Francois Ozon

209 Pages·2011·2.35 MB·English

by  Thibaut Schilt

C O N T E M P O R A R Y F I L M D I R E C T O R S
François Ozon
Thibaut Schilt
François Ozon
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Contemporary Film Directors
Edited by James Naremore
The Contemporary Film Directors series provides con-
cise, well-written introductions to directors from around
the world and from every level of the film industry. Its
chief aims are to broaden our awareness of important
artists, to give serious critical attention to their work, and
to illustrate the variety and vitality of contemporary cinema.
Contributors to the series include an array of internationally
respected critics and academics. Each volume contains
an incisive critical commentary, an informative interview
with the director, and a detailed filmography.
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.
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François Ozon
Thibaut Schilt
University
OF
illinOis
Press
UrbaNa
ChICago
SprINgFIElD
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© 2011 by Thibaut Schilt
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Frontispiece: From the book 5 Minutes
by photographer Jennifer Gregori.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schilt, Thibaut.
François Ozon / Thibaut Schilt.
p. cm. — (Contemporary film directors)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
isbn-13: 978-0-252-03600-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-252-03600-x (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-252-07794-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-252-07794-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ozon, François, 1967—Criticism
and interpretation. 2. Ozon, François, 1967—Interviews. I. Title.
pn1998.3.o958S35 2011
791.4302'33092—dc22 2010028737
[b]
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Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments | ix
the fabric of desire | 1
Paternal Monsters: Sitcom,
Les amants criminels, and 8 femmes 38
Mourning Sickness: Sous le sable,
Swimming Pool, and Le temps qui reste 78
Foreign Affairs: Gouttes d’eau sur
pierres brûlantes, 5 x2, and Ricky 115
an interview with françois ozon | 155
Filmography | 169
Bibliography | 181
Index | 191
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preface and acknowledgements
This monograph represents the culmination of an ongoing personal and
academic interest in the work of François Ozon. For the past decade,
Ozon’s unique position within French-language filmmaking has stimu-
lated my enthusiasm for both cinema studies and theories of gender and
sexuality. The present study provides an overview of François Ozon’s
career to date, highlighting his unrestrained, voracious cinephilia; his
recurrent collaborations with women screenwriters (Marina de Van,
Emmanuèle Bernheim) and actresses (Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine
Sagnier, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi); and the trademarks of his cinema. I
also perform a detailed reading of nine feature films, organized the-
matically into three segments, in order to reveal the continuity of his
cinematic endeavors. The introductory section discusses all of Ozon’s
available short films from 1988 to 1998, his work following his formal
training at the Fémis film school (with special emphasis on Une robe
d’été [1996]), his unique status within the French film industry, and the
ways transgression and desire pervade his cinema. The second section,
“Paternal Monsters,” focuses on the ambiguous position of the father
figure and on Ozon’s inclination for genre b(l)ending and artificiality in
Sitcom (1998), Les amants criminels (1999), and 8 femmes (2002). In
the third section, “Mourning Sickness,” I examine how various forms of
mourning (a returning obsession in Ozon’s output) affect the lonesome,
self-absorbed characters in the more naturalistic Sous le sable (2000),
Swimming Pool (2003) and Le temps qui reste (2005). The final section,
“Foreign Affairs,” focuses on couples and the difficulties of conjugal life.
It also underscores the director’s taste for foreign actors and locations
and his passion for adaptation—or, more accurately, reinterpretation—in
Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes (2000), adapted from an early play
by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; 5x2 (2004), inspired by two films from
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