Feminist Cinema of the ‘80s and ‘90s

1. Feminist Cinema of the‘80s and ‘90s Patricia L. Pecoy MLL 235

2. Major movements of this period • Birth of feminine and feminist cinema • New genre – the political thriller – gradually relaced the conventional polars (crime movies) • Emergence of newcomers such as Bertrand Tavernier and Bertrand Blier who gave a fresh start to a new generation of young filmmakers • The ascension of humanist film directors such as François Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Sautet • Development of the erotic and pornograhic film industry

3. Women’s Voices • Historically, women were always under someone else’s thumb • Traditionally considered “minors” • Under the authority of the father, then the husand • Arranged marriages (from age 12 on) • Limited to domestic and reproductive tasks • With the Revolution (1789), things began to change

4. The 18th Century • Women hold salons • Thinkers and philosophers were invited to discussions of current interest; based on the freedom of expression • There were both literary and political salons • Ideas of the Age of Enlightenment were discussed • Still, the active participation of women was limited; they served merely as the hostess

5. 18th Century: The Salon of Mme Geoffrin

6. Women’s March on VersaillesOctober 5, 1789 Following the events of July 1789, there was a bread shortage and people were starving The women (and especially the women of the Halles) decided to go to Versailles to solicit the help of the king and queen What they wanted was bread With this act, women entered fully into the public sphere

7. The Women’s March on Versailles

8. Olympe de Gouges Author Fought for women’s rights – rights she felt the Revolution had neglected 1791 – she writes the Declaration of the Rights of Women and of Female Citizens

9. The document is dedicated to the queen Was the first document to propose equal legal rights for women The declaration was never adopted by the National Assembly

10. Olympe de Gouges To be a feminist was rather dangerous during the French Revolution! Olympe de Gouges died a victim of the guillotine in 1793

11. Les tricoteuses (The Knitters) Women continued to participate in the events of the Revolution without being specifically invited to do so They often sat with their knitting during meetings of political organizations politiques

12. Mary Wollenstonecraft English author 1792 – A Vindication of the rights of women She claimed that women were not naturally inferior to men, but that it was the result of their education

13. Progress of women 1790 – inheritance rights were revised so that all children had the same rights, not just the oldest male son 1792 – Divorce by mutual consent was recognized by the law 1793 – Universal suffrage for men; but women continued to be excluded from voting privileges

14. Balance Sheet of the Revolution During the Revolution, women make progress in the civil domaine, but not the political Equality in the rights of inheritance Abolition of the privilege of masculinity The Revolution delivered young girls from the bondage of their parents However, they were still excluded from voting

15. Napoleon The Civil Code of Napoleon institutionalized the inferiority of women Everything they had won under the Revolution was lost under Napoleon

16. Napoléon Women were subjected to the authority of their father or husband Nonetheless, they retained total equality with respect to taxation and imprisonment

17. Women of the 19th Century In the bourgeois society of the 19th century, women continued to be victims of sexual discrimination She was the “good mother of the family” – the glue that held the family together Her husband retained all the economic and political power and authority

18. Some Progress 1832 – rape becomes a crime (even if it is the father or the husband who commits it) 1838 – first Ecole normale d’institutrices (teacher training school) is opened 1880 – the Sée law inaugurates secondary public education for girls 1890 – the newspaper La Voix des femmes (Women’s Voices) is founded by Eugénie Niboyet

19. Still no progress in the political sphere The name of Georges Sand was proposed as a candidate for election (without her knowledge) But the Second (1848) and Third (1875) Republics reaffirmed the withholding of political rights from women

20. The Right to Vote - 1945

21. Post World War II 1945 – Maternity leave was created 1945 – Equal pay for equal work 1975 – the Veil law Legal abortion was recognized by the National Assembly 1975 – Law which provided penalties for discrimination against women based on gender

22. The Manifest of the 343 salopes(bitches) The manifest of the 343 is a declaration which appeared in the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur on April 5, 1971 Signed by 343 women, they affirmed that they had undergone an abortion They thus exposed themselves to the possibility of legal action and possibly imprisonment

23. The Manifest of the 343 salopes(bitches) The manifest begins with these statements : « One million women have abortions each year in France. They do it under the dangerous circumstances brought about by the need for secrecy to which they are condmened, whereas this operation, when performed in controled medical situations, is one of the most simple Millions of women have been forced to remain silent. I declare that I am one of them. I declare that I have had an abortion. Just as we demand access to contraception, we also demand access to legal abortions The manifest was signed by 343 women

24. The Manifes of the 343 salopes (bitches) This manifest in favor of abortion also contributed to advancing the debate in favor of women’s free access to means of contraception

25. Feminist Thinkers of the 20th century Simone de Beauvoir She declared that one was not born a woman, one became a woman A woman is a social construction

26. Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre

27. Women in cinema The question of a language or a vision that is exclusively feminine is posed For these women, political and social emancipation must by its very nature pass through the constitution of a language that is authentically feminine

28. The Status of Women The majority of male thinkers of the left defined the emancipation of women uniquely in economic terms Godard, for example, refused to take into account the cultural specificity of women’s work in certain situations, for example, that of the mother of a family

29. Two tendancies in the cinema The social condition of women The way of looking at things that women bring to the world and to art

30. Chantal Akerman Film: Jeanne Dielman 23 Quai du Commerce (1976) She shows how a woman can emancipate herself from domestic slavery In her films, she gives primordial importance to autobiography which leans towards the intimate or the personal

31. Diane Kurys

32. Coline Serreau

33. ColineSerreau: Maisqu’est-cequ’ellesveulent? (1971) (But What Do Women Want?) Documentary Series of interviews She gave women a voice and she offered to the public a new vision of their hopes and desires in contemporary society

34. Feminine cinema in the 80s Marks a considerable advance towards the emancipation of women in general and in political life This cinema is characterized by the specificity of its themes (the story of women) and its formal investigations of the feminine vision

35. AgnèsVarda • Born May 30, 1928 • Member of the Rive Gauche movement (along with Resnais, Duras, Robbe-Grillet) • Group strongly tied to the nouveau roman (new novel) movement • Was politically positioned on the Left • Was married to film director Jacques Demy

36. AgnèsVardaSans toit, niloi(Vagabond, 1985) • Mixed theatrical and documentary styles • Story of a young woman, drifter • Story of a woman told from a woman’s point of view