Introduction

European cinema has historically been regarded by Hollywood as Art Cinema.  This means that it has been looked upon with suspicion - not just because it is 'artistic' (less commercial?), but also because it was from an intellectual, elitist Old World.  Nevertheless, although American culture generally has an ambivalent attitude to European culture, Hollywood has alway absorbed the innovations that European films explored; most famously from German Expressionism, Italian Neo-Realism and French New Wave.  The ideas and visual style of these historic movements have been influential on mainstream filmmaking.

But what about influences within Europe?  How are the films of different European countries distinct from each other or similar?  We in this project are less interested in listing European film's influences on Hollywood, as we are concerned to explore the similarities and differences in National Cinemas across Europe.  How different are national representations across European countries?  How do different european countries represent race, class, age or gender?

These pages will concentrate on the last of these: gender.  Our research question:

How are women represented in four typical films? 

Click on the film title below for a study guide that focuses on the question of women:

  Mamma Roma  (dir. Paolo Pasolini. Italy. 1962)

               Accattone (dir. Paolo Pasolini. Italy. 1961)

  Mona Lisa   (dir. Neil Jordan. UK. 1986)

  Une Affaire de Femme (dir. Claude Chabrol.   France. 1988)

  Sweet Emma, Dear Bobi  (dir. Istvan Szabo.  Hungary. 1992)

Back to top