ReFocus: The Films of Claire Denis

Peter Sloane is Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in English at the University of Buckingham, UK.

• Introduction: Ambiguous Transgressions - Peter Sloane1. L’eau Life: the Hydrous and Haptic Cinema of Claire Denis - Rowena Santos Aquino2. Good Work or Exploitation? Beau Travail and 35 Rhums and the Fear of Individualism - Kyle Barrett3. A Thing on a Friday Night: Objects and Desire in Vendredi Soir - Helena Gurfinkel4. ‘A lover's hand? A breath, An abyss’: Aloneness in Claire Denis - Peter Sloane5. Claire Denis, Corporeality and New Weird - Elif Sendur6. The Limits of Life: experimentation, bodily consent, and bioethics in Trouble Every Day (2001), and High Life (2018) - Amy C. Chambers7. Trans-generic Dramas of Nondisclosure: Equilibrium, the ‘General Viewer’ and the Refusal of Meaning in the Films of Claire Denis - Stuart Innes Molloy8. Writing Female Desire: From Vendredi soir to Avec Amour et Acharnement - Kristin Hole9. In the Cracks: Claire Denis’ Cinematic Choreographies - Danica van de Velde10. Stars and Acting in Claire Denis’s Films since 2010 - Douglas Morrey11. Life imitates Art: the intimacy of family in the work of Claire Denis and Yasujiro Ozu - Kate Taylor-Jones12. ‘The Stranger and the Surprise: Hospitality, Community, and Coming to Our Senses in Vendridi soir - Jacob Hovind13. Claire Denis’s Beaux Familles - Daniel Dufournaud

This collection of insightful chapters develops current scholarship on Claire Denis’ work in the light of thought-provoking concepts such as "hydropoetics", the "New Weird", and "languorous temporality". With subtle attention to the specificities of each film, they provide a new and stimulating access to Denis’ unique oeuvre as a whole.