Olivier Dekens, La philosophie sur grand écran: Manuel de cinéphilosophie. Paris: Ellipses, 2007
My rating: ***
La philosophie sur grand écran : Manuel de cinéphilosophie by Olivier Dekens
I really like the format of this book – in terms of how it works as a teaching text. Each short chapter consists of a brief commentary on a set philosophical concept, a short text from a well-known philosopher (and not just the old ones – but thinkers such as Lacan and Foucault) and then a review of a relevant film. The concepts examined are all part of the curriculum for the final year program for philosophy in French schools.
One small quibble I had with this work is that although the film reviews were quite good and interesting – they didn’t integrate except superficially with the philosophical concepts under discussion.
Nonetheless this would serve as a fairly good introduction to European philosophy using the medium of film.
Refracted Input 