30 September 2024

Updated content

Course overview

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Explore the extraordinary breadth and depth of French and Francophone language and culture, and the rich tradition of French-language cinema at Warwick.

Our French with Film degree lets you collaborate with academic specialists to develop your language skills. Together, we will examine the historical, cultural, geographical, and political contexts in which French is spoken across the world. By spending a quarter of your time on Film Studies, you will also acquire a specialist knowledge of French cinema, Hollywood cinema, and other European film cultures.

French at Warwick enables you to collaborate with academic specialists to develop your language skills and intercultural competence. Together, we will examine the historical, cultural, geographical, and political contexts in which French is spoken across the world. The flexible course covers cultural topics such as philosophy, literature, politics, history, linguistics, media and film. Core language modules develop an in-depth understanding of the French language and its links to the cultural contexts where it is spoken, and you can then choose optional modules to develop your academic interests.

Warwick’s Film Studies modules cover the foundations of film and television history, theory, analysis and interpretation. Building on this foundation, you will then develop your understanding of national, international and historic film and television cultures.

You will normally spend your second or third year abroad in France or a French speaking country. This is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the language and culture, and to enhance your language skills.

New:

Explore the extraordinary breadth and depth of French and Francophone language and culture, and the rich tradition of French-language cinema. You will spend a 75% of your time on French Studies and 25% of your time focusing on Film Studies.

A French with Film Studies degree will allow you to combine two specialisms. Firstly, you will be able to develop and refine your skills as a linguist through a programme of modules exploring the French language and the culture, history and politics of France and the Francophone world. Alongside this, you will also acquire a specialist knowledge of French cinema, Hollywood cinema, and other European film cultures.

French at Warwick enables you to collaborate with academic specialists to develop your language skills and intercultural competence. Together, we will examine the historical, cultural, geographical, and political contexts in which French is spoken across the world. The flexible course covers cultural topics such as philosophy, literature, politics, history, linguistics, media and film. Core language modules develop an in-depth understanding of the French language and its links to the cultural contexts where it is spoken, and you can then choose optional modules to develop your academic interests.

Warwick’s Film Studies modules cover the foundations of film and television history, theory, analysis and interpretation. Building on this foundation, you will then develop your understanding of national, international and historic film and television cultures.

Your second or third year is normally spent abroad, either as a language assistant, working, or studying at one of our partner universities. This is an invaluable opportunity to immerse yourself in the linguistic and cultural contexts where French is spoken, enhance your language skills and build international connections.

You will have access to outstanding facilities and resources. This includes flexible collaborative and individual learning spaces, as well as a vast selection of print, digital and multimedia learning materials.

You will finish your degree as a proficient, internationally mobile linguist with a deep understanding of Francophone cultures, and an advanced knowledge of film and cinema.

Core modules

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In your first year, you will take language classes to develop your knowledge and understanding of written and spoken French. You will also take the core module, ‘The Story of Modern France’. This module examines primary sources from major periods and events in French history, literature, and contemporary politics. You will also study two core Film Studies modules, which will introduce you to key concepts and landmarks from film history and develop your familiarity with methods for film analysis.

Having acquired fundamental skills in your first year, you will go on to develop your linguistic and cultural expertise the intermediate and final years. As well as taking core modules, you will be able to pursue your own interests beyond the language. In SMLC, our modules reflect the research specialisms of academics in the French department and cover a broad range of subjects in French and Francophone culture, society, literature, politics, philosophy, film and history.

You will continue to spend a quarter of your time on Film Studies. Core modules in World Cinemas and Hollywood Cinemas in intermediate year will build on the foundations of the first year to help you apply theories and analysis methods to films from different national contexts. In final year, you will be able to select from a range of optional modules that develop your own specialist interest in areas such as ‘Queer Cinema’, ‘The Art of Animation’, ‘Transnational Action Cinema’, and ‘Contemporary Latin American Cinema’.

Year One

Modern French Language 1

You will deepen your understanding of French grammar and syntax with the help of tutors experienced in facilitating the transition from A Level to university-level competence. You will learn appropriate technical vocabulary and handle complex structures. You will develop the skills required to produce authentic and accurate translations of written texts in both English and French. Writing in formal French introduces you to the structures and methods used to debate ideas on contemporary issues. You will increase your reading and comprehension skills and develop your ability to exploit texts for vocabulary, idioms, syntax and grammatical structures. Working with a native speaker in a small group, you will discuss aspects of contemporary French and Francophone culture and society, using audio, video and written resources.

Read more about Modern French Language 1Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

French cultural module:

The Story of Modern France

Why is modern France so deeply invested in the past? What are the milestones in the creation of modern France? How have notions of France and Frenchness been shaped through the stories told about them? These are some of the questions you will explore through close reading of primary sources from major periods and events in French history. You will explore a range of written, visual, and audio-visual materials, from the student posters of May 1968 to prints dating back to the French Revolution, and from stories of Charlemagne to films and texts reflecting France’s ongoing preoccupation with its (often controversial) recent past. Engaging with this varied range of cultural sources will equip you to study further aspects of French and Francophone culture in the later stages of your degree.

Read more about The Story of Modern FranceLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Independent Project

This module enables students to spend some time developing their independent working and in particular to build research skills for the later stages of their undergraduate degree. The module comprises a series of skills sessions on undertaking undergraduate research, tutorials with the module leader, along with a set of supervisory meetings with the project supervisor. In addition to producing work in a range of formats in the course of the year, linked to an aspect of the culture of their chosen language and the study of modern languages at university level, students will be supported to produce an end product related to their specific area of interest and linked to the curriculum for their other first-year cultural module. The end product will be an appropriate piece of work such as a mini dissertation.

Read more about the Independent Project in Modern Languages moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

You will choose a further module in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, in another academic department, or in the Language Centre.

Two modules from Film Studies:

Film History and Methods

This module will focus on film and history, exploring the various ways film texts have been analysed as reflecting social and cultural historical moments, filmmaking movements of particular eras, and how films have historicised individuals and events. There are many ways to ‘do’ film history and this term will not be an exhaustive survey of the history of cinema. Instead, it will offer some key contexts, methodologies, and traditions that have formed the wide-ranging study of film and history.

Read more about the Film History and Methods moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

and

Film Analysis and Methods

This module is concerned with the close reading and interpretation of film texts through close textual analysis. Over the course of the module, you will acquire the skills and vocabulary necessary to analyse the ways in which meaning is conveyed through the formal properties of film. This module is also concerned with the broader applications of close textual analysis. By the end of the module and you should be confident in applying your skills of textual analysis in order to interrogate the political dimension of audio-visual texts.

Read more about the Film Analysis and Methods moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Intermediate Year

Modern French Language 2

You will consolidate and develop the language skills acquired in your first year. By the end of the module, you should have the knowledge of vocabulary and syntactic and grammatical structures to produce written French in two prescribed genres. You will develop your skills in translation to and from French, with a focus on specific translation challenges. In spoken French, you will improve your ability to understand and use structured spoken French on a range of topics related to contemporary cultures and in simulated real-life contexts.

Read more about Modern French Language 2Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Two film modules:

Hollywood Cinema: History, Theory, Industry

This core module will build on what students have learned about Hollywood in first year modules by expanding their knowledge about Hollywood in what has been deemed its ‘classic’ period. The module will illustrate important aspects about the industrial system that dominated Hollywood filmmaking from the late 1920s to the early 1960s, including style, genre, and stars. By first focusing on Hollywood as an industry, examining the practices and cultures of film production, the module will then consider its ideological influence by promoting specific American values and traditions through political issues, such as race and ethnicity.

Read more about the Hollywood Cinema: History, Theory, Industry moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

World Cinema

The category of ‘world cinema’ represents a point of convergence for both the flattening impulses of a universalizing neoliberalism and the more radical bents of internationalist coalition-building. In other words, such cinema figures large in affective negotiations of global culture, world community and international human rights. This module looks at the wide range of fictional feature films, including the work of Deepa Metha, Akira Kurosawa, Samira Makhmalbaf and Satyajit Ray, among others. This course addresses several specific topics, including: transnational marketing, the touristic gaze, the politics of dubbing/subtitling, and the slow cinema debates.

This module reassesses ‘world cinema’ in light of globalization and global crises. Since the term ‘world cinema’ has always simultaneously invoked industrial, generic and aesthetic categories, our reckoning of the field hopes to expose otherwise unseen geopolitical fault lines. We investigate the historical and current contexts for the widening distribution of non-Hollywood films. We also examine the renaissance of international art cinema practices in recent decades, including new waves from East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

What you might watch? Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998); Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972); Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974); Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003); The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, 2008); Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa 1949); Sansho Dayu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954); Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953); Crazed Fruit (Ko Nakahira, 1956); Face of Another (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966); Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998); My Neighbour Totoro (Hiyao Miyazaki, 1988); Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008); Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955); Riso Amaro / Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949); Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950); De cierta manera / One Way or Another (Sara Gómez, 1977); The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998); What Time Is It There? (Tsai, 2001); Fire (Deepa Metha, 1996); Lan Yu (Stanley Kwan, 2001); Peking Opera Blues (Tsui, 1986)

Read more about the World Cinema moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

A selection of optional modules in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (30-60 credits); an approved outside option (0-30 credits)

Final Year

Modern French Language 3

You will consolidate and develop your ability to write and speak confidently and at a level of intellectual sophistication in French. By the end of the course, you should be able to produce a structured written argument on a given topic, in French that is grammatically correct, idiomatic, varied in vocabulary and grammatical structure, and in an appropriate register. You should be able to translate accurately from French to English and English to French, using your detailed knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and idiom, and employing an appropriate register. You will strengthen your skills in pronunciation and intonation skills and demonstrate these through fluent oral presentation and discussion of an intellectually demanding topic.

Read more about Modern French Language 3Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

A selection of optional modules in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (30-60 credits); an approved outside option (0-30 credits); and options in Film Studies (30 credits)

New:

In your first year, you will take language classes to develop your knowledge and understanding of written and spoken French. You will also take the core module, ‘The Story of Modern France’. This module examines primary sources from major periods and events in French history, literature, and contemporary politics. You will also study two core Film Studies modules, which will introduce you to key concepts and landmarks from film history and develop your familiarity with methods for film analysis.

Having acquired fundamental skills in your first year, you will go on to develop your linguistic and cultural expertise the intermediate and final years. As well as taking core modules, you will be able to pursue your own interests beyond the language. In SMLC, our modules reflect the research specialisms of academics in the French department and cover a broad range of subjects in French and Francophone culture, society, literature, politics, philosophy, film and history.

You will continue to spend a quarter of your time on Film Studies. Core modules in World Cinemas and Hollywood Cinemas in intermediate year will build on the foundations of the first year to help you apply theories and analysis methods to films from different national contexts. In final year, you will be able to select from a range of optional modules that develop your own specialist interest in areas such as ‘Queer Cinema’, ‘The Art of Animation’, ‘Transnational Action Cinema’, and ‘Contemporary Latin American Cinema’.

Year One

Modern French Language 1

You will deepen your understanding of French grammar and syntax with the help of tutors experienced in facilitating the transition from A Level to university-level competence. You will learn appropriate technical vocabulary and handle complex structures. You will develop the skills required to produce authentic and accurate translations of written texts in both English and French. Writing in formal French introduces you to the structures and methods used to debate ideas on contemporary issues. You will increase your reading and comprehension skills and develop your ability to exploit texts for vocabulary, idioms, syntax and grammatical structures. Working with a native speaker in a small group, you will discuss aspects of contemporary French and Francophone culture and society, using audio, video and written resources.

Read more about Modern French Language 1Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

French cultural module:

The Story of Modern France

Why is modern France so deeply invested in the past? What are the milestones in the creation of modern France? How have notions of France and Frenchness been shaped through the stories told about them? These are some of the questions you will explore through close reading of primary sources from major periods and events in French history. You will explore a range of written, visual, and audio-visual materials, from the student posters of May 1968 to prints dating back to the French Revolution, and from stories of Charlemagne to films and texts reflecting France’s ongoing preoccupation with its (often controversial) recent past. Engaging with this varied range of cultural sources will equip you to study further aspects of French and Francophone culture in the later stages of your degree.

Read more about The Story of Modern FranceLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Independent Project

This module enables students to spend some time developing their independent working and in particular to build research skills for the later stages of their undergraduate degree. The module comprises a series of skills sessions on undertaking undergraduate research, tutorials with the module leader, along with a set of supervisory meetings with the project supervisor. In addition to producing work in a range of formats in the course of the year, linked to an aspect of the culture of their chosen language and the study of modern languages at university level, students will be supported to produce an end product related to their specific area of interest and linked to the curriculum for their other first-year cultural module. The end product will be an appropriate piece of work such as a mini dissertation.

Read more about the Independent Project in Modern Languages moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Two modules from Film Studies:

Film History and Methods

This module will focus on film and history, exploring the various ways film texts have been analysed as reflecting social and cultural historical moments, filmmaking movements of particular eras, and how films have historicised individuals and events. There are many ways to ‘do’ film history and this term will not be an exhaustive survey of the history of cinema. Instead, it will offer some key contexts, methodologies, and traditions that have formed the wide-ranging study of film and history.

Read more about the Film History and Methods moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

and

Film Analysis and Methods

This module is concerned with the close reading and interpretation of film texts through close textual analysis. Over the course of the module, you will acquire the skills and vocabulary necessary to analyse the ways in which meaning is conveyed through the formal properties of film. This module is also concerned with the broader applications of close textual analysis. By the end of the module and you should be confident in applying your skills of textual analysis in order to interrogate the political dimension of audio-visual texts.

Read more about the Film Analysis and Methods moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Intermediate Year

Modern French Language 2

You will consolidate and develop the language skills acquired in your first year. By the end of the module, you should have the knowledge of vocabulary and syntactic and grammatical structures to produce written French in two prescribed genres. You will develop your skills in translation to and from French, with a focus on specific translation challenges. In spoken French, you will improve your ability to understand and use structured spoken French on a range of topics related to contemporary cultures and in simulated real-life contexts.

Read more about Modern French Language 2Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

Two film modules:

Hollywood Cinema: History, Theory, Industry

This core module will build on what students have learned about Hollywood in first year modules by expanding their knowledge about Hollywood in what has been deemed its ‘classic’ period. The module will illustrate important aspects about the industrial system that dominated Hollywood filmmaking from the late 1920s to the early 1960s, including style, genre, and stars. By first focusing on Hollywood as an industry, examining the practices and cultures of film production, the module will then consider its ideological influence by promoting specific American values and traditions through political issues, such as race and ethnicity.

Read more about the Hollywood Cinema: History, Theory, Industry moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

World Cinema

The category of ‘world cinema’ represents a point of convergence for both the flattening impulses of a universalizing neoliberalism and the more radical bents of internationalist coalition-building. In other words, such cinema figures large in affective negotiations of global culture, world community and international human rights. This module looks at the wide range of fictional feature films, including the work of Deepa Metha, Akira Kurosawa, Samira Makhmalbaf and Satyajit Ray, among others. This course addresses several specific topics, including: transnational marketing, the touristic gaze, the politics of dubbing/subtitling, and the slow cinema debates.

This module reassesses ‘world cinema’ in light of globalization and global crises. Since the term ‘world cinema’ has always simultaneously invoked industrial, generic and aesthetic categories, our reckoning of the field hopes to expose otherwise unseen geopolitical fault lines. We investigate the historical and current contexts for the widening distribution of non-Hollywood films. We also examine the renaissance of international art cinema practices in recent decades, including new waves from East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

What you might watch? Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998); Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972); Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974); Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003); The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel, 2008); Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa 1949); Sansho Dayu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954); Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953); Crazed Fruit (Ko Nakahira, 1956); Face of Another (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966); Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998); My Neighbour Totoro (Hiyao Miyazaki, 1988); Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2008); Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955); Riso Amaro / Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949); Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950); De cierta manera / One Way or Another (Sara Gómez, 1977); The Apple (Samira Makhmalbaf, 1998); What Time Is It There? (Tsai, 2001); Fire (Deepa Metha, 1996); Lan Yu (Stanley Kwan, 2001); Peking Opera Blues (Tsui, 1986)

Read more about the World Cinema moduleLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).

A selection of optional modules in French Studies and the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, including translation and cross-School thematic modules (30-60 credits); an approved outside option (0-15 credits)

Final Year

Modern French Language 3

You will consolidate and develop your ability to write and speak confidently and at a level of intellectual sophistication in French. By the end of the course, you should be able to produce a structured written argument on a given topic, in French that is grammatically correct, idiomatic, varied in vocabulary and grammatical structure, and in an appropriate register. You should be able to translate accurately from French to English and English to French, using your detailed knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and idiom, and employing an appropriate register. You will strengthen your skills in pronunciation and intonation skills and demonstrate these through fluent oral presentation and discussion of an intellectually demanding topic.

Read more about Modern French Language 3Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).