French Surrealism
The Surrealist movement was an artistic, literary, and cinematic movement that developed from the ideals of Sigmund Freud and the Dada movement. Freud, who is mainly remembered for his theories on the unconscious mind, developed a “free association” theory, which claimed that people can express their inner emotion by both dreams and by keeping their thoughts uncensored to their surroundings. Like Freud, the Dada movement influenced the development of Surrealism by emphasizing the importance of dreams and by purposely trying to achieve the opposite of rationalism. Surrealism first burst on to the artistic and literary scene in the early 1920s, when a doctor named Andre Breton started practicing Dada activities. He and two significant others, Louis Aragon and Phillipe Soupault began experimenting with something called automatic writing, or writing without censoring their thoughts, and published these writings in the magazine Litterature. With the publication of these writings, these firsts surrealists attracted more followers, and soon, surrealism became a motivational and popular movement in Paris and throughout Europe.
Early Surrealist films include Entr’acte by Rene Clair, La Coquille et le Clergyman by Germaine Dulac, L’Etoile de Mer by Man Ray, and Un Chien Andalou by both Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Dali, who was also an artist, also collaborated with Walt Disney on a surrealist movie project. There are certain elements that can hint to the viewer that a film is surrealist, including abstract elements that the directors purposely use in order to draw the film away from rationality. For example, in L’Etoile de Mer, Man Ray shoots almost every scene through the reflection of a mirror. Many surrealist films have scenes that are not in order, or contain random scenes all together. In other words, surrealist films do not make logical sense. The director leaves it up to the viewer to interpret the film in their own personal and creative way. Surrealist cinema is all about interpretation; not only of what the director is trying to portray, but also of what the audience sees. That’s the beauty of surrealism: Everyone sees something different.
Salvador Dali and Walt Disney - Destino, a Surrealist Film
Salvador Dali and Walt Disney - Destino, a Surrealist Film
Everything a surrealist portrays in a piece of artwork or in a film is skewed away from reality; thus, the most important component that separates surrealism from almost every other film movement is imagination. Surrealist cinema is not meant to be weird, or abnormal, or strange, like most viewers think when they view a surrealist film. It is about expression and wonder; it is meant to defy reality and replace it with what people see in their dreams. Surrealism takes a person’s imagination and exemplifies it, and though the audience knows it is irrational and impossible, they still somehow become captivated by the movement.
