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Cracking Gilles Deleuze's Crystal
Narrative Space-time in the Films of Jean Renoir
by Barry Nevin
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Book Presentation:
Applies complex Deleuzian thought to the quintessential French auteur
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influential visual style by interpreting his films through Gilles Deleuze’s film philosophy, and through previously unpublished production files, Barry Nevin provides a fresh and accessible interdisciplinary perspective that illuminates both the consistency and diversity of Renoir’s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.
Key Features
• Examines the complex relationship between Deleuze’s film philosophy and spatial thought with clarity
• Clearly theorises key concepts including time and space
• Analyses films from each phase of Renoir’s career including his silent work, his politically engaged features of the 1930s, his Hollywood films and his post-war costume-dramas
• Investigates Renoir’s key settings, political engagement and evolutions in his narrative style
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. His research focuses on French cinema of the 1930s, particularly the films of Jean Renoir, Jacques Feyder and Marcel Carné. His work has been published in a wide range of academic journals including Studies in French Cinema, French Cultural Studies and the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies.
Press Reviews:
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.– David Deamer, Film-Philosophy Volume 25, Issue 2
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
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, University of London Institute in Paris
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
See the complete filmography of Jean Renoir on the website: IMDB ...
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