A cinema of collisions: Patrice Chéreau and the homosocial

Abstract

This article identifies in four of Patrice Chéreau's films a consistent stylistic gesture (a cinema of collisions) and a recurring thematic/narrative exploration of homosocial desire. Through analysis of L'Homme blessé, La Reine Margot, Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train and Son frère, I examine how the film-maker stages scenic, affective and physical collisions, bringing into relief the ‘erotics of power’ within disparate social and historical milieux. Despite a refusal to directly ‘represent’ homosexual experience, I argue that Chéreau's films consistently investigate homosocial desire, generating sustained interrogations of masculine corporeality, same-sex desire and the bonds of intimacy and filiation that are of considerable interest for theorists of gender and sexuality.