French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Fiant, Pour un cinéma contemporain soustractif
Art and Visual Culture
Bibliographical reference: A. Fiant, Pour un cinéma contemporain soustractif, Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, "Esthétiques hors cadre" collection, 2015. EAN13 : 9782842924065.
Antony Fiant, Pour un cinéma contemporain soustractif
Saint-Denis : Presses universitaires de Vincennes, June 2014
EAN 9782842924065
216 p.
22EUR
The Book
Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a steady emergence of minimalist films showing a marked reluctance toward script, narrative, speech, music, and psychology. Whether fiction, documentary, or a blend of both, the films of fifteen directors from around the world (including Lisandro Alonso, Wang Bing, Alain Cavalier, Pedro Costa, Darejan Omirbaev, and Béla Tarr) are analyzed here from an aesthetic and dramaturgical perspective to highlight a subtractive gesture.
Fewer stories, less dialogue, minimal sets—these characteristics demonstrate a profound faith in the art of cinema and its power of suggestion.
The Author
Antony Fiant, Professor of Film Studies at Rennes 2 University, writes for several film journals, notably Trafic and Images documentaires. He is the author of two monographs: (Et) Le cinéma d’Otar Iosseliani (fut) (2002, L’Âge d’Homme) and Le cinéma de Jia Zhang-ke. No future (made) in China (2009, Presses Universitaires de Rennes).
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Challenging the Narrative
Questions of Narrative
Revisiting the Screenplay
On the Verge of Mannerism
Chapter 2: Characters Secluded from the World
Self-Sufficiency at the Risk of Marginalization
Space as a Refuge
Presence of Bodies
Chapter 3: "Poor" Aesthetics
Aesthetic Withdrawal, Aesthetics of Chaos
Geometric Framing
Physical Framing
Chapter 4: The Self-Portrait, Expiation or Outlet?
Fragments of Intimacy
Presence/Absence of Bodies and Voices
"Places as Repositories of Memory-Images"
Chapter 5: Regenerated Dramaturgies
The Fable or Nothing
Speech versus Silence
Reworking Genres
Chapter 6: Questions of Adaptation and Reflexivity
Recourse to Literature
Recourse to Cinema
Chapter 7: A Cinema of Cruelty
Primal Worlds
Elementary Drives
Stations of the Cross
Chapter 8: Suggesting the Past: History Nonetheless
Stories of the Camps
Colonization, Decolonization
The Fall of Communism
Chapter 9: Observing World Mutations
Political Poetry
Toward an Anthropological Primitivism
Conclusion
This scholarly study explores the aesthetic and dramaturgical choices of contemporary filmmakers who deliberately strip away conventional narrative elements such as elaborate scripts, heavy dialogue, and musical scores. By examining the work of directors like Lisandro Alonso, Pedro Costa, and Béla Tarr, the author investigates how reduced forms and stripped-down settings can paradoxically amplify a films power of suggestion. The volume offers valuable insights for film studies scholars, researchers, and cinephiles interested in minimalist art, documentary-fiction hybrids, and the evolution of modern cinematic language.
Rooted in contemporary film theory and aesthetics, the book is structured around key thematic explorations, ranging from poor aesthetics and spatial isolation to the representation of history and political mutation. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how subtraction operates not as a creative deficit, but as a deliberate artistic choice reflecting deep faith in the medium. Readers seeking to understand the intersection of narrative reduction, cinematic minimalism, and global art-house cinema will find this analysis a rigorous and illuminating resource.