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European Cinema and Continental Philosophy
Film As Thought Experiment
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Book Presentation:
This groundbreaking volume for the Thinking Cinema series focuses on the extent to which contemporary cinema contributes to political and philosophical thinking about the future of Europe's core Enlightenment values. In light of the challenges of globalization, multi-cultural communities and post-nation state democracy, the book interrogates the borders of ethics and politics and roots itself in debates about post-secular, post-Enlightenment philosophy.
By defining a cinema that knows that it is no longer a competitor to Hollywood (i.e. the classic self-other construction), Elsaesser also thinks past the kind of self-exoticism or auto-ethnography that is the perpetual temptation of such a co-produced, multi-platform 'national cinema as world cinema'. Discussing key filmmakers and philosophers, like: Claire Denis and Jean-Luc Nancy; Aki Kaurismäki, abjection and Julia Kristeva; Michael Haneke, the paradoxes of Christianity and Slavoj Zizek; Fatih Akin, Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière, Elsaesser is able to approach European cinema and assesses its key questions within a global context. His combination of political and philosophical thinking will surely ground the debate in film philosophy for years to come.
About the Author:
Professor Thomas Elsaesser is a research professor in the Department of Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. An important representative of international film studies, his work on film theory, genre theory, Hollywood, film, history, archeology media and new media, the European cinema d'auteur and installation art have been published in more than 20 languages.
Press Reviews:
"Not only a rich exploration of the relationship between film and philosophy, European Cinema and Continental Philosophy makes a timely claim on the stakes of thinking Europe today. Elsaesser provides a new and urgently needed framework for grappling with the contemporary conditions of European politics and film culture." ―Rosalind Galt, Professor of Film Studies, King's College London, UK
"Elsaesser argues for a contemporary European cinema of openness and multiplicity, for a cinema that foregrounds autonomy and liberation. These arguments are backed up by an impressive account of contemporary European philosophy and its influences on cinematic thought. Elsaesser develops the key notions of a 'cinema of abjection' and 'post-heroic narratives' and, as a result, he charts an impressive map of European cinema and a European politics to come." ―Richard Rushton, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Lancaster University, UK
"European Cinema and Continental Philosophy offers an important and deeply engaging reappraisal of the status of European cinema at a moment of apparent crisis. There is both defiance and brilliance in the way that Elsaesser, situating cinema in its wider philosophical, political, social, and cultural contexts, seizes upon its perceived marginality and irrelevance as the key to its strength, and presents the widespread "abjection" he identifies, as evidence of creative freedom and the embodiment of Europe's core Enlightenment values. This volume combines daring originality with the impressive scholarship we have come to expect from Thomas Elsaesser. It is a work of major significance which will have a profound impact upon contemporary and future film studies." ―Wendy Everett, Professor Emeritus, University of Bath, UK
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
> From the same author:
The Mind-Game Film (2021)
Distributed Agency, Time Travel, and Productive Pathology
Film Theory (2015)
An Introduction through the Senses
by Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener
Subject: Theory
German Cinema - Terror and Trauma (2013)
Cultural Memory Since 1945
The Last Great American Picture Show (2004)
New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s
Dir. Thomas Elsaesser, Noel King and Alexander Horwath
Subject: Countries > United States
Weimar Cinema and After (2000)
Germany's Historical Imaginary
> On a related topic:
Haunting the Left Bank (2022)
Mortality and Intersubjectivity in Varda, Resnais and Marker
Subject: Theory
Philosophers on Film from Bergson to Badiou (2019)
A Critical Reader
Dir. Christopher Kul-Want
Subject: Theory
Film Policies in Europe (1945-1980) (2025)
A Comparative Approach to the History of State Aid for Film
Dir. Francesco Di Chiara
Science on Screen and Paper (2024)
Media Cultures and Knowledge Production in Cold War Europe
Dir. Mariana Ivanova and Juliane Scholz
The Routledge Companion to European Cinema (2024)
Dir. Gábor Gergely and Susan Hayward
Music, Authorship, Narration, and Art Cinema in Europe (2024)
1940s to 1980s
Dir. Michael Baumgartner and Ewelina Boczkowska
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