'Rear Window' and Semiotics in Columbani's Work

Laetitia Colombani’s film ‘He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not,’ takes the traditional concept of plot and twists it into an unrecognizable, terrifying storyline. Through careful deception, her film begins as a tragic love story and ends as a stalker thriller. This brilliant plot device is an innovative use of semiotics in film.
The class discussed the meaning of ‘semiotics’ when considering ‘He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.’ The basic definition of semiotics is that there is always a signifier and something which is signified. The signifier represents the physical manifestation of a word, whereas the signified represents each person’s personal interpretation of that word. For example, the word ‘lamp’ brings a different image to each of us.
Traditionally, there is a continual metaphor in each film, novel, etc, that begins to represent a common theme, represented by something simple.
Colombani’s film puts that pattern on its ear, using the plot as the signified instead of a particular object. She puts onscreen the story of a woman obsessed, and yet, due to careful and clever editing, the audience’s interpretation is quite different. Instead of seeing the erotomaniac that Angelique is, we start the film with the image of a lovely woman who with too in love and mistreated to think rationally. As the film progresses, the signifier remains the same, but the signified changes in our minds as we realize that Loic is not, in fact, in love with her, and furthermore, has never been with her at all.
Another interesting use of this style of semiotics is Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window.’ ‘Rear Window’ was an excellent transition into the lesson about ‘He Loves Me…’ because it takes the same ingenious idea. The plot revolves around a man who believes that his neighbor is a murderer, and yet there is no proof, and so we the audience are led to believe that he is insane, only to discover that he was right all along. We think that we are watching a man slowly lose his mind, but instead we are watching a man discover something horrifying.
It was this conversation that spurred the realizations of the way that Colombani and Hitchcock each used semiotics to fulfill the message of their films. ‘Rear Window’ and ‘He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not’ have individually taken what we think we know and turned us on our heads, causing us to look deeper than before. Using semiotics, these two directors taught the class that first impressions are not always right.

Michel Gondry and the French New Wave

The French New Wave has influenced a great many filmmakers. Many directors have become inspired by the gritty, realistic, fighting style that the New Wave directors created. One of the most important aspects of the New Wave was the cinematography of the films. Hand-held cameras and quick jump editing were often used. It is this brand of style that has had repercussions into modern cinema.
One of the greatest examples of this style is showcased in the work of modern director Michel Gondry. While French himself, Gondry has worked in Hollywood for many years, working in diverse types of media, from music videos to feature films. What has remained consistent, however, is the innovative cinematography. Gondry uses hand held cameras to create a ‘home movie’ feel to his work. In his nouvelle-classic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry used brilliant special effects (which, I believe, while not exactly characteristic of the New Wave, is characteristic to the innovation and creativity of the directors of the New Wave) and shot with a single camera to allow for improvisation, which was especially significant to the freedom associated with the directors of the New Wave. Furthermore, the article assigned in class stated “Women were given strong parts that did not conform to the archetypical roles seen in most Hollywood cinema,” something that is also relevant to Eternal Sunshine, whose lead character was Clementine, a fiercely independent woman.
While not a direct homage to the New Wave, Michel Gondry’s style and film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has brought the New Wave to modern eyes. The storyline of two extraordinary, if a bit eccentric people, with scenes of normal, and some might say bland interactions, combined with the choppy and personal style of filming creates a subtle reminder for all cine-philes of the finer points of the French New Wave.