Laurent Cantet by Martin O'shaughnessy

Laurent Cantet by Martin O'shaughnessy

Laurent Cantet is of one France's leading contemporary directors. He probes the evolution and fault-lines of contemporary society, from the home to the workplace and from the Republican school to globalised consumption more acutely than perhaps any other French film-maker. His films always put his characters on the spot, challenging their assumptions about the world they live in. However, they also demand that the spectator rethink their own position in relation to what they are seeing. This is what makes Cantet such an important film-maker. This is the first book-length study of Cantet's work in English. It explores his unique working method and discusses his very particular way of constructing films at the uneasy interface of the individual, the group and the broader social context. The book shows how the roots of his well-known later films can be found in his little-studied early works, and goes on to explore all his major fictions from Ressources humaines to Foxfire, combining careful close analysis with attention to broader cinematic, social and political contexts. The book takes a particular interest in how Cantet's work helps us rethink the possibilities and limits of political cinema, in contexts where old resistances have fallen silent and new forms of protest are emerging. It will appeal to all those with an interest in French and European film as well as those who study contemporary France.

‘While every chapter of the volume charts a compelling path through Cantet’s work,
the probing critical analysis in the chapter devoted to Vers le sud is particularly rewarding’
Laura McMahon, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, Contmporary French Civilization

‘This study provides students and scholars of contemporary French social cinema with a useful key to understand the reinvention of political cinema in France since the mid-1990s.’
Audrey Evrard, Fordham University, Modern and Contemporary France

‘O’Shaughnessy’s book is nuanced, insightful and an important contribution to the study of contemporary political cinema.’
Jessica Livingston, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, H-France Review Vol. 17, March 2017

‘The publication offers a wide-ranging and scrupulous evaluation of the filmic, the
social and the political contexts in which Cantet operates. It conveys with an acute awareness how he has become one of France’s most exciting working directors. Indexed, complete with thirteen illustrations, a detailed filmography and suggestions for further reading, O’Shaughnessy’s Laurent Cantet will provide a rich trove of information for all those with an interest in contemporary France, and its cinematic output specifically. It should also appeal to those concerned with questions of power relations, political address and sociocultural equality more generally. Staying true to the series editors’ intention “to contribute to the promotion of the formal and informal study of French films, and to the pleasure of those who watch them” (x), the author’s blend of scholarship and accessibility is fitting for a broad audience. Amplifying the sociological implications of Cantet’s cinema, O’Shaughnessy’s compelling appraisal also stimulates careful introspection, undoubtedly prompting those who read it to ponder “elle est où, ma place?”’
Ally Lee, University of Warwick, Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media, Issue 11

‘O’Shaughnessy’s writing is clear and engaging, and his discussions move supply between filmic material, theoretical reference points and contextual French political and cultural issues. In its elucidation of Cantet’s work through a cogent interdisciplinary framework, this is an addition to scholarship on contemporary French cinema that feels as punctual as the film-making with which it engages.’
Rhiannon Harries, University of Cambridge, New Review of Film and Television Studies

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Martin O’Shaughnessy is Professor of Film Studies at Nottingham Trent University

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780719091506
ISBN 10	0719091500
Title	Laurent Cantet
Author	Martin O'shaughnessy
Series	French Film Directors Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Manchester University Press
Year published	2015-07-01
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.