Film Reviews Dedicated to "Cinéma du Look" - High-Quality Russian Film Criticism (on the Example of the Magazines "Session" and "Art of Cinema")

Malakhovskaya Vera Vladimirovna PhD in Philology Senior Educator, Department of Theory and History of Journalism, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 108801, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Aleksandry Monakhovoi, 109/4, kv. 208 malakhovskaya-vv@rudn.ru Other publications by this author

Solyanina Anastasiya Pavlovna Student, Theory & History of Journalism Department, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 10 bldg. 2, office 647 1032217128@rudn.ru

Problem statementThe purpose of our research is to analyze critical articles devoted to the direction of French cinema "cin?ma du look".

The objectives of the research are to analyze the materials of the magazines "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" dedicated to the direction "cin?ma du look", namely:

· based on films directed by Jean-Jacques Benex,

· based on films directed by Luc Besson,

· based on the films of Leos Karax,

· based on the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

The subject of the research is critical publications in the Russian editions "Session" and "The Art of Cinema", dedicated to the direction of French cinema "cin?ma du look". The object of the article is the modern Russian mass media.

The relevance of the research is determined by the need to comprehend the features of modern Russian professional journalism devoted to the problems of cinema in the conditions of digital media space and the dominance of mainstream commercial trends both in the film industry and in the media reflecting it.

We deliberately chose the direction of French cinema "cin?ma du look", which during its emergence in the 1980s was "missed" by Soviet film critics, while it had a certain impact on both commercial and author's cinema, as well as the fashion industry and the video industry, which has been developing rapidly since the 1980s.

The methodological basis of our research was the works of the following Russian researchers devoted to the content analysis of mass media, the genre of mass media, as well as issues related to film criticism: L.N. Fedotov ^[17], E.Y. Garanin ^[5], A.A.Tertychny ^[14], V.A. Fomina ^[18], A.A. Alakshin ^[1]. The main research methods are content analysis, some methods of classification of content characteristics, a general approach to research - inductive–deductive (from the analysis of specific materials to generalization). The empirical basis of the research is the materials of film reviews in the publications about cinema - "Session" and "The Art of Cinema".

"Session" and "The Art of Cinema" - the main magazines of Russian film criticismThe Art of Cinema is an art history magazine that has been published since 1931 and is one of the world's oldest periodicals about cinema, second only to the Japanese edition of Kinema Dzumpo (1919). To date, the editor—in-chief of the publication is film historian Stanislav Dedinsky, who replaced Anton Dolin in 2022.

In 2003, the magazine's website was launched kinoart.ru , the magazine is currently published both in paper and online format.

The magazine "Session" was founded in 1989 by director Lyubov Arkus and director of the Lenfilm studio Alexander Golutva on the initiative of young critics and with the support of the Lenfilm studio. The first issue of the "Session" was published in 1990. Currently, the "Session" is published both on its own website and in traditional paper format, the editor-in-chief of the publication is Vasily Stepanov. 

Among the abundance of modern Internet sites dedicated to cinema, "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" should be singled out as high-quality publications about cinema. Thus, the Russian film critic A. Plakhov writes about the magazine: "The Art of Cinema magazine has existed for so long and has such merits that it is symbolically associated with the art of cinema as such" ^[3]. Russian researcher A. Alakshin characterizes the Art of Cinema magazine as follows: "The specifics of the magazine are very diverse – there is a place not only for analytical articles on all types of art or, for example, sociological forecasts of development; but also for the publication of scripts" ^[1]. At the same time, A. Alakshin says about the magazine "Session": "Texts written in a film-like manner include both a retrospective art criticism analysis and philosophical arguments made in the form of a scientific essay" ^[3]. Summarizing the above, we note that the "Session" is an example of a publication for "competent" people who understand cinema, and the "Art of Cinema" has a more mass orientation.

"With in ? ma du look" as an object of attention of the magazines "Sevns" and "The Art of Cinema"This study is devoted to the Russian criticism of the direction of French cinema, which has the name "cinema du look" ("cinema of appearance"), also called "neo-baroque", represented by materials published in the magazines "Session" and "Art of Cinema" from 1993 to 2022.

 For the first time the term "cinema du look" was used by the French film critic Raphael Bassan in the magazine La Revue du Cin?ma in 1989. Initially, this "new wave" of French cinema of the 1980s was attributed to a triumvirate of directors similar in their cinematic style and artistic techniques - Luc Besson, Leos Carax and Jean-Jacques Benex, but later another significant figure of French cinema was added to them - Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Initially, in Russian film criticism, the term "cinema du look" had a negative connotation. Thus, in the publication "The Art of Cinema" it is noted that in this cinematic direction, "form prevails over content, spectacle instead of narrative, embellishment of reality — in general, rhetoric is quite in the spirit of Soviet critical thought. Indeed, against the background of the intellectuals of the "new wave" and the discreet realism of Eric Romer, the films of this trio seem to be superficial" ^[4].  This extract shows that at the time of development, the creativity of the directors of "neo-baroque" was evaluated more "negatively" than "positively".

Having analyzed the "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" during the period of the existence of the "cinema du look" direction, we found that materials mentioning this term appeared in the "Art of Cinema" in 1993. In the publication "Session", publications about this cinematic direction date from 2011 to 2021. During the period under review (1993 – 2022), in the magazines "Session" and "The Art of Cinema", against the background of an abundance of reviews and reviews devoted to various areas of modern cinema, foreign and domestic, we found 12 reviews devoted to the French trend "cin?ma du look". 5 publications are published in the magazine "Session", 7 publications are contained in the magazine "The Art of Cinema".

It should be noted that of the "triumvirate" of "neo-baroque", Luc Besson is most often mentioned in magazines (3 publications in the "Session" and 4 publications in the "Art of Cinema", including a general publication about the film direction as a whole). The least popular in Russian criticism is Jean-Jacques-Benex (2 publications in the "Art of Cinema") and Jean-Pierre-Genet (1 publication in the "Art of Cinema" and 1 in the "Session") (see Fig.1 and Fig.2).

The extremely low percentage of materials devoted to "cinema du look", illustrated by the data in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, is due to the overwhelming predominance of "mainstream" trends in English-language cinema both in the Russian box office and in the materials of film criticism.

Jean-Jacques BenexLet's turn to the analysis of reviews of films by Jean-Jacques Benex in the publication "The Art of Cinema".

The key films of the director are considered to be: "Diva" (1981), "Moon in the Gutter" (1983) and "37.2 in the morning" (1986), despite the fact that Beneks left a significant mark in cinema also due to his creative activity until the early 2000s.

In the reviews of the "Art of Cinema", when describing Benex's films, there are often epithets indicating his certain "excess": for example, "overloading his visual range with decorative elements in the spirit of pop art".  "Visual redundancy" is the phrase used to describe the film "Diva" (1981). Publications note that the plot in Benex's films fades into the background: "However, the criminal plot is not so important for Benex. The main thing is to fill the frame with bright costumes, such as dresses and Alba's flip—flops skirt" ^[5]. A common characteristic of Benex's film "The Moon in the Gutter" (1983) is "somewhat indistinct, but pleasing to the eye neonoire". The reviews note a bright visual component coming to the fore. The plot of any Benex film is not distinguished by ingenuity and detailed elaboration. The film "37.2 in the morning" (1986) is characterized by critics as follows: "Benex and a couple of wonderful actors conveyed the burning passion and pain of separation so reliably that the plot, which seems to be a bad melodrama in the retelling, struck both ordinary viewers and film critics to the heart" ^[6].

Summarizing the reviews of "The Art of Cinema" on the films of J.-J.Benexa, it should be noted that critics come to the following conclusions:

· The director pays considerable attention to the visual series.

· Benex's films often consecrate the theme of addiction, cruelty, passion and insanity.

· The film "Moon in the Gutter" is characterized more "negatively" than other works.

The content analysis of the reviews devoted to the films of J.-J. Beneks is contained in Table 1.

Luc BessonNext, consider the criticism of Luc Besson's work as part of the "triumvirate" of the "cinema of appearance": his early works - "Nikita" (1990), "The Fifth Element" (1997) in comparison with the "Hollywood" Besson and his more modern films - "Malavita" (2013) "Anna" (2019) 

The review of Besson's film "Nikita" (1990) "The Art of Cinema" notes that the film is an example of a "new" image of cruelty in European cinema, rather similar in its classification to American cinema, and this film also contributed to the emergence of a new female image in cinema.  "The Art of Cinema" characterizes the film as follows: "Besson's moralism, his proud pessimism and denial of violence, which he knows how to shoot almost better than all his French contemporaries" ^[16]. In addition to evaluating the aesthetic aspect of the tape, critics have already noted the specifics of the problems and dramaturgy of Besson's films. Despite the fact that the morality in the films is "uncomplicated", it is still present, which indicates a more elaborate scenario ^[16].

Luc Besson's film "The Fifth Element" (1997) is a rare phenomenon in French cinema, since the genre of fiction is not typical for films of this direction and time period. The film is by no means an example of a story with a complex morality, rather it is a visual attraction with a simple and concise morality about good and evil. "The Art of Cinema" gives the following characteristic: "The Fifth element" is undoubtedly a spectacle capable of delivering sincere pleasure. Myriads of aircraft scurry on many levels between the skyscrapers (I would like to say "space-scrapers") of the future" ^[15].  And once again, the key characteristic of the current "cinema of appearance" comes to the fore - excessive attention to the visual series. The moral of the film is close to a fairy tale, despite the abundance of cruelty, there is no cult of violence in the film. "Besson's film is a wonderful new world without any quotes. Everything is going as it should, except that problems with street, sorry, air traffic have increased. The government is quite reasonable and wise. Religion is in place, hotels on space stations, of course, will offend the taste of "aesthetes" and not everyone can afford it, but the people are happy" ^[9]. The film is a kind of utopia, drawn in the best traditions of a fairy tale with a good ending.

Let's move on to the reviews of Besson's films made in the XXI century. It should be noted at once that the director is the most successful against the background of his colleagues from the "triumvirate", however, according to Russian critics, Besson often tends to self-copy. This happened in 2013, when the director made the film "Malavita", as well as in 2017 with the film "Valerian and the city of a thousand planets" and with "Anna" in 2019. Let's consider the most successful picture among the wave of failures of the director, namely, the crime comedy "Malavita" 2013.  Despite the apparent success of the film, the critic does not characterize the film "positively".  In the "Session" edition, the film is evaluated as follows: "Malavita" is the best item in the filmographies of director Luc Besson and actor Robert De Niro over the past ten years. Which does not make a movie theater at all and, moreover, an obligatory part of the cultural program for the weekend"^[12]. In this case, the review is neutral rather than positive or negative. The film itself is a kind of declaration of love to Martin Scorsese's crime dramas and, despite the abundance of scenes of cruelty, this story about the Italian mafia has a very comically grotesque orientation.

Let's turn to the review of one of Besson's latest films "Anna" (2019) in the magazines "Session" and "The Art of Cinema". The publication in the magazine "Session" contains a "negative assessment of the picture", but not sharply negative in comparison with the review "The Art of Cinema". The "Session" characterizes the film as follows: "the spectacle is so fascinating, so unbearable"^[11]. Based on the review, we understand that it is difficult to classify the film specifically and bring it closer to a specific genre: "For an action movie, it is quite measured, for a spy thriller it is sometimes too parodic, for a comedy it is too sullen" ^[11]. Let's turn to the review in the "Art of Cinema". Already in the title we see the critic's assessment of the film – "Delightful nonsense: "Anna" – Luc Besson's Russian tour."  The film gets a rating of "sharply negative". Another quote no less categorically characterizes the film and the work of the director himself: "Luc Besson is the last Teutonic of the order of male chauvinism, a stereotypical director in a tuxedo" ^[4].After reviewing the review, it becomes clear that the critic does not like Besson's work in general, but still, based on two reviews, it should be concluded that the film was really unsuccessful.

Besson quickly became a Hollywood-level director, and is undoubtedly the most successful against the background of his colleagues from the triumvirate, however, in the magazine "Session" reviews of his recent works are increasingly rated "negative" (see Table 2). In The Art of Cinema, the number of publications devoted to the work of Luc Besson is 4 reviews, and they characterize Besson's films more favorably (see Table 3).

Leos KaraxLeos Karax is another director belonging to the "new new wave" ("cinema of appearance").

Let's look at the reviews of his work in Russian publications about cinema "Session" and "The Art of Cinema". As an example, let's take the following works: the trilogy about Alex ("Guy meets Girl" (1984), "Bad Blood" (1986), "Lovers from the New Bridge" (1991) and his latest film "Annette" (2020).

Let's analyze the trilogy of Carax on the basis of publications in the "Session". The film "Guy meets Girl" (1984) is characterized by terms that allow us to conclude about the depressive content of the film. "Here Alex appears as a lone outcast, wandering homeless through the deserted black-and-white Parisian spaces" ^[13]. The theme of loneliness, death and unhappy love is one of the key themes in the work of Karax, as evidenced by the review of the "Session" about the film "Bad Blood" (1986): "The love played out in these scenery is invariably tragic, and the love drink is deadly" ^[13]. The third film from the story about Alex, "Lovers of the New Bridge" (1991), is characterized by critics as follows: "Karax, as if fascinated, endlessly scrolls the same motives — the search for a way out, fear of life, the impossibility of love, the urge to commit suicide" ^[13]. Leos Karax is noted by critics as the most thoughtful and philosophical creator. The general characteristic of the director's work is as follows: "Carax is a mystery. The bigger the more films he makes" ^[13]. Thus, we see that the "Session" highly appreciates the trilogy of Carax.

Let's move on to the criticism of the modern stage of Leos Karax's work, dedicated to the musical "Annette" (2020), The focus is on the director's former motives, as before. "Annette" is a frank, declamatory, insane performance, balancing on the verge of a nervous breakdown, requiring the viewer to share the pain, get pleasure and take it seriously" ^[2]. "The Session" notes that the idea of hopelessness and unhappy love is duplicated in the picture, Karax remains true to his ideology ^[19]. 

In general, the criticism of the magazine "Session" notes, along with high-quality plots and dramaturgy in general, the texture of L. Karaks' films is difficult for the average viewer to perceive (see Table 4). Almost similar characteristics of L. Karax's films are contained in the critical articles of the "Art of Cinema" ^{[9, 10]}, which is reflected in Table 5.

Jean-Pierre JeunetJean-Pierre Jeunet is another important figure in modern French cinema.

The unique visual range of Genet's films makes critics attribute it to the "cinematography of appearance". Thus, critics of the Art of Cinema magazine note: "Jean-Pierre Jeunet's cinema is attributed to the cinema du look ("cinema of style") or to the "new-new" French wave. Representatives of the "nouvelnuvelvaga" ("new wave") rebelled against the formalism of classical cinema, violated its shooting rules"^[6]. The criticism is devoted to two films of the director: "Amelie" (2001), "The Long Engagement" (2004).

"Amelie" (2001) is the director's calling card, as noted in the review of the magazine "Session": "The basis of the director's decision of the picture is an infantile look and a capricious desire to control" ^[8]. The review notes a bright and diverse visual range with non-standard solutions, quite strongly reminiscent of surrealism. Critics of the "Art of Cinema" highlight the general characteristic of all Genet's works as follows: "The director draws portraits of heroes through small details, which shows his experience as an animator and an advertising clip maker" ^[6]."The Art of Cinema" also notes the excessively overloaded plot in the film "The Long Engagement" (2004), which is characteristic of the works of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

"This style sometimes leads to congestion. "The Long Engagement" is based on the novel of the same name by Sebastien Japrizo, which assumes a lot of characters and storylines that cannot be fully embodied in the film" ^[6].

It should be noted that in the magazine "Session" there is one publication dedicated to the film of Jean-Pierre Jeunet – "Amelie" (2001) (see Table 6), also one publication is contained in "The Art of Cinema", but it covers several films of the director (see Table 7). In general, film critics of both publications note the originality of J.-P. Genet's films, which distinguishes him from the modern commercial mainstream.

ConclusionSumming up our research, it should be noted that despite a very modest place in the modern Internet space, the magazines "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" retain their reputation as highly professional publications devoted to film criticism, to which you can find materials devoted to such a niche direction of French cinema as "Cinema du look".

According to our calculations, in the publications of the magazines "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" reviewed by us, 62% of the "cinema of appearance" are positively evaluated by critics, and 8% are negative reviews of films (see Figure 5). Russian critics note the trends of decline, self-repetition characteristic of this direction of French cinema. The work of L. Besson is, according to critics of these publications, an example of a spectacle coming to the fore first of all, which turned L. Besson into a representative of mass French cinema. At the same time, authors such as Leos Carax, Jean-Jacques Benex and Jean-Pierre Jeunet are more likely to belong to the author's cinema.

Publications in the publications "Session" and "The Art of Cinema" belong to a complex type of reviews", covering all areas of film production: from the plot, ending with the characters and the visual component of the tape. In each of the publications, all the key points of the analyzed films are noted, the latent meanings of the films "sinema du look" are revealed. Despite the fact that professional film reviews are not a popular journalistic genre in the modern media space, we have made sure that they exist and are at a fairly high level. This circumstance gives grounds for restrained optimism about the future of Russian high-quality film criticism in the modern information space.

Applications{Fig.1}

Calculated by the authors.

{Fig.2} Calculated by the authors.

{Fig.3}

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{Fig.4}Calculated by the authors.

{Fig.5}Calculated by the authors.

{Table1}. General characteristics of the problems of Benex's films in the Art of Cinema magazineSubject/characteristic

{Table2}. General characteristics of the problems of Luc Besson's films in the publication "Session"Subject/characteristic

{Table3}. General characteristics of the problems of Luc Besson's films in the publication "The Art of Cinema"Subject/characteristic

{Table4.} General characteristics of the problems of films by Leos Karaks in the magazine "Session"Subject/characteristic

{Table5.} General characteristics of the problems of films by Leos Karaks in the Art of Cinema magazineSubject/characteristic

{Table6}. General characteristics of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films in the magazine "Session"Subject/characteristic

{Table7}. General characteristics of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films in the Art of Cinema magazineSubject/characteristic