Volume 29, Issue 1-2 / January–February 2025

Literary Fusions, Melodrama, and Female-Driven Stories

In this double issue several themes weave into each other, namely literary inspirations (if not outright adaptations) and female driven stories and genres (melodrama being the most obvious). Janina Ciezadlo pairs the introspective writing of French author Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux with like-minded female filmmakers Mia Hansen-Løve and Agnés Varda, directors who share a profound understanding of female subjectivity. Ciezadlo notes, “I am interested in how filmmakers picture the inner lives of women, the subjects that concern women writers and women filmmakers, the shifting of forms, and among them, the use of documentary to provide a counterpoint to introspection.” Women have certainly made great strides in film and television, both at the level of creative positions and in driving an interest in not only female issues but in female perspectives on all issues. This is nowhere more apparent in the many films post Harvey Weinstein which have tackled workspace abuse, injustice and economic disparity. George Kowalik explores this post #MeToo impact in a few recent films before going deep into the TV series, I May Destroy You. Claire Denis adapts her lyrical, elliptical film style to an impressionistic adaptation of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy’s treatise on his post-heart transplant experiences, L’intrus. The titular intruder here being Nancy’s own body. As he writes, “my heart was becoming my own foreigner”. Which Denis translates into a film about strangeness and othering. Vedant Srinivas adapts his probing, lyrical writing style to an appreciation of the enigmatic Claire Denis film. Giorgi Tenieshvili goes deep into the 1987 skids row gem Barfly, a semi-autobiographical slice of life look at the German-American poet-writer Charles Bukowski. Barfly is lifted by an inspired performance from Mickey Rourke as Charles Bukowski surrogate Henry Chinaski. Pranali Kadam reviews Kalki 2898 AD (2024, Nag Ashwin), an Indian blockbuster by Telugu filmmaker Nag Ashwin. Though the film borrows the trappings of the dystopian science-fiction genre, it is based on the ancient Indian epic poem Mahābhārata. Offscreen offers two audio-visual essays around two stand-out female director melodramas, The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019). "Love Surrounded by Water" is a poetic, suggestive multi-screen presentation of the synchronicities between The Piano and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Two melodramas made 26 years apart. Two women living in a bygone era (18th and 19th centuires). Two women destined to a prearranged marriage. Amorous conflicts appear. How influenced was Sciamma by Campion's film? You be the judge. The second more explanatory audio-visual essay looks at how two French filmmakers have 'queered' the Greek myth of Orpheus in their respective films, Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019). Nathan Kosik-Desmond continues with the glorious genre of the melodrama with his essay "Post-War America and the Melodrama," which looks at three films by Douglas Sirk and Todd Haynes, Imitation of Life (1959), Far From Heaven (2002) and Carol (2015). Kosik-Desmond analyzes how their treatment of race, class and homosexuality mirror social and historical events occurring in America in the 1950s and at the time of their making. The final two pieces stray from the issue's main themes, by concentrating on historical and modern China, a subject that is growing increasingly relevant in today's geopolitical landscape. Daniel Garrett looks at two contrasting approaches to China, one taken by Italian director, Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor) and Chinese director Jie Zhangke (A Touch of Sin). The former a more sprawling historical drama about the 'last Emperor' of China, which covers the movement from an Imperialist governance to a Communist governance; while Zhangke's A Touch of Sin tells several stories about modern China. (Donato Totaro, ed.)