Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

1.5 French Poetic Realism
Poetic Realism (…) whether good or bad, gave
glory to French cinema and was sold around the
world. It has been imitated abroad but, God knows
why, nobody makes this kind of movie better than
the French. (Andrew 1995:3)
Born in the 1930s, the expression “Poetic Realism” fuses two concepts which can
be considered contradictory: realism and poetry. Indeed, the designation “Poetic Realism”
seems to spring from a network of influences, mostly literary (naturalism, populism), and
from German Expressionism and the “Straßenfilm” mentioned in the earlier section. One
can in fact speak of “realism” as many of the French film directors represented the social
realities of an anxiety-ridden society in a world that was clearly getting out of hand. Their
films would portray the life conditions of citizens living in poverty and crime or facing the
harsh political and social situation of that time. Hence we see the street as the place of
choice for poetic realism, rain-slicked as in noir films, and often snaking along the banks
of the Seine reflecting the dark mood of dolefulness in fog and mist. This kind of décor and
setting / lighting has received close critical and been found to be in harmony with the
gloomy nights and shadows of the German cinema.
The term “Poetic Realism” was first employed in 1933 to give an idea of “a genre
of urban drama, often set among the Paris proletariat or lower middle classes, with
romantic / criminal narratives emphasising doom and despair. In these films, “poetry” and
mystery are found in everyday objects and settings – hence the proletarian milieu”
(Vincendeau 1992:54). This is one of the reasons why these films were also designated as
le fantastique social, as they also depict the Popular Front (a consolidated party of the left)
phenomenon and the texture of interwar period society. Poetry is present aesthetically
within the narrative, which is heavily imbued with the notion of fatalism. The décors are
very important and are all set in the studio, most of the time in tulle (a fine, often starched
net of silk, rayon, or nylon, used especially for veils or gowns).
The French critics had already used the term “film noir” for the films made before
the war. In fact, this cycle of films ranging from 1936 to 1939 was essentially made by the
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