Sandy Flitterman-Lewis

To Desire Differently: Feminism and the French Cinema, 2nd ed.

Columbia University Press, 1996

In this book, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis presents an exploration of the impact of three French women filmmakers: Germaine Dulac, Marie Epstein, and Agnes Varda. A most important work, its sustained commitment to textual analysis--and the close readings here are superbly written--and to a historical (and national) consideration of female authorship makes it a valuable contribution to feminist film scholarship. In this essential study of film and feminism, Professor Flitterman-Lewis uses three major filmmakers to survey ways in which directors have challenged the cinematic assumptions of the patriarchy. Germaine Dulac was concerned with woman´s desire, Marie Epstein with defining a female gaze, and Agnes Varda with formulating a feminine discourse.