Catherine Wheatley - Böcker

In a market long dominated by Hollywood, French films are consistently the most widely distributed non-English language work. French cinema, however, appears to undergo a transformation as it reaches Britain, becoming something quite different to that experienced by audiences at home. Drawing on extensive archival research the authors examine in detail the discourses, debates, and decisions which have determined the place accorded to French cinema in British film culture. In so doing they provide a fascinating account of this particular instance of transnational cinematic traffic while simultaneously shedding new light on British film history. From the early days of the Film Society, via the advent of the X certificate to the new possibilities of video and DVD, this book reveals the complex and detailed history of the distribution, exhibition, marketing, and reception of French cinema in Britain.

“Film is made for philosophy,” asserted Stanley Cavell. In addition to his work on scepticism, morality, and the intentions and meanings of ordinary language, the American philosopher wrote fascinatingly about cinema, arguing that film can reveal new ground for thinking through old philosophical problems. In this book, Catherine Wheatley draws upon Cavell’s explicitly film-inspired works, key philosophical concepts and autobiographical writings, examining his analyses of films from Hollywood’s Golden Age, the French New Wave, contemporary action cinema, silent film heroes Chaplin and Keaton, directors Cocteau and Hitchcock, and performers Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers. Revealing the ways in which Cavell’s thinking was shaped by the movies, Wheatly poses the question: what was it about film that taught the philosopher how best to live in the world?

In his famous interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting A Pair of Peasant’s Shoes (1886), Heidegger argues that shoes tell us all we need to know about the world of the person who walks in them. In the case of Van Gogh’s painting, we learn this not through a description of the pair of shoes, nor by a report on how to make shoes, but by looking at the shoes. Heidegger thus gestures towards the power of the visual arts to show us human truths through images of footwear and the feet they conceal or reveal, a power that finds its fullest expression in the cinema. From Chaplin’s meal of boots (The Gold Rush, 1925), through Powell and Pressburger’s Red Shoes (1948) and Dorothy’s ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), to Julia Roberts’ pvc thigh-highs (Pretty Woman, 1990), Marty McFly’s power-lacing Nikes (Back to the Future, 1985) and the slim, spike-heeled stiletto that graces the poster for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), shoes are not only some of the cinema’s most enduring icons; they also serve as characterisations, plot devices, soundtracks, metaphors and philosophical touchpoints. This book anaylses their significnace through a range of approaches drawn from the fields of Film Studies, Philosophy, Cultural History, Fashion, Cultural Studies and Politics.

In his famous interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting A Pair of Peasant’s Shoes (1886), Heidegger argues that shoes tell us all we need to know about the world of the person who walks in them. In the case of Van Gogh’s painting, we learn this not through a description of the pair of shoes, nor by a report on how to make shoes, but by looking at the shoes. Heidegger thus gestures towards the power of the visual arts to show us human truths through images of footwear and the feet they conceal or reveal, a power that finds its fullest expression in the cinema. From Chaplin’s meal of boots (The Gold Rush, 1925), through Powell and Pressburger’s Red Shoes (1948) and Dorothy’s ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), to Julia Roberts’ pvc thigh-highs (Pretty Woman, 1990), Marty McFly’s power-lacing Nikes (Back to the Future, 1985) and the slim, spike-heeled stiletto that graces the poster for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), shoes are not only some of the cinema’s most enduring icons; they also serve as characterisations, plot devices, soundtracks, metaphors and philosophical touchpoints. This book anaylses their significnace through a range of approaches drawn from the fields of Film Studies, Philosophy, Cultural History, Fashion, Cultural Studies and Politics.

“Film is made for philosophy,” asserted Stanley Cavell. In addition to his work on scepticism, morality, and the intentions and meanings of ordinary language, the American philosopher wrote fascinatingly about cinema, arguing that film can reveal new ground for thinking through old philosophical problems. In this book, Catherine Wheatley draws upon Cavell’s explicitly film-inspired works, key philosophical concepts and autobiographical writings, examining his analyses of films from Hollywood’s Golden Age, the French New Wave, contemporary action cinema, silent film heroes Chaplin and Keaton, directors Cocteau and Hitchcock, and performers Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers. Revealing the ways in which Cavell’s thinking was shaped by the movies, Wheatly poses the question: what was it about film that taught the philosopher how best to live in the world?

In a market long dominated by Hollywood, French films are consistently the most widely distributed non-English language works. French cinema, however, appears to undergo a transformation as it reaches Britain, becoming something quite different to that experienced by audiences at home. Drawing on extensive archival research the authors examine in detail the discourses, debates and decisions which have determined the place accorded to French cinema in British film culture. In so doing they provide a fascinating account of this particular instance of transnational cinematic traffic while simultaneously shedding new light on British film history. From the early days of the Film Society, via the advent of the X certificate to the new possibilities of video and DVD, this book reveals the complex and detailed history of the distribution, exhibition, marketing and reception of French cinema in Britain.

Ever since its world premiere at the Cannes film festival in May 2005, audiences have been talking about Michael Haneke's Caché. The film's enigmatic and multi-layered narrative leaves its viewers with many more questions than answers. The plot revolves around the mystery of who is sending a series of sinister videos and drawings to Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil), the presenter of a literary talkshow. As Georges becomes increasingly secretive, much to the distress of his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), a culprit fails to surface. And even at the film's end, audiences are left struggling to make sense of what has gone before.This hasn't stopped people trying. In an in-depth and illuminating account, Wheatley examines the key themes at the heart of the 'meaning' of Caché: the film as thriller; post-colonial bourgeois guilt; political accountability and lastly, reality, the media and its audiences, tracing these strands through the film by means of close readings of individual scenes and moments. Inspired by the director's claim that we might understand the film as a set of Russian dolls, each of which is complete in itself but together forms a whole in which layers of unseen depth are concealed, Wheatley avoids a single, unifying approach to understanding Caché. Instead, her detailed analysis of the film's shifting perspectives opens up the multiplicity of meanings that Caché contains, in order to understand its secrets.This edition includes a new foreword in which the author reflects upon Caché in the context of Haneke's subsequent work, and considers the film's contemporary resonances in an era of omnipresent surveillance technology and doctored 'fake news' videos.

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.

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.