Examine Rififi through a feminist lens. Use at least one quote from a feminist film theory essay (either the Laura Mulvey essay or Anneke Smelik's essay.) Read the film by FULLY analyzing one five-minute scene. Be sure to discuss the film's meaning as a whole (through the feminist lens) and the scene's relation to that meaning. Why did you choose the scene? I also want you to mention your favorite part of the movie and what cinematic techniques you learned you could use in your own productions. Minimum of 2 paragraphs.
And, check out these cool production design pictures from the movie!
And, check out these cool production design pictures from the movie!
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ReplyDeleteRififi is definitely an extremely interesting film to view through a feminist lens. At first glance, it seems as if the women are simply accessories for the men. However, once you take a deeper look, you realise that the women hold a lot of power. They are the driving factor behind the entire plot - for everyone except le Stephanois, they are pulling the heist because of the female figure in their lives. This is extraordinarily obvious in the scene where the men are discussing what they will do with their share of the loot. Jo says that he wants to provide for his family: namely, his wife, the major female in his life, and their son. Mario wants to treat his girlfriend, the major female in his life, to the finest things in life. Le Milanais wants to both get his sisters husbands, and also impress his latest fling. Tony has a much deeper motivation. He is not explicitly pulling the heist because of Mado, but she plays a large role in why he agreed to go along with it in the first place. Even though Tony beats her savagely, we understand that that is because she holds power over him. Ironically enough, the beating only serves to give her MORE power. The plot in the last third of the film is driven by a woman. Le Milanais, during the heist, decides to steal a beautiful ring to give to the woman he is courting, Viviane. She works at the restaurant which the main “villains” of the film own, and as such they see the ring. Once they connect the ring to the massive jewel heist, they decide to go after the gang that pulled it, which leads to the final third and the climax.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorite scene has to be the heist. It may seem stereotypical because that is, in fact, the most monumental scene in the entire movie, and it influenced every heist movie that came after it. However, as I am now a sound designer, it was fascinating. Normally, when thinking of “suspense”, you would think of music crescendoing along with the action. This is absolutely not so with the heist scene. It is extremely interesting how the lack of music makes it all the more suspenseful. That, combined with a clock being in most of the shots, makes the scene almost impossible to watch.
Looking at Rififi through a feminist lense does not put the film in a good light from the first scene featuring an important female character, the scene I will be analyzing, women are displayed as lesser than the male protagonists featured in the film. This scene (11:01 to 16:01) shows Tony and his lover from before he was in prison and Viviane in discussion after he finds her at a club. While from the moment the two are on screen it’s clear that Stéphanois has the dominant position in the conversation there is also a clear undertone suggesting that Viviane has some pull on him because of their romantic past. However Jules Dassin refuses to allow any castration anxiety build by quickly showing Stéphanois forcing Viviane to strip before he shoves her into the bathroom and beats her out of frame.
ReplyDeleteThis scene exquisitely and efficiently makes the audience uncomfortable by degrading Viviane and removing any semblance of strength she had as the film does with most of the women shown throughout the film. The raw discomfort draws on the sheer amount of time that the audience is presented with the situation demonstrating just how powerful timing is in film joined with the carefully crafted but unshown violence of the scene that could be used as inspiration in a project looking to draw out a similarly raw emotion from the viewer.
I think this is a pretty compelling response, but I really think that there is more to the relationship between Stephanois and Viviane than a romantic past, and it has more to do with cultural and patriarchal context.
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ReplyDeleteRififi was the template of classic heist movies such as the Ocean's Eleven series as well as many other later heist movies. Watching this film through a feminist lens makes the unequal treatment and perception of women very evident. From the very beginning of this film we see the extremely large amount of power that men possess with simple techniques. The film begins with only close up shots of each individual man to show the power they hold separately, then as the film progresses and we see medium shots of more than one man the men frame each other and are constantly shot with low angle shots which completely emphasise their power. From the beginning of the film the audience is presented with multiple shots with high key light and low angles that focus on men only.
The scene that most stuck out to me concerning the degrading of women was one with an example of implied violence. This scene is one of few in the film that actually shows a female character and the way she is objectified through composition of shots shows clearly the lack of female power in this film. The scene shows Jean inviting the women into his apartment and she is framed inside the door frame with Jean in there with her. This shot implies the woman is trapped in a life with him and is completely powerless to him. The following shots also take place in the apartment where the woman is filmed in the same frame, told to take off her clothing piece by piece in a single long shot. The length of this shot is of equal importance as the action taking place because we see the woman stuck in this same lifestyle in the same position for a extenuated period of time and each second this shot takes adds to the ammount of power being taken away from the women and put on the man. We then see a pan from the unclothed woman and Jean to a picture of the man while hearing sounds of whipping and shrieks of a woman. This implied actions suggests the woman is being beat and is a clear example of the power this man has over her. I chose this scene because of the lasting impact it has on the film as a whole, much like the lasting impact the feminist film theory had on film theories as a whole. The amount of awe and astonishment that the audience experiences after this shot is finished is unbelievable for just one shot under thirty seconds. My favorite part of the film was the night scene where they began robbing the bank. The fact that this scene contained only the small sounds of trinkets added a new level of suspense that I used in my film Understanding Italian Neorealism with the Teacher handing Zoe a note and saying no information that carried future narrative information so the audience was held in suspense.
Like how The Public Enemy was a perfect example of a crime or gangster film, Rififi is the perfect example of the crime subgenre of heist. Whereas the central focus of everyday audience goers may be the tension of the heist and the action in the film, it is clear by looking at the whole movie that this film is a criticism of a patriarchal society that does not care for romantic partners or children. When men are in the frame, the camera is often moving, representing their power and consistent movement, often movement around issues. The women in Rififi are often put down until the end, with them smaller in the frame than men.
ReplyDeleteWhat truly makes it clear that women are in power over men is the final scene, in which Stephanois dies and Louise takes her child back from the car after it crashes. Leading up to the crash, the editors use quick cuts to build suspense and tension for Stephanois leading up to his death. Because Stephanois cannot care well enough for the child, and the mother can, the women of the film and of the society of the film are placed higher. Louise is seen in two shots, one to set up the action, and then a long take of her going to the car and reclaiming her child from the evil men that nearly killed him. This long take is representative of how Louise cares for her child and lives her life with supreme ease, whereas the quick cuts portray how much trouble Stephanois goes through.