Cracking Gilles Deleuze's Crystal: Narrative Space-time in the Films of Jean Renoir

by Barry Nevin

Overview

Jean Renoir is widely considered as one of the most important technical innovators and politically engaged filmmakers in cinema history. Reassessing the unique qualities of Renoir's influential visual style by interpreting his films through a blend of Gilles Deleuze's film philosophy and previously unpublished production files, Barry Nevin provides a fresh and accessible interdisciplinary perspective that illuminates both the complexity and diversity of Renoir's oeuvre. Exploring canonised landmarks in Renoir's career, including La Grande Illusion (1937) and La Règle du jeu (1939), the book also considers neglected films such as Le Bled (1929) and Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) to present a rounded analysis of this quintessential French auteur's oeuvre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474426299
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Barry Nevin is Assistant Lecturer in French at the Dublin Institute of Technology and Teaching Visitor in Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface

Introduction
Theorising Renoir's narrative style: Bazin, Faulkner, and Braudy.
The future beyond the point de fuite: opening the image-temps to space
Open spaces / open futures: filming spatial politics
Reading Deleuze on Renoir: critical opinions
Discursive positioning: Renoir auteur

Chapter 1 - Teatro Mundi: Framing Urban Dynamics in Renoir's Paris
Introduction: Renoir, cinema and the city
La Chienne (1931)
Boudu sauvé des eaux (1932)
La Règle du jeu (1939)
Conclusion: Renoir's Ville-concept

Chapter 2 - From Desert to Dreamscape: Viewing Renoir's Rural Landscapes as Spatial Arenas
Introduction: opening the natural landscape to space-time
Le Bled (1929)
The Southerner (1945)
The River (1951)
Conclusion: dynamising the natural landscape

Chapter 3 - Portraying the Future(s) of the Front Populaire
Introduction: theory and texts in context
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)
Les Bas-fonds (1936)
La Grande Illusion (1937)
Conclusion: 'We are dancing on a volcano'.

Chapter 4 - Renoir's Crises Anti-réalistes: Framing le Temps Gelé
Introduction: seeing time in the image plane
Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
The Golden Coach (1952)
Eléna et les hommes (1956)
Conclusion: society and spectacle

Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix: Corpus Breakdown

What People are Saying About This

Barry Nevin has here made a significant contribution to the densely-populated field of Renoir studies and the currently thriving world of Deleuzian film theory. The work is nourished by significant archival research and extensive interdisciplinary erudition. This is a book of great importance to all serious students of Renoir.

Professor Keith Reader

Barry Nevin has here made a significant contribution to the densely-populated field of Renoir studies and the currently thriving world of Deleuzian film theory. The work is nourished by significant archival research and extensive interdisciplinary erudition. This is a book of great importance to all serious students of Renoir.

Editorial Reviews

"Scholarly, insightful, and respectful...Nevin demonstrates that much remains to be said about the great director. This subtle and detailed book will be welcomed by all those interested in Renoir's films and in film philosophy more broadly." — Colin Davis, Royal Holloway (University of London), French Studies

From the Publisher

Scholarly, insightful, and respectful...Nevin demonstrates that much remains to be said about the great director. This subtle and detailed book will be welcomed by all those interested in Renoir’s films and in film philosophy more broadly.

French Studies - Colin Davis

Barry Nevin has here made a significant contribution to the densely-populated field of Renoir studies and the currently thriving world of Deleuzian film theory. The work is nourished by significant archival research and extensive interdisciplinary erudition. This is a book of great importance to all serious students of Renoir.

Professor Keith Reader

Barry Nevin has written a compelling book that should inspire readers to (re)turn to Renoir. He fortifies his arguments with brand new research from the Renoir archives at UCLA, while also showing a wonderful interpretive eye. Indeed, his analysis of the periscope in Eléna et les hommes is just one of many moments that has changed the way I look at the film in question (p. 166). And if a work of film-philosophy can change the films it has made you watch, it is truly film-philosophy worthy of the name.

Film-Philosophy Volume 25, Issue 2 - David Deamer