Le Havre is often considered to be a modern-day fairy tale. The space of fairy tales is often one of enchantment where magical or extraordinary events take place. Under the direction of Aki Kaurismäki, Le Havre can be considered a fanciful world in the same way Neverland, Oz, Wonderland, or Narnia are. After all, the name of city port of Le Havre translates into English as haven, a homophone of heaven.
André Wilms, the actor playing Marcel Marx, stated in an interview that Le Havre asked the question of “what it meant to be French.” This question was “asked in the manner of a fairy tale, a Christmas story, where little red riding hood would eat the wolf. It is not a realist movie; it is the optimism of the heart vs. the pessimism of reason […] it is a movie about a miracle.”
TOPIC STUDENTS WILL WORK ON FOR THEIR FINAL PAPER
Your paper will focus on the ways in which Kaurismäki’s movie turns the city of Le Havre into a timeless space of enchantment where the behaviors of most inhabitants defy expectations. While keeping in mind the typology of characters in fairy tales, study the interactions between characters, their interconnectedness, and the power of collective action. What is the moral of the story?
BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR FINAL PAPER, MAKE SURE THAT THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA WERE MET
The paper is organized around one single idea, and the argument is developed thoroughly.
The paper considers elements of mise en scène, uses the language of cinema (shots, angles, soundtrack, editing, camera movement, among others), and shows an overall mastery of some of the cinematic principles studied throughout the semester.
It incorporates one close reading of a scene (one page, using the language of cinema extensively to substantiate your argument). Here, demonstrate how the artistic dimension of the scene reinforces the argument the paper is making.
5 pages minimum, excluding the bibliography and screenshot. For each page short, 20 points will be deducted.
Select and use 3 scholarly sources within the paper (include citation, page, within the body of your paper). These 3 scholarly sources will be taken from the field of cinema only. Other sources will not be accepted.
scholarly sources that are based in the world of cinema only!!!!!