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European New Cinema - ENG00146I

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  • Department: English and Related Literature
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module summary

This module offers you the opportunity to experience and respond to the innovative filmmaking of post-war Europe. We will study a programme of French, Italian, German, Scandinavian and Spanish films from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s, paying particular attention to the countercultural 1960s. We will consider the way these films break the formal conventions of mainstream entertainment cinema (‘Hollywood’), and the artistic and political values they set up in the process. We will read theories of film and the image that arose from this turbulent period of European history.

The module offers a screening programme of one film per week, drawn chronologically from Italian, French, German, Scandinavian and Spanish postwar cinemas. We will study these films alongside political and theoretical writing of the period, together with contemporary historical and critical commentary. Each seminar will include training in film close reading, critical and theoretical analysis, and commentary on relevant aspects of language and translation.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

The aims of this module are to familiarise you with the formal and artistic techniques of directors such as Rossellini, de Sica, Varda, Godard, Truffaut, Fassbinder, Schlöndorff, von Trotta and Erice; to encourage an understanding of the cultural and intellectual backgrounds within which they worked; and to promote a critical response to the social and political debates in which they were engaged.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an informed understanding of and engagement with a range of post-war West European films and filmmakers.

  2. Demonstrate an informed understanding of and engagement with the historical, political and aesthetic context of the filmmakers under discussion and their work.

  3. Examine key debates and relevant critical, technical and theoretical approaches.

  4. Develop arguments and ideas which demonstrate a proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.

  5. Demonstrate an understanding of some of the key issues at stake in the act of translation and in the study of literature in translation.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 70
Open Examination 30

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Throughout the module, you will have the opportunity to pitch, road-test, and develop essay ideas. Feedback will be integrated into your seminars or the ‘third hour’ (i.e. the lecture or workshop).

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 70
Open Examination 30

Module feedback

  • You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is designed to help you to improve your work, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further you can discuss it with your tutor or your supervisor, during their Open Office Hours

  • For more information about the feedback you will receive for your work, see the department's Guide to Assessment

Indicative reading

Films studies may include:

  • Roberto Rossellini, Roma, città aperta [Rome, Open City] (1945)

  • Vittorio de Sica, Ladri di biciclette [Bicycle Thieves] (1948)

  • François Truffaut, Les 400 coups [The 400 Blows] (1959)

  • Michelangelo Antonioni, L’Avventura (1960)

  • Agnès Varda, Cléo de 5 à 7 [Cleo from 5 to 7] (1961)

  • Jean-Luc Godard, Masculin féminin (1966)

  • Ingmar Bergman, Persona (1966)

  • Victor Erice, El espíritu de la colmena [The Spirit of the Beehive] (1973)

  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Angst essen Seele auf [Fear Eats the Soul] (1974)

Volker Sclöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta, Die verlorene Ehre der Katarina Blum [The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum], (1975)


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.