Brigitte Humbert
Associate Professor of French
Email: humbert@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.5237
Office Hours: On Leave, Academic Year 2012-2013
Download Contact Information
Brigitte Humbert holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska. She teaches language, literature, and film, and her research is in the area of French cinema.
She is the author of De la lettre à l'écran: Les Liaisons dangereuses. See below for her other recent publications.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
FREN 0102 - Beginning French Part Two
Beginning French
This course is a continuation of FREN 0101, dealing with more complex French. Oral skills are stressed and students participate in the French language table at lunch. This course does not fulfill the foreign language distribution requirement. (FREN 0101)
Winter 2010, Winter 2012
FREN 0203 / FREN 0101 - Intensive Intermediate French ▲
Intensive Intermediate French
An active and intensive review of French grammar for students having had good beginning-level training in French. We will work not only to perfect mastery of the structures of the language with practice of writing and reading, but also to develop oral comprehension and production skills. (FREN 0103 or placement) 5 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2013
FREN 0205 - Toward Liberated Expression
Toward Liberated Expression
A course designed to increase and perfect the ability to express oneself in spoken and written French. Emphasis on precision, variety, and vocabulary acquisition. Sections limited to 15 students. (FREN 0203 or placement) This requirement for the major and the minor may be satisfied by placement at a higher level. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2009, Spring 2011
FREN 0210 - Identity in French Literature
Identity in French Literature
Exploration of differing views of the self, society, and the world in major works of French poetry, drama, and prose. This course is designed to develop students' ability to read and critique literature in French, as a transition from FREN 0205 to more advanced literature courses. (FREN 0205 or by placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011
FREN 0221 - From Romanticism to Modernism
From Romanticism to Modernism
The 19th and 20th centuries were marked by social and political revolutions and by literary and artistic movements that changed our attitudes to art and to ourselves, including romanticism, realism, symbolism, surrealism, and existentialism. We will study literary texts, artistic and philosophical movements, and the social circumstances that conditioned them. Close readings of the texts (including prose, drama, and poetry) will develop critical vocabulary and writing skills. Authors may include Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Gide, Camus, Sartre, and Francophone writers. (FREN 0210 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc. (1 additional hour for CW, Fall).
Spring 2012
FREN 0341 - French Cinema
French Cinema
In this course we will study two aspects of French cinema: French history through films and French filmmaking through history. We will examine films dealing with specific eras or events of French history or culture, as well as the major trends of French film history and the evolution of French filmmaking. Directors studied may include: Renoir, Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, Kurys, Besson. (FREN 0221 or FREN 0230 or by waiver). 3 hrs. lect./disc. 2 hrs. screening.
Fall 2010
FREN 0342 - French Films vs Amer Remakes
French Films and Their American Remakes
By reading reviews and articles, by examining variations in structure, techniques, plot, and audience expectations, we will pinpoint the cultural differences that shape French and American versions of the same story. In some cases, we may extend our comparison to the novel/story that inspired the original French film. We will cover different genres such as comedy, historical film, drama, etc. our study may include the following films and their counterparts: Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Baby), Le Retour de Martin Guerre (Sommersby), Les Diaboliques (Diabolique). (FREN 0221 or 0230 or by waiver). 3 hrs. lect./disc., 2 hrs. screening.
Fall 2009
FREN 0344 - Women in FR Historical Films
Women in French Historical Films: Looking at the Past through a Modern Lens
In this course we will focus on the representation of powerful women in French historical films produced since the early 1990s. At a time when the notion of gender parity was becoming prevalent in French political life, one would expect contemporary filmmakers to adopt a positive perspective on women in power. Yet, by studying such films as La Reine Margot, Ridicule, Indochine, and Lucie Aubrac and comparing them to various written accounts and/or literary texts, we will see that this is rarely the case. Historical films often offer as much information about the period when they were produced as they do about the period they depict, if not more. Could representations of powerful women in modern heritage films point to a general cultural tendency in late 20th century France to depreciate the notion of emancipation as a reaction to the very emergence of women in the political sphere? (Two courses among FREN 0210, FREN 0221, FREN 0230, or by waiver). 3 hrs lect/disc +2 hrs. screenings.
Spring 2009, Spring 2012
FREN 0500 - Independent Projects ▲ ▹
Independent Project
Qualified students may be permitted to undertake a special project in reading and research under the direction of a member of the department. Students should seek an advisor and submit a proposal to the department well in advance of registration for the term in which the work is to be undertaken. FREN 0500 projects or essays proposed by senior majors for fall or spring may be eligible for departmental honors. (Approval required by the department as a whole. See requirements above.)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
FREN 0700 - Senior Research ▲ ▹
For senior majors who are candidates for departmental honors. Students should seek an advisor and submit a proposal to the department well in advance of registration for the term in which the work is to be undertaken. (Approval required by the department as a whole. See requirements above.)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
FYSE 1206 - French Films/American Remakes ▲
WAGS 0344 - Women in FR Historical Films
Women in French Historical Films: Looking at the Past through a Modern Lens
In this course we will focus on the representation of powerful women in French historical films produced since the early 1990s. At a time when the notion of gender parity was becoming prevalent in French political life, one would expect contemporary filmmakers to adopt a positive perspective on women in power. Yet, by studying such films as La Reine Margot, Ridicule, Indochine, and Lucie Aubrac and comparing them to various written accounts and/or literary texts, we will see that this is rarely the case. Historical films often offer as much information about the period when they were produced as they do about the period they depict, if not more. Could representations of powerful women in modern heritage films point to a general cultural tendency in late twentieth-century France to depreciate the notion of emancipation as a reaction to the very emergence of women in the political sphere? (Two courses among FREN 0210, FREN 0221, FREN 0230, or by waiver). 3 hrs lect/disc +2 hrs. screenings.
Spring 2009
Recent Publications
“Filming France’s Colonial Past: Women ‘Wearing the Pants’ in Outremer and Indochine.” Studies in French Cinema 12.1 (2012): 59-74.
"Films français et remakes américains." French Review 82.5 (April 2009): 962-980.
"Trois hommes et un couffin." The Cinema of France. Ed. Phil Powrie. 24 Frames. London: Wallflower, 2006. 175-183.
"Patrice Leconte's Ridicule - Women in the political sphere: Transforming memory into modernity?" Studies in French Cinema 3.3 (2003): 137-147.
"Screening France." French Politics, Culture and Society 21.2 (Summer 2003): 81-94.
"Cruel Intentions: Adaptation, Teenage Movie, or Remake?" Film Literature Quarterly 30.4 (2002): 279-286.
