Silent Renoir : Philosophy and the Interpretation of Early Film

Jean Renoir (1894-1979) is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished directors in the history of world cinema. In the 1930s he directed a string of films which stretched the formal, intellectual, political and aesthetic boundaries of the art form, including works such as Le Crime de Monsieur Lange , La Grande Illusion , La Bête humaine and La Règle du jeu . However, the great director’s early work from the 1920s remains almost completely unknown, even to film specialists. If it is discussed at all, it is often seen to be of interest only insofar as it anticipates themes and techniques perfected in the later masterpieces. Renoir’s films of the 1920s were sometimes unfinished, commercially unsuccessful, or unreleased at the time of their production. This book argues that to regard them merely as prefigurations of later achievements entails a failure to view them on their own terms, as searching, unsettled experiments in the meaning and potential of film art. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction: Renoir Goes to the Cinema 1.1 Adventures in the Film Trade 1.2 From Apprentice to Master? References Chapter 2: But Is It Art?: Heidegger, (Moving) Images and the Interpretation of Early Film 2.1 Heidegger and the Work of Art 2.2 Heidegger’s Shoes 2.3 Early Film 2.4 Films, Dreams and Nightmares 2.5 Conclusion References Chapter 3: Philosophy and Film (Again): From Ontology to Hermeneutics 3.1 Badiou and Film 3.2 Renoir’s Small Revolution 3.3 Conclusion References Chapter 4: Reading and Overreading Film 4.1 Reading Images 4.2 The Kuleshov Effect 4.3 Interpreting Nana, Interpreting Nana 4.4 Conclusion References Chapter 5: The Woman Who Wasn’t There: Catherine Hessling 5.1 Someone’s Looking at You: Nana 5.2 Negotiating Desire 5.3 Who Is Catherine Hessling? References Chapter 6: The Missing Real: La Fille de l’eau and La Petite Marchande d’allumettes 6.1 The Hole in the Real: La Fille de l’eau 6.2 Screening the Real in La Petite Marchande d’allumettes 6.3 The Screen and the Real References Chapter 7: In Pursuit of the Untamed Other: Sur un air de Charleston and Le Bled 7.1 How Racist Is Sur un air de Charleston? 7.2 How Colonialist Is Le Bled? 7.3 The Conquest of Algeria 7.4 Parallels, Inversions 7.5 Pursuits of the Other 7.6 Conclusion References Chapter 8: Traces of War: Erasing Memory in Tire-au-flanc 8.1 The Idiot Poet 8.2 Erasing Violence 8.3 Reversibility 8.4 Conclusion References Chapter 9: Conclusion References Index Jean Renoir (1894-1979) is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished directors in the history of world cinema. In the 1930s he directed a string of films which stretched the formal, intellectual, political and aesthetic boundaries of the art form, including works such as Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, La Grande Illusion, La Bete humaine and La Regle du jeu. However, the great directors early work from the 1920s remains almost completely unknown, even to film specialists. If it is discussed at all, it is often seen to be of interest only insofar as it anticipates themes and techniques perfected in the later masterpieces. Renoirs films of the 1920s were sometimes unfinished, commercially unsuccessful, or unreleased at the time of their production. This book argues that to regard them merely as prefigurations of later achievements entails a failure to view them on their own terms, as searching, unsettled experiments in the meaning and potential of film art