The Body and the Screen: Female Subjectivities in Contemporary Women’s Cinema by Kate Ince

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Reviewed by: The Body and the Screen: Female Subjectivities in Contemporary Women’s Cinema by Kate Ince Cécile T. Rebolledo Ince, Kate. The Body and the Screen: Female Subjectivities in Contemporary Women’s Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. Pp 194. ISBN 978-1-62356-581-7. $34.95 (Paper). ISBN 978-1-62356-520-6. 24.99€ (eBook). How are female directors choosing to depict femininity in modern European film? For Kate Ince, this question is only properly answered while studied under the scope of feminist phenomenology as conceived by Simone de Beauvoir and other notable feminist philosophers after her. In The Body and the Screen: Female Subjectivities in Contemporary Women’s Cinema, Ince offers a detailed and insightful look into feminine representation in the works of critically acclaimed directors such as Agnès Varda, Claire Denis, Andrea Arnold or Sally Potter. First and foremost, this book offers an original argument that aims at opening new pathways for both gender and films studies. Ince believes that it is now time to leave the everlasting, almighty influence of psychoanalytic interpretation behind when it comes to the issue of femininity in film. Rather, she focuses on [End Page 184] how the portrayal of femininity and sex impacts filmic narration and viewing experience. At the center of this problematic, the female body makes up for the ultimate frame of reference; filmic choices about women’s bodies and their consequences on the audience must be examined in order to start generating a more modern theorization of female subjectivity that Ince considers to have become necessary. This refreshing point of view leads her to produce an original and complex commentary in which she establishes her impressive knowledge of Beauvoirean lineage and perspective, as well as her impeccable mastery of film technique and terminology. It should however be noted that one does not need extensive erudition of Beauvoirean thought or of cinema lingo to understand and enjoy Ince’s essay, as she makes sure to acquaint her readers with the various theories, philosophers and techniques that she draws upon to forge her own unique postulates. The book’s introduction is especially helpful. Traditional feminist problematics of agency and power struggle are brought forward and discussed in the light of the sometimes dichotomous relationship between filming and viewing; this association makes for an interesting account of what looking and being looked at may mean in terms of the often traumatic female experience of embodiment. Nevertheless, Ince distinguishes herself from conventional feminist theory by questioning the very pertinence of the issues feminism demands she takes on; for example, is looking and being looked at an actual power issue? Ince refuses to give a categorical answer to such questions but suggests that a more modern, more relevant thought would be wrong to keep dealing with them before wondering about their current congruity. More than resolutions, The Body and the Screen: Female Subjectivities in Contemporary Women’s Cinema proposes a clean slate of sorts for gender and film studies, while remaining conscious of its considerable intellectual debt to more classical principles. What is most striking about her work is that Ince suggests new applications to the canonical theories of great philosophers. Much like the films she selected, the book remains open-ended, leaving more innovative ways to understand the depiction of female subjectivity in contemporary film; it would be extremely interesting to apply Ince’s methodology to films directed by men and also to those made by non-European directors. Cécile T. Rebolledo University of Colorado at Boulder Copyright © 2017 Women in French Studies