Histoire(s) du cinéma

Infobox Film
name = Histoire(s) du cinéma


image_size =
caption = An image quoted from "Prison (1949 film)" and overlapped text "Histoire(s) du cinéma"
director = Jean-Luc Godard
producer = Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie, France 3, Gaumont, La Sept, Télévision Suisse Romande, Vega Films
writer = Jean-Luc Godard
narrator = Jean-Luc Godard
starring = Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Anne-Marie Miéville, André Malraux, Ezra Pound, Paul Celan
music = Paul Hindemith, Arvo Pärt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Giya Kancheli, Béla Bartók, Franz Schubert, Igor Stravinsky, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Coltrane, Leonard Cohen, Otis Redding, Dmitri Shostakovich, Anton Webern, Dino Saluzzi, David Darling
cinematography = Pierre Binggeli, Hervé Duhamel
editing = Jean-Luc Godard
distributor = Gaumont
released = 1988-1998
runtime = 228 min. (total)
country = FRA, SUI
language = French
budget =
gross =
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"Histoire(s) du cinéma" is a video project begun by Jean-Luc Godard in the late 1980s and completed in 1998. It is always referred to by its French title, because of the wordplay it implies: "histoire" means both "history" and "story," and the "s" in parentheses gives the possibility of a plural. Therefore, the phrase "Histoire(s) du cinéma" simultaneously means "The History of Cinema", "The Histories of Cinema", "The Story of Cinema" and "The Stories of Cinema". Similar double and triple meaning, as well as puns, are a recurring motif throughout "Histoire(s)" and much of Godard's work.

The densest of Godard's films, "Histoire(s) du cinéma" is an examination of the history of the concept of cinema and how it relates to the 20th century; in this sense, it can also be considered a critique of the 20th century and how it perceives itself. The project is considered the major work of the late period of Godard's career; it is alternately described as an essay and a poem.

Episodes

"Histoire(s) du cinéma" consists of 4 chapters, each one subdivided into two parts, making for a total of 8 episodes. The first two episodes, "Toutes les histoires" (1988) and "Une histoire seule" (1989) run 52 minutes and 48 minutes, respectively; the remaining 6 episodes, premiered 1997 - 1998, run under half an hour each.

*Chapter 1(a) : 51 min.
**"Toutes les histoires" (1988) - "All the (Hi)stories"
*Chapter 1(b) : 42 min.
**"Une Histoire seule" (1989) - "A Single (Hi)story"
*Chapter 2(a) : 26 min.
**"Seule le cinema" (1997) - "Only Cinema"
*Chapter 2(b) : 28 min.
**"Fatale beauté" (1997) - "Deadly Beauty"
*Chapter 3(a) : 27 min.
**"La Monnaie de l’absolu" (1998) - "The Coin of the Absolute"
*Chapter 3(b) : 27 min.
**"Une Vague Nouvelle" (1998) - "A New Wave"
*Chapter 4(a) : 27 min.
**"Le Côntrole de l’univers" (1998) - "The Control of the Universe"
*Chapter 4(b) : 38 min.
**"Les Signes parmi nous" (1998) - "The Signs Among Us"

Films Referenced and Quoted

"Histoire(s) du cinéma" is composed almost entirely of visual and auditory quotations from films, some famous and some obscure. The sources of referenced films and literary quotations are delineated chronologically by the film critic Celine Scemama, the author of "Histoire(S) Du Cinema De Jean-Luc Godard: La Force Faible D'un Art"."' [Scemama-Heard, Celine, [http://cri-image.univ-paris1.fr/celine/celinegodard.html La partition des Histoire(s) du cinéma de Jean-Luc Godard] , available on the site of [http://cri-image.univ-paris1.fr/accueil.html Centre de Recherche sur l'Image] (CRI), Paris]

This is a partial list of works Godard drew upon to create the project; a complete list would number hundreds of entries.

*"The Barefoot Contessa"' [http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/52/moments.htm Bright Lights Film Journal: The Misery and Splendors of Cinema] ]
*"Bicycle Thieves"'
*"The Docks of New York"
*"A King in New York"
*"Man Hunt"
*"Notorious"'
*"Night of the Hunter"
*"Only Angels Have Wings" [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/15/godard_horwath.html Senses of Cinema: The Man with the Magnetoscope] ]
*"Passion of Joan of Arc", which Godard had featured earlier in "Vivre Sa Vie"
*"Rear Window
*"Scarface"
*"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179216/movieconnections Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une histoire seule (1989) (V) - Movie connections ] ]

References

Further reading

*frScemama-Heard, Celine, "Histoire(s) du cinéma de Jean-Luc Godard. La force faible d’un art", L’Harmattan, Paris, 2006. ISBN 2-296-00728-7

External links

* [http://cri-image.univ-paris1.fr/celine/celine.html La partition des Histoire(s) du cinéma de Jean-Luc Godard]
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