Film and Female Consciousness: Irigaray, Cinema and Thinking Women

Film and Female Consciousness looks at a group of films which offer new and original representations of women's interiority and individuality: In the Cut (2003), Lost in Translation (2003), and Morvern Callar (2002). Lucy Bolton compares these films with those which offer more standard - albeit provocative and interesting - treatments of female subjectivity: Klute (1971), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Marnie (1964). Considering each of the older, well-known films alongside the recent, experimental films illustrates how contemporary filmmaking techniques and critical practices can work together to create complex and provocative depictions of on-screen female consciousness. Drawing on the philosophy of Luce Irigaray in relation to women's cultivation of self-knowledge, this book examines each female character as she goes through a process of transition or transformation. This approach demonstrates how participating in the encounter between Luce Irigaray and cinema can yield greater understanding of both fields.

Author: L. Bolton
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 07/28/2011
Pages: 233
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.70w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780230275690

About the Author

Lucy Bolton is Lecturer in Film Studies at Queen Mary University of London, UK. She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on film philosophy and film stardom, and the co-editor (with Christina Siggers Manson) of Italy on Screen: National Identity and Italian Imaginary (2010).