Transgressive Sensitivity of François Ozon

Ewa Szponar

kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Warsaw Film School (Poland)

Abstract

François Ozon is one of the most recognizable European directors. His work fits in with the register of motifs and trends that define contemporary French cinema: from the tradition of cinema d’auteur through cinema du corps and the new French extreme, and the queer cinema. As an author of a new generation, Ozon meanders between artistic and com- mercial cinema - the areas whose separateness has so far legitimized the practice of the auteur theory. The use of diverse film conventions and the creation of new hybrid forms can be considered as a cardinal feature of Ozon’s eclectic and postmodernist style. At the heart of most of his films lies the melodramatic sensitivity and camp aesthetics. The original character of his works is also evidenced by a set of themes or obsessions that return in most of his films: family theme, usually perverse or even perfidious, as well as the issue of gender and sexual lability, probing, undermining and blurring gender differences and roles, and in a broader sense - treating sex and the body as a transgressive path of self-discovery.


Keywords:

François Ozon, auteur cinema, French extremism, camp, transgression cinema, body, gender

[B. a.], http://www.cnc.fr/web/en [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

[B. a.], Le jeune cinéma français des années 90.: http://cinescope2006.canalblog.com/archives/2006/07/18/2315849.html [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

[B. a.], Survey on the image of French cinema around the world: https://en.unifrance.org/news/11596/survey-on-the-image-of-french-cinema-around-the-world [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

[B. a.], Theatre Admissions in France: http://www.cnc.fr/web/en/theater-admissions [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

[B. a.], UniFrance releases its Summary of 2012 for French cinema abroad: https://en.unifrance.org/news/10392/unifrance-releases-its-summary-of-2012-for-french-cinema-abroad [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

[B. a.], World domination by box office cinema admissions: http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2011/07/world-domination-by-box-office-cinema-admissions/ [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Bataille G., Historia erotyzmu, Oficyna Literacka, Kraków, 1992.
  Google Scholar

Butler J., Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, [za:] M. Meyer, Dyskurs kampu. Rewindykacja, „Teksty Drugie” 2015, nr 5.
  Google Scholar

Butler J., Uwikłani w płeć, Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, Warszawa 2007.
  Google Scholar

Chilcoat M., Queering the Family in François Ozon’s „Sitcom”, R. Griffiths [red.], Queer Cinema in Europe, Intellect Books, Bristol, 2008, s.27.
  Google Scholar

Czapliński P., Kamp - gry antropologiczne, „Teksty Drugie” 2015, nr 5.
  Google Scholar

Doty A., Making Things Perfectly Queer: Interpreting Mass Culture, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis/Lodon, 1993.
  Google Scholar

Foucault M., Przedmowa do transgresji, [w:] M. Janion, S. Rosiek [red.], Osoby. Transgresje 3, Wydawnictwo Morskie, Gdańsk, 1984.
  Google Scholar

Fox A., Auteurism, Personal Cinema, and the Fémis Generation: The Case of François Ozon, [w:] A. Fox i in. [red], dz. cyt.
  Google Scholar

Fox A., Marie M., Moine R., Radner H. [red.], A Companion to Contemporary French Cinema, John Wiley & Sons, Malden/Oxford, 2015.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118585405   Google Scholar

Gilbey R., Angel delight, „The Guardian” 2008: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/27/1 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Grethlein J., Aesthetic Experiences and Classical Antiquity: The Significance of Form in Narratives and Pictures, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2017.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108131582   Google Scholar

Hain M., Explicit Ambiguity: Sexual Identity, Hitchcockian Criticism, and the Films of François Ozon, „Quarterly Review of Film and Video” 2007, nr 24:3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10509200500486387   Google Scholar

Hoeij van B., French Box Office 2017: Local Titles Soar (Even „Valerian”): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/france-box-office-2017-us-films-lose-market-share-strong-year-local-fare-1071234 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Horeck T., Kendall T., The new extremism in cinema: from France to Europe, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2011.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748647095   Google Scholar

Ince K., Francois Ozon's cinema of desire, [w:] K. Ince [red.], Five Directors: Auteurism from Assayas to Ozon, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2008, s.113 (112-134).
  Google Scholar

Jacqueline Nacache J., Was There a Young French Cinema?, [w:] A. Fox i in. [red], dz. cyt.
  Google Scholar

Jagielski S., Queerowanie melodramatu, „EKRANy” 2017, nr 3-4.
  Google Scholar

Janion M., Eros i psyche melodramatu, [w:] Tejże, Odnawianie znaczeń, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 1980.
  Google Scholar

Jefferson Kline, T., Unraveling French Cinema: From L'atalante to Caché, John Wiley & Sons, Malden/Oxford, 2009.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444315530   Google Scholar

Kooijman J., Family. Portrait: Queering the Nuclear Family in François. Ozon's „Sitcom”, [w:] P. Pisters, W. Staat [red.], Shooting the Family: Transnational Media and Intercultural Values, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2005, s.78.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048505401.005   Google Scholar

Kozielecki J., Transgresja i kultura, Wydawnictwo Akademickie „Żak”, Warszawa, 2002.
  Google Scholar

Lauretis de, T., Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities. An Introduction, „differences” 1991, nr 3.2: https://pl.scribd.com/doc/196261426/De-Lauretis-Teresa-Queer-Theory-Lesbian-and-Gay-Sexualities-Introduction [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-3-2-iii   Google Scholar

Lemercier F., „Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” breaks the record as France's most expensive film: http://cineuropa.org/nw.aspx?t=newsdetail&l=en&did=326848 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Lemercier F., 300 feature films produced by France in 2017: http://cineuropa.org/nw.aspx?t=newsdetail&l=en&did=350722 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Mastalerz L., O gatunkowej subwersji w kinie najnowszym, „EKRANy” 2012, nr 5.
  Google Scholar

Moine R., Contemporary French Comedy as Social Laboratory, [w:] A. Fox i in. [red], dz. cyt.
  Google Scholar

Nowlan B., Queer Theory, Queer Cinema, [w:] J. C. Juett, D. M. Jones [red.], Coming Out to the Mainstream: New Queer Cinema in the 21st Century, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, 2010.
  Google Scholar

Palmer T., Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, 2011.
  Google Scholar

Quandt J., Flesh and Blood: Sex and Violence in Recent French Cinema, „Artforum” 2004: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Flesh+%26+blood%3A+sex+and+violence+in+recent+French+cinema.-a0113389507 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Radkiewicz M., Oblicza kina queer, Korporacja Ha!art, Kraków, 2004.
  Google Scholar

Rees-Roberts N., French Queer Cinema, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2009.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748634187.001.0001   Google Scholar

Romney J., Sitcom, „Sight&Sound” 1999, nr 56: http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/18 [dostęp: 13.05.2018].
  Google Scholar

Rouyer P., Vassé C., Entretien François Ozon: La Vérité des corps, „Positif” 2004, nr 521/522, s. 43-4, [za:] T. Palmer, dz. cyt.
  Google Scholar

Schilt T., François Ozon, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2011.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5406/illinois/9780252036002.001.0001   Google Scholar

Sontag S., Notatki o kampie, „Literatura na świecie”, 1979, nr 9.
  Google Scholar


Published
2018-06-30

Cited by

Szponar, E. (2018) “Transgressive Sensitivity of François Ozon”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (101-102), pp. 231–248. doi: 10.36744/kf.1961.

Authors

Ewa Szponar 
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Warsaw Film School Poland

Absolwentka MISH i filmoznawstwa, doktor nauk humanistycznych. Wykłada w Warszawskiej Szkole Filmowej i na Uniwersytecie SWPS. Stara się łączyć działalność dydaktyczną i naukową z pasją dziennikarską. Publikowała m.in. w kilku tomach zbiorowych, „Kwartalniku Filmowym”, „Ekranach”, „Filmie”, „Kinie”, „Ty­godniku Powszechnym” oraz w Onet.pl.



Statistics

Abstract views: 69
PDF downloads: 44


License

Copyright (c) 2018 Ewa Szponar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The author grants the publisher a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Kwartalnik Filmowy, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Kwartalnik Filmowy should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). The journal is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. By submitting an article, the author agrees to make it available under this licence.

In issues from 105-106 (2019) to 119 (2022) all articles were published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in „Kwartalnik Filmowy”, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.