Film Europa, Volume 7: Michael Haneke's Cinema: The Ethic of the Image

Existing critical traditions fail to fully account for the impact of Austrian director, & 2009 Cannes Palm d'Or winner, Michael Haneke's films, situated as they are between intellectual projects & popular entertainments. In this first English-language introduction to, & critical analysis of, his work, each of Haneke's eight feature films are considered in detail. Particular attention is given to what the author terms Michael Haneke's 'ethical cinema' & the unique impact of these films upon their audiences.Drawing on the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant & Stanley Cavell, Catherine Wheatley, introduces a new way of marrying film & moral philosophy, which explicitly examines the ethics of the film viewing experience. Haneke's films offer the viewer great freedom whilst simultaneously imposing a considerable burden of responsibility. How Haneke achieves this break with more conventional spectatorship models, & what its far-reaching implications are for film theory in general, constitute the principal subject of this book.Catherine Wheatley is Lecturer in Film Studies at King's College London, UK. She is the author of Michael Haneke's Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (2008) & the co-editor of Je t'aime... moi non plus (2010). Existing critical traditions fail to fully account for the impact of Austrian director, and 2009 Cannes Palm d'Or winner, Michael Haneke's films, situated as they are between intellectual projects and popular entertainments. In this first English-language introduction to, and critical analysis of, his work, each of Haneke's eight feature films are considered in detail. Particular attention is given to what the author terms Michael Haneke's 'ethical cinema' and the unique impact of these films upon their audiences. Drawing on the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant and Stanley Cavell, Catherine Wheatley, introduces a new way of marrying film and moral philosophy, which explicitly examines the ethics of the film viewing experience. Haneke's films offer the viewer great freedom whilst simultaneously imposing a considerable burden of responsibility. How Haneke achieves this break with more conventional spectatorship models, and what its far-reaching implications are for film theory in general, constitute the principal subject of this book. Michael Haneke’s Cinema......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 9 DECLARATION......Page 11 A NOTE ON THE TITLES......Page 13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 15 INTRODUCTION......Page 17 CHAPTER 1. THE LAST MORALIST?......Page 30 CHAPTER 2. NEGOTIATING MODERNISM......Page 67 CHAPTER 3. THE ETHICS OF AGGRESSION......Page 94 CHAPTER 4. EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT AND NARRATIVITY......Page 129 CHAPTER 5. SHAME AND GUILT......Page 169 CONCLUSION......Page 204 Appendix I......Page 211 Appendix II......Page 218 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 219 INDEX......Page 227 Existing critical traditions fail to fully account for the impact of Austrian director, and 2009 Cannes Palm d'Or winner, Michael Haneke's films, situated as they are between intellectual projects and popular entertainments. This title is the first English-language introduction to, and critical analysis of, his work... Introduction The last moralist? Negotiating modernism: Der Siebente Kontinent Benny's video 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls The ethics of aggression: Funny games Emotional engagement and narrativity: Code inconnu, La pianiste, Le temps du loup Shame and guilt: Caché Conclusion. German cinema is normally seen as a distinct form, but this new series emphasizes connections, influences, and exchanges of German cinema across national borders, as well as its links with other media and art forms