Description
Paper presentation: Nymphomaniac and the Geometry of Origins: Derrida on Husserl on Lars von Trier Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 (2013) is studded with diagrams and geometrical figures that ironically simplify and explain the apparent motivations of its fictional characters. Such cinematic characters can themselves be understood as figures for the deeper understanding of real human beings. Here I wish to explore the philosophical history of geometry (understood as a spatial representation of relationships) based on Derrida's introduction to Husserl's The Origin of Geometry in which the quest for truth is presented as an impossible desire to understand the origin of desire. Husserl argues that geometry has been understood as valid for “all men, all time, all peoples, and not merely for all historically factual ones but for all conceivable ones” (1936/1989, p. 179) and I argue that both Derrida and Von Trier provide a critique of the transcendental myth of an origin that explains all that is to come. The two Nymphomaniac films offer a story to explain why Joe (Charlotte Gainsborough) is found beaten in a dingy alley by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) and thus act as a map to the territory of Joe’s life. I will show how Nymphomaniac Vol. 1, in particular, uses geometry to reveal and to erase Joe’s origin, a problematic that is succinctly represented in Von Trier’s use of the figure () to replace the o in Nymph()aniac’s title. I will argue that Von Trier’s cinema can be understood as an attempt to explain the history of Europe, if not the world, through a perverse uncovering of an origin that is necessarily inaccessible.| Period | 4 Jul 2017 → 6 Jul 2017 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Lancaster, United KingdomShow on map |
Keywords
- Film
- Philosophy
- Cinema