French Films Mini-Course

Join our cohort of film devotees to consider French social comedy, a genre marrying humor to social commentary. Satire is always one ingredient, but here it’s savory, not sour. Also in the mix? Social solidarity. Two films are comedies of self-absorption: that of Jean Renoir’s landed gentry and Agnes Varda’s yé-yé singer, Cleo. The second Varda film uses the director's own life’s work as social commentary, while Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie fashions a Parisian fable about loneliness.

Watch an assigned film on your own each week. Then join University of Hartford Professor Michael Walsh to learn more and discuss. The films are:

·Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)

·Cléo From Five to Seven (Agnès Varda, 1962)

·The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000)

·Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

When: Mondays, October 26, November 2, 9, 16; 3–4:30 p.m.

Sponsored by President’s College Lifelong Learning at the University of Hartford. Visit Hartford.edu/pc to check this out as well as lots of other fall courses & lectures. Email pcollege@hartford.edu or call 860.768.4495 with questions or to be added to the mailing list.