Headline: I see London, I see France…
Audience: Those interested in travel, first time travelers abroad to England and France and French language. Another audience is those interested in French New Wave cinema.
Abstract: This essay is a culmination of my thoughts on traveling abroad for the first time, my fear of possible language barriers, the unfamiliar and my new found appreciation for French New Wave films.
Key Words: London, Paris, travel abroad, foreign language, French film, François Truffaut, Antoine Doinel, The 400 Blows, Antoine and Colette
For as long as I can remember I’ve fantasized about traveling to other countries. Almost everyone I know has traveled abroad, some on multiple occasions, and every time I hear of their travels I turn a shade greener. Fortunately, my time has come. Next month I will be embarking on my first trip to Europe visiting London and Paris. The cultural and language differences are intriguing and I’m eager to experience them first hand.
My fascination with England started when my dad introduced me to the Beatles when I was 8 and they became (and have remained) a favorite band of mine. Since then I have always been drawn to all things English, especially pop music and television shows. My interest in French culture began when I studied French in high school and, unfortunately, that’s as far as I went with my foreign language education. I had aspirations of delving further into learning and mastering the French language, but alas that was not to be. I have been trying to brush up on my French just enough to get by while visiting Paris. Most of my travel anxiety is rooted in the possible language barrier and just being in an unfamiliar place. To ease my mind, I began doing a lot of research about the places I would be visiting. I focused on the culture, language and the nuances of the cities.
In all my research and planning for this trip, I started reading about French films, specifically the New Wave cinema of the 50’s and 60’s. Without delving too much into the genre, the idea behind this style of filming was stripped down, low-budget, true-to-life and current while rejecting the over-done classic cinema of the past. One of the directors that I am most interested in is François Truffaut who is considered to be one of the founders of the genre. His series of films based on the character of Antoine Doinel, a disenchanted French youth, is said to be Truffaut’s alter ego. There are five films in the Doinel series ranging from the character’s childhood into adulthood. I decided to watch these films as sort of a preface for my visit to Paris. So far I have seen the first two films in the Doinel series, The 400 Blows and Antoine and Colette. The films explore the youth culture of Paris in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I watched them with minimal prior knowledge of the director and genre and was immediately captivated by the realism of the films. The black and white films are in French with English subtitles, but you almost don’t need the subtitles to understand the stories.
In the first film, The 400 blows, Antoine is a 12-year-old boy who has seemingly slipped through the proverbial cracks of society. Antoine and his bad-influence friend drift aimlessly through their youth until eventually Antoine is sent to a juvenile facility. His family and teachers appear to have given up on him. In the next film in the series, Antoine and Colette, Antoine is 17 and living on his own and making his way in the world. This film is essentially the story of Antoine as a lovelorn teen who meets another teen, Colette. Although Colette and her family seem to take to Antoine, Colette is not a girl who wants to settle with one boy, namely Antoine. Because of Antoine’s seemingly orphan status (he does not have a relationship with his family), Colette’s parents seem to adopt him as their own son, frequently inviting him to dinner. Unfortunately, the story does not end happily for Antoine, but he returns in three more Truffaut films.
The stories are simple and timeless. The acting is natural. The location is the streets of Paris. What is most appealing about these films, is the level of realism achieved. The feeling is not that of watching a movie, but of watching a life. The feeling is not of watching actors, but people. In watching these films I feel as though I now have an accurate view of the city and the youth culture of that time, which is exactly what Truffaut was trying to accomplish. I am eager to watch the rest of the Doinel series.
I’ve spent the past few months learning about the cities I’ll be visiting and mapping out various must-see sites. Almost everyone I know has been to Europe, so I’ve been inundated with information about what to do and see. It’s been very exciting as well as overwhelming to plan such a trip. Even though the trip is only two cities, in two countries that are fairly easy to navigate between, for a first-time traveler abroad, it’s a lot to process. I listen to all my favorite Brit-pop bands and they draw me into their world across the pond. The music comforts me and welcomes me in a way. I have said many times that once I get to England, I may not want to return. And as I continue to learn more about the French New Wave films, I feel more compelled to learn about French culture and my anticipation grows to visit Paris.
I can only hope all the effort put into planning this rather simple trip will make planning the next trip all the more easy – or rather that I’ll have gained some useful knowledge for planning future trips.
