Valuing Films pp 198-214 | Cite as

A Taste for Flesh and Blood? Shifting Classifications of Contemporary European Cinema

  • Laura Hubner
Chapter

Abstract

Focusing on the films of Gaspar Noé, Lukas Moodysson and Michael Haneke, this chapter explores shifting categorizations of contemporary European cinema in newspaper, magazine and online reviews. It analyses classifications of the films in relation to changing perceptions of quality and considers how these perceptions correspond to implicit and explicit value judgements made concerning taste, pleasure and ethical morality. Underlying these considerations there is an additional aim, driven by the cultural emergence during the past decade of the term ‘new extremism’, to investigate how recent categorizations have been framed by the growing association of European art-house cinema with extremism.

Keywords

Cultural Politics Online Review Daily Mail Short Film Exploitation Cinema 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Works cited

  1. Anonymous (2008) ‘Dim-Witted Delinquent Remake that’s Pure Torture’, ‘MailOnline’ (The Daily Mail, 4 April), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-556889/Dim-witted-delinquent-remake-thats-pure-torture.html [accessed 15 August 2010].
  2. Barber, N. (2005) Review of A Hole in My Heart, The Independent On-Line Edition, 16 January, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/afterschool-a-hole-in-my-heart-18 [accessed 2 April 2009].
  3. Betz, M. (2003) ‘Art, Exploitation, Underground’, in M. Jancovich, A. L. Reboll, J. Stringer and A. Willis (eds), Defining Cult Movies: Defining Cult Movies: The Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press), pp. 202–22.Google Scholar
  4. Bradshaw, P. (2003) Friday Review, ‘Irréversible’, The Guardian, 31 January, p. 16.Google Scholar
  5. — (2003) Friday Review, ‘Lilya 4-Ever’, The Guardian, 25 April, p. 16.Google Scholar
  6. — (2005) Friday Review, ‘A Hole in My Heart’, The Guardian, 14 January, p. 16.Google Scholar
  7. — (2006) Friday Review, ‘Destricted’, The Guardian, 15 September, p. 16.Google Scholar
  8. Brooks, X. (2005) ‘Dirty Business: Xan Brooks talks to Lukas Moodysson about A Hole in My Heart’, The Guardian, 4 January, http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/jan/04/2 [accessed 11 August 2010].
  9. — (2006) ‘Get Shorty’, The Guardian, 25 May, p. 18.Google Scholar
  10. Elsaesser, T. (2005) European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Ezra, E. (ed.) (2004) European Cinema (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
  12. Funny Games (2007) Box Office/Business, The International Movie Database (IMDB), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808279/business [accessed 15 August 2010].
  13. Gilbey, R. (2005) Review of A Hole in My Heart, Sight and Sound, 15:2 (February), 52.Google Scholar
  14. Hawkins, J. (1999–2000) ‘Sleaze Mania, Euro-Trash, and High Art: The Place of European Art Films in American Low Culture’, Film Quarterly (University of California Press), 53:2 (Winter), 14–29.Google Scholar
  15. — (2000) Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde (London and Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press).Google Scholar
  16. — (2003) ‘Midnight Sex-Horror Movies and the Downtown Avant-Garde’, in M. Jancovich et al. (eds) Defining Cult Movies: Defining Cult Movies: The Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press), pp. 223–34.Google Scholar
  17. ‘Interview with Director Michael Haneke’, Funny Games, Tartan Video DVD, Release date: 28 July 2008.Google Scholar
  18. James, N. (2008) Review of Funny Games, Sight and Sound, 18:4 (April), 58–9.Google Scholar
  19. James, N. and Kermode, M. (2003) ‘Horror Movie’, Sight and Sound, 13:2 (February), 20–2.Google Scholar
  20. Jancovich, M., Reboll, A. L., Stringer, J. and Willis, A. (eds) (2003) Defining Cult Movies: The Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press).Google Scholar
  21. ‘JWin’ (2005) Time Out, London Issue 1795, 12–19 January, http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/81644/A_Hole_in_My_Heart.html [accessed 12 August 2010].
  22. MacKenzie, S. (2002) ‘Baise-moi, Feminist Cinemas and the Censorship Controversy’, Screen, 43:3 (Autumn), 315–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Neale, S. (1981) ‘Art Cinema as Institution’, Screen, 22:1, 11–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Palmer, T. (2006) ‘Style and Sensation in the Contemporary French Cinema of the Body’, Journal of Film and Video, 58:3 (Fall), 22–32.Google Scholar
  25. Quandt, J. (2004) ‘Flesh and Blood: Sex and Violence in Recent French Cinema’, Artforum, 42:6 (February), 24–7.Google Scholar
  26. Rayns, T. (2001) Review of The Piano Teacher, Sight and Sound, 11:11 (November), 19.Google Scholar
  27. Romney, J. (2004) ‘Le Sex and Violence’, The Independent on Sunday, 12 September, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/le-sex-and-violence [accessed 11 August 2008].
  28. Shoard, C. (2008) ‘For your Displeasure’, The Guardian, 10 October, p. 6.Google Scholar
  29. Waters, J. (1984) ‘Guilty Pleasures’, Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (New York: Vintage), pp. 108–15.Google Scholar
  30. Wheatley, C. (2008) ‘Michael Haneke: Unkind Rewind’, Sight and Sound, 18:4 (April), 18–22.Google Scholar
  31. — (2009) Michael Haneke’s Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books).Google Scholar
  32. Wollen, P. (1972) ‘Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est’, Afterimage 4 (Autumn), 6–16.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Laura Hubner 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Laura Hubner

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations