catherine leads, the men attempt to keep pace, which can be seen as a parallel for Catherine’s sexual power, in