“Remarkably wide-ranging and engagingly intricate. Rosalind Galt’s argument is bold, its mode co galt v of argumentation sure and convincing. This very original take on culturally received and cul- e r turally determining ideas and emotions surrounding visual pleasure is long overdue. Galt’s im a book is a necessary contribution to the study of the image in film and to visuality studies.” ge s Brigitte Peucker, author of The Material Image: Art and the Real in Film : g r e and Incorporating Images: Film and the Rival Arts t a g pp a r b rr Fthilem m courletu prero ovfotecnat irveeje, cptos lvitiiscuaal,l layn rdic htr uimlya cgiense,m traetaitci ncgh osiicme.p Clicinitey,m aau smtearyit yc,h oarl leevnegne utgralidnietisosn aasl o, tor ee ideas of art, but its opposition to the decorative represents a long-standing Western aesthetic ren tt bias against feminine cosmetics, Oriental effeminacy, and primitive ornament. Inheriting this t (i tt patriarchal, colonial perspective—which treats decorative style as foreign or sexually perverse— �bÁn yy e filmmakers, critics, and theorists have often denigrated colorful, picturesque, and richly pat- z, 19 terned visions in cinema. 26 f Condemning the exclusion of the “pretty” from masculine film culture, Rosalind Galt ), © i l reevaluates received ideas about the decorative impulse from early film criticism to classical ph m pppp rrrr eeee tttt tttt yyyy o and postclassical film theory. The pretty embodies lush visuality, dense mise-en-scène, paint- t o erly framing, and arabesque camera movements—styles increasingly central to world cin- fe a s ema. From European art cinema to the films of Wong Kar-wai and Santosh Sivan, from the t; a n sh d experimental films of Derek Jarman to the popular pleasures of Moulin Rouge!, the pretty is d e a vital element of contemporary cinema, communicating distinct sexual and political identi- n’s t f i l m a n d t h e d e c o r at i v e i m a g e ties. Inverting the logic of anti-pretty thought, Galt firmly establishes the decorative image as a wa h l queer aesthetic, uniquely able to figure cinema’s perverse pleasures and cross-cultural encoun- k o e n ters. Creating her own critical tapestry from perspectives in art theory, film theory, and philo- m d Ø sophy, Galt reclaims prettiness as a radically transgressive style, shimmering with threads of n e political agency. (ja c r m o a “One of the most attractive features of Galt’s book is her ability to corral so many different iter- n, 19 ra 7 tahtieo nens do fa a gret naenrda lf itlhme ocrryit oicfi swmor aldn dc ipnreomviad,e o sf oa mpraenttyy e wxaomrldp lceisn fermoma. ”world cinema, effecting in 3), cou tiv r Akira Mizuta Lippit, University of Southern California te e s y of i Rosalind Galt is senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Sussex. She is the th m e author of The New European Cinema: Redrawing the Map and coeditor of Global Art Cinema: a a u t g New Theories and Histories. h or e R osal ind g alt c Film and Culture SerieS o v e r d columbia university press new york www.cup.columbia.edu esig n printed in the u.s.a. : c h a n g ja e l ee columbia P R E T T Y film and culture R g osalind alt P R E T T Y F FIILLMM AANNDD TTHHEE DDEECCOORRAATTIIVVEE IIMMAAGGEE columbia university press new york columbia university press Publishers Since 1893 new york chichester, west sussex Copyright © 2011 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Galt, Rosalind. Pretty : fi lm and the decorative image / Rosalind Galt. p. cm. — (Film and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. Includes fi lmography. ISBN 978-0-231-15346-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-15347-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-52695-1 (ebook) 1. Motion pictures—Aesthetics. I. Title. II. Series. PN1995.G245 2011 791.4301—dc22 2010045025 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix introduction The Pretty as Troublesome Image 1 1. from aesthetics to film aesthetics Or, Beauty and Truth Redux 38 2. colors Derek Jarman and Queer Aesthetics 75 3. ornament and modernity From Decorative Art to Cultural Criticism 97 4. objects Oriental Style and the Arabesques of M oulin Rouge! 141 5. at the crossroads Iconoclasm and the Anti-aesthetic in Postwar Film and Theory 177 6. forms Soy Cuba and Revolutionary Beauty 213 7. perverse prettiness Sexuality, Gender, and Aesthetic Exclusion 236 8. bodies The Sumptuous Charms of Ulrike Ottinger 279 postscript Toward a Worldly Image 298 Notes 305 Filmography 345 Bibliography 351 Index 377 illustrations 1. T heeviravaathi / The Terrorist (Sivan, 1998) 14 2. C idade de Deus / City of God (Meirelles and Lund, 2002) 19 3. L e fabuleux destin d ’Amélie Poulain / Amelie (Jeunet, 2001) 23 4. Kehinde Wiley, A fter Sir Anthony Van Dyck ’s King Charles I and Henrietta Maria (2009) 28 5. B amako (Sissako, 2006) 30 6. J u Dou (Zhang, 1990) 30 7. Xích lô /C yclo (Tran, 1995) 31 8. Walter Crane, “The Origin of Outline” (1900) 40 9. T he Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger, 1948) 46 10. T he Cheat (DeMille, 1915) 57 11. Ivan Groznyy II / Ivan the Terrible , Part I I(Eisenstein, 1958) 73 12. The Art of Mirrors (Jarman, 1973) 83 13. Death Dance (Jarman, 1973) 84 14. Arabia (Jarman, 1974) 85 15. A shden ’ s Walk on Møn (Jarman, 1973) 91 16. Ashden ’ s Walk on Møn 92 17. A shden ’ s Walk on Møn 92 18. Franz Sales Meyer, A Handbook of Ornament (1898) 101 viii illustrations 19. Otto Wagner, Majolikahaus (1898) 110 20. Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938) 120 21. Adolf Loos, House Josephine Baker (1927) 123 22. Josephine Baker’s famous banana skirt 126 23. Torrent (Ibáñez, 1926) 127 24. Eugène Delacroix, Femmes d ’Alger dans leur appartement (1834) 145 25. Moulin Rouge! (Luhrmann, 2001) 146 26. Publicity image of Clara Bow 150 27. Moulin Rouge! 151 28. Marius Maure, postcard of Algerian women (1900) 152 29. Moulin Rouge ! 156 30. Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Snake Charmer (ca. 1870) 158 31. Column in the Alhambra 166 32. L ola Montès (Ophüls, 1955) 174 33. Vent d ’Est (Godard / Gorin / Dziga Vertov Group, 1970) 179 34. All T hat Heaven Allows (Sirk, 1955) 185 35. Il conformista / T he Conformist (Bertolucci, 1971) 199 36. D ie bitteren Träner der Petra von Kant / The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Fassbinder, 1972) 202 37. Soy Cuba / I Am Cuba (Kalatozov, 1964) 222 38. Soy Cuba 227 39. Soy Cuba 229 40. Soy Cuba 231 41. Soy Cuba 233 42. Gianlorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–1652) 243 4 3. T ian bian yi duo dun / The Wayward Cloud (Tsai, 2005) 267 44. Catherine Opie, “Self-Portrait / Pervert” (1994) 275 45. Ecstasy in Berlin 1926 (Beatty, 2004) 276 46. Johanna d ’Arc of Mongolia (Ottinger, 1989) 281 47. Johanna d ’Arc of Mongolia 283 48. J ohanna d ’Arc of Mongolia 292 49. Johanna d ’Arc of Mongolia 296 50. L ’i ntrus / The Intruder (Denis, 2004) 302 acknowledgments T his book has been many years in the making, and t he development of my ideas has been helped by more people than I can eas- ily list. Karl Schoonover has been both an incisive, generous reader and a source of truly invaluable support. Corey Creekmur, Nicole Rizzuto, Mi- chael Lawrence, Louis-Georges Schwartz, and John David Rhodes read drafts of various parts of the book. Their astute suggestions have im- proved the book immeasurably. Other important interlocutors were Lynne Joyrich and the readers at Camera Obscura, which published an early itera- tion of the project. Together they challenged me to push on the intellec- tual histories of the pretty and to refi ne my claims. The readers for Co- lumbia University Press also off ered rich and perceptive responses to the manuscript and provided me with helpful advice for revisions. Thanks also go to my editor at Columbia, Jennifer Crewe, and to John Belton for their support of the project, as well as to copy editor Annie Barva and to editor Irene Pavitt for shepherding the book through production. T hroughout the research and writing of the book, my colleagues at the University of Iowa and the University of Sussex have been incredibly sup- portive. Department heads Steve Ungar and Sue Thornham nourished my research, and my colleagues Rick Altman, Lauren Rabinovitz, Rosemarie