Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema - A Sartrean Perspective

This unique volume brings together experts on Sartre and on Cinema who provide existentialist readings of contemporary films


The international breadth of this volume demonstrates the extent to which 'existential' themes transcend space and time, continue to resonate with film directors and add value and meaning to the basic questions about human existence


Readers will engage with a variety of films and film directors from various continents and the existentialist readings provided with enrich traditional readings of international films


This volume will be of interest to students who are coming to Sartre's work for the first time and to those who would like to read films within an existentialist perspective

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Jean-Pierre Boulé and Enda McCaffrey

PART I: THE CALL TO FREEDOM

Chapter 1. Peter Weir’s The Truman Show and SartreanFreedom

Christopher Falzon

Chapter 2. Michael Haneke and the Consequences of Radical Freedom

Kevin L. Stoehr

Chapter 3. Naked, Bad Faith and Masculinity

Mark Stanton

Chapter 4. Pursuits of Transcendence in The Man Who Wasn’t There

Tom Martin

Chapter 5. Lorna’s Silence: Sartre and the Dardenne Brothers

Sarah Cooper

PART II: FILMS OF SITUATION

Chapter 6. Being–Lost in Translation

Michelle R. Darnell

Chapter 7. If I Should Wake Before I Die: Existentialism as a Political Call to Arms in The Crying Game

Tracey Nicholls

Chapter 8. Crimes of Passion, Freedom and a Clash of Sartrean Moralities in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men

Enda McCaffrey

Chapter 9. ‘An Act of Confidence in the Freedom of Men’: Jean-Paul Sartre and Ousmane Sembene

Patrick Williams

Chapter 10. Cédric Klapisch’s The Spanish Apartment and Russian Dolls in Nausea’s Mirror

Jean-Pierre Boulé

Chapter 11. Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet: The Nauseous Art of Adaptation

Alistair Rolls

Notes on Contributors

Index

Über den Autor / die Autorin

Jean-Pierre Boulé is Professor of Contemporary French Studies at Nottingham Trent University and the author of a number of books, notably on Sartre, including Sartre médiatique (1992) and Sartre, Self-Formation and Masculinities (2005). He is the co-founder of the U.K. Sartre Society and executive editor of Sartre Studies International. He is coediting with Benedict O’Donohoe, Jean-Paul Sartre: Mind and Body, Word and Deed (2011) and preparing with Ursula Tidd a companion volume, Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema. A Beauvoirian Perspective (2013).

Enda McCaffrey is Professor of French Theory and Culture at Nottingham Trent University. He is the author of a number of books including The Gay Republic: Sexuality, Citizenship and Subversion in France (2005) and The Return of Religion in France: From Democratisation to Postmetaphysics (2009). He is has recently completed a new monograph entitled Bodies Without Organs: French Theory and Homosexuality (2015)

Zusammenfassung

At the heart of this volume is the assertion that Sartrean existentialism, most prominent in the 1940s, particularly in France, is still relevant as a way of interpreting the world today. Film, by reflecting philosophical concerns in the actions and choices of characters, continues and extends a tradition in which art exemplifies the understanding of existentialist philosophy. In a scholarly yet accessible style, the contributors exploit the rich interplay between Sartre’s philosophy, plays and novels, and a number of contemporary films including No Country for Old Men, Lost in Translation and The Truman Show, with film-makers including the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, and Mike Leigh. This volume will be of interest to students who are coming to Sartre’s work for the first time and to those who would like to read films within an existentialist perspective.

Zusatztext

"One of the strengths of the volume overall is the breadth of approaches to and applications of Sartrean thinking, from the personal and political to the atheistic and artistic. There is also a refreshing selection of films under consideration...their edited collection is very welcome evidence in support of the proposition that thinking about Sartre and film together can produce stimulating and insightful film philosophy."� �� Journal of Contemporary European Studies

"As someone who teaches both French cinema and existentialism courses, I would expect students of existentialism in particular to be enthusiastic about discussing this intersection of familiar concepts and such recent films. The essays are thoughtful, informed and illuminating. While some of the interpretations of the philosophy, and at times of Sartre's imaginative texts, may be unorthodox, students and scholars will find much here with which to reflect and engage. Collectively, they certainly demonstrate the richness of an existentialist interrogation of meaning and purposefulness of action in the world, and the extent to which contemporary cinema continues to prove fertile material for philosophical enquiry."� �� H-France

"All of the essays here are fine pieces in their own right, and the collection certainly succeeds in its aim of showing the relevance of Sartre for the study of contemporary cinema. It whets the appetite for a more systematic consideration of what a Sartrean approach to cinema might be"� �� Modern & Contemporary France

"[This volume] will provide a useful tool, in particular for students seeking to learn about Sartre and existentialism but also for students exploring the application of philosophy to the understanding of cinema."� �� Douglas Morrey, University of Warwick

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Jean-Pierre Maccaffrey Boule, Jean-Pierre Mccaffrey Boule
• Mitarbeit: Jean-Pierre Boulé (Herausgeber), Jean-Pierre Boule (Herausgeber), Jean-Pierre Boulé (Herausgeber), Boule Jean-Pierre (Herausgeber), Boulé Jean-Pierre (Herausgeber), Enda MacCaffrey (Herausgeber), Enda Mccaffrey (Herausgeber)
• Verlag: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 01.03.2014
• EAN: 9781782384946
• ISBN: 978-1-78238-494-6
• Seiten: 224
• Themen: Geisteswissenschaften, Kunst, Musik > Kunst > Fotografie, Film, Video, TV; Schule und Lernen > Erwachsenenbildung/Volkshochschule > VHS-/Kursmaterialien Sprache; Film and Television Studies