Italian NeoRealism vs. French New Wave

This is a short comparison and contrast paper on the similarities and differences between Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave of Cinema in Bicycle Thief and 400 Blows.

The Bicycle Thief (1948) and The Four Hundred Blows (1959)

            Italian Neorealism and The French New Wave are similar in certain aspects of story because both Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave aim to depict the harsh realities of working class families. Vittorio de Sica’s  The Bicycle Thief follows a desperate man, Antonio Ricci, struggling for work who gets his bicycle stolen which leads to Ricci hopelessly stealing a bicycle himself after the thief eludes him. The bike is a metaphor for the stability he craves since it grants him his job that will let him escape from deep poverty. An example of a similar escape from the environment one lives in when faced with poverty is Francois Truffaut’s The Four Hundred Blows. The film depicts Antoine Dionel’s loss of innocence in a series of 400 “blows” in his life that were caused by being a victim of his environment. Antoine’s parents both worked but were still struggling to provide financially while also struggling to keep their marriage afloat which led to neglecting Antoine. Dissatisfied with his home life, Antoine skips classes, does not do well in school, tells his professor his mother died, smokes and drinks at a young age, runs away from home and eventually gets sent to a detention center for stealing a typewriter. Just like Ricci, Antoine wants to escape from his environment which is why he runs away from home and escapes from the detention center to a beach. These two characters both have a goal to escape their economic and social situation, and their actions don’t necessarily peg them as bad people. 

Setting in The Bicycle Thief takes place in a post-World War II village, Val Melaina. We know the setting because in the beginning credits, we see a bus that reads “Val Melaina.” In the beginning shots of the film, we see a lot of rural land in the background and tenement looking buildings because there are towels hanging outside of the windows in some indicating people live there. After Ricci gets his assignment as bill poster, we see him rush home to tell his wife. She is shown carrying buckets of water and there is barren ground behind her. We know that this can’t be a city since typically we would see more buildings and people in the city walking about. In contrast, setting in The Four Hundred Blows takes place in Paris in the 1950’s. We know that this is Paris because in the beginning we have a tracking shot of Paris driving by, we see the Eiffel Tower peeking through various city buildings and then we see it from a low angle.We know that this is the late 1950s because the costume choice is dated, for example Antoine’s mother wears a fur coat, a fashionable scarf, and a t-shirt short skirt combo. She is dressed very city-like and in contrast to the plain wife in The Bicycle Thief, she is dressed more modern.

Both The Bicycle Thief and The Four Hundred Blows exhibit effective use of natural lighting. The Italian Neorealist era did not use big Hollywood sets and filmmakers in the French New Wave followed the trend of not using sets but just utilized cities, Truffaut being one of them. The frame below is from The Bicycle Thief when Antonio goes down to his workplace the night before and the lighting from this shot comes solely from streetlights. It was a cost-effective and realistic way of portraying how to light the scene without calling too much attention to the overall production of this film. 

 In similar fashion, we see the beautiful city lights of Paris as Antoine is being whisked away to the juvenile detention facility in The Four Hundred Blows. It is yet another cost-effective and realistic way of portraying how a scene can be lit. The difference in this shot is that the bright city is in contrast to the wave of sadness Antoine feels in this scene. The bright lights are moving further away from Antoine as the car moves, almost like a metaphor for his childhood and innocence fading from him at such a pivotal stage in his life.

Movement and Performance in The Bicycle Thief and Four Hundred Blows are examples of excellent directing since non-professional actors were cast for both films. In The Bicycle Thief, Lamberto Maggiorani (Antonio) effectively tunes into the mannerisms and gestures required for the scene when the bicycle thief slips out of Antonio’s hands. In the frames below, he runs towards the camera establishing depth in the frame, stops, and has a very concerned look on his face as he touches his forehead. We really can see his desperation and hopelessness in this scene.

In Four Hundred Blows, we see another non-professional actor tap into emotions of their character effectively when Jean Pierre Leaud (Antoine) is able to cry on cue when he looks out the window when he is being sent away to the detention facility. The direction of this scene is effective because we can see through his expression that he really does seem lost, hopeless, and sad just like his character is in this scene.

Camerawork in The Bicycle Thief aimed for a realistic approach to how the characters saw and interacted with everyday things in their lives. In order to relate to the characters more there was a lot of pans, tilts, and tracking shots that helped the audience follow and become more engaged with these characters. There were also some interesting point of view shots shown below that put us in Ricci’s perspective. For example, when Antonio and Maria have to sell some sheets at home to buy a new bike because he sold the other for food, we see an interesting shot where first we see Ricci looking upward and then a tilt of the pawn shop worker climbing up rows of other sheet to put theirs away.  Having shots that show things in a character's perspective helps the audience connect with characters. 

Similarly, camerawork in The Four Hundred Blows also explores point of view as a way to connect more with the character. It is tastefully executed that draws attention to the cinematography without veering too far from reality of the scene. In the photos below, we are introduced to interesting framing and composition that shows Antoine’s point of view. Paired with handheld camerawork in plenty of scenes, the framing and composition of the shots feel very realistic to how the way humans see and interact with things. For example, we see Antoine’s dizzying point of view when he was on a ride at the fair and the camera moves along with the ride so we experience the ride with him. Another example is when Antoine is getting taken away to the detention center and we first see Antoine looking out the window behind bars. The next shot is from the point of view of Antoine where bars cloud the foreground of the frame and the moving city in the background as if we are trapped behind bars as well. Utilizing getting into the psychology of Antoine is effective for the story here as well because we can experience the whirlwind of emotions Antoine faces throughout this coming of age film.

Style in The Bicycle Thief includes filming in actual settings which later inspires French New Wave filmmakers, depicting the bitter realities of daily life for the working man, a naturalistic camera approach including various pans, tilts, point of view shots, and minimal harsh editing that draws too much attention to the cinematography. Much like The Four Hundred Blows we get a sense of suspense of what will happen next because De Sica’s choice to document these scenes as daily life would hypothetically occur makes things unpredictable in comparison to films with a more Hollywood type of story structure that calls attention to itself. De Sica’s strong cinematography keeps us engaged throughout the film and his nuanced performances and emphasis on the real and natural contribute to his overall vision and uniqueness as a filmmaker.

Style in The Four Hundred Blows includes multiple panning shots throughout the film and specific attention to the camera. For example, there is a specific quick pan of Antoine and Rene as they skip class and head to the cinema and the carnival.This type of strong attention to cinematography, mechanics of shots and edits are a style unique to the director’s vision. Another example of style is the way that the events of Antoine’s life unfold. A lot of the most important parts of the film are just documenting his movements, the events of his childhood, his reaction to the "blows" in his life, and a lot of the dialogue becomes secondary.There also is an instance in this film where Antoine looks straight at the camera which was a common trend in other French New Wave films such as Breathless, Les Bonnes Femmes, and Band of Outsiders. At the very end of The Four Hundred Blows, Antoine has fled from the detention center and runs to a beach, walks toward the camera, stares at the camera and then the film ends on a freeze frame of his face. It’s a very interesting stylistic choice because it draws so much attention to the camera as a spectator in this boy’s life. It almost feels like an intrusion to such an intimate moment as if he only now found out his life was being watched by someone.

 

Author's Note

The original document had photos attached to help with my analysis. I tried as hard as possible to be descriptive in this because adding the pictures manually would have been a pain.
Once again, please do not claim as own (for this particular assignment I spent about 2 days working on this.. I just am sharing it to shed some perspective on these films)