Introduction

Abstract

Luce Irigaray’s extensive work has recently enjoyed something of a renaissance with a smattering of translations of her most recent work appearing in English (1983/1999; 1994/2000; 1994/2001; 1999/2002a; 2002b; 1985/2002c) and a number of monographs sketching the ongoing interest her work holds for feminists interested in the politics and philosophy of the feminine (Deutscher, 2002; Ives, 2003; Krappala, 2000; Martin, 2000; Stone, 2006), as well as a special issue of Paragraph: A Journal for Modern Critical Theory arising from a conference in the UK dedicated to Irigaray’s work, in which Irigaray herself participated (Irigaray (ed.), 2002). This more extensive availability of Irigaray’s thought inevitably leads to a deeper interest in how engagements with culture (in all its forms) might profit from taking on board the politics of her philosophy. This book sets out to do this in relation to women’s cinema. Irigaray’s elaboration of the difficulties and potentialities of the feminine and a politics of sexual difference seems very pertinent to discussions around the status of women in film, and this book makes a specific link to a series of woman-directed films that appeared during the 1990s in which the cultural politics of gender was placed centre-frame.