Course finder

Semester 1

Intimacy, Power, Identity: The Films of Claire Denis (Ordinary) (ELCF09043)

Subject

European Languages and Cultures - French

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

In order to be eligible to take 3rd/4th Year Options, Visiting Students should have the equivalent of at least two years of study at University level of the appropriate language(s) and culture(s).

Course Summary

This option examines key works by Claire Denis, a celebrated French filmmaker whose cinema responds to the human capacities for violence and intimacy, exploitation and care. Denis is particularly attentive to those who exist at the edge of sites of political inclusion, such as migrants, colonised people, or prisoners. She is perhaps best known for her examination of colonialism and its afterlives. Yet in addition to representing structures of power and domination, her films also focus on questions of love, community, and care. In her exploration of the paradoxes of contemporary human existence, Denis tends to reject linear narratives in favour of fragmented or mosaic narrative forms, and her films at times defy clear understanding, remaining open to multiple interpretations. Her films are visually arresting and richly sensual, appealing to the viewer's five senses and bringing tactile, embodied experience to representation. Thus, her work is complex, challenging, highly compelling and innovative both thematically and stylistically. In this course, we will examine the relationships between the films' politically complex and extreme themes and their varied and experimental style. Weekly topics offer a range of theoretical frameworks through which to approach her films (such as the colonial and the postcolonial, affect and extremity, and intimacy and ethics). The course places emphasis on film analysis, and tutorial discussions will focus on how Denis's filmic style and her formal techniques operate in dialogue with the films' thematic concerns. Thus, through the weekly critical readings and tutorial activities (plenary discussions and film sequence analysis), the course highlights connections between Denis's films and contemporary thought in order to demonstrate the force and originality of her work. The course is taught and assessed in French.

Course Description

The course introduces students to a range of key films by the celebrated French filmmaker Claire Denis (b. 1946). Five films are presented across ten weekly tutorials, and each film is presented via a range of critical perspectives. The course focuses on the political and ethical themes addressed in Denis's work (the postcolonial; social exclusion and oppression; desire and intimacy; extremity and violence) and highlights the ways in which these themes align with debates in contemporary film and critical theory. The course highlights connections between Denis's films and contemporary theory and thought and positions her work within wider (primarily French and Francophone) intellectual and cinematic lineages. A topic on ethics and intimacy focuses on her dialogues with the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy; a topic on violence and excess positions Denis in the context of theorisations of the New French Extremity; and a topic on the (post)colonial invites students to view Denis's films via the biopolitical thought of Michel Foucault and Achille Mbembe. Thus, through readings and class discussions, students will develop a nuanced and theoretically -informed approach to Denis's work and acquire understanding of a range of contemporary theoretical and philosophical contexts in the French and Francophone world. Students will acquire sophisticated formal analysis skills via sequence analysis discussions in class. These critical frameworks and films analysis skills will enable students to develop strong and ambitious readings of the films. The course features five prescribed films. Each film will be studied over the course of two seminars, enabling an in-depth and multi-faceted approach to and understanding of Denis's complex work. One piece of prescribed secondary reading will be set for each tutorial. The two tutorials on each film offer different approaches within the same theme, thus exposing students to a range of ideas while providing extensive class time for discussion of the primary works and critical frameworks. The course features a range of thematic approaches the postcolonial; biopolitics; affect; ethics informed and supported by set readings (including scholarship on Denis). These critical perspectives will enable students to gain a strong sense of the political and ethical concerns of Denis's work. The course places a strong emphasis on formal analysis; students will develop film analysis skills via sequence analysis sessions and group discussions in each tutorial, and via the course assessment and feedback regime. The option is taught in French. The option is taught in ten weekly two-hour seminars over the course of the semester. As course organiser I will provide weekly discussion questions. Students will be encouraged to meet in advance of class in autonomous learning groups to discuss the set films and weekly discussion questions. At the beginning of each seminar, I will give a short presentation on the topic, introducing key ideas for class discussion. The seminars will consist of student oral presentations, plenary discussions, and group work sessions (film sequence analysis). On completion of this course students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of a range of film and critical theories; develop sophisticated and original ideas about the primary films; demonstrate a high level of written and spoken expression; demonstrate scholarly research skills; develop clear, coherent arguments; and offer analyses of set films informed by secondary reading, demonstrating an awareness of the complexity and challenges of the films they are studying.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

view the timetable and further details for this course