Falling for You: Essays on Cinema and Performance

How do we understand and respond to performance in cinema? How does the performing body move through cinematic space and according to cinematic temporalities? Focusing on the work of the actor, but not simply about acting, Falling for You offers a range of theoretical approaches for illuminating the affective force of cinema. Concentrating on the work of important figures such as Welles, Cassavetes, Scorsese, Hartley, Ts'ai Ming-Liang, Chaplin, Keaton and Streisand, these essays will also be read for their inventive and persuasive readings of particular films and performers. In its lively curiosity about an under-theorised area, Falling For You brings an invigorating perspective to bear on performance and expands the imaginative horizon of cinema studies.

Lesley Stern and George Kouvaros teach in the School of Theatre, Film and Dance at the University of New South Wales. Other contributors include Chris Berry, Jodi Brooks, Ross Gibson, Laleen Jayamanne, Pamela Robertson Wojcik, Lisa Trahair, and Sophie Wise.