Phenomenology and the Future of Film: Rethinking Subjectivity Beyond French Cinema

282 Pages·2012·1.086 MB·English

by  Jenny Chamarette

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Phenomenology and the
Future of Film
Rethinking Subjectivity beyond French
Cinema
Jenny Chamarette
Phenomenology and the Future of Film
AlsobyJennyChamarette
GUILT AND SHAME: Essays in French Literature, Thought and Visual Culture
(co-editedwithJenniferHiggins)
Phenomenology and the
Future of Film
Rethinking Subjectivity beyond French
Cinema
Jenny Chamarette
QueenMary,UniversityofLondon,London,UK
©JennyChamarette2012
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Contents
ListofIllustrations vi
Acknowledgements vii
Preface viii
Introduction 1
1 TimeandMatter:Temporality,EmbodiedSubjectivityand
FilmPhenomenology 21
2 KnowingandNothing:ChrisMarker,Subjective
TemporalitiesandVocalicBodiesintheFutureTense 68
3 AgnèsVarda’sTrinketBox:SubjectiveRelationality,Affect
andTemporalisedSpace 107
4 BurlesqueGesturesandBodilyAttention:Phenomenologies
oftheEphemeralinChantalAkerman 143
5 ThreatenedCorporealities:ThinkingwiththeFilmsof
PhilippeGrandrieux 187
Conclusion:RethinkingCinematicSubjectivityandBeyond 231
InstallationsCited 245
Filmography 247
Notes 249
Bibliography 252
Index 263
v
Illustrations
2.1 Faceofthepast(HélèneChatelain),LaJetée 81
2.2 Faceofthepresent(JacquesLedoux),LaJetée 81
2.3 Facesofthefuture(fromleft:JanineKlein,WilliamKlein,
LigiaBorowczyk),LaJetée 82
2.4 M.Chat,Chatsperchés 101
2.5 Brutedigitaltechnologies,Chatsperchés 102
3.1 StillphotographfromZgougou’sGrave(LeTombeaude
Zgougou,2006) 134
3.2 Installationview,TheWidowsofNoirmoutier(LesVeuvesde
Noirmoutier,2005) 138
4.1 ToWalkbesideOne’sShoelacesinanEmptyFridge(Chantal
Akerman,2004),installationview1 171
4.2 ToWalkbesideOne’sShoelacesinanEmptyFridge(Chantal
Akerman,2004),installationview2 173
4.3 SylvieTestud(Charlotte)andAuroreClément
(Catherine),TomorrowWeMove(ChantalAkerman,2004) 174
4.4 ToWalkbesideOne’sShoelacesinanEmptyFridge(Marcher
àcôtédeseslacetsdansunfrigidairevide;ChantalAkerman,
2004).Secondpartoftheinstallation:Onevideo
projection(doubleimage)onthewallandonevideo
projectiononahungtullenettingfabricscreen;variable
dimensions 175
5.1 HaircuttingScene:ZsoltNagyandAnnaMouglalis,La
VieNouvelle 198
5.2 Thermiccamerascene,LaVienouvelle 209
5.3 Threefinalscenes:Claire(ElinaLöwensohn),Sombre 226
5.4 Threefinalscenes:Jean(MarcBarbé),Sombre 227
5.5 Threefinalscenes:TourdeFrancescene,Sombre 227
vi
Acknowledgements
Parts of chapters 2 and 5 emerged in early forms in Rhythms: Essays in
FrenchLiterature,ThoughtandCulture(edsLauraMcMahonandElizabeth
Lindley 2008) and Threat: Essays in French Thought and Culture (eds
GeorginaEvansandAdamKay2010).SegmentsofChapter1alsofound
anearlyoutletinAnamnesia:PrivateandPublicMemoryinModernFrench
Culture(edsPeterCollier,AnnaMagdalenaElsnerandOlgaSmith2009).
ManythankstotheeditorsandtoPeterLangforallowingmetodevelop
and expand these chapters into their current form in this book. I am
grateful to Tina Kendall, Tanya Horeck and EdinburghUniversity Press
for allowing me to reproduce parts of ‘Shadows of Being in Sombre:
Archétypes, Wolf-Men and Bare Life’ in The New Extremism in Cin-
ema: From France to Europe (eds Tanya Horeck and Tina Kendall 2011).
Parts of Chapter 3 were first published in the article ‘Spectral Bodies,
Temporalised Spaces: Agnès Varda’s Motile Gestures of Mourning and
Memorial’intheonline,open-sourcejournalImage(&)Narrative(2011),
and portions of Chapter 4 were expanded from the article ‘The Disap-
pearingWork:ChantalAkerman’sInstallationsandPheomenologiesof
the Ephemeral’ in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies: SITES
(forthcoming).
Theauthorandpublisherswishtothankthefollowingforpermission
toreproducecopyrightmaterial:
CinéTamarisandAgnèsVardafortheimagesLeTombeaudeZgougou
(2006) and Les Veuves de Noirmoutier (2005); Marian Goodman Gallery
andChantalAkermanfortheinstallationstillMarcheràcôtédeseslacets
dansunfrigidairevide(2004);CamdenArtsCentre,ChantalAkermanand
AndyKeatefortheinstallationviewsofToWalkNexttoOne’sShoelacesin
anEmptyFridge(2004);andPhilippeGrandrieuxandCorinneThévenon
Grandrieux for the front cover image, ‘Anna Mouglalis et Zsolt Nagy
dansLaVienouvelledePhilippeGrandrieux’.
Every effort has been made to trace rights holders but if any have
been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make
thenecessaryarrangementsatthefirstopportunity.
vii
Preface
The emerging fields of sense theory and embodiment in film studies
havemovedwithextraordinaryspeedsincetheturnofthemillennium.
Since this research first began to take shape in my doctoral thesis, two
key works have been published that now form vital contributions to
the field. Alongside the eminent works of Vivian Sobchack and Laura
U. Marks, one cannot think of sensory cinema without also referring
to the more recent work of Martine Beugnet and Jennifer M. Barker.
Inthisrapidlydevelopingfield,inevitably,thisbooksharesresonances
with Beugnet and Barker’s theorisations of embodiment, corporeality
and materiality, not least because of a shared preoccupation with the
legacies of phenomenological thought. I am indebted to the pathways
thattheseworkshaveforged,eveniftheirwordswerenotinprintatthe
time when the bulk of the research for this book was undertaken, and
I have attempted to make reference to these more recent works where
appropriate.
This book could not have begun its transformation, from the first
seeds of enquiry into the printed page, without the AHRC studentship
thatfundedmydoctoralresearch,fromwhichthisprojectfirstemerged.
IoweimmensegratitudetotheDepartmentofFrenchattheUniversity
of Cambridge, UK, and to King’s College, Murray Edwards College and
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, all of which provided an intellectual
home and financial support for my research, in turn, as a doctoral stu-
dent, college lecturer and research fellow. I will look upon those years
withfondnessandgratitude.
My deepest and most unreserved thanks go to Emma Wilson, whose
intellectual generosity, inestimable kindness and penetrating insight
have helped to shape this book at every stage. Her generosity is a gift
so great that I can only ever hope to be able to reciprocate it by giv-
ing forward to the future. I would also like to thank Patrick ffrench,
Isabelle McNeill, Greg Tuck and an anonymous reader for their bril-
liantguidanceandreadershipofearlyversionsofthisbook.Iamhugely
gratefultoBillBurgwinkle,MartinCrowley,IanJames,KeithReaderand
David Trotter for their time, wisdom, encouragement and gently prob-
ingquestions,aswellastothefruitfulandgenerouscontactsIhavehad
withMartineBeugnetandLauraU.Marks.FortheirkindnessIamalso
viii
Preface ix
indebtedtocolleagues,friendsandsupporterswhohavereadextractsor
discussedmyworkwithme:HugoAzérad,KateElswit,GeorginaEvans,
LizzyAl-Haboubi,EwanJones,SteveJoy,SusanLarsen,AbigailLoxham,
Laura McMahon, Leo Mellor, Matilda Mroz, Davina Quinlivan, Elsa
Strietman and Luke Sunderland. Many thanks are in order to Felicity
PlesterandCatherineMitchellatPalgraveMacmillanfortheirpatience,
guidance and extraordinary efficiency. Thanks are also due to the pro-
duction team at Palgrave Macmillan for their speed and accuracy with
thefiddlybits.
My tender thanks go to my family: Gill, Mike and Andrew
Chamarette, David Chamarette and Sandra Smith, for giving me the
freedomtobejustasIwillbe.
This book is dedicated to Darren, who knows what it is to share
silence.