The module aims to familiarise students with a corpus of post-war European films, their shared thematic resonances and stylistic qualities. This will be facilitated by the introduction of key theoretical frameworks and analytical paradigms, which will enable students to interpret and discuss films within broader social, political, and cultural contexts. Film analysis will rely mainly on theoretical psychoanalysis, including the following key concepts: the gaze; the Other; the Symbolic, the Imaginary and the Real; desire and the drives. By focusing on the cinematic representations concerning the self, the socio-historical context and the fictional dimension of reality, the course aims to provide students with the necessary critical tools for debating and evaluating key themes in European cinema in a creative and theoretically informed manner.

1. Critically analyse a body of prominent European films by situating them in a historical, transnational and comparative context;
2. Identify changing cultural and political conditions together with the impact these have upon film production and subject matter;
3. Recognise and assess the interconnections between the fictional and the real;
4. Analyse single films by making use of both standard and innovative techniques within the discipline, as well as of adequate film vocabulary;
5. Demonstrate understanding of concepts related to cinematic authorship, genre and spectatorship;
6. Compare and contrast particular aspects of research and scholarships in European cinema.

The module will be delivered through a range of interactive teaching sessions supplemented by online teaching and learning activities and materials – and may include, where relevant, asynchronous materials such as lecture recordings. Full details on the delivery mode of this module will be available on Learning Central at the start of the academic year – and may be, in part, determined by Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance.  

Intellectual Skills:

1. Analyse films independently, using a range of theoretical and empirical frameworks.
2. Evaluate critically major intellectual debates within the field of film studies.
3. Assess and compare European film cultures as they have emerged historically and appreciate the processes through which they have come into being, with reference to social, cultural and technological change.
4. Demonstrate advanced and accurate skills in the close formal analysis of different types of films.
5. Demonstrate advanced and autonomous skills in the research and evaluation of relevant critical materials for the close formal analysis of film.

Personal Transferable Skills:

1. Process information disseminated through lectures and seminars by means of note-taking and interactive discussion.
2. Review and summarise lecture and reading materials independently and present them in academically sophisticated essay form.
3. Through essay writing, demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills as well as an intellectually. mature capacity to construct a coherent argument written in clear and correct prose.
4. Through research, seminar discussion, and essay writing, demonstrate an advanced and intellectually. mature capacity to question assumptions and to reflect critically on your own learning process.
5. Through responses to constructive feedback, demonstrate an advanced and intellectually mature ability to reflect upon and strengthen written and other work.

The method(s) of assessing the learning outcomes for this module are set out in the Assessment Table, which also contains the weightings of each assessment component.

Mapping of Assessments to Intended Learning Outcomes:

Coursework 1 assesses ILOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Students who fail the module will be reassessed through the one synoptic re-assessment  (weighted at 100%) . Resit assessments that are not supported by extenuating circumstances will be capped at the pass mark applicable to your programme.

The module is based on in-depth study of 15 European films, while also referring to other films from Europe and beyond. The module encourages the critical discussion of the interrelations between film and reality. By taking seriously recent developments in film theory, it shows the extent to which filmic fiction and reality overlap. In other words, European cinema allows us to appreciate how films can be analysed to make sense of the basic narratives that structure reality itself. Through the critical evaluation of a selection of European films, the module will probe questions concerning the formation of subjective identities as well as of social and symbolic significations. The films studied in this course are embedded in specific historical contexts which will be discussed in depth.