French Impressionism vs. German Expressionism

A comparative and concluding analysis on the silent films and cinematic movements examined.

Written on January 21st, 2024.

Around the dawn of the 20th century, film emerged as a medium that could be utilised for storytelling. Beginning with narrative short films, cinema gradually took the form of features. Additionally, two influential art movements flourished in Europe – French Impressionism and German Expressionism. Previously integrated into artforms such as painting, architecture, music, and literature, they were also applied to cinema as another form of artistic expression. This write-up explores the similarities and differences between these cinematic movements, in terms of their characteristics, cultural contexts, and influence on the evolution of filmmaking.

• German Expressionist cinema dramatised mise-en-scène, which could include any or all visual elements, such as production design, costume design, makeup, hairstyling, and lighting. Examples:

• French Impressionist films may also feature stylised décor.

However, its unconventionality in visuals was instead typically achieved by less overt means, such as by using small-scale effects like optical devices and post-production techniques like quick cuts.

• German Expressionist cinema often featured theatrical acting, influenced by the techniques of the broader Expressionist movement that were used in drama and theatre in Germany. Thereby, performance through actors’ facial expressions and body language were exaggerated.

• In contrast, acting performances in French Impressionist films tended to be more grounded, predominantly with naturalism and subtlety.

3) Subject matter

• On the other hand, the French Impressionism art movement in general began with a group of progressive painters who embraced styles that were not accepted or favoured in France at that time. With French Impressionist cinema, filmmakers like Abel Gance and Jean Epstein sought to bring the avant-garde into films, where artistic expression would be experimental, to the extent of featuring montages of seemingly unrelated shots, like when an entombment scene in The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) strangely intercuts to images of frogs. Such films prioritised the characters’ subjective experiences, tending to revolve around human emotion and psychology. Thus, unconventional techniques like extreme quick cuts and multiple exposures help to highlight the atmosphere of the scene, be it madness or melancholy, while performances were more natural to provide insight into the characters’ psyche. Even for occasional, exaggerated performances such as a persisting grin from the protagonist of the aforementioned film, would accordingly establish the subjective experience of isolation and insanity.

• The French Impressionism movement is not widely recognised in cinema, such as cultural historian Richard Abel not defining its traits but rather regarding the films and filmmakers as simply having a common goal, and film theorist Dudley Andrew not regarding it as a “movement”. Despite its lack of attention, it has had some influence – filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage in regard to film editing, allegedly credited French Impressionist director Abel Gance’s use of quick cuts in stimulating his initial interest in the technique. The movement is also an early example of applying the avant-garde into cinema, having a role in introducing the concept of experimentation and surrealism in film.

• Conversely, German Expressionism is commonly considered a pillar in the film industry. Many of the defining filmmakers later moved to Hollywood and applied their techniques to American films, such as Paul Leni, having made Waxworks and later directing The Cat and the Canary, which then kickstarted Universal Pictures’ series of haunted house films. As well as F.W. Murnau, who made Nosferatu then infused his Academy-Award winning American film Sunrise with the movement’s style. Aside from these direct applications, filmmakers highly influenced by this movement include Tim Burton, who consistently features dramatic set design and monsters in his films, as well as famed director Guillermo del Toro, often involving anti-fascist themes and surreal creatures in his works.

Additionally, German Expressionist cinematography was a pioneer in chiaroscuro lighting. Its high-contrast images between light and shadow became a landmark of the film noir genre, utilising low-key lighting to produce dramatic shadow patterns and silhouettes. Renowned filmmaker Fritz Lang, who had made German Expressionist films like Metropolis and M, was recognised for the many crime and film noir pictures he directed after emigrating to America.

To conclude, French Impressionism and German Expressionism in cinema stand as strong efforts of diverse artistic expression in the Silent Era. These movements, though rooted in different cultural and aesthetic traditions, shared a common desire to diverge from conventional storytelling techniques. French Impressionism delved into psychology and subjectivity, while German Expressionism materialised the internal. Innovating new ways of storytelling, when only in the early 20th century, makes it not only bold but influential in the evolution of cinema. This history deserves to be recognised more widely.

References (in addition to the hyperlinked content):

http://genderi.org/david-bordwell-and-kristin-thompson.html https://www.hillpublisher.com/UpFile/202302/20230208184932.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3b76pGp_c0 https://youtu.be/WCUyqmdn9lw?si=IdSAYp5rvDCImapY https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm https://youtu.be/Q3b76pGp_c0?si=7piO4aonvZRKm6SP