Overview

This is the first collection of essays about French-language road movies, a particularly rich yet critically neglected cinematic category. These films, the contributors argue, offer important perspectives on contemporary French ideas about national identity, France’s former colonies, Europe, and the rest of the world. Taken together, the essays illustrate how travel and road motifs have enabled directors of various national origins and backgrounds to reimagine space and move beyond simple oppositions such as Islam and secularism, local and global, home and away, France and Africa, and East and West.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Gott ,  Thibaut Schilt
Publisher:   Intellect
Imprint:   Intellect Books
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.608kg
ISBN:  

9781841506623

ISBN 10:   1841506621
Pages:   182
Publication Date:   15 May 2013
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Introduction – Michael Gott and Thibaut Schilt Chapter 1: On the Eve of the Journey: Tangier, Tbilisi, Calais – Laura Rascaroli Chapter 2: The Constant Tourist: Passing Intimacy and Touristic Nomadism in Drôle de Félix – Florian Grandena Chapter 3: Brittany, No Exit: Travelling in Circles in Manuel Poirier’s Western – Thibaut Schilt Chapter 4: Troubling Return: Femininity and Algeria in La Fille de Keltoum – Darren Waldron Chapter 5: Going Nowhere Fast: On the Road in Contemporary Algeria in Tariq Teguia’s Rome plutôt que vous – Joseph McGonagle Chapter 6: Times on the Road: Identity and Lived Temporality in Benoît Jacquot’s À tout de suite and L’Intouchable – Glen W. Norton Chapter 7: Tourism and Travelling in Jean-Luc Godard’s Allemagne 90 neuf zéro and Éloge de l’amour – Ewa Mazierska Chapter 8: Under Eastern Eyes: Displacement, Placelessness and the Exilic Optic in Emmanuel Finkiel’s Nulle part terre promise – Michael Gott Chapter 9: Nowhere to Run, Somewhere to Hide: Laurent Cantet’s L’Emploi du temps – Martin O’Shaughnessy Chapter 10: Traffic in Souls: The Perils and Promises of Mobility in La Promesse – David Laderman Chapter 11: Mobility and Exile in Claire Denis’s 35 rhums – Michelle Royer and Miriam Thompson Chapter 12: Gatlif’s Manifesto: Cinema is Travel – Sylvie Blum-Reid

Reviews

Open Roads, Closed Borders constitutes a fresh criticism on the intersection of cinema, economy, and politics. This valuable compilation rests on a thesis of the hegemony of capitalism, which consists in opening the world for some, while closing the world for others. . . . Undoubtedly, this is one of the best books this reviewer has ever read on mobility-related issues. --Annals of Tourism Research

'Open Roads, Closed Borders opens the reader's eyes to a vast world of ideas by viewing them through the pinhole perspective of the contemporary French-language road movie' -- Spectrum Culture, Josh Goller 'This is a welcome addition to a still-developing area. Gott and Schilt admit that there were many more films that they would like to have included; one can only hope that their suggested second volume sees the light of day' -- French Studies, Ben McCann 'Open Roads, Closed Borders constitutes a fresh criticism on the intersection of cinema, economy, and politics. Undoubtedly, this is one of the best books this reviewer has ever read on mobility-related issues.' -- Annals of Tourism Research, Maximiliano E. Korstanje 'As someone who teaches contemporary French-language cinema, I continually search for texts to accompany the films my students view. To date, Gott and Schilt's collection of essays is the best-suited text for such a course. ' -- Mariah Devereux Herbeck, The French Review

'Open Roads, Closed Borders opens the reader's eyes to a vast world of ideas by viewing them through the pinhole perspective of the contemporary French-language road movie' 'This is a welcome addition to a still-developing area. Gott and Schilt admit that there were many more films that they would like to have included; one can only hope that their suggested second volume sees the light of day' 'Open Roads, Closed Borders constitutes a fresh criticism on the intersection of cinema, economy, and politics. Undoubtedly, this is one of the best books this reviewer has ever read on mobility-related issues.' 'As someone who teaches contemporary French-language cinema, I continually search for texts to accompany the films my students view. To date, Gott and Schilt's collection of essays is the best-suited text for such a course. '

Author Information

Michael Gott is Assistant Professor of French at the University of Cincinnati. Thibaut Schilt, PhD, is Assistant Professor of French at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts. He has published articles on the French-language road movies Drole de Felix (in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies) and Le grand voyage (in The French Review) and a monograph on Francois Ozon for the University of Illinois Press.

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