Sexual Cartographies: Mapping Subjectivity in the Cinema of Catherine Breillat

摘要

This article explores the mapping of female subjectivity as a dominant theme in the films of Catherine Breillat. Specifically, in Une vraie jeune fille (1976) and Anatomie de l’enfer (2004), Breillat’s female protagonists showcase the precarious space each woman occupies in terms of physical alterity and psychological unrest scripted on the female body. One should thus read these films as suggestive of the topography of a failed subjective encounter as these films, especially, challenge notions of the gaze with regard to female desire. The paradoxical position of each woman within the films’ narrative — marginalized in relation to male others and social institutions of authority, yet central to the narrative trajectory — mirrors the tenuous locus of autonomous identity and desire. Breillat’s explicit study of woman’s fragmented identity and graphic analysis of her (s)existential angst opens the dialogue of presenting such a paradox — and the limits that task entails — within the scope of contemporary visual culture.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14797580903363082