Art Cinema and Neoliberalism

Art Cinema and Neoliberalism surveys cinematic responses to neoliberalism across four continents. One of the first in-depth studies of its kind, this book provides an imaginative reassessment of art cinema in the new millennium by showing how the exigencies of contemporary capitalism are exerting pressure on art cinema conventions. Through a careful examination of neoliberal thought and practice, the book explores the wide-ranging effects of neoliberalism on various sectors of society and on the evolution of film language. Alex Lykidis evaluates the relevance of art cinema style to explanations of the neoliberal order and uses a case study approach to analyze the films of acclaimed directors such as Asghar Farhadi, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Lucrecia Martel in relation to the social, political, and cultural characteristics of neoliberalism. By connecting the aesthetics of art cinema to current social antagonisms, Lykidis positions class as a central concern in our understanding of the polarized dynamics of late capitalism and the escalating provocations of today's film auteurs.

1. Introduction: Art Cinema and the Aesthetics of Crisis. - Part I. Costs of Neoliberalism. - 2. Poetics of Debt: Disruptive Realism in Bamako and The Headless Woman. - Part II Politics of Neoliberalism. - 3. Crisis of Sovereignty: Anti-psychologism in Alps, Attenberg, Chevalier and Dogtooth. - 4. Return of the Oppressed: Complex Identification in A Separation. - Part III. Cultures of Neoliberalism. - 5. Political Exclusion and Cultural Difference: Challenging Objectivity in The Class and The Secret of the Grain. - 6. Multiculturalism as Class Trauma: Antagonistic Authorship in Caché, Code Unknown, Happy End and Time of the Wolf. - 7. Afterword.