Surrealist cinema

Surrealist cinema is a modernist approach to film theory, criticism, and production, with origins in Paris in the 1920s. The Surrealist movement used shocking, irrational, or absurd imagery and Freudian dream symbolism to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality. Related to Dada cinema, Surrealist cinema is characterized by juxtapositions, the rejection of dramatic psychology, and a frequent use of shocking imagery. Philippe Soupault and André Breton’s 1920 book collaboration Les Champs magnétiques^[1] is often considered to be the first Surrealist work,^[2] but it was only once Breton had completed his Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 that ‘Surrealism drafted itself an official birth certificate.’^[3]

Surrealist films of the twenties include René Clair's Entr'acte (1924), Fernand Léger's Ballet Mécanique (1924), Jean Renoir's La Fille de l'Eau (1924), Marcel Duchamp's Anemic Cinema (1926), Jean Epstein's Fall of the House of Usher (1928) (with Luis Buñuel assisting), Watson and Webber's Fall of the House of Usher (1928)^[4] and Germaine Dulac's The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) (from a screenplay by Antonin Artaud). Other films include Un Chien Andalou (1929) and L'Âge D'Or (1930), both by Buñuel and Salvador Dalí; Buñuel went on to direct many more films, never denying his surrealist roots.^[5] Ingmar Bergman said "Buñuel nearly always made Buñuel films".^[6]

^ André Breton, Complètes, T. I, ed. Marguerite Bonnet (Œuvres Paris: Gallimard, 1988), 51-105.
^ Breton, André; Parinaud, André (1993). Conversations: The Autobiography of Surrealism. Translated by Polizzotti, Mark. Paragon House. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-55778-423-0.
^ As agreed by interviewer and interviewee. Breton and Parinaud, 71
^ Em Gee Film Library, Catalog 83 (no date) Murray Glass, Editorial assistant Rhoda Friedman
^ Buñuel, Luis (2003). My Last Sigh. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-4387-5.
^ "Commentary: Bergman on Filmmakers". Bergmanorama. Archived from the original on 2012-11-02.

[1] André Breton, Complètes, T. I, ed. Marguerite Bonnet (Œuvres Paris: Gallimard, 1988), 51-105.

[2] Breton, André; Parinaud, André (1993). Conversations: The Autobiography of Surrealism. Translated by Polizzotti, Mark. Paragon House. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-55778-423-0.

[3] As agreed by interviewer and interviewee. Breton and Parinaud, 71

[4] Em Gee Film Library, Catalog 83 (no date) Murray Glass, Editorial assistant Rhoda Friedman

[5] Buñuel, Luis (2003). My Last Sigh. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-4387-5.

[6] "Commentary: Bergman on Filmmakers". Bergmanorama. Archived from the original on 2012-11-02.

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