Regarding France and Lebanon

Transnational encounters, cinéma-monde , and Hadjithomas and Joreige’s autofictional trauma cinema

Bibliographic Data

ID21724895
AuthorsClaire Boyle (University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume23
Issue1
Pages5-26
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Romance Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1473-3536 • E-ISSN: 1752-2331
PublisherLiverpool University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3828/jrs.2023.15
OpenAlexW4360958454
LanguageEN
References cited21

This article takes the autofictional trauma cinema created by Lebanese artists and film-makers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige in their Je veux voir [‘I want to see’] (2008) as a case study that demonstrates the potential value of a film-analytical methodology grounded in the concept of cinéma-monde. A Franco-Lebanese co-production starring Catherine Deneuve, Je veux voir occupies a hybrid generic position between documentary and fiction, and may be considered as a rare example of cinematic autofiction. Deneuve’s participation, along with the associations conjured up by her cinematic star-image, allows Je veux voir to interrogate the nature of the ongoing relationship between France and Lebanon (Lebanon being France’s former protectorate). It also allows for an ethical approach to bearing witness to the war trauma that Lebanese people have suffered in recent decades, while avoiding the ethical traps of falsely totalizing and distorting narratives embedded in existing audiovisual discourses that might, conversely, generate greater transnational audience appeal

Aesthetics · Appeal · Art · Art history · Literature · Media studies · Movie theater · Narrative · Political science · Sociology · Witness · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · North African History and Literature

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