Female trauma in the films of Szabolcs Hajdu, David Lynch, Cristian Mungiu and Peter Strickland

Abstract

A number of twenty-first century art films, set in an ‘Eastern European’ linguistic, cultural or mythical background have traumatized female leads: Tamara (Szabolcs Hajdu, 2004), Inland Empire (David Lynch, 2006), 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile/4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007), Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2009) and Bibliothèque Pascal (Szabolcs Hajdu, 2010). Since the audio-visual representation of moments of trauma is quite consistent in these films, despite their belonging to different production models and artistic canons (New Hungarian Cinema, American postmodern indie, Romanian New Wave, British transnational cinema), the article presents a detailed analysis of their ‘traumatic moments’, using Michel Chion's model of sound in film, and trauma theory. The author argues that the traumatized female leads can be interpreted as allegorical representations of ‘Eastern Europe’ and its collectivities, also haunted by traumatic recurring experiences. This interpretation is inspired by Ismail Xavier's allegorical reading of female characters in Latin American cinema and by Mark Betz’ concept of ‘wandering women’ in European art cinema. The author also reinterprets Fredric Jameson's well known idea of the ‘national allegory in third-world literature’ to apply it to transnational cinematic material.