Unit information: Gender and Sexuality in French Film in 2008/09

Unit name	Gender and Sexuality in French Film
Unit code	FREN30097
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Nick Rees-Roberts
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of French
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This seminar course will examine the expanding body of work on representations of gender and sexuality in French auteur cinema within the larger socio-political context of contemporary France. The aim of the course is to engage with key critical debates around gender representation and spectatorship within feminist and queer film studies, and to situate recent production within the broader historical development of French cinema. Starting with the relatively well-established filmmaker Claire Denis whose output has consistently tackled issues of sex and marginality, we will move on to the early 21st century "cinema of transgression", the so-called "New French Extremism" that has seen auteurs of the jeune cinema fran�ais incorporate images of violence and extreme sexuality into the art-house format. This trend has been particularly associated with French women directors such as Catherine Breillat (Romance, 1999), and Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi (Baise-moi,2000), but also with male auteurs such as Gaspard No� (Seul contre tous, 1998; Irr�versible, 2002), Patrice Ch�reau (Intimit�, 2001) and Christophe Honor� (Ma M�re, 2004).

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

1 x 2hr slot

Assessment Information

3 hour examination (75%) and 3000 word assessed essay (25%)