The New Extremism in Cinema

"A stimulating, wide-ranging survey of a controversial and confrontational field of new European cinema. Addressing a style of film that challenges both the viewer and a wide range of taboos, the collection questions the meanings and uses of 'extremity' and conveys the complexity and diversity of a cinema that is vital, troubling and above all, itself critical."

Jonathan Romney, Film Critic, Independent on Sunday

Explosive images of sex and violence in films by directors such as Catherine Breillat, Gaspar Noé, Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier have attracted media attention for the ways in which they seek to shock and provoke the spectator into powerful affective and visceral responses.

This first collection of essays devoted to the new extremism in contemporary European cinema critically interrogates this highly contentious body of work and demonstrates that these films and the controversies they engender are indispensable to the critical task of rethinking the terms of spectatorship. Through critical discussions of key films and directors, this book sheds new light on cutting-edge debates in Film Studies regarding sexuality, violence and spectatorship, affect and ethics, and the political dimensions of extreme cinema.

Including important new work from internationally renowned scholars Martin Barker and Martine Beugnet, as well as combining a range of approaches to extreme cinema across audience research and theories of spectator ship, this exploration of the darkest side of cinema will be an invaluable resource for film scholars and students.

Tanya Horeck is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Anglia Ruskin University. She has published essays in a number of journals including Screen, New Formations and Women: A Cultural Review, and is the author of the book Public Rape: Representing Violation in Fiction and Film (Routledge, 2004).

Tina Kendall is Senior Lecturer and Pathway Leader for Film Studies at Anglia Ruskin University. She has published work in a range of journals and edited collections, including New Review of Film and Television Studies, Film-Philosophy, Trash and Other Voices.