Proust at the Movies
Publication | Table des matières | Critiques
Résumé
Film established itself as an artistic form of expression at the same time that Proust started work on his masterpiece, A la recherche du temps perdu. If Proust apparently took little interest in what he described as a poor avatar of reductive, mimetic representation, the resonances between his own radical reworking of writing styles and the novelistic forms, and cinema as the art of time are undeniable.
Proust at the Movies is the first study in English to consider these rich interconnections. Its introductory chapter charts the missed encounter between Proust and the cinema and addresses the problems inherent in adapting his novel to the screen.
The following chapters examine the various cinematic responses to A la recherche du temps perdu attempted to date: Luchino Visconti and Joseph Losey’s failed attempts at adapting the whole of the novel in the 1970s, Volker Schlöndorff’s Un Amour de Swann (1984), Raoul Ruiz’s Le Temps retrouvé (1999), Chantal Akerman’s La Prisonnière in La Captive (2000), and Fabio Carpi’s Quartetto Basileus (1982) and Le Intermittenze del cuore (2003).
The last chapter tracks the echoes of Proust’s writing in the work of various directors, from Abel Grace to Jean-Luc Godard. The approach is multidisciplinary, combining literary criticism with film theory and elements of philosophy of art. Special attention is given to the modernist legacy in literature and film with its distinctive aesthetic and narrative features. An outline of the history and recent evolution of contemporary art cinema thus emerges: a cinema where the themes at the heart of Proust’s work – memory, time, perception – are ceaselessly explored.
Table des matières
Introduction
Proust and the cinema
Cinema as grand narrative: Visconti’s and Losey’s planned adaptations of A la recherche du temps perdu
Love demystified: Volker Schlöndorff’s Un Amour de Swann; Surrealist Proust: Raoul Ruiz’s Le Temps retrouvé
Filming obsession: Chantal Akerman’s La Captive
Beyond adaptation: Fabio Carpi’s Quartetto Basileus and Le Intermittenze del cuore
The modernist legacy
Conclusion
Filmography and bibliography
Index
Critiques
- ‘…[the authors’] analysis is both impressive and helpful. Anyone interested in Proust or in cinema adaptation will benefit from reading it.’
– Times Literary Supplement - ‘… lucid and stimulating… Adopting a genuinely multi-disciplinary approach, it represents the first systematic exploration of this topic and consists of a series of self-contained but interconnecting chapters… the book’s breadth of allusion and depth of analysis make it both rewarding and enjoyable to read. It should be of interest not only to specialists in Proust and Film Studies but also to undergraduates, especially if it is read selectively (as the authors explicitly encourage us to do).’
– Modern Language Review - ’… most compelling… Beugnet and Schmid find a good balance in their multi-disciplinary approach, engaging intelligently with Proust’s work and cinema while keeping their work accessible to newcomers… a fascinating discovery for Proustians and cinephiles alike… The excellent filmography and bibliography, however, will be very useful to researchers inspired to continue Beugnet and Schmid’s worthwhile endeavor.’
H-France Review - “This important volume from an authoritative international team of authors sheds significant new light on the comparative development of post-war Conservatism in the western world.”
– Stuart Ball, Professor Emeritus, University of Leicester, UK - “The rich essays collected in this illuminating volume show that the rise of right-wing politics in the United Kingdom, the United States, and France since the 1970s was a remarkably transnational phenomenon. As they attacked social democracy and cultural pluralism, right-wing movements borrowed ideas, visions, vocabularies, and tactics from each other, adapting them to their own national idioms and using advances in one country to win advances elsewhere. Anyone interested in confronting the problems that have proliferated in the wake the right’s reconfiguration of politics – surging inequality, belligerent ethno-nationalism, worker disempowerment and insecurity, and lost faith in the capacity for democratic self-government – has much to learn about the origins of these problems from this important book.”
– Joseph A. McCartin, Georgetown University, USA, author of Collision Course