Bray, M. and Calatayud, Agnes (2005) The French film industry's current financial crisis and its impact on creation: the example of Jacques Doillon's Raja (2003). Studies in European Cinema 2 (3), pp. 199-212. ISSN 1741-1548.
Abstract
Although Jacques Doillon is amongst the major film-makers in France, his recent project found no financing in spite of its relative cheapness. According to Doillon, this was because his scenario did not fit within the light-entertainment focus of financiers. Indeed, funding films that do not conform to a Hollywood model has become a particularly fraught issue in France. Frustrated in his original ambition, Doillon then embarked on the filming of Raja in Marrakech (Morocco). This film depicts the unsuccessful love story between a blasé, middle-aged Frenchman (Pascal Greggory) and Raja, one of his maids played by the newcomer Najat Benssallem. One of the first temptations is to read the film as a parable for the power relationship between rich industrialized countries in the North and emerging nations in the South. Our article however proposes a different interpretation of the narrative: in our view, the film can also be seen as an allegory for the conflict-ridden relationship between film-makers and their financiers in a world where return upon investment is the paramount criterion for the selection of scenarios.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Mar 2018 16:32 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2023 12:43 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/21916 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
