Intimacy in Cinema : Critical Essays on English Language Films

Though intimacy has been a wide concern in the humanities, it has received little critical attention in film studies. This collection of new essays investigates both the potential intimacy of cinema as a medium and the possibility of a cinema of intimacy where it is least expected.

As a notion defined by binaries--inside and outside, surface and depth, public and private, self and other--intimacy, because it implies sharing, calls into question the boundaries between these extremes, and the border separating mainstream cinema and independent or auteur cinema. Following on Thomas Elsaesser's theories of the relationship between the intimacy of cinema and the cinema of intimacy, the essays explore intimacy in silent and classic Hollywood movies, underground, documentary and animation films; and contemporary Hollywood, British, Canadian and Australian cinema from a variety of approaches.

David Roche is a professor of film studies at the Universite Toulouse Jean Jaures. He has published articles on horror cinema, and Darren Aronofsky, Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, Emir Kusturica, Sergio Leone, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. He lives in Montpellier, France.

Isabelle Schmitt-Pitiot is an associate professor at the Universite de Bourgogne. Her interests include cinema and TV series. She has published articles on Woody Allen, John Ford and John Huston. She lives in Dijon, France.