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Ramanathan, Geetha. Feminist Auteurs: Reading Women's Films. London: Wallflower Press, 2006. viii + 239 pp. £45.00 (hardback)/£16.99 (paperback). ISBN 1–904–76470–3/76469–X, Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 43, Issue 4, October 2007, Page 480, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqm105
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Extract
A bold comparative analysis of twenty-four films from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the US, this book reasserts the possibility of feminist authority in films directed by women, opening up outmoded Westernised notions of feminist film by intelligently considering cultural context. The introduction deals succinctly with essentialism and the “problems” of auteur studies by focusing on the (feminist) aesthetics that link these widely different films. Ramanathan starts by considering how the filmmakers counteract the “female as visual pleasure” by de-aestheticising the feminine. The privileging of black female visuality and subjectivity through haptic practices and recreating genres using female heroes as the centre of their national and communal histories are covered in chapters two and three. Chapter four emphasises the importance of sound and the performance of song, speech and silence by women, while the final two chapters are devoted to the rewriting of female desire and narrative through the rejection of patriarchal values. The films analysed include Working Girls, Vagabond, Chocolat, Daughters of the Dust, Sati, Antonia's Line and Mädchen in Uniform. Although too dense for introductory-level students, this book offers an articulate, comprehensive and inspiring framework for reading films by women.
