Deleuze and Film

Rizzo (film studies, U. of New South Wales) introduces readers to French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze's work on, and relating to, film. This involves a substantial engagement with psychoanalysis as much as conventional philosophy. Furthermore, she draws out the explicit feminist themes and readings of his work that focus on representation, difference, and the body. To this end, she devotes a chapter to new lines of feminist thought. This combination of orientations is brought to bear on films such as La Signora di Tutti, the Alien films, Before the Night Falls, and Elephant. She introduces and explores a concept of "cinematic assemblages," and how Deleuze draws attention to the construction of affects between viewer and film. A concluding post-script advances the case that "the appeal of this Deleuzean model for feminist film analysis is that it understands subjectivity as an effect produced through the intersection of different power relations, and while these may produce fixed categories at particular moments, it also reveals that they are not fixed forever." Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)