Space, Time, and Bodies: the Dimensions of Difference in Women’S
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SPACE, TIME, AND BODIES: THE DIMENSIONS OF DIFFERENCE IN WOMEN’S CINEMA AND CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY By CAROLINE M. GODART A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Comparative Literature written under the direction of Elizabeth Grosz and approved by _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Space, Time, and Bodies: The Dimensions of Difference in Women’s Cinema and Continental Philosophy By CAROLINE M. GODART Dissertation Director: Elizabeth Grosz This dissertation examines the question of difference, and especially of sexual difference, in women’s cinema and continental philosophy. I analyze four movies by three of today’s most influential women filmmakers: Jane Campion (The Piano, New Zealand), Claire Denis (Beau Travail and Trouble Every Day, France), and Lucrecia Martel (La niña santa/The Holy Girl, Argentina), as well as philosophical texts by Luce Irigaray, Henri Bergson, Gilles Deleuze, and Friedrich Nietzsche. I argue that these films represent difference not only through characterization, but more essentially by emphasizing one of cinema’s core devices: space (e.g. camerawork), time (narration and editing), and bodies. Through these, the films articulate relations that go beyond hierarchies of power to portray and enact movements toward others who are acknowledged in their singularity. ii Each chapter is devoted to a film, and opens with a close reading of its aesthetics with a focus on space, time, or bodies. My study of the filmic elements is set in a dialogue with analyses of the corresponding concepts in the philosophical texts. In particular, I explore the relevance for cinema studies of the concept of the interval, which is a central, yet until recently often-overlooked notion in Irigaray’s work. The interval can be defined as the force of difference as it constitutes two subjects (as opposed to a subject and an object) through the distance that both separates and brings them together. It lends itself well to cinematic analysis for it concerns bodies, and it is at once spatial and temporal. The interval itself is brought to bear on other concepts: Bergson’s duration and intuition, Deleuze’s interstice, and Nietzsche’s theory of violence. Through these theoretical and filmic networks, this dissertation sketches out new perspectives for feminist film criticism. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the Program in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University for providing an ideal environment for graduate work, one where intellectual emulation is always vibrant, but also generous and kind. I am especially indebted to Elin Diamond, who went to great lengths to ensure that those under her care would remain well funded, and who gave me the opportunity to teach an advanced undergraduate seminar. I also wish to thank Marilyn Tankiewicz, whose gentleness and efficiency in solving all administrative issues have been invaluable. My deep gratitude goes out to my advisor and mentor, Elizabeth Grosz. Her courses on Irigaray, Bergson, Deleuze, and Nietzsche were intellectually exhilarating experiences that have shaped my understanding not only of philosophy, but of the world at large. Her faith in me and in this project made it possible for me to approach my dissertation with (relative) serenity, and her careful supervision was a constant reassurance that things were moving in the right direction. It is thanks to her that I was able to bring this project to fruition. I am profoundly indebted to Susan Martin-Márquez and Sandy Flitterman-Lewis for their intellectual mentorship in cinema studies and for being gentle, yet impeccably precise readers. The progress that I have made as a writer and as a scholar in the past four years owes much to their insightful comments on various drafts of the dissertation. I also want to thank Steven Shaviro for kindly accepting my two invitations, to speak at Rutgers in 2012 and to be an external reader for this dissertation. His generous spirit and his encouragements were invaluable, and they gave me strength when I much needed it. iv At the heart of this project is my encounter with Luce Irigaray, whose Doctoral Seminar I attended in 2008 at Queen Mary, the University of London. My gratitude to her is boundless, not only for her support as I was first pondering the ideas developed in these pages, but also, most importantly, for her work, which has soothed the wearied souls of countless women, and continues to give feminism meaning, hope, and direction. The first pages of this dissertation were written during the six weeks that I spent at SKOK, the Center for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Bergen, Norway, in May-June 2010. It was a truly special time, during which I was able to reflect upon some of the key concepts in this project. I benefited immensely from Ellen Mortensen’s and Kristin Sampson’s guidance, and from the many friendships that started there. I was also extremely fortunate to be at SKOK at the same time as Rebecca Hill, whose work on the interval of sexual difference has had a critical influence on my dissertation. I thank her for her encouragements and for opening up new horizons. I am grateful to my mother and my grandmother, Thérèse Michaux and Simonne Mouvet, without whom none of this would have been possible. My father, Jean Godart, and my step-mother, Christine Balthazart, are warmly thanked for their integrity, love, and support; my brother, mon frère Pierre, for being not only the wittiest person I know but also a most cherished friend. I would not have been able to finish this project without the love of these precious people: my old partners-in-crime, Julie Hellenbosch, Lissa Kinnaer, Ivanne de Cannart, and Thomas Dupal, whose affection never ceases to astonish and delight me; and the wonderful friends I have met in the United States and elsewhere, and in particular Debjani Roy, Jonathan Baillehache, Olga Belova, Kascha Semonovitch, Emily North, Tavi Gonzalez, Anel Méndez Velázquez, Yoriko Otomo, and Lisa Marcus. v Merci to all who have been there for me through good and bad times, and who never ceased to believe in me: it has meant more than you can imagine. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... iv Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. The Feminist Distance: Space in Jane Campion’s The Piano ...................... 9 1.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9 1.2. Narrative Summary ........................................................................................ 12 1.3. Toward Ada: Camera-Work and Characterization ........................................ 13 1.4. Violent Spaces ............................................................................................... 30 1.5. Melodramatic Subversions ............................................................................. 39 1.6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 2. Claire Denis and the Flow of Time: Beau Travail ......................................... 55 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 55 2.2. Narrative Summary ....................................................................................... 56 2.3. Denis’ Worldview: Beyond Morality ........................................................... 58 2.4. Film Aesthetics: Representing Foreignness .................................................. 64 2.5. Trajectories in Space and Time ..................................................................... 70 2.6. Denis and Bergson ........................................................................................ 76 2.7. The Politics of Looking ................................................................................ 81 2.8. Irigaray and Denis: Difference as Becoming ................................................ 85 2.9. Denis and Irigaray: Beyond Sexual Difference ............................................. 93 2.10. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 99 Chapter 3. Time and Difference: Love in Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day ................ 100 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 100 3.2. Narrative Summary ..................................................................................... 101 3.3. Love in Trouble Every Day ......................................................................... 102 3.3.1. Devouring Passions ....................................................................... 102 3.3.2. Missed Encounters and Aberrant Spaces ...................................... 105 3.4. The Time-Image ........................................................................................... 110 3.4.1. Gilles Deleuze and the Interstice