Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema A Beauvoirian Perspective [Hardcover]

Simone de Beauvoirs work has not often been associated with film studies, which appears paradoxical when it is recognized that she was the first feminist thinker to inaugurate the concept of the gendered othering gaze. This book is an attempt to redress this balance and reopen the dialogue between Beauvoirs writings and film studies. The authors analyse a range of films, from directors including Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Lucille Hadzihalilovic, Sam Mendes, and Sally Potter, by drawing from Beauvoirs key works such asThe Second Sex(1949),The Ethics of Ambiguity(1947) andOld Age(1970).

Jean-Pierre Boul?is Professor of Contemporary French Studies at Nottingham Trent University and the author of a number of books, notably on Sartre, includingSartre m?diatique(1992) andSartre, Self-Formation and Masculinities(2005). He is the co-founder of the U.K. Sartre Society and executive editor ofSartre Studies International. His most recent books includeJean-Paul Sartre: Mind and Body, Word and Deed,co-edited with Benedict ODonohoe (2011) and a companion volume to the present one,Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema:A Sartrean Perspective, co-edited with Enda McCaffrey (2011).

Acknowledgements

Introduction
Jean-Pierre Boul? and Ursula Tidd

Chapter 1.Beauvoirs Children: Girlhood inInnocence
Emma Wilson

Chapter 2.Devenir M?re: Trajectories of the Maternal Bond in Recent Films starring Isabelle Huppert
Ursula Tidd

Chapter 3.ClairlóÊ