Daybreak - Assignment review of film PDF

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Assignment review of film...

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Journal Entry 1 FREN 370 A. Mootoo Daybreak Director: Marcel Carné Daybreak is a poetic realism film that came just as the war was approaching in 1939. This film was full of foreshadowing and pessimism. Francois, a working class average Joe committed homicide and suicide for his heart could not bare to live. This film was too confusing, doomsayer, and tragic, and authorities thought it was potentially endangering to the public during the horizon of the war and Nazi occupation. I will discuss in my analysis why this film was full of symbolism and foreshadowing, as well as threatening and challenging. I will begin with the symbol of the mirror in Francois’ small apartment that is shot with guns and then later shattered by Francois himself. This is foreshadowing Francois suicide. Francois glares into the mirror, seeing it physically shattered, ties in with his emotional shatter. After Francois shatters the mirror, he then explodes into rage and screams out his window to the public about how sick and twisted the world is to him, further confirming that he is literally shattered mentally, emotionally, and very soon, physically.

Every aspect of the film is perfectly laid out, whether it’s a dog barking in the background of a scene, the tone of Francoise voice, and the placement of each and every small, intricate detail of the film sets. Everything in this film is perfectly portrayed and said to capture the essence of hopeless and impossibility to achieve happiness, whether it be through metaphor, foreshadow, or symbolism.

Journal Entry 1 FREN 370 A. Mootoo

The first time we see Francoise and the first time we see Clara have major contrasts. Francoise is wearing white, symbolizing purity. The way she is dressed, her smile, everything about her, is a symbol of purity and an image of happiness and beauty. It is a major contrast to François, who is at work in the dirty, dusty, sand factory. Clara is wearing a black, skimpy, sparkling dress, symbolizing the deviance and trouble of her character. Her hair color, her opaque makeup, and the shadowing filters that the directors have trailing her, mark a sense of darkness upon her. Conversely, we don’t see Francoise take the smile off her face during the beginning of the film, symbolizing happiness. Yet, when we meet Clara, even though her profession is an entertainer, we don’t see her smile at all. She represents deviance and unconventionality. Clara represents a feminism side. She is strong, and challenges Francois. She calls Francois delicate and sensitive, terms often used to describe women. She makes fun insults, and ridicules the men in her life, calling Francois “un brute”. The only time we see her smile is when she is seducing a man in private. Back in 1939, when the film first came out, it is easy to see the many reasons why this film was banned, and this feminist representation is easily one of them. She makes jokes at the expense of a man’s humiliation; she refuses to submit to her man, and gets tangled in a love affair with Francois right in front of her rich man’s face; a clear depiction of role reversal of traditional values back in the 1930’s and 1940’s....