Patrice Maniglier

Foucault at the Movies is a translation of what was a slimmer volume in its original form. The additional length is what makes this volume even more valuable. While the original included excerpts from Foucault that the essayists referenced O'Farrell translated the entire interviews which brings these into English for the first time. That alone would make this book worth its price. The essays, which were the meat of the original, are also wonderful additions to film and Foucault studies but without the full translations of the original texts would have left most English speakers wondering about context.

If you're hesitant to pick this up because you have seen enough about using Foucault to "read" movies, such as the ever-popular panopticism/surveillance and Rear Window type of discussion, put your concerns aside. The essays are less about using Foucault in that manner and far more about applying how Foucault did his work to how film might be made to communicate better and more readily. So rather than applying his ideas in interpreting specific films it is more about applying his methodologies to the practice of filmmaking with examples of films that seem to do so fairly successfully.

In addition to the more obvious audience of theorists and film critics this would be a wonderful book for anyone looking to become a filmmaker. I admit that I have both used and taught Foucault, especially within various area studies, so this volume speaks to me very much. The translations are, for me, a large part of the pleasure of this book. My French is rudimentary and I labor over any work which is not available in English, so adding to English translations is most valuable.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (plus d'informations)