Space and Being in Contemporary French Cinema by James S. Williams (review)

Acutely attuned to viewers’ sensory and mental perception, James S. Williams explores the projections of geographical, physical, and psychological space in the major films of five boundary-pushing directors: Bruno Dumont, Robert Guédiguian, Laurent Cantet, Abdellatif Kechiche, and Claire Denis. Demonstrating the ‘situatedness’ of characters within a range of cultural, social, historical, and political landscapes, he casts light on the marginalization that sometimes results from being outside the traditional forms of these spaces and that leads to new cinematic territories populated by specific ethnic groupings or sexualities. The points at which interior space overlaps with external space, or when one critical interpretation slips into another, are of particular interest to Williams, since these are signs of cinematographic innovation and the liberating of subjectivities. The reach of individuals is seen to extend outwards to connect with others and the wider world, an idea that recurs in, and unifies, all of the book’s chapters but is emphasized in the first in particular, where cinematic space is described as a third dimension, a multisensory embodiment of culture, and a form of being-in-the-world. Key theorists and seminal studies by Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, Marc Augé, Michel Foucault, and Jean Baudrillard, among others, are also discussed and foreground the two critical approaches appearing in productive tandem: that of ‘a theoretical and aesthetic focus on cinematic space, subjectivity and being within cinema’, and ‘the more socially, culturally and politically defined questions of spatial difference and identity specific to the French cinematic tradition’ (p. 28). While topography and external space differ for each filmmaker, ranging from the city to the countryside, from the workplace to microsites of social integration and cultural assimilation, certain spatial themes are common to them all and revolve around strategies of existence. Some of these, which are examined in detail and with perspicacious eloquence in Chapters 2–6, concern the influence of habitat, social environment, and geography on identity, human desires, and emotions; the relationship between space and cultural memory; the way in which the local, national, and global interconnect; and, importantly, the reconfiguration of theoretical and ideological frames into inventive, fluid narratives. In broad terms, a dialogic relationship is set up in this book between the aesthetic and the existential, which serves to highlight diversity but also areas of convergence. Examples of the latter are mentioned in the final chapter, where the author suggests that audio-visual audacity regarding the use of space and framing produces an imaginative and powerful means for social and cultural change, and, moreover, that the inclusion of multidimensional experiences in film leads to an increased understanding and possible reconceptualization of the material world. Some paths of future research that Williams outlines, namely Jacques Nolot’s films, the next generation’s creative depiction of space and environment, and the artistic consequences of the move to digital media, support his assertion at the end that ‘critical engagement with cinematic Space and Being has only just begun’ (p. 293). Certainly, it is to be hoped that, after this intellectually rich and extensive study, Williams will pursue his investigation into the subject.