ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY—PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME Louise Elizabeth Mackenzie Master of Arts March 2021 School of Design Faculty of Health, Arts and Design Swinburne University of Technology A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Louise Mackenzie 2021 1 ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY—PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME ABSTRACT This thesis explores how cinema contributes to our knowledge of the modern city by examining Jacques Tati’s representation of Paris in his 1967 comedy film Play Time. I argue that in the ultra-hygienic modern city depicted in the film, nature has become abject, resulting in its removal from the city. Hence, the threat of the abject keeps the modern citizen under control; this control is embedded in the rational, desensitised, modern architecture, which plays a significant role in creating the modern city. However, in the end the modern architecture is to a degree broken down, instigating a cavalcade of disorder, by M. Hulot, the main character, who in the role of a benevolent monster breaks this control, bringing a kind of freedom to the modern city. Furthermore, this thesis argues that Tati in his critique of the modernisation of Paris in the post-World War II period—and the intertwining of his lived experience of the city within his story telling—make Play Time a filmic document that informs our understanding of the city. Literature on the history of the urban modernisation of Paris during the 19th and 20th centuries and the literature addressing the cinematic explorations of the city are applied to investigate the research questions, in combination with works by authors Mary Douglas on “dirt” and social control, Julia Kristeva on abjection, and Robin Wood on political control. These three works are employed to explore how hygiene—urban, personal and social—and the abjectification of nature are used to control the citizens. While Play Time’s representation of Paris as a sterile, inhuman modern environment has been written about, the abjectification of nature in the modern city that underlies this representation has not been analysed in depth. The modern city of Paris depicted in Play Time is the ultimate culmination of the 19th century urban hygiene project carried out under Georges-Eugène Haussmann, for which a major reworking of the Paris sewers was fundamental. Before this project the streets ran with human excrement and other rotting organic material, and diseases such as cholera were common; in Play Time the city has become pristine yet sterile. In the film the modern city has been distilled into perfection. Reconsidering the post-war city and its architecture through this film provides further insights into how we may plan, design and live in cities today. If we take the lessons from Play Time into our architecture and planning—considering the complexity of our rational, irrational, imaginary and somatic selves—we may design and create better buildings and cities that work for, rather than against, their people. 2 ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY—PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Daniel Huppatz, Dr Flavia Marcello, Dr Mark Freeman and Dr Nanette Carter for their invaluable discussions, advice and guidance and especially I’d like to thank Nanette, my primary supervisor for a significant part of my candidature, for the encouragement, strategies and instilling in me a love of the discipline of writing, without whom this thesis would not have happened. Thanks to Dr Alexandra Heller- Nicholas for advice on the interpersonal aspects of the writing of a thesis and the discussion regarding horror cinema, without that advice and discussion this thesis would not have happened. I would like to thank Dr Karen Burns for advice on negotiating the storms of emotions thesis writing can entail and that while acknowledging that it is a rational process it also involves the whole self, a deep commitment from all aspects of the self, and without this acknowledgment thesis work can be an impossible process, again without this advice this thesis would not have happened. Karin Hosking provided professional copyediting assistance. Many thanks to my colleagues at the Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning and the Saturday Writing Group—the support, encouragement and discussions have been invaluable. Finally, I’d like to thank mon ami Katy Greenland for the thereness, advice and conversation, and my peers, Ameni Soysa, Naeimeh Assadpour Zavehei, Nataly Arevalo Garcia and Katharine Thornton, for the discussions and friendship, generosity and understanding. 3 ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY—PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 3 DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................ 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 9 Jacques Tati, Play Time, The abject, Paris and the cinema ................................................... 9 LITERATURE REVIEW & METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 25 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 25 Cinema studies texts ........................................................................................................... 26 Film and architecture texts ................................................................................................. 31 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 42 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................... 47 THE ABJECT: DIRT, POWER AND CONTROL ............................................................................. 47 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 47 Social control: The clean and unclean ................................................................................ 48 Social and political control: Abjection ................................................................................ 53 Separation, identity, the impossibility of reconnection and the meaninglessness of life ........................................................................................................................................ 56 Abjection: The old and new testaments, & the death of God ........................................ 57 The automaton, dominant ideology and the monster as disruptors of normality ............. 61 Repression ...................................................................................................................... 66 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................ 68 THE 19TH CENTURY SEWERS OF PARIS: URBAN HYGIENE AND THE ABJECT STREET .............. 68 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 68 The city and body separated from nature: confined, concealed and controlled ................ 70 A malodourous city: Human excrement and other rotting organic matter ........................ 80 Haussmann, the boulevards and other works .................................................................... 84 The sewers of Paris ............................................................................................................. 86 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 91 5 ABJECTION, PLACE AND THE MODERN CITY—PARIS IN JACQUES TATI’S PLAY TIME CINEMA AS CONSTRUCTING PERSPECTIVES OF THE CITY ....................................................... 91 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 91 Film, story, emotion ............................................................................................................ 92 The real and the fictive ....................................................................................................... 94 Film and architecture: Using film