ReFocus: The Films of François Ozon

Loïc Bourdeau is a scholar of French Studies and the Medical Humanities in the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Maynooth University, formerly Louisiana Board of Regents Associate Professor of Francophone Studies at UL Lafayette. He has published extensively on contemporary cultural productions by marginalised voices in France and Québec. In addition to several chapters and articles, he has edited or co-edited four volumes, including Horrible Mothers. Representations across Francophone North America (2019), ReFocus: The Films of François Ozon (2021), and Revisiting HIV/AIDS in French Culture: Raw Matters (2022). He has edited special issues of the Australian Journal of French Studies (2020), Nouvelles Études Francophones (2022), and a special issue of Nottingham French Studies on ‘The Twenty-first Century Social Novel in French’ (2024).

From experimentations with genre and intertextuality to new visions of queerness and relationships, ReFocus: The Films of François Ozon captures the unique spirit of one of France’s most idiosyncratic directors. Loïc Bourdeau’s edited volume is intellectual yet creative, cohesive yet wide-ranging, inventive yet steeped in a rich cultural tradition. Much like François Ozon’s cinema itself.

• Introduction: In the beginning was the word - Loïc BourdeauPart One: The Politics of Form1. Queer Tyranny and Intertextuality in Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes: François Ozon Pays Homage to Master Fassbinder - Amy Bertram2. François Ozon’s Sitcom and Politics of Form - Tamara Tasevska3. Queering the Trenches: Homoerotic Overtones in Frantz - Helena Duffy4. The Crystal-Image and Queer Ambiguity in Sous le sable - Peadar Kearney5. French Ozon/Global Ozon: French Specificity and Globalisation in Jeune & jolie - Felicity ChaplinPart Two: (In)Formal Politics6. ‘The Scent of a Middle-class Woman’: Desire, family and the adolescent imagination in François Ozon’s Dans la maison - Jamie Steele7. Bringing Up Baby in the Twenty-First Century: Le Refuge and the Ozonian Family - Thibaut Schilt8. Transing Dynamics: Ozon’s Une nouvelle amie - Todd W. Reeser9. Sex Wars in Potiche: Womanhood Then and Now - Loïc Bourdeau10. Female Creativity, Selfishness and Monstrosity in François Ozon’s Angel - Fiona Handyside11. From Faits Divers to Grandes Affaires: Giving Voice to Sexual-Abuse Survivors in Grâce à Dieu - Levilson C. Reis