choose ONE question from below – referring to 2 films from the list

How does contemporary European cinema figure the racial, ethnic, or religious Other? How does Otherness relate to belonging?

How do contemporary European films intersect personal histories and national/political/social histories? What vision of history do your chosen films propose?

How do contemporary European films represent women? Critically assess the politics and aesthetics of gender in two films of your choice.

Examine the role of the family in contemporary European film.

Tim Palmer describes extreme cinema as a “cinema of the body”. Analyse the representation of the body (especially the violent body or the sexual body) in contemporary European film.

Critically assess a cinematic style in contemporary European cinema. Pay close attention to aesthetics, but be sure also to assess the cultural significance of your chosen style.

Analyse the deployment of genre (e.g. generic tropes; hybridity; renewal) in contemporary European film.

Thomas Elsaesser refers to the performance of nationality on film as “impersoNation”. Discuss the way(s) in which images of national identity re-staged in contemporary European cinema.

FILMS –
White God / Fehér isten (Kornél Mundruczó, 2014, Hungary/Germany/Sweden)

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, Finland/ France/ Germany)

Esma’s Secret / Grbavica (Jasmila Žbanić, 2006, Bosnia / Croatia / Germany)

Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009, Denmark/ Germany/ France/ Sweden/ Italy /Poland)

Dogtooth / Kynodontas (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2009, Greece)

Goodbye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003, Germany)

Edge of Heaven / Auf der anderen Seite (Fatih Akin, 2007, Turkey/Germany)

Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010, Italy)

Edge of Heaven / Auf der anderen Seite (Fatih Akin, 2007, Turkey/Germany)

Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in (Tomas Alfredson, 2008, Sweden)

Category: Essays