Testing Coherence in Narrative Film

by Katerina Virvidaki

Overview

This book examines the concept of coherence in film studies. It asks if there are ways to appreciate the achievement of coherence in narrative films that are characterised by an eccentric or difficult style, as well as by an apparently confusing intelligibility. In order to answer this critical question, the author argues that we need to reconsider the predominant understanding of the concept of coherence in film studies. Virvidaki identifies how a general function of coherence is manifested through the aesthetic of transparency and unobtrusiveness of classical Hollywood film. The author then proceeds to a close analysis of stylistically perplexing narrative films, in order to demonstrate how we can broaden, expand and readjust the classical criteria of coherence. Testing Coherence in Narrative Film will appeal to film and philosophy scholars interested in aesthetics and narrative form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319621951
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/11/2017
Series:	Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television
Edition description:	1st ed. 2017
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Katerina Virvidaki completed her D.Phil. in English (Film Studies) at the University of Oxford in 2015. She has taught Philosophical Aesthetics at The National Technical University of Athens (Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law) and she has also been working as a curriculum developer, organising educational programs on art and philosophy (The American College of Greece, Pierce College). She currently teaches Film and Adult Education at the Hellenic Open University (Master’s in Adult Education M.Ed.).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Is ‘Coherence’ Just a Style?.- 2. PART I - Chapter 2: Interrogating Problems of Coherence in Narrative Film.- 3. The Elusive: Max Ophuls’ Madame De….- 4. PART II - Chapter 4: The Unbelievable: Carl-Theodor Dreyer’s Ordet.- 5. The Fragmented: Jean-Luc Godard’s Passion.- 6. The Digressive: Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.- 7. The Inexpressible: Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line.- 8. Conclusion.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book represents a timely intervention in reconsidering the legacy of the work of VF Perkins and other critics strongly invested in the concept of “coherence”. The elegant prose offers first-rate analysis, achieving, for example, the considerable feat of adding very sophisticatedly to the great scholarship on Max Ophuls and his Madame De… in particular. The Pulp Fiction reading is revelatory and all film examples are probed insightfully and with precision.” (Tom Brown, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, King’s College London, UK)

“This book demonstrates the benefits of taking a key aesthetic concept and using it to frame detailed explorations of particular films. The case studies chosen encompass a range of cinematic traditions, and Virvidaki’s analyses offer fresh and nuanced insights that will be valuable to anyone studying these films, or more general matters of film style and meaning.” (James Zborowski, University of Hull,UK. Author of Classical Hollywood Cinema: Point of view and communication, 2016)