Michel Franco: Auteur of Violence

Michel Franco: Auteur of Violence Elizabeth Dorton Submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts In Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Vinodh Venkatesh, Committee Chair María del Carmen Caña Jiménez Sarah Sierra April 27th, 2017 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Michel Franco, Mexico, Mexico City, film, auteur theory, trauma, violence Michel Franco: Auteur of Violence Elizabeth Dorton ABSTRACT Michel Franco’s works provide his audience with a conceptualization of modern (mostly Mexican) society through an exploration of violence and trauma as they affect the individual on both personal and public levels. Using the filmic auteur theory as my basis for an exploration of his body of work, I examine his use of spatial theory, trauma, spectatorial complicity, and neoliberalism as contributors to violence in the present day, both within a Mexican and universal context. Within his films, violence is demonstrated as resultant of his characters’ environments and larger systems at work, reflected in both the spaces they inhabit and their individual self- presentations after surviving traumatic events. Ultimately, these works lead his audiences to moments of self-reflection regarding their own involvement with mediatic violence and how they assist in its perpetuation. I have taken this thesis project as an opportunity to explore each of his films as unique parts of a collective whole, in the hopes of providing a cohesive analysis of each while also demonstrating their impact as they are connected to one another thematically. Franco’s ability to explore contemporary, similar themes in a multitude of forms places him in the position of a filmic auteur, one arguably enjoyed by his contemporaries but not indicative of the generation of Mexican directors who preceded him. Thus, he simultaneously ushers in a new form of contemporary Mexican cinema. Ultimately, his explorations of trauma are resultant of a discussion of mediatic violence in contemporary society. Michel Franco: Auteur of Violence Elizabeth Dorton GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT Michel Franco presents his audience with a cohesive body of work that demonstrates a contemporary society, (mostly Mexican), characterized by violence in a multitude of forms. The issue of trauma is placed front and center as it affects his protagonists on both public and private levels, incorporated into plots as a catalyst for character development while also directing the audience towards intense moments of self-reflection as his documentary style is indicative of present day, universal themes. Ultimately, Franco uses violence to highlight the trauma caused and perpetuated by his spectators, speaking to real-life issues while also implicating the spectator as its root cause. Given that his works have enjoyed significant success in the film circuit and have yet to be explored critically, I have taken this thesis project as an opportunity to explore each of his films as unique parts of a collective whole, in the hopes of providing a cohesive analysis of each while also demonstrating their impact as they are connected to one another thematically. Franco’s ability to explore contemporary, similar themes in a multitude of forms places him in the position of a filmic auteur, one arguably enjoyed by his contemporaries but not indicative of the generation of Mexican directors who preceded him. Thus, he simultaneously ushers in a new form of contemporary Mexican cinema. Ultimately, his explorations of trauma are resultant of a discussion of mediatic violence in contemporary society. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 2. The Urban Jungle of Mexico City 12 3. Neoliberalism: The Creator of the Urban Jungle 30 4. From the Social to the Personal: Spaces and Trauma 51 5. Trauma, Gender Violence, and the Complicity of the Spectator 72 6. Conclusion 95 Works Cited 101 iv Introduction Award-winning director Michel Franco provides his audience with a body of work that points the spectator toward a contemporary, adult, and (mostly) Mexican society characterized by violence in many forms. Centering his films on the issue of trauma, as it impacts the individual on both personal and public levels, Franco’s narratives explore the ways in which individuals – both male and female – cope with the aftermaths of violence. In a simultaneous fashion, Franco directs his audience toward moments of deep self-reflection and introspection when considering both his diegetic characters and their own involvement in the mise en scène of violence. Each of his films to date highlight issues of violence and its ensuing trauma at multiple levels. With this thematic interest in mind, I intend to examine his present body of work in order to position him as a filmic auteur, given that each piece functions as part of a whole. Given his status as a developing film maker, we must recognize that while he is likely to continue his exploration of violence, he may go on to broaden his focus in the future. While Franco’s films have enjoyed critical success in film festivals and juried prizes, the lack of academic interest in his oeuvre is surprising. For this reason, I find it imperative that this project take a comprehensive scope in examining each of his works thus far, in order to establish a much-needed and currently absent knowledge-basis of his filmic production. Ideally, this work will be expounded upon, as I propose that Franco will continue to be studied in the years to come, by others and myself. I see a need for an established look at and analysis of his first five films given how they have taken off since the start of his career, though most exceptionally after his second feature-length film. Franco’s Después de Lucía, of 2012, was selected as Mexico’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards and won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard 1 category at Cannes Film Festival. Después de Lucía also gained significant attention at the Chicago International Film Festival, winning the Silver Hugo Special Jury Prize, as well as at the Havana Film Festival, which named Franco Best Director. The San Sebastián International Film Festival selected Después de Lucía for the Horizons Award, Special Mention. The film also effectively launched the career of its young star, Tessa Ía, who was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category for Best Performance in an International Film by a Young Actress, and she has earned much recognition since. Though it does not dialogue specifically with issues concerning modern-day Mexico City (unlike the rest of his released works), Franco’s 2015 film, Chronic, was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, eventually winning Best Screenplay, no doubt assisted by the international attention brought to him for Después de Lucía. A los ojos, (first released in Mexico in 2013, though more publically in 2016, and co-directed with his sister, Victoria), was eagerly anticipated by critics and premiered on the international circuit as well, though admittedly to much less acclaim. In the following pages, I attempt a broad analysis of Franco’s first five films, (including short film “Entre dos” and its 2016 reprise A los ojos), based on the themes of gender, violence, trauma, and spectatorship, in conjunction with urban studies. I argue that Franco’s films play out the relationship between trauma and gender development, engaging the question of how gender types and expectations may interact with theories of trauma and recovery. Simultaneously, Franco’s films establish violence in all its forms at the heart of the issues he explores. With his first work, the short film “Entre dos” made in 2003, and his later feature-length pictures Chronic and A los ojos, the slow, systemic objective violence of a neoliberal society factors in to his characters’ demise(s). The thematic and aesthetic unity of these films, as evidenced by the 2 salience of their topics and in conjunction with the works produced in the time between them, establishes Franco as an auteur due to the deeper meaning ascribed to the pieces individually. My primary concern is Franco’s current status as a director; using Andrew Sarris’s theoretical interpretation of the auteur, I intend to place Franco in line with other directors who enjoy this status in popular culture by establishing his body of work as one that is cohesive and interconnected, given that “over a group of films, [Franco] exhibit[s] certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature” (452). Of course, we could simply assume that Franco’s successes and shared tropes are all just a fluke, and Sarris himself aptly asks: “How do you tell the genuine director from the quasichimpanzee? After a given number of films, a pattern is established” (Sarris 453). In the following pages I wish to assert Franco’s importance to the film world at both national and international levels while also proving him to be the modern-day auteur of Mexican cinema that we have been missing. Of course, this is not to say that Mexico has not provided us with an astounding line of great directors, but rather that each piece of Franco’s oeuvre form a cohesive part of a full body of work thus far, therein establishing the pattern that Sarris makes requisite. Not only has Franco provided us with a patterned body of work, each piece has a certain “interior meaning” (another mark of the auteur, according to Sarris), which allows it to function coherently in line with the others that precede and follow. In my readings, I use the theoretical framework built by Cathy Caruth and Shoshanna Felman, where trauma theory is concerned, and the socio-structural theory of masculinity posed by R.W.

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