Where Film Meets Philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and Experiments in Cinematic Thinking

262 Pages·2013·2.06 MB·English

by  Hunter Vaughan

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“Where Film Meets Philosophy begs us to think about what we are seeing W
WHERE
on the screen and why. Hunter Vaughan compels us to look afresh at Godard and Resnais
for the sake of leading film theory in new directions. This book is a rewarding study H
that brings postwar philosophy into a shared legacy of cinema.” E
—TOM CONLEY, Harvard University
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E FILM MEETS
Hunter Vaughan interweaves phenomenology and semiotics to analyze cinema’s ability to
challenge conventional modes of thought. Merging Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenol-
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ogy of perception with Gilles Deleuze’s image-philosophy, Vaughan applies a rich theoreti-
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cal framework to a comparative analysis of Jean-Luc Godard’s films, which critique the au- L
dio-visual illusion of empirical observation (objectivity), and the cinema of Alain Resnais, in M
which the sound-image generates innovative portrayals of individual experience (subjectiv- PHILOSOPHY

ity). Both filmmakers radically upend conventional film practices and challenge philosophical M
traditions to alter our understanding of the self, the world, and the relationship between the
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two. Films discussed in detail include Godard’s Vivre sa vie (1962), Contempt (1963), and 2
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or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967); and Resnais’s Hiroshima, mon amour (1959), Last Year at
Marienbad (1961), and The War Is Over (1966). Situating the formative works of these film- T
makers within a broader philosophical context, Vaughan pioneers a phenomenological film S
semiotics linking two disparate methodologies to the mirrored achievements of two seem-
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ingly irreconcilable artists.
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“Vaughan’s discussions of the films of Godard and Resnais are incisive and engaging, I
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providing welcome relief from the difficulties of abstruse philosophical debates, offering
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clarification of the practical implications of their theoretical points, and enriching abstract
concepts via a penetrating treatment of the specific techniques of film form as, S
in themselves, modes of thought with far-reaching conceptual implications.” O
—RONALD BOGUE, author of Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History
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“Vaughan’s brilliant book places him on the cutting edge of contemporary studies H
that blend film and philosophy. Reconstructing and clarifying how film-philosophy Y
renders fresh insight into the revolutionary potential of the moving film image,
Vaughan opens a new dimension to thought and action.”
—SAM B. GIRGUS, Vanderbilt University H
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“A superb new contribution to film-philosophy. With wonderful insight, rigor, creativity,
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and verve, Vaughan draws on Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze to critically examine how film
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form can be aligned with thinking and to question what this might mean for our e
engagement with the world. This standout book makes an important intervention into r

both recent discussions in film studies and longer running philosophical debates.” V
—DAVID MARTIN-JONES, author of Deleuze and World Cinemas a Godard, Resnais,
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Hunter Vaughan is assistant professor of English and Cinema Studies at Oakland Uni- g and Experiments in
versity. His scholarly interests include the moving image, philosophy, and the environment. h
a Cinematic Thinking
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Cover design: Catherine Casalino
Cover image: Last Year at Marienbad © 1960
STUDIOCANAL—Argos Films—Cineriz
Printed in the U.S.A.
Hunter Vaughan
Columbia University Press / New York
cup.columbia.edu Columbia
WHERE FILM MEETS PHILOSOPHY
film and culture
john belton, editor
film and culture
A series of Columbia University Press
edited by john belton
For the list of titles in this series, see page 245.
HUNTER VAUGHAN

WHERE FILM MEETS PHILOSOPHY
, ,
GODARD RESNAIS AND EXPERIMENTS

IN CINEMATIC THINKING
columbia university press new york
columbia university press
Publishers Since 1893
new york chichester, west sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vaughan, Hunter.
Where fi lm meets philosophy : Godard, Resnais, and experiments in cinematic thinking
/ Hunter Vaughan.
pages cm. — (Film and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16132-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-16133-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
— ISBN 978-0-231-53082-8 (ebook)
1. Motion pictures—Philosophy. 2. Godard, Jean-Luc, 1930—Criticism and interpreta-
tion. 3. Resnais, Alain, 1922—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1995.V375 2013
791.4301—dc23
2012039151

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
The world of French cinema and philosophy is a magnifi cent one;
this book is dedicated to the memory of Jean-Louis Leutrat, who so
passionately brought that world to life for me and so many others.

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
introduction:
Where Film Meets Philosophy 1
1. phenomenology and the viewing subject 35
2. film connotation and the signified subject 75
3. sound, image, and the order of meaning 101
4. alain resnais and the code of subjectivity 139
5. jean-luc godard and the code of objectivity 169
conclusion:
Where Film and Philosophy May Lead 197
Notes 207
Bibliography 229
Index 239

list of illustrations
1.1 and 1.2 Nana watches Dreyer’s Joan of Arc 60
1.3 and 1.4 Nana objectifi es herself 62
1.5 Flattened images in Two or Three Things I Know About
Her 68
1.6 The perceptual agency of urban frames 69
1.7 Objects acting as subjects 70
1.8–1.10 The legendary galactic coff ee cup 71
1.11–1.13 Juliette Jansen/Marina Vlady 73
3.1–3.3 Nevers fl ashes back to her past 116
3.4 The camera of H iroshima , mon amour glides through
visualized memories 120
3.5 Nevers’s doubled image, split subject 123
3.6 Nevers’s desire, Hiroshima’s distance 124
3.7 X’s voice-over narration becomes dialogue 131
3.8 and 3.9 Laughter as a sound bridge between possible past and
apparent present 134
3.10 The aff ective continuity of fear 135
3.11–3.13 A takes control of verbal narration 137
4.1–4.2 The imaginary appearances of Nadine 154