Films of Michel Gondry

'This remarkable collection of articles focusses on one of the most prominent and internationally renowned French directors seen through the lens of academics and researchers. A must-read for filmgoers as well as researchers who want to discover or rediscover Michel Gondry's inventive and very distinctive visual style as well as the mesmerizing universe he creates.'
Michael Abecassis, University of Oxford

The acclaimed French auteur behind the mind-bending modern classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Michel Gondry has directed a number of innovative, ground-breaking films and documentaries, episodes of the acclaimed television show Kidding and some of the most influential music videos in the history of the medium.

In this collection, a range of international scholars offers a comprehensive study of this significant and influential figure, covering his French- and English-language films and videos, and framing Gondry as a transnational auteur whose work provides insight into both French/European and American cinematic and cultural identity.

With detailed case studies of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep (2006), Microbe & Gasoline (2015) and Mood Indigo (2013), this collection appeals to readers interested in the various media in which Gondry has worked, and in contemporary post-modern French and American cinema in general.

Marcelline Block is a graduate of Harvard and Princeton Universities and has written numerous books and articles on French and francophone cinema, literature, music and visual art, including French Cinema in Close-up: La vie d'un acteur pour moi (2015), which was named a Best Reference Book of 2015 by Library Journal.

Jennifer Kirby received her PhD in Media, Film and Television from the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2018 and is currently a Senior Tutor in Media Studies at Massey University.

List of contents

List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Michel Gondry as Trans-cultural Auteur - Marcelline Block and Jennifer Kirby



Part I Dreams, Play and Whimsy


1. "We Can Change the Whole Narrative": Crafting Play and Nostalgia in Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep and Mood Indigo - Danica van de Velde

2. In Dreams and in Love There are no Impossibilities: Michel Gondry's Cinema and the Aesthetics of the Oneiric - Bruno Surace

3. I Am Collecting Beautiful Objects: Michel Gondry's Taxidermy of Emotions - Jenny Pyke

4. The Cost of Whimsy in Mood Indigo and The Grand Budapest Hotel - Mica Hilson


Part II French Cinema and Identity


5. L'amour fou revisited: The surrealist poetics of Michel Gondry - Sian Mitchell

6. On the Road to Adulthood: Microbe & Gasoline and The French Road Movie - Marcelline Block and Jennifer Kirby


Part III Narrative and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind


7. Rethinking Romantic Comedy through the Art Film: Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Raffaele Ariano

8. Apocalypse Ever After: Lifted Veils and Transcendent Time in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Sheheryar B. Sheikh


Part IV Gondry In/On America


9. The Reel and Surreal of Race in America: Michel Gondry and the African-American Identity Crisis of Dave Chappelle - Monique Taylor

10. Memory à la Americana: From Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to Be Kind Rewind - Yu-Yun Hsieh

11. Playing with Superheroes: Genre, Aesthetics and Deconstruction in The Green Hornet - Jennifer Kirby



Part V Multi-Media: Music Video, Documentary, Television

12. "It Would not be Just Be Visual, it Could Have Words and a Story": Performance and Narrative in the Music Video Oeuvre of Michel Gondry - Daniel Klug

13. Death and Pickles: Thinking Through Gondry's Neighborhood - Lisa DeTora

Index

About the author

Marcelline Block is Adjunct Professor at LIM College, New YorkDr Jennifer Kirby is a Senior Tutor at Massey University

Summary

In this book, a range of international scholars offers a comprehensive study of this significant and influential figure, covering his French and English-language films and videos, and framing Gondry as a transnational auteur whose work provides insight into both French/European and American cinematic and cultural identity.

Product details

• Authors: Marcelline Kirby Block
• Assisted by: Marcelline Block (Editor), Jennifer Kirby (Editor)
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2020
• EAN: 9781474456012
• ISBN: 978-1-4744-5601-2
• No. of pages: 224
• Series: ReFocus: The International Directors Series; Refocus: The International Dir
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet