Eric Rohmer - Love, Chance, and the Game of Expression - Filmhouse

Author: Michelle Selsor
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: When he connects the behavior of his contemporaries to archetypes and cultural myths, and when he analyzes our hidden motivations—media and narcissism—through the gap between discourse and action, through what may manifest as play, avoidance, or gambling, Houellebecq interprets their behavior as revealing factors of an "ontological disease," a more metaphysical topic than one might think. What is questioned is not love, but what drives these loves—the very thing this book aims to do: analyze these characters, their words and actions, as they are expressed through drama and performance. Thus, this is a summary work that takes into account Houellebecq's entire creative timeline, but does not intend to systematically study every one of his works. Since our goal is to discover key points, our focus naturally falls on certain films at turning points and intersections, because even if they are not beautiful, witty, or perfect, they possess outstanding revelatory power and profound meaning. Houellebecq has always been an experimenter. In my view, he is more like a filmmaker in pursuit of exploration than a creator who claims to achieve something every time. He calls for this very process. Houellebecq's art is not an art of symbols or metaphors. Time and space, these two factors that in classical films need to be subservient to dramatic utility, may perhaps play a greater role here than stage height and framing.