This doctoral research project intends to institute the study of the unique and significant Huangmei Opera film genre by pioneering in making a series of documentaries and writing an academic text. The combination of a documentary series and academic writing not only explores the relationship between the distinctive characteristics of the Huangmei Opera film genre and its enduring popularity for its fans, but also advances a film research mode grounded in practitioner research, where the activity of filmmaking and the study of film theory support and reflect on each other. The documentary series, which incorporates three interrelated subjects - Classic Beauty: Le Di, Scenic Writing Director: Li Han Hsiang and Brother Lian: Ling Po - explores the remarkable film careers of each figure while discussing the social and cultural context in which they worked. The section on Le Di introduces the subject of melodrama as a Chinese tradition. The section on Li Han Hsiang discusses Li's film aesthetics and his representation of a utopian Chinese world of the imagination. The final section focuses on the popularity actor Ling Po gained through her roles of male impersonation. All three topics provide an opportunity to rethink our understanding of the social, political and cultural forces that contribute to the genre, and to build an emotional connection between past and present for the viewers. Meanwhile, by interviewing those surviving key figures and assembling materials that have been lost, the documentary series not only fulfils the needs of many fans, but also serves field studies in the area by setting a direction in research and providing a valuable resource for scholars involved in Chinese film and cultural studies. It is both accessible to mainstream audiences and academically warranted. As an adjunct to the documentary series, the written text explores aspects of the same material in more depth through the use of structuralist methodology, and psychoanalytic, auteur and genre theories. The text combines these Western approaches with aspects of Chinese culture, philosophy and aesthetic traditions, proposing links between Chinese aesthetics and Western film theories that contribute new understandings to both Chinese and Western film studies. On the other hand, because these film theories were originally developed to study Western films, the Chinese origins of the Huangmei Opera film genre may challenge existing theoretical paradigms and so provide new interpretations. This doctoral project also includes a complete report of all phases of the documentary production and design process, and a unique, comprehensive filmography of Huangmei Opera films, and as such supplies a research foundation for both documentary filmmakers and academics who are interested in studying the Huangmei Opera film genre further.

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La version intégrale de ce mémoire est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l’Université de Montréal www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / "La Flûte enchantée" (1975), téléfilm d’Ingmar Bergman, pose, dans une perspective sociologique, la question de l’adaptation de l’oeuvre alliée aux intentions esthétiques de son auteur. En quoi Bergman est-il parvenu à adapter "La Flûte enchantée" à la société, principalement suédoise, de 1975 à laquelle son film est destiné ? Comment développe-t-il sa contribution esthétique entre le respect de l’oeuvre, tant sur le plan de son contenu dramatique que sur le plan de sa réception, et l’innovation qui est à la base de son approche cinématographique ? De par son mode de diffusion télévisuel, le film de Bergman rend l’opéra accessible au plus grand nombre. De par ses réarrangements du livret, traduit en suédois, il réactualise l’oeuvre de Mozart. De par ses traits esthétiques, il exprime une vision de son auteur sur la représentation même d’un opéra sur scène et marque de son empreinte l’histoire des mises à l’écran d’opéras. / "The Magic Flute" (1975) is a television film directed by Ingmar Bergman which, from a sociological perspective, raises the question of an opera’s film adaptation paired with the aesthetic endeavours of filmmaking. How does Bergman succeed in adapting "The Magic Flute" to a contemporary, mainly Swedish, 1975 audience to whom his film is intended? How does he develop his aesthetic contribution as he comes face to face with the difficult choice between owing respect to the opera, in terms of the libretto’s content and of its reception, and envisioning a work of its own? Through its telecast, Bergman’s film makes the opera accessible to the public at large. By rearranging the libretto, translated into Swedish, it attunes Mozart’s work to contemporary issues. It also bears aesthetic traits which express Bergman’s ideas about the theatrical performance of an opera and has left its imprint on the history of operas on screen.

Les premiers films chinois sont des documentaires de l’opéras traditionnels. Le langage cinématographique dans le cinéma chinois est née avec Tragédie de l’opium de 1916. L’industrie du cinéma a été fondée dans les années vingt avec la naissance de nombreux studios et avec une production débordante de long-métrage qui est très proche des films hollywoodiens. Le cinéma muet chinois est toujours présent dans les années trente. La mise en scène manifeste une conception cinématographique moderne en gardant la continuité de l’espace-temps. Dans l’utilisation du mouvement de caméra, SUN Yu garde une conception d’espace-temps rationaliste occidentale, tandis que FEI Mu respecte la fluidité d'image. Il y a trois styles principaux des cinéastes du muet : le "théâtre filmée", le modèle hollywoodien chinois et l’école de l’esthétique traditionnelle. La "tradition" du cinéma chinois n’est pas bien formée à l’époque du muet, pourtant elle est une tendance remarquable. Elle devient dans le début des années quarante avec le film parlant une conception générale de l’esthétique cinématographique qui est différente du cinéma d’autres pays. Elle se caractérise, par l’intégralité du plan avec l’utilisation fréquente du plan-séquence et le travelling continue. Cette esthétique cinématographique est influencée profondément par l’opéra traditionnel et la peinture chinoise, qui manifeste l’esprit de l’esthétique chinoise traditionnelle. La "tradition" du cinéma chinois se continue dans les films chinois d’aujourd’hui, pourtant, elle se trouve plutôt dans les films d’art. / The earliest film in China was the documentary of Chinese opera. It was the first time that the film language appeared in Victims of Opium of 1916. In the 1920s, the Chinese film industry came into being, building up many film studios and producing a quantity of Hollywood style feature films. The production of Chinese silent films had never stopped until the 1930s, when the concept of mise en scène had begun to pay attention to the continuity of time and space, showing the concept of modern film. As for the motion photography, the rational concepts of time and space in the West have been revealed in SUN Yu’s films while FEI Mu has created the implicit images by using motion photography. Thus, in the 1930s, there were three major types of film aesthetic tendencies: the dramatic films, Hollywood-style films and the films with Chinese traditional aesthetic tendency. In the silent era of films, the tradition had become the apparent aesthetic tendency in Chinese films, but it hadn’t developed into the mature film style. Not until the beginning of the 1940s of sound films had this tendency become a distinct national characteristic, which were keeping the integrity of single shot, frequently using le plan-séquence and ongoing motion photography. Chinese traditional opera and paintings have great influence on this film aesthetics, which shows Chinese traditional aesthetics revealed in the film art. The tradition in Chinese films has also been shown in today’s Chinese films; however, it is a style of the art film rather than the film aesthetics of those hot commercial films.

Le film d’opéra correspond à la rencontre de deux formes d’art ayant chacune ses propres règles de mise en scène. Il nécessite de concilier les exigences de l’opéra et celles du cinéma, mais prétend aussi favoriser leur enrichissement mutuel. Notre réflexion porte sur la pertinence, du point de vue créatif, de cette rencontre. Elle vise à mettre en évidence les risques, les enjeux et les intérêts artistiques du film d’opéra. Le corpus revêt une dimension franco-italienne : il se compose de cinq films produits par Daniel Toscan du Plantier (Don Giovanni de Joseph Losey, Carmen de Francesco Rosi, La Bohème de Luigi Comencini, Madame Butterfly de Frédéric Mitterrand, Tosca de Benoît Jacquot) et de deux autres, non produits par lui : La Traviata et Otello de Franco Zeffirelli, qui appartiennent à cette même « vague » du film d’opéra. L’étude s’intéresse tout d’abord à la politique culturelle du producteur Daniel Toscan du Plantier, grâce à qui ce genre cinématographique s’est développé de façon significative dans les années 1980, afin de définir le contexte de création de ses films, de comprendre son engagement en faveur de ce genre artistique et son intérêt tout particulier pour la culture italienne. Notre analyse tend par la suite à évaluer les difficultés techniques ainsi que les libertés créatives qu’engendre le passage à l’écran. L’écriture cinématographique de l’opéra implique des concessions sur le plan de la réalisation et nécessite un positionnement entre les deux esthétiques, mais elle permet aussi une lecture nouvelle et originale de l’opéra. Nous évaluons à la fois les exigences résultant de l’articulation opéra-cinéma et les solutions apportées par les réalisateurs pour répondre à ces contraintes, bien souvent musicales. La réflexion se concentre dans la seconde partie sur l’aboutissement de cette union, tout d’abord à travers l’analyse de l’interprétation visuelle de la musique fournie par les réalisateurs pour chacun des films du corpus, selon une approche thématique. Elle montre comment l’image mobile transcrit la musique, comment l’écriture cinématographique traduit visuellement la partition et peut accroître la dimension émotive. Enfin, elle s’intéresse à la réception de ces films en France et en Italie, en vue de mesurer l’accueil reçu par chacun auprès de la critique, partagée entre démocratisation de l’opéra et vulgarisation de l’art lyrique. / The "opera film" corresponds to the encounter between two art forms envolving specific staging rules. It combines the requirements of opera and cinema alike whilst endeavouring to promote their mutual enrichment. In this dissertation I analyse the relevance of this encounter from a creative point of view. I intend to highlight the risks, stakes and artistic appropriateness of the opera film. The body of works has a Franco-italian dimension: it includes five films produced by Daniel Toscan du Plantier (Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni, Francesco Rosi's Carmen, Luigi Comencini's La Bohème, Frédéric Mitterrand's Madama Butterfly and Benoît Jacquot's Tosca) as well as two other films which he did not produced: La Traviata and Otello, by Franco Zeffirelli, also belong to this opera film "wave". First of all, I examine Daniel Toscan du Plantier's cultural policy as a producer. Indeed, it was thanks to him that this cinematic genre flourished significantly in the 1980s. I aim to define the creative context of these films and to understand his commitment towards their promotion as well as his genuine interest for Italian culture. I then move on to analysing the technical difficulties as well as the creative licence which results from screen adaptation. On the one hand, the cinematographic writing of opera implies concessions in staging and requires a position be taken in respect of aesthetics, cinematographic and opera. On the other hand, it also triggers a new and original reading of opera. I assess the requirements which result from the opera-cinema articulation and the solutions, often musical, proposed by films directors confronted to these constraints. In Part II I focus on the achievements of this union, first by thematically analysing each director's the visual interpretation of music provided in the films included in the body of works. I argue that the moving image transcribes music, that cinematographic writing translates the music score visually and that it can enhance the emotional dimension. Finally, I examine the response to these films in France and in Italy, especially through the critics divided between the democratisation of opera and the vulgarisation of lyric art.

1 Abstract The thesis focuses on the involvement of Jiří Mařánek in the management of the Film Department of the Ministry of Information during the years 1945 - 1948. His ministe- rial engagement is related to the contemporary strengthening of the importance of literary preparation of the film and to the associated state dramaturgical supervision. Jiří Mařánek belongs to the circle of writers connected on one hand through their affiliation with the interwar avant-garde movements, on the other hand by their postwar involve- ment in the power apparatus that ended by the political and economic changes in the late forties and fifties. His professional fate speaks about the changes of cultural policy of the state, about the institutional development of the cinema and about the relations between literary and cinematic arts. It is a testimonial of what a successful professional career meant for a man of letters and what relationship it had to the cinema. We follow therefore a relatively brief but breakthrough episode of a writer and retired officer in the position of the Ministerial Counsellor, and we try to place its course and causes into a complex network of historical and social contexts and personal motivation. Focusing on this personality unburdened neither by a historical uniqueness, fundamental role of...