Cinema of Body
A Visual Process
Keywords:
body, mutation, shapelessAbstract
From the 1990s to the early 2000s, a series of French films, later grouped under the term New French Extremity, helped redefine the limits of what was considered acceptable to represent on screen. Through an experimental and controversial filmmaking practice, les enfants terribles of this generation spearheaded a debate that found new ground in contemporary visuality. This article aims to reconstruct the birth of a trend by relating it to the past and present of French cinema, in which body horror finds new visibility following the recent breakthroughs of Julia Ducournau and Coralie Fargeat.
References
Bacholle, Michèle, For a feminist reading of Julia Ducournau’s Grave, in MODERN & CONTEMPORARY FRANCE, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT 2023.
Bacholle, Michèle, In the defense of punks and monsters: Julia Ducournau and Titane, in “The French Review”, Vol. 97 (2023).
Beugnet, Martine, Cinema and Sensation: French Film and the Art of Transgression, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2007.
Bilmes, Leonid, Cronenberg Adapts (Us to) McLuhan: Watching Videodrome, Reading Understanding Media, in “Trasvases entre la literatura y el cine”, n. 6 (2024), Queen Mary University of London.
Delahaye, Michel, Gothique Flamboyant, in “Cahiers du Cinéma”, n. 106 (Aprile 1960).
Foster, Hal, Il ritorno del reale. L’avanguardia alla fine del Novecento, trad. it. B. Carneglia, Postmedia Books, Milano 2007.
Grandrieux, Philippe, Sur l’horizon insensé du cinéma, in “Cahiers du Cinéma hors série: Le siècle du cinema” (Novembre 2000).
Grechi, Giulia, La rappresentazione incorporata. Un' Etnografia del Corpo tra Stereotipi Coloniali e Arte Contemporanea, Mimesis, Milano 2016.
Horeck, Tanya, Kendall, Tina, The New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2011.
Kalmár, György, Provocative Substance: Challenges Posed by The Substance to Feminist Film Criticism, in “Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies”, Vol. 27 (2025).
Kracauer, Siegfried, Da Caligari a Hitler. Una storia psicologica del cinema tedesco, in L. Quaresima (a cura di), Edizioni Lindau, Torino 2007.
Kalat, David, Eyes Without a Face: The Unreal Reality, in “The Criterion Collection” (2013), https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/343-eyes-without-a-face-the-unreal-reality?srsltid=AfmBOoo0bk5PVzjnRg_24RmWKkmxoa5fyibE0lGQUMlYYkfvaeZS31uU.
Kristeva, Julia, Pouvoirs de l’horreur. Essai sur l'abjection, Éditions du Seuil, Parigi 1980.
Nancy, Jean-Luc, L’evidenza del film. Abbas Kiarostami, in A. Cariolato (a cura di), Donzelli Editore, Roma 2004.
Nancy, Jean-Luc, Icône de l’acharnement, in “Trafic”, n. 39 (2001).
Palmer, Tim, Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown CT 2011.
Parsons, Martin, Con-fusing Bodies: Navigating Beyond The New French Extremity with Jean-Luc Nancy, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham 2021.
Previtera, Denis, L’eredità del cinéma du corps. Ancora un'estate di Catherine Breillat, in “Fata Morgana Web” (2024), https://www.fatamorganaweb.it/pdf/ancora-un-estate-catherine-breillat/.
Quandt, James, Flesh & Blood: sex and violence in recent French cinema, in “Artforum”, 2004.
Resmini, Mauro, Reframing The New French Extremity: Cinema, Theory, Mediation, in “Camera Obscura 90”, vol. 30, n. 3 (2015), pp. 161-187, Duke University Press, Duke 2015.
Ross, Kristin, Fast Cars, Clean Bodies: Decolonization and the Reordering of French Culture, University of California Press, Berkeley 1995.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology, in “Medical Anthropology Quarterly”, vol. 1, n. 1 (1987).
Vauxcelles, Louis, Le Salomn d’Automne, in “Gil Blas”, 17 Ottobre 1905.
West, Alexandra, Films of The New French Extremity. Visceral Horror and National Identity, MacFarland Publishing, Jefferson 2016.
Wood, Robin, Introduction to the American Horror Film, in Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews, in B. K. Grant (a cura di), Wayne State University Press, Detroit 2018.
Zanello, Fabio, Frontiers – Il cinema horror franco-belga degli anni zero, Shatter Edizioni, Roma 2020.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Pasquale Jacopo Napolitano (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
