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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works cited
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].
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].
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.
Bradshaw, P. (2003) Friday Review, ‘Irréversible’, The Guardian, 31 January, p. 16.
— (2003) Friday Review, ‘Lilya 4-Ever’, The Guardian, 25 April, p. 16.
— (2005) Friday Review, ‘A Hole in My Heart’, The Guardian, 14 January, p. 16.
— (2006) Friday Review, ‘Destricted’, The Guardian, 15 September, p. 16.
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].
— (2006) ‘Get Shorty’, The Guardian, 25 May, p. 18.
Elsaesser, T. (2005) European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press).
Ezra, E. (ed.) (2004) European Cinema (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press).
Funny Games (2007) Box Office/Business, The International Movie Database (IMDB), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808279/business [accessed 15 August 2010].
Gilbey, R. (2005) Review of A Hole in My Heart, Sight and Sound, 15:2 (February), 52.
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.
— (2000) Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde (London and Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press).
— (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.
‘Interview with Director Michael Haneke’, Funny Games, Tartan Video DVD, Release date: 28 July 2008.
James, N. (2008) Review of Funny Games, Sight and Sound, 18:4 (April), 58–9.
James, N. and Kermode, M. (2003) ‘Horror Movie’, Sight and Sound, 13:2 (February), 20–2.
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).
‘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].
MacKenzie, S. (2002) ‘Baise-moi, Feminist Cinemas and the Censorship Controversy’, Screen, 43:3 (Autumn), 315–24.
Neale, S. (1981) ‘Art Cinema as Institution’, Screen, 22:1, 11–39.
Palmer, T. (2006) ‘Style and Sensation in the Contemporary French Cinema of the Body’, Journal of Film and Video, 58:3 (Fall), 22–32.
Quandt, J. (2004) ‘Flesh and Blood: Sex and Violence in Recent French Cinema’, Artforum, 42:6 (February), 24–7.
Rayns, T. (2001) Review of The Piano Teacher, Sight and Sound, 11:11 (November), 19.
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].
Shoard, C. (2008) ‘For your Displeasure’, The Guardian, 10 October, p. 6.
Waters, J. (1984) ‘Guilty Pleasures’, Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (New York: Vintage), pp. 108–15.
Wheatley, C. (2008) ‘Michael Haneke: Unkind Rewind’, Sight and Sound, 18:4 (April), 18–22.
— (2009) Michael Haneke’s Cinema: The Ethic of the Image (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books).
Wollen, P. (1972) ‘Godard and Counter Cinema: Vent d’Est’, Afterimage 4 (Autumn), 6–16.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2011 Laura Hubner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hubner, L. (2011). A Taste for Flesh and Blood? Shifting Classifications of Contemporary European Cinema. In: Hubner, L. (eds) Valuing Films. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230305854_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230305854_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-31104-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-30585-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)