Marguerite Duras - Moderato Cantabile - Day Two

Please read chapters 3 - 5 of the novel.

As you read, locate three quotations that spark your interest and do a "close reading" of them (place them within the larger context of the scene / chapter / novel, analyze the symbolism here, how do you interpret these quotations, etc.).

Marguerite Duras - Moderato Cantabile - Day One

Please answer two questions or come up with your own topics for discussion.

1. Describe the piano lesson that we find in the first chapter. What role do these three people take (the child, the teacher, and Anne)? How does Duras’ style help in creating this first scene? Try to give precise examples from the text.

2. The scream interrupts the lesson – what role does this scream play? Is there a link between the scream (or screaming) and music? Speak about the scream as it is interpreted in this first chapter – describe the reaction of Anne and the others.

3. After discovering the source of this scream (the murder of a woman), try to analyze it. Why do you think it is from a woman who has been killed and is now dead? What is Anne’s reaction to this? Why?

4. After finishing Chapter 2, why do you think Duras begins the novel by giving us a “musical opening”? In what sense is this musical opening a “primal scene” (scene of initial trauma)?

Cocteau's "La Belle et la Bete"

Write about two of the following or bring up your own topics:

1. The relationship between Belle and her father, Belle and Avenant, Belle and the Beast
2. The father picks a rose which provokes the Beast's fury - comment.
3. The opposition between the world of the family and that of the Beast.
4. The opposition between Avenant and the Beast
5. The Beast's anxiety when he finds Belle after hunting
6. The metaphoric worth of the tears transformed into diamonds and the pearl necklace that becomes an old burnt rope
7. The symbolic worth of these objects: the arrow, the rose, the mirror, the glove, the golden key, the horse (Magnificent), the Pavillon of Diana
8. The ending: Avenant's fate, the Beast's transformation, Belle's state of being.

Buñuel's "Belle de Jour" - Day One

We will spend all this week discussing the film - I'll try to limit the discussion Tuesday to the first half and Thursday to the rest of the film.

Please answer at least two questions or come up with your own for the discussion:

1. The beginning of the film is quite shocking - why? What does the opening have to say about sexuality, especially feminine sexuality? How does it challenge societal norms? Why?

2. Do a character study of Severine - her character traits, motivation, thoughts, actions, appearance, dress, marriage, etc. Focus on specific scenes from the film in your discussion.

3. Do a character study of Jean - what does the film reveal about him and why?

4. Discuss the world of Madame Anais, epsecially from the first moments we see Severine in it.

5. Choose one or two scenes from the film for your own analysis.

Stephen Frear's "Dangerous Liaisons" (the film)

Please answer at least two questions:

1. How does the opening sequence of the film create an atmosphere that introduces us to these characters and this world? Pay close attention to details the director uses (symbols, themes, character, decor, etc.).

2. The novel is entirely letters, whereas here in the film these letters at times are relegated to a secondary (or even absent) status. Do you think the film is able to succeed as well in presenting the plots and intrigue as the letters are? Does the film add anything to the story? Detract? Think of specific scenes from the novel and how the director has chosen to translate them to the screen.

3. Do a character analysis or scene analysis from the film - pay attention again to details the director uses.

4. A large part of our class discussion concerning the novel has - in addition to the sex - the roles of men and women in society. How does the film translate some of these themes? Analyze one or two specific scenes in your answer.

5. Analyze the film's ending - especially the closing scenes with Madame de Merteuil (the book has a somewhat different ending for her). Or - do you think the ending of a film contains a power (a different power) the novel doesn't have or presents in a different manner? (I'm thinking especially of the closing shots just before the fade out to credits). How might this retroactively comment upon the film as a whole?

Laclos's 'Dangerous Liaisons'

For every day of discussion - choose two letters (at least) that you find particularly striking and do an analysis of their language, content, etc. What is revealed about the characters, plot, etc. in these letters?

Racine's Phedre - Act V

Please answer at least two questions or bring up your own ideas:

1. What atmosphere does the play create once the curtain falls? What role does the fifth act add to this atmosphere?

2. Aricia is absent since the middle of Act II yet reappears here at the beginning of Act V. What type of character is she in this act? What impression does the coupling of Aricia-Hippolyte give you? What function does she serve as a character?

3. Discuss Theseus's evolution through out play.

4. Why does Phedre commit suicide by poisoning herself? What might this have to do with the symbolism of the labyrinth and Minotaur as well as the themes of love, desire, and sexuality we have discussed?