Please Do Eat the Daisies

The two main characters in Daisies are constantly eating or at least playing with food. They have lavish dinners at restaurants, bathe in milk and playfully slice bananas and sausage. This trend culminates in the scene in which they sneak into a feast, indulge their palattes, and engage in a food fight. What is the point of all this food, glorious food? Can you make sense of the use of food in at least some of these scenes?

What is your favorite Soundtrack from a film?and why

Style Over Substance?

Some critics argue that the plot and characters of Breathless are beside the point. They are nothing but convenient vehicles for the real point of the film: the joy of making a movie. According to this argument, the stylistic innovations and virtuoso techniques are not related to any deeper meaning, either to character or thematic development. Is this idea correct? Describe one of the films stylistic devices such as the use of jump cuts or the use of long, acrobatic takes. Does that device give us any clue to the characters or to deeper theme in the film? Does it provide an image or symbol that helps to explain the movie? Or is it just an experiment in changing the language of film?

Lovers in the Time of the Beatles

One interpretation of Breathless is that it is a film about love in the modern world, where lovers know little about each others' past, follow their impulsive longings, only to end up betrayed at the end. Is there more to this take on modern romance? Is there something deeper in Michel and Patricia's relationship? Or is there something less? Is love even possible in the shadow of the atomic bomb and the Cold War? (Don't forget that Michel has other girlfriends and Patricia spent the evening -- and might have slept with -- her editor).

All in the Family

Tokyo Story shows the relationship between two aged parents and their grown children. On a visit to Tokyo to visit their children, who turn out to be more busy and less successful than they suppossed, they are unceremoniously shuffled from child to child and eventually to a resort. By the end of their trip, the mother relies on the kindness of her son's widow and the father becomes drunk and is escorted by the police to his daughter's home. Returning home the mother becomes sick and dies. The children return for the funeral and leave their father alone. How accurate is this portrayal of family life? Is this a "slice of life" (and part of the reason it feels as if "nothing happens")? Does this remind you of your family? Is this how families work? Focus on one scene or character and discuss what it tells us about the dynamics of family life.

Mono No Aware

Mono no aware is the Japanese idea of the awareness of the transience of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life. After watching Tokyo Story can you better understand this concept? What were your emotional feelings at the end of the film? What were you thinking when you saw the final image: the old man alone in the house fanning himself? Are there other moments when you felt the sadness and the beauty of life?

Fathers and Sons

In the final scene of Bicycle Thieves we observed an intricate layering of point of view. Antonio looked at his son Bruno and vice versa. We saw Antonio steal a bycicle, but also we saw Bruno watching Antonio steal a bicylce. In what way is this scene about the relationship between father and son? How does that act of watching fit into this relationship? Are there other scenes that support your ideas?