Sensitive Subjects

Leila Mukhida is Lecturer in Modern German Studies at the University of Cambridge.

“Mukhida provides an innovative analysis of political aesthetics in contemporary German and Austrian film…This volume is a noteworthy contribution to the scholarship of German-language film, as many of these films have not yet been analyzed with the theories of Benjamin, Kracauer, or Kluge. Readers will definitely benefit from Mukhida’s excellent introduction, in which she gives background on film theory and explains her methodology thoroughly….Highly Recommended.” • Choice“Overall, Sensitive Subjects is well-written and interrogates how the films move the audience and thus have an impact on viewers, and ‘by extension to the societies in which they are located’… The book offers a unique methodological approach and astute filmic analyses…[and] speaks to scholars from a variety of disciplines such as cultural studies, film and media studies, and German (film) studies, along with a general reader interested in actively engaging with contemporary German and Austrian cinema, and can serve as secondary course readings.” • German Studies Review“This very well-constructed book has a lot to offer, including a uniquely systematic methodological approach to contemporary German-language cinema, an engaging discussion of a range of German-language films that have not been discussed together before, and a very accessible and elegant prose style that is a real pleasure to read.” • Marco Abel, University of Nebraska

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChapter 1. The Twenty-First-Century Worker Film: Workingman’s Death (2004) by Michael Glawogger and Karger (2007) by Elke HauckChapter 2. Radical Realisms: Angela Schanelec’s Marseille (2004), Andreas Dresen’s Halt Auf Freier Strecke (2011), and Gerhard Friedl’s Hat Wolff Von Amerongen Konkursdelikte Begangen? (2004)Chapter 3. Fragmented Stories for Fragmented Viewers: 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls (1994) and Code Inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (2000) by Michael HanekeChapter 4. Sensitive Subjects: Shock and Distraction in Hundstage (2001) by Ulrich Seidl, and in Sehnsucht (2006) by Valeska GrisebachConclusionFilmographyBibliographyIndex