American Translation
With regard for Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, a film that I’ve seen quite a few times in the past few years, I agree with Robyn completely. Like Robyn, I find that portions of (5070) class discourse really benefit my comprehension of the influence New Wave directors like Godard and Truffaut continue to exert on filmic practice.
For instance, despite having seen the film three or more times, I never noticed some of the stylistic characteristics that Penn borrows from the French directors. Similar to Truffaut, Penn is particularly interested in what multiple and divergent perspectives contribute to the comprehension of a single event. This is especially the case with his portrayal of the gang’s highway adventures. Halfway through, the film, Bonnie and Clyde meet up with Barrow’s brother. When the group undertakes a bank job, they damage the oil pan of their vehicle and are forced to find another. After they steal a new car, the group decides to kidnap the couple to which the car belongs. As Bonnie, Clyde, and the rest of the gang surround the couple’s car, Penn gives the audience numerous different perspectives of the same vehicle, both inside and out. Here, Penn spends an almost exhaustive period of time documenting each gesture that the group makes at the frightened couple. Bonnie and Clyde’s brother rub their noses on different windows while Clyde gestures at the driver with his gun. Though the effect is more subtle, Penn seems motivated by similar concerns as Truffaut.
This comparison becomes most relevant with consideration for Truffaut’s period piece, Adele H. Turning to this film, one observes that Truffaut gives similar attention to perspective. Notably, midway through the film, Truffaut provides an extended tracking sequence in which Adele H. views her supposed lover engaging with another woman. The camera follows the couple’s movement throughout the house, watching them from various positions outside of the house. Adele climbs a flight of stairs, near the end of this scene, and stares at the two from a wooden structure adjacent the house.
Although the comparison might seem a stretch, other scenes in Penn’s film serve to accentuate this point of reference. This is, most assuredly, the case with the thematic concern for celebrity that is present throughout Bonnie and Clyde. When the couple meets up with Clyde’s brother and sister-in-law initially, Clyde’s brother decides to take some pictures of the group. In sequence, Bonnie and Clyde take turns posing for each picture, adjusting their clothes and playing with guns. Although there is room to interpret that this is simply Penn’s attempt to render the very self-obsession that drives the couple’s criminal acts, I’m not particularly satisfied with this reading. Instead, I think there is something similar occurring here as in Godard’s Masculin Feminin. One will remember the scene where the protagonist steps into a both to record a record for his girlfriend/fiancé. Both Godard and Penn seem interested in what new technologies contribute to process. This is to say that Penn is concerned with what it means that the gang has access to a camera and how this changes the dynamics of their criminal action. He even gives indication of this as he intercuts police chases with images of policemen getting their pictures taken. In a very simple sense, celebrity as connected with technology modifies the criminal act itself.
Though it is difficult to assess exactly what Penn is trying to do with this film, he definitely takes his cue from the French New Wave. This becomes even more apparent in the strange family scene that he provides near the end of the film. In order to accentuate the centrality of Bonnie and Clyde’s families to the couples’ criminal life – it is rumored that the gang moved in circular patterns, visiting family members at regular intervals – Penn crafts a brilliantly rendered family picnic. IN this scene, family members converse with one another as children play on large mounds of sand. In direct contrast to the cooler tones that Penn uses in other portions of the film, here, he emphasizes vibrant yellows and oranges. Though Penn uses color less severely, and crafts his images differently, one can see that he is dramatically influenced by Godard’s use of filters in the mid to late 1960s.
Overall, Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde can hardly be interpreted independently of the French New Wave. Any critical attempt to engage this film must first turn to those of Godard, Varda, and even Truffaut.
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