Memories of suffering : A case study of the New French Extremity

This thesis undertakes an investigation of what potential effects violent representations bring to the embodied spectators memory. It will utilize a phenomological approach to analyze if images can deliver a therapeutic or re-traumatizing effect. By redefining therapeutic and re- traumatizing in the scope of cinematic images, we will reflect on these questions by also employing representational critique and materialist media theory. Within this frame, we will see that these questions on the cinematic experience begins with modality, as it conditions the spectator and the subsequent recall for memories. By defining the notion of ecphory, it is possible to decipher if the representation can constitute either a re-traumatizing or therapeutic effect by re-narrativization. By studying two films from the New French Extremity, this thesis illustrates how the performativity of film operates, showing that violence activates a sub-discursive response in the spectator’s mind. In turn, the sequencing of it, conditions the possibility for a reevaluation of the recalled memories. Through an examination of trigger warnings I conclude that it challenges the established parameters.