Family patterns in French films of the 1930s and of the occupation

Abstract

This thesis comprises a study of the inscription of father, son, and daughter figures in French films of the 1930s and of the Occupation. Using the tool of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, Part One looks at the inscription of patriarchy and the positions allotted within it to mature men, young men and young women in classic poetic-realist texts and run-of-the-mill productions of the 1930s, in order to identify the latent collective tensions in the society of that period. Part Two compares the inscription of father, son and daughter figures, together with certain stylistic features and themes, in a variety of films of the Occupation with the paradigm derived from the foregoing analysis, in order to qualify the widely held view that French films changed little between 1929 and 1945.