Well, i think they especially liked Voyage to Italy- you can see its influence on Contempt, and much of Rohmer- not just for its use of location, but the subtle way characters’ feelings are expressed through surroundings, a lightness of touch that opened up new filmic possibilities, certainly not laboured, pompous or stale socio-political comment.
(Now if only Oliveira’s wonderful Aniki Bobo, from 1942, had been more widely seen!)
Aniki Bobo is another title I’d mention in the Neorealism thread; incredibly unknown and important for the movement.
Yes, “Voyage to Italy” seems to be a great film to the directors of French New Wave, I remember it’s one of Rohmer’s top 10 favorites. I am not familiar with Oliveira’s works, I only know “Abraham Valley.” I will check out “Aniki Bobo.”
Bazin insisted on the importance of the integrity of the spatial-temporal relationship, which would favour mise-en-scene over choppy editing, and support Voyage to Italy, and hence the admiration for Renoir and Mizoguchi too. I would need to see Rome Open City, which Godard admired greatly, again soon, to see what i missed previously. I doubt Bazin would have approved at all of Hollywood’s current breakneck edited roller-coaster “intensified continuity”.
i dont know why the new wavers didnt pay much attention to de sica. they definitely had a serious love for rossellini, and with good reason.
“rome, open city” is a masterpiece. an amazing film. its one of the towering achievments in cinema. packed with emotion. and i LOVE the fact that it was actually shot in occupied rome. that’s revolutionary cinema.
I watched “Rome, Open City” yesterday and I must admit that I don’t have strong feeling about that film. I still have no clue why French New Wave loved Rossellini so much. I guess I need to watch it again…
Rossellini granted lengthy interviews to the Cahiers critics and greatly encouraged them to become filmmakers themselves. “Paris Nous Appartient” for instance grew out of a conversation Rivette had with Rossellini about young people today. And Rossellini gets a screenplay adaptation credit on Godard’s “Les Carabiniers.”
SAMMAX
I got a question; we know that French New Wave has the blood relationship with Neo-Realist films, but why those critics of Cahiers du Cinema(especially André Bazin, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard)praised Rossellini in particular instead of Vittorio De Sica or other Neo-Realist filmmakers? Some people even call him “the father of the French New Wave.” Any thought?