Existentialism and Contemporary Cinema: A Sartrean Perspective (Berghahnonfilm)

Introduction / Jean-Pierre Boulé and Enda McCaffrey -- The call to freedom. Peter Weir's The Truman show and Sartrean freedom / Christopher Falzon -- Michael Haneke and the consequences of radical freedom / Kevin L. Stoehr -- Naked, bad faith and masculinity / Mark Stanton -- Pursuits of transcendence in The man who wasn't there / Tom Martin -- Lorna's silence: Sartre and the Dardenne brothers / Sarah Cooper -- Films of situation. Being -- Lost in translation / Michelle R. Darnell -- If I should wake before I die: existentialism as a political call to arms in The crying game / Tracey Nicholls -- Crimes of passion, freedom and a clash of Sartrean moralities in the Coen brothers' No country for old men / Enda McCaffrey -- 'An act of confidence in the freedom of men': Jean-Paul Sartre and Ousmane Sembene / Patrick Williams -- Cédric Klapisch's The Spanish apartment and Russian dolls in Nausea's mirror / Jean-Pierre Boulé -- Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: the nauseous art of adaptation / Alistair Rolls. This book, declare the editors (both of Nottingham Trent U., England), is an attempt to revalidate the existentialist philosophical project of Jean-Paul Sartre through its application to film. They present 11 chapters exploring existentialist themes in films that have been chosen for their relative contemporaneousness and international provenance. The contributions have been grouped into two sections that, broadly speaking, address the freedom that arises out of human subjectivity in existentialist philosophy and the link between individual subjectivity/freedom and collective responsibility that is inherent in human situatedness. Films discussed include Peter Weir's The Truman Show, the corpus of Michael Haneke, Mike Leigh's Naked, the Coen Broethers' The Man Who Wasn't There and No Country for Old Men, the Dardenne Brothers' Lorna's Silence, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, Neil Jordan's The Crying Game, Ousmane Sembene's Moolaade, Cedric Klapisch's The Spanish Apartment and Russian Dolls, and Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) At the heart of this volume is the assertion that Sartrean existentialism, most prominent in the 1940s, particularly in France, is still relevant as a way of interpreting the world today. Film, by reflecting philosophical concerns in the actions and choices of characters, continues and extends a tradition in which art exemplifies the understanding of existentialist philosophy. In a scholarly yet accessible style, the contributors exploit the rich interplay between Sartre's philosophy, plays and novels, and a number of contemporary films including No Country for Old Men, Lost in Translation and The Truman Show, with film-makers including the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, and Mike Leigh. This volume will be of interest to students who are coming to Sartre's work for the first time and to those who would like to read films within an existentialist perspective. '[This volume] will provide a useful tool, in particular for students seeking to learn about Sartre and existentialism but also for students exploring the application of philosophy to the understanding of cinema.' Douglas Morrey, University of Warwick. At the heart of this volume is the assertion that Sartrean existentialism, most prominent in the 1940s, particularly in France, is still relevant as a way of interpreting the world today. Film, by reflecting philosophical concerns in the actions and choices of characters, continues and extends a tradition in which art exemplifies the understandi