âQueer cinemaâ is shaped by a spatial discourse, a tussle between normativity and difference, fiction and non-fiction, and Anglo-American and European distinctions. These are often enveloped in superlatives and criteria of inclusion and exclusion while a multivariate aspect of âplaceâ as artifice and performance is left unmapped. This book is concerned with exploring the performance of âplaceâ in a selection from the increased number of queer documentary films produced in France and Italy from 2000 onwards, a period during which the visibility of queers as emplaced was foregrounded through key debates on same -sex marriage and parenting. An equality, identity-based political agenda has generally persisted with a discourse that âplacementâ is positive for queers; however, as Browne et al. claim, âthe fixity and certainty inhering in most dominant ontologies of âplaceâ is rejected by many queers who instead favour a mobility and placelessness due to the possible violence and exclusion that could surface as a result of being visibly marked out (2007, p. 23). This book is motivated by articulations of âplaceâ as âartificeâ in queer documentary, which evoke associations between the ârealâ and the âimaginedâ, and the âactualâ and the âvirtualâ. This âartificeâ points to the creativity of âdocumentaryâ (a definitional minefield) and references the diegetic and non-diegetic world, the public and the private, and the external and the internal. It is represented in the selected texts through a cinematic reflexivity, the blending of contemporary and archival footage, the elicitation of space in local, national, and global terms, the subterfuge and re-enactment of scenes cross-referencing different places and spaces, the use of the avatar, and the reproduction and occupation of traditional âsafeâ imaginaries. The book also responds to a frequently perceived impasse in accommodating the âqueerâ in two contexts where it rarely seems easily applied, given the dominant universal discourses of French Republicanism and traditional Roman Catholic conservatism. A proposed way through this is by incorporating the âpost -queerâ , a position that deals with the shift towards a neoliberal âdeterritorializedâ space wherein the self is dispersed, rather than confined (Ruffolo 2009, pp. 36, 95â96).
Analysis of the selected texts focuses on how space is queered. This is viewed through the modernist optic of Marcel Proustâs âlieu facticeâ [artificial place ], which describes a section of the Bois de Boulogne in Du CĂŽtĂ© de Chez Swann [The Way by Swannâs], the first volume of Ă la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time ] (Proust 1913, 2002a).1 The âlieu facticeâ reflects Proustâs wider approach to space in RTP, which is summed up in an observation by Gamble that â[n]avigational aids are sparseâ in a text that manipulates time and memory, and plays around with fact and fiction (2001, p. 7). The mutability of the âlieu facticeâ emphasizes the creative act and a general tension in RTP between the personal and the social wherein the private and the public intersect, exclusive social mores are challenged, and an emotive response conveyed as a result of social, political, and cultural change (Hughes 2001, pp. 151, 153, 157).
Sutton et al. highlight how the speed of change occurring at the beginning of the twenty-first century (most notably on the technical front) means that the ârealâ has increasingly come under scrutiny (2007, pp. 1â2). While claiming that visual representation has the ability to influence change organizationally, they are conscious that this may be interpreted in terms of what is materially identifiable instead of what are genuine complexities associated with the ârealâ (ibid.). They add that what is clear is that the fast-moving and isolating features of the contemporary period have made it increasingly imperative for us to engage with a sense of the ârealâ , the agency of visual representation constituting a practice that allows us to substantiate our positions in the world (Sutton et al. 2007, p. 15).
The ability to affirm oneâs own sense of âplaceâ beyond the superficial was undoubtedly influential in shaping the output of queer documentary films in France and Italy during the period of interest. The claim being made here with both the âpost-queerâ and Proustâs âlieu facticeâ is that they reinvigorate how representations of non-normative gender and sexualities are appropriately and sensitively considered in these contexts, particularly beyond the inclusive/exclusive criteria of universal discourse and an identity-based queer politics. There has been little attention paid to the performance of âplaceâ in French and Italian queer documentary as a response to the debates taking place surrounding queer identities. This offers invaluable insight into a refusal to accept dominant notions of âplaceâ as fixed and stable, framed as they have been by homo/heteronormative ideals. The enquiry brought about by this bookâwhich is, to some extent, phenomenologicalâhighlights how âplaceâ, while at times, appearing to be framed within the normative, should be considered with greater intricacy than is often the case in mainstream media. This not only implicates those being represented but also those looking on, whether at the level of the diegetic or non-diegetic.
This chapter is divided into two sections. It starts by identifying some of the difficulties in approaching the notion of âqueer cinemaâ in France and Italy, focusing on how taxonomies and geopolitical influences can be wholly restrictive. This concludes by considering the idea that the surge in output in France and Italy can be seen as ânew queer documentary cinemaâ, which opens up the space in which the âlocalâ should be positioned (i.e. as envisaged through French and Italian queer documentary). The latter of these issues is taken up in the second section, which overall persists with diversifying the space in which these queer documentary texts need to be approached from the point of view of performed âplaceâ. The scene in which Proustâs âlieu facticeâ is located is introduced, which sits alongside a discussion as to why France and Italy can be observed together in a study of this kind. These both open up the dynamics of âplaceâ in spatial terms, which is developed in the final part of the second section by the outlining of âqueerâ and âpost-queerâ positions.
French and Italian âQueer Cinemaâ
An historical perspective on âqueer cinemaâ in France and Italy indicates that it has been around for a while in one guise or another, and with different intents and purposes. Consider, for example, the prison guardâs voyeurism in Jean Genetâs Un chant dâamour (1950) and the suggestion by Richard Dyer that a âGenet flavourâ has shaped a number of films up until the early 1990s at least (Dyer and Pidduck 2003, pp. 203â204). There is also Luchino Viscontiâs Ossessione (1943) in which male homosexual desire is identifiable between the Spaniard and Gino; although, as Lesley Caldwell stresses, the Spaniardâs allure could well relate to freedom from prevailing social conventions (most notably, the Catholic Church and the perceived constraints of marriage) (Forgacs and Caldwell 2003). The shift here is towards a queer notion of space beyond fixed borders, emphasized through the Spaniardâs mobility and independence from the fixity of âplaceâ. The contrast between these positions also serves to highlight a distinction between âqueer cinemaâ and âqueer critiqueâ, the latter pointing to a fluidity across spatial and/or temporal borders. As will be explored later when focusing on the âqueerâ and âpost-queerâ, the distinction between âqueer cinemaâ and âqueer critiqueâ suggests a difference between being and doing or even between âemplacementâ and âdisplacementâ, respectively. This can be explained a little further by considering Derek Duncanâs assessment of cinemaâs post-war response to Fascism and to evolving gender roles in Italy.
First, he claims that Roberto Rosselliniâs Roma cittĂ aperta (1945) offers a âqueer critiqueâ of ânormative versions of sexualityâ by setting Pina and Manfredi up as ânational sacrificeâ and framing the Nazis, Ingrid, Bergmann, and Marina (who represent homosexuality) as âcorrupt political and ethical identitiesâ. Second, he asserts that comedy was used as a way of exploring gender roles from the 1940s onwards, referring to director Vittorio Caprioliâs Parigi o cara (1962) and Splendori e miserie si Madame Royale (1970) as examples (2017, pp. 473â475). Similarly to âdeviantâ women, homosexuals were positioned elsewhere (i.e. outside Italy, in Paris, and through the use of French language and/or the re-enactment of aspects of French history evoked by the Louis XVI reign), associated with effeminacy and other marginalized groups (e.g. prostitutes), killed off in the lead role (i.e. informant Alessio is âseducedâ by an attractive police superintendent, played by Maurice Ronet, who is working on a case relating to the circulation of pornographic images) (ibid.). While concluding that more detailed analyses are required on the âqueerâ in Italian cinema, Duncan problematizes a notion of âqueer cinemaâ by claiming that a âqueer critiqueâ: â[âŠ] needs to remain historically grounded in order to contribute to culturally sensitive interpretations of queer lives and their intelligibilityâ (2017, p. 481). If considered as âhistorically groundedâ, these films sought then to subordinate non-normative sexualities and genders by comparing them to those who were deemed âgoodâ and/or by excluding them. This can be seen as contributing to what Halberstam describes when referring to transgender narratives in the context of cinematic representations, as projects of âstabilizationâ, ârationa...