{"product_id":"believing-in-film-9781350160491","title":"Believing in Film","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMark Le Fanu\u003c\/b\u003e is a well-known writer on film who has contributed regular pieces and columns to Sight and Sound, Positif and the East-West Review. A former Lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge, he was from 1993-2008 Director of Studies in Film History at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky\u003c\/i\u003e (1987) and\u003ci\u003e Mizoguchi and Japan\u003c\/i\u003e (2005), which was shortlisted in its year of publication for the Kraszna-Krausz Book Award.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStyle is one of the remarkable aspects of Dr Le Fanu’s book. It is beautifully free from useless technicalities and the clotted syntax that afflicts many academic writers … [he has] an ability to convey the thrust of a film that the reader might not have seen, and an openness to directors’ ideas that might be uncongenial to the author ... gripping. * The Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eIn this superb cultural history, Mark Le Fanu considers the religious impulse that distinguishes so much European cinema in its golden age from the second world war up to the 1980s … Le Fanu’s wonderful survey, with its aphoristic grace and erudition lightly worn, is from start to finish a delight to read. * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e[There is] much of fascination here for a general reader … [This book] has not only stimulated and educated, but led to my seeking out copies of four films that Le Fanu makes seem especially fascinating: Bergman’s \u003ci\u003eWinter Light\u003c\/i\u003e, Buñuel’s \u003ci\u003eSimon of the Desert\u003c\/i\u003e, Zanussi’s \u003ci\u003eSpirala\u003c\/i\u003e and Dreyer’s \u003ci\u003eDay of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e. These purchases prove this deeply-felt treatise also to be a work of evangelism. * The Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eClearly and thoughtfully written, with thankfully no film studies jargon, this book is one to be truly grateful for. * Catholic Herald *\u003cbr\u003eThe substance of \u003ci\u003eBelieving in Film \u003c\/i\u003eis an auteurist, country-by-country survey of the place of the Christian religion among the output of European directors during the golden age of art cinema from the time of World War II up to the end of the 1980s. The author’s criterion for inclusion is not that a film should exhibit, or that a director should possess, faith, but only that the film should evidence a sympathy for Christianity, even when criticising its pretensions. One of the pleasures of tourism for the thinking traveller is the appreciation of different European countries’ attitudes to what remains of their religion, and that pleasure is replicated and enhanced in this book by the author’s understated and sensitive discussion of favourite films, based on a life-time of critical discernment. For Le Fanu is one of those nuanced and thoughtful people who, while rejecting extremes, is not embarrassed to confess that he remains open to the ‘still-living truths of Christianity’. * Standpoint Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eAre we all still Christian? Or at least unwilling to stop framing the world in a Christian narrative? Mark Le Fanu’s compelling and courageous account of European cinema is an invitation to think of films in a different light, and to explore a marvellous repertoire of films everyone ought to know better. From Pavel Lungin’s \u003ci\u003eThe Island\u003c\/i\u003e to Ermanno Olmi’s \u003ci\u003eThe Fiancés\u003c\/i\u003e, Andrzej Wajda’s \u003ci\u003eAshes and Diamonds\u003c\/i\u003e to Bunuel’s \u003ci\u003eNazarin\u003c\/i\u003e, Le Fanu ably shows how saturated our Western imagination is in such notions as sin and sacrifice, predestination and redemption, how frequently, even in the work of atheists and agnostics, epiphanies, miracles and resurrections occur. Proceeding from one engaging account to another, \u003ci\u003eBelieving in Film\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely reminder of the resilience and narrative fertility of our Christian tradition. * Tim Parks, novelist and Associate Professor of English, IULM University, Milan, Italy *\u003cbr\u003eMark Le Fanu, who \"endured a Catholic upbringing during the 1950s in the north of Scotland\", has written a lucid and highly readable  study of the role of religion – and specifically, the Christian religion – in classic European cinema. His thesis, unfashionable in certain quarters but cogently argued, that religion and culture are inseparable, takes in not only expected figures like Bresson and Tarkovsky, but also such avowed atheists as the Spanish director  Luis Buñuel. Altogether this book offers many penetrating insights, such as will rivet the attention – and challenge the assumptions – of even the most irreligious reader. * Philip Kemp, film critic and Lecturer in the Department of Journalism, University of Leicester, UK *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeneral Editor’s Introduction Introduction CHAPTER 1: Russia: Tarkovsky, Eisenstein and Christianity CHAPTER 2: Poland: A Trio of Catholics CHAPTER 3: France: The Apostasy of Robert Bresson CHAPTER 4: Italy: Christianity and Neo-Realism CHAPTER 5: Scandinavia: Lutheran Interludes CHAPTER 6: Spain: The Heresies of Don Luis CHAPTER 7: Russia Again: Millennial Faith and Nihilism Afterword Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Bibliography Index","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48738598027607,"sku":"9781350160491","price":24.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781350160491.jpg?v=1720049601","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/believing-in-film-9781350160491","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}