Books & ideas

The Empowering King of Bollywood

Hugo Ribadeau-Dumas — 2022-02-14T08:30:00Z

Shah Rukh Khan, one of the most celebrated Bollywood actors, has contributed to shape the sense of respect, intimacy, and independence of generations of Indian women across boundaries of caste, class and religion. Adoring a film star could actually prove to be an empowering experience.

Who Owns the Night?

Catherine Guesde — 2021-05-03T07:00:00Z

The way nightlife has been affected by the recent Covid-19 restrictions invites us to think back on the value and features of the night as we have known it for most of our lives. A pioneer in the burgeoning field of night studies, Will Straw sheds light on the history of the night and the issues related to its loss.

The Apocalypse Is Now

Stéphanie Posthumus — 2020-11-23T08:00:00Z

Literature and cinema have long played with the idea of the end of the world. As Jean-Paul Engélibert explains, these narratives, which imagine the forms of life or society that will emerge from the apocalypse, must be seen primarily as a critique of the present.

The Birth of Stars

Alain Chenu — 2020-01-16T08:00:00Z

Our interest in celebrities is a major structuring element of contemporary societies. According to Sharon Marcus “stars” appeared in the 19^th century in theatre, and the case of Sarah Bernhardt allows us to characterise the type of interaction that arises between the media, publics and celebrities.

On the Green Side

Editorial Team — 2019-07-29T07:00:00Z

Books & Ideas is slowing down for the summer. In the meantime, here is our weekly selection of reviews published over the past year.

Towards an Ecological Cinema

Olivier Dorlin — 2019-01-23T07:00:00Z

Hollywood cinema tends to represent climate change in catastrophist and sensationalistic movies. By contrast, a new type of ecological cinema emerges in which the issue of sustainability is taken into account not only as a theme, but also within the film production process.

In the Hell of Street-Level Bureaucracy

Nicolas Duvoux — 2016-12-01T08:00:00Z

Ken Loach's latest film, which won the Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival, charts the struggles of a carpenter trying to get state welfare after suffering a heart attack. I, Daniel Blake offers an accurate depiction of the dehumanisation suffered by the most destitute in a United Kingdom undermined by de-industrialisation and inequality.

The Trapper: a Hollywood Ghost

Gilles Havard — 2016-10-24T07:00:00Z

We should not be misled by the The Revenant's hyperrealism: Iñárritu's film is a brilliant filmmaker's ego trip more than it is an accurate depiction of the trapper's role in conquering the American West. Despite its meticulous reconstruction of living conditions at the time, the film is teeming with clichés and approximations.

“Cinema is more authoritarian than literature”

Marie-Pierre Ulloa — 2016-01-07T08:00:00Z

Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï discusses the relationship between cinema and literature, memory, space, and language. In particular, he tells us about his screen adaptation of Jérôme Clément's autobiographical novel, which portrays the story of a son's quest in search of his Jewish mother's painful past.

Filming the End of the World

Florent Guénard — 2013-05-06T07:30:00Z

2012, Terminator, Blade Runner, Melancholia. There is no shortage of films portraying the end of the world; in fact, they are becoming ever more successful. But what is their real meaning? Are they pure entertainment, allowing us to play with the idea that everything could stop from one day to the next? Peter Szendy believes that we should be taking them very seriously, because they express the fundamental nature of cinema itself – and because they tell us, in their own way, what a world is.