Bande a Part--Godard’s Tribute to Surrealist Literature
Hui Lin
French New Wave
17 Nov. 2012
Bande a Part--Godard’s Tribute to Surrealist Literature
In Godard’s films we find intertextuality aplenty—citatios, allusions, borrowings—as well as what Gerard Genette calls “hypertextuality,” the derivation of one text from another by transformation or imitation. By quoting lines and allusions from surrealist literature in Bande a Part, he has made a great tribute to French surrealism movement.
After watching Godard’s film Bande a Part, you may find that Book has become a noticeable motif. The teller standing in front of the English class’s door is holding a book, the English teacher is reading Shakespear’s drama, Franz is reading a book to Odile while they are driving to her villa, and even in the process of robbing, Odile is holding a book and also, though unreasonable, Arthur has grabbed a book in his pocket while doing the crime…
Not only the motif, Godard also using various quotes and references to express the connection between his film and literature.
First of all, this film was based on a novel set in Los Angeles called Fool’s Gold written by American author Dolores Hitchens (1907-1973). Godard borrowed the main character’s setting and changed the story into Paris. “Are you afraid? People haven’t got X-ray eyes, you know?” this line which Arthur asking Franz in the beginning scene is also coming from this book.
When it comes to the first voice-over—“My story begins here”. This sentence is a quote from Raymond Queneau’s novel--Odile. Godard also named the main character Odile, it’s a great regard to this surrealist writer.
When Arthur and Franz first arrived at the lakeside villa, Arthur said: “It’s a pretty forlorn place.” Although it’s hardly being recognized, the line comes from Paul Verlaine’s poetry—Emotional Exchanges.
English classroom must be one of the most important scenes of this film. It’s impressive when the English teacher is reading Romeo and Juliet. She started to read from the
French New Wave
17 Nov. 2012
Bande a Part--Godard’s Tribute to Surrealist Literature
In Godard’s films we find intertextuality aplenty—citatios, allusions, borrowings—as well as what Gerard Genette calls “hypertextuality,” the derivation of one text from another by transformation or imitation. By quoting lines and allusions from surrealist literature in Bande a Part, he has made a great tribute to French surrealism movement.
After watching Godard’s film Bande a Part, you may find that Book has become a noticeable motif. The teller standing in front of the English class’s door is holding a book, the English teacher is reading Shakespear’s drama, Franz is reading a book to Odile while they are driving to her villa, and even in the process of robbing, Odile is holding a book and also, though unreasonable, Arthur has grabbed a book in his pocket while doing the crime…
Not only the motif, Godard also using various quotes and references to express the connection between his film and literature.
First of all, this film was based on a novel set in Los Angeles called Fool’s Gold written by American author Dolores Hitchens (1907-1973). Godard borrowed the main character’s setting and changed the story into Paris. “Are you afraid? People haven’t got X-ray eyes, you know?” this line which Arthur asking Franz in the beginning scene is also coming from this book.
When it comes to the first voice-over—“My story begins here”. This sentence is a quote from Raymond Queneau’s novel--Odile. Godard also named the main character Odile, it’s a great regard to this surrealist writer.
When Arthur and Franz first arrived at the lakeside villa, Arthur said: “It’s a pretty forlorn place.” Although it’s hardly being recognized, the line comes from Paul Verlaine’s poetry—Emotional Exchanges.
English classroom must be one of the most important scenes of this film. It’s impressive when the English teacher is reading Romeo and Juliet. She started to read from the