The Sense of Place in Contemporary Cinema

Description

Examines the purpose that place serves in films Analyzes the importance of the notion of place in contemporary cinema, using in particular theories of space that were developed in the fields of geography and anthropology (landscapes, territories, site) Employs the various theories of space in cinema that have been developed since the 1960's, most particularly from a phenomenological point of view Includes European, North and South American, Russian and Asian contemporary films What purpose does place serve in films? When it is not just a background to actions, or indistinguishable from the landscape, or a simple space to walk through, a kind of neutral territory? Such filmmakers as Chantal Akerman, Lisandro Alonso, Pedro Costa, Bruno Dumont, Béla Tarr, Avi Mograbi, Tariq Teguia, Philippe Grandrieux, Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub and Sharunas Bartas, chose not to focus solely the cinematic narration on the fate of the characters. They showed telluric spatialities, inhabited territories, existential matrices where ways of doing and of living were mobilized, where forces of emancipation and existential weaknesses were carried out. Welcoming rooms, remarkable transitions, havens for individual and communal destinies: place in cinema sometimes implies the insecurity of an unfinished project, sometimes the solidity of fortifications. The Sense of Place in Cinema demonstrates the importance of place and its aesthetic potentialities in film. Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1 Chantal Akerman: Cloistered Nomadism Introduction CHAPTER 1 Blow Up My Town: Everyday Rowdiness CHAPTER 2 Jeanne Dielman: Neurotic Seclusion CHAPTER 3 From Cities to Walls: A Local Change of Scenery Part 2 The House as a Place of Declarations and Meditations Introduction CHAPTER 4 Avi Mograbi: The Political Workshop CHAPTER 5 A Moving Inwardness: Alexander Sokurov’s A Humble Life Part 3 The Forest: From Sensory Environment to Economic Site Introduction CHAPTER 6 Philippe Grandrieux’s Forest-matter: A Multisensory Place CHAPTER 7 Naomi Kawase’s The Mourning Forest: The March of Bodies, the Spiritual Journey CHAPTER 8 Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub: The ‘Sacred Sobriety’ of the Undergrowth CHAPTER 9 Lisandro Alonso’s La Libertad and Los Muertos: The Dual Forest Part 4 The Banlieue: Off-centred, Isolated Introduction CHAPTER 10 Pasolini’s Wastelands CHAPTER 11 Pedro Costa’s Colossal Youth: From the Slums to the Sanitised Apartment CHAPTER 12 Tariq Teguia and the Algerian Banlieue: A Field of Ruin Part 5 The Strangeness of Places and the Solitude of Men Introduction CHAPTER 13 Bruno Dumont’s Hamlets: Cursed and Isolated Places CHAPTER 14 Béla Tarr: Waiting behind Barricades CHAPTER 15 Sharunas Bartas’s Undergrounds Epilogue Bibliography Index