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A Non-Bourgeois Analysis of Tout Va Bien

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A Non-Bourgeois Analysis of Tout Va Bien
Jose Alvarez
English 2
David Lau
A Non-Bourgeois Analysis of Tout Va Bien In the 21st century modern cinematic film industry an audience is enabled to experience a wide array of films beholding an eminently developed Hollywood perspective. Hollywood blockbusters assuredly dominate the United States film industry for various reasons. The general population absorbing modern Hollywood movies may manage to argue that the highly advanced state of the art techniques that blockbuster films utilize in order to enhance and flourish their big screen cinemas are the ideal justifications of their success. Such film techniques can vary widely from exquisite execution of state of the art animation, proficient synchronization of movie scores and progressive character augmentation just to name a few. These Hollywood methods tend to be harmonized collectively and conglomeratized for the constantly recycled concept of progressive plot development. Although many filmmakers have effectively exploited similar progressive concepts for years, it has also inspired other filmmakers to create inverted juxtapositional styled films. The collaborative film Tout Va Bien by the Dziga Vertov Group which consists of Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin is an exemplification of such a counter Hollywood style film. Brian Henderson a film critic and writer of “Towards a Non-Bourgeois Camera Style,” characterized Godard’s approach on certain films as “non-bourgeois” for various reasons. Henderson’s essential point was concerned with Godard’s camera style, yet there is also other demonstrations of Godard’s non-bourgeois approach to filmmaking. Additional elements outside of camera style range from political topics, adoption of Brectian mechanisms and the use of other deviant aesthetic filmmaking devices. When considering Henderson’s term “non-bourgeois,” its primary and essential definition is when filmmakers develop anti-illusionary and authentically realistic films. Godard’s films from 1967


Cited: Henderson, Brian, "Towards a Non-Bourgeois Camera Style." Film Theory and Criticism MacCabe, Colin, “Postscript to May 1968.” English 2 Reader Spring 2012: 19-22.
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