Europe and Love in Cinema

Europe and Love in Cinema explores the relationship between love and Europeanness in a wide range of films from the 1920s to the present. A critical look at the manner in which love—in its broadest sense—is portrayed in cinema from across Europe and the United States, this volume exposes constructed notions of "Europeanness" that both set Europe apart and define some parts of it as more "European" than others. Through the international distribution process, these films in turn engage with ideas of Europe from both outside and within, while some, treated extensively in this volume, even offer alternative models of love. A bracing collection of essays from top film scholars, Europe and Love in Cinema demonstrates the centrality of desire to film narrative and explores multiple models of love within Europe's frontiers.

Luisa Passerini is professor of cultural history and cofounder of the Interdepartmental Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of Turin. Jo Labanyi is professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and director of the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at New York University. Karen Diehl earned a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and now works in film.