The Love of Jeanne Ney Essay Example

from various images portraying the impending destruction to Jeanne's expressions of confusion, surprise, sadness, and wide-eyes, before showing a soldier with his girl amid the scenic damage. However, there are no sharp camera movements or cuts.

In the film Pabst, there is a moment where we get to watch a medium shot of a soldier and girl alone, which dictates the love plot and humane side to the story. However, the "Bolshevik" battle scene fully showcases Pabst's techniques as we see a montage of intercuts of battle, smoke, and destructive scenery. Similar to Eisenstein's "jagged, intense movement within frame" (pg87), Pabst drives the plot with the scenery of battle and confusion, cutting in and out of shots in a montage of torn city set decorations that must be appreciated to the full in its day. Even though I prefer modern-day talkies that are more like real life, one must appreciate the subtlety and decisions made by the director in an era that relied heavily on mise-en-scene to drive the plot without speech. By the 1920s, American Cinema had shifted into larger-scale studio productions, with major companies like Universal and Fox producing big popular films with talented European directors (pg 56-58).

Keeping in mind the time period of Pabst's film Jeanne Ney, it becomes apparent that the Director used a significant amount of set locations and studio production in creating the montage scenes, particularly those depicting battle-torn towns and soldiers. The ship sequence is filmed with sharp attention to detail, while the soldier appears to have been filmed within a set environment, yet Pabst creates the illusion of a real war-ravaged area through non-standard longer takes and depth-of-field

shots. Flashback expressionism flourished in German and European cinema during this era, and Pabst's film, despite its more plot-driven and American structure, arguably utilized expressionist concepts. For example, rapid camera movements in the Bolshevik scene and close-ups and intercutting of psychological states suggest an influence of expressionist ideals.

Pabst's cinematic techniques, including the use of smoke and battle scenes, sharp montage movements, and camerawork, effectively portray the psychological theme of Jeanne's confusion and despair in love, as well as her anguish of being on the run due to a murder crime. The combination of these techniques creates a swirling effect that reflects the turmoil in Jeanne's life during this time. Through the use of mise-en-scene, Pabst achieves a form of expressionism that captures the film's psychological nature. Despite incorporating avant-garde elements into his cinematography, Pabst's film still adheres to the classical narrative structure of Hollywood's studio system. The story centers on the conflict between the protagonist Jeanne, the antagonist Khalibiev, and the overall structure of classical cinematic form as it evolves from a murder and the need to flee Paris due to Bolshevik relations. (pg 130)

The film's troubles arise from the father's murder and subsequent escape to Paris, establishing the dramatic question. Pabst employs various camera shots and intercuts, but the film's overall structure centers on the tension and conflict of Khalibiev's evil intentions towards Jeanne. The director utilizes personal techniques like dark sexual themes (like the blind fondling at the table), but ultimately, the film follows classical cinema conventions, including an opening dramatic question, tension buildup, conflict, and climactic confrontation. Jeanne Ney innovates upon classical cinema via Pabst's European-style camera work and subtle plot details

communicated through handwritten notes.

Despite following the typical American plot structure of starting with an introduction and escalating towards a climax before resolution, the entire movie utilizes montage sequences and mise-en-scene to elevate it into an epic masterpiece. Its silent format enables viewers to fully appreciate the nuances of the director's choices and the film's themes, which are typical of that era in American history.