Cícero de Almeida Oliveira

THE LUDIC ARTIFICIALITY AND THE DISTANCING EFFECT OF LOUIS JOUVET'S BODY IN CINEMA

This project researches how the cinematic performances of the French actor Louis Jouvet (1887-1951) created a theatrical aura in his films, offering a glimpse of an innovative relationship between theater and cinema rooted in an actor's body. Jouvet’s work – extremely influential during his lifetime – is now less studied, so a systematic research of his style can uncover a different model of artificial performance in a cinematic context where realistic acting is very present.

The study has three main goals:

1. To analyze the relationships between Jouvet's theatrical theory and his performances in cinema;
2. To investigate how Jouvet's extensive travels through Latin America influenced his thinking and practice; and
3. To consider how Jouvet's characters relate to patriarchal archetypes of classic French cinema.

Jouvet's films will be analyzed within a rich cinematic context that involves different aesthetic moments (Poetic Realism or film noir) and actors' proposals (from Jean Gabin's naturalism to the artificiality of Sacha Guitry and Michel Simon). Consequently, the research will follow the path of other contemporary researches that have shed light on a period that was historically erased after the Nouvelle Vague.

Sarah Leahy, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University

Philippa Page, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University

James Harriman-Smith, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University