En utilisant une perspective philosophique, ce mémoire explore les liens forts entre la réception spectatoriale du film Ikiru (1952) d’Akira Kurosawa et l’idée qu’une œuvre d’art peut être perçu comme une conversation d’auteur à public. L’analyse induite par l’établissement de ce rapprochement est nourrie par divers éléments connexes tel que le phénomène empathique au cinéma, la notion de l’humanisme chez Kurosawa ou la pensée morale de Stanley Cavell, qui place le cinéma comme une possibilité d’introspection et d’amélioration pour le spectateur. Le choix de ce film pour ce qui semble être une recherche s’intéressant plus au médium et sa réception qu’à une œuvre précise est motivé par la présence d’une construction narrative très particulière; le protagoniste principal meurt au deux tiers du film. La séquence suivante, lors de ses funérailles, est une grande conversation initiée par un auditoire interne (concept cher à Kurosawa), plaçant ainsi Ikiru comme un modèle incarnant les relations complexes que nous souhaitons comprendre avec ce mémoire. Il est donc question, dans un premier temps, de tirer une plus grande compréhension du principe de la conversation en s’appuyant sur l’œuvre et les intentions du cinéaste. Une fois les concepts importants posés, notamment la conversation interne, l’empathie et la distanciation narrative, la réception spectatorielle de la séquence des funérailles et de l’œuvre en général est disséquée. Ce n’est qu’après cela que la perspective philosophique entre complètement en jeu, l’humanisme et l’utilitarisme faisant partie de la réponse que Kurosawa donne à la question posée : qu’est-ce qu’une bonne vie? / Using a philosophical perspective, this study explores the strong links between the spectatorial reception of Akira Kurosawa's film Ikiru (1952) and the idea that a work of art can be perceived as an author-to-audience conversation. The analysis induced by the establishment of this parallel is nourished by various related elements such as the empathetic phenomenon in cinema, the notion of humanism in Kurosawa or the moral thought of Stanley Cavell, who places cinema as a possibility of introspection and improvement for the viewer. The choice of this film for what seems to be a research focusing more on the medium and its reception than on a specific work is motivated by the presence of a very particular narrative construction; the main protagonist dies two-thirds of the way through the film. The following sequence, during his funeral, is a conversation initiated by an internal audience (a concept dear to Kurosawa), thus placing Ikiru as a model embodying the complex relationships that we wish to understand with this memoir. It is therefore a question, first of all, of drawing a greater understanding of the principle of conversation by relying on the work and the intentions of the filmmaker. Once the important concepts are posed, including internal conversation, empathy and narrative distancing, the spectator's reception of the funeral sequence and the work in general is dissected. Only then does the philosophical perspective fully come into play, with humanism and utilitarianism being part of Kurosawa's answer to the question posed: what is a good life?

Cette thèse de doctorat se rapporte aux films du cinéaste japonais Ozu Yasujirô (1903-1963) suivant l'hypothèse principale que les enjeux de la destruction qui y sont mis en scène, sous la forme de la disparition des liens familiaux et de la mort, ne peuvent être éclairés par la narration, dont le caractère non dramatique est notoire. En figurant la dislocation de la famille, les films d'Ozu rendent plutôt compte de la vulnérabilité du monde à la prise cinématographique : la destructivité du médium s'y énonce comme sa capacité à mobiliser ce qui entre dans son champ et à le transformer en faire-valoir de son aptitude à produire des effets. Cette étude fait ainsi apparaître les images animées, en tant qu'elles relèvent de la logique technique régie par la modernité, comme une forme de désastre, qui atteint la famille comme expérience de la communauté, c'est-à-dire comme rapport constitutif à un hors-de-soi. Mais à cette destructivité fait également face, au sein même de la pratique cinématographique d'Ozu, une autre possibilité du cinéma, qui peut restaurer ces liens menacés. Cette étude du cinéma d'Ozu montre sa profonde affinité avec la pensée du désœuvrement élaborée par Giorgio Agamben, les films du cinéaste et les travaux du philosophe s'éclairant mutuellement. Le concept de désœuvrement permet de reconsidérer les enjeux essentiels des films d'Ozu à un niveau à la fois thématique et formel, immatériel et matériel, articulant ces deux facettes pour en considérer le registre proprement médiatique. Le propos n'est pas essentiellement esthétique ou formaliste, mais s'intéresse avant tout au travail d'Ozu du point de vue des enjeux éthiques du cinéma, qui se formulent en termes de relation à sa puissance. Celle-ci concerne aussi bien l'attention d'Ozu à la vie collective que le soin qu'il porte aux potentialités expressives du cinéma, c'est-à-dire à la manière dont il se rapporte aux limites de son médium. / In this dissertation, the films of Japanese director Ozu Yasujirô (1903-1963) are studied according to the main hypothesis that the destruction they picture – disappearing family bonds, death – cannot be accounted for by plot development, its non-dramatic stance being well-known. As it is depicted in his films, family dissolution in fact testify for the world's vulnerability to cinematographic take: the medium's destructivity is especially expressed as an ability to mobilize what comes into its range and to transform it as a stooge for its own capacity to produce effects. This study then portrays moving images, inasmuch as they conform to the logic of modern technology, as a kind of disaster affecting family as a commununity, as an experience of being out-of-oneself. But Ozu's cinematographic practice shows as well ways to face such a destructivity, and points to another, restaurative potentiality for cinema. This study of Ozu's cinema shows its profound affinity with Giorgio Agamben's conception of inoperativeness, the filmmaker's work and the philosopher's thought throwing light on each other. Through the concept of inoperativeness, the issues at the heart of Ozu's films are considered anew at a level both thematic and formal, immaterial and material, articulating these two aspects in order to tackle their very mediatic register. My approach, then, is not foremost aesthetic or formal but focuses on Ozu's films from the point of view of practice: it deals with ethical issues raised by the cinematographic medium, which express themselves in relation to power (or potentiality). This ethical concern relates to Ozu's attention to collectivity as well as to his care for cinema's expressive potentialities that is to say to the way in which his films face their medium's limits.

Au début des années 1950, le cinéma japonais achève de se remettre des restrictions d'abord imposées par le régime militariste, puis entraînées par la défaite du pays. L'industrie cinématographique prospère rapidement et puise dans la littérature des histoires pour les films qu'elle doit produire à une cadence toujours plus élevée afin de répondre à la demande des salles de cinéma. C'est dans ce contexte que Naruse Mikio (1905-1969) a réalisé six films inspirés de textes de Hayashi Fumiko (1903-1951). Ces films sont représentatifs tout à la fois des relations que les institutions littéraires et cinématographiques entretenaient à l'époque où les films ont été réalisés, du rôle joué par la littérature dans la politique de production des studios de cinéma et de la façon dont l’adaptation était perçue par la critique de cinéma.Mais outre la présentation de ces aspects contextuels et historiques, l'objectif de cette thèse est de dégager des pistes qui aideraient à appréhender l'œuvre de Naruse Mikio à travers l'examen des choix qu'il opère lors du processus d'adaptation, que ce soit au niveau du sujet, de la construction du récit, ou encore de la mise en scène. Naruse parvient à trouver un équilibre entre ses ambitions formelles et les exigences du récit en élaborant avec virtuosité un style effacé ou « invisible ». Pour tenter d'en faire ressortir les particularités, notre effort s'est concentré sur l'analyse des éléments de notre corpus (films, textes et scénarios). Dans cette entreprise, les textes de Hayashi constituent un référent précieux qui aide à déterminer les rapports que le cinéaste entretient avec son sujet, avec le scénario ou encore avec les contraintes inhérentes au cadre dans lequel il travaille. / In the early fifties, the Japanese film industry had almost recovered from the restrictions imposed first by the military regime and then from Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War. The industry then prospered rapidly and found in literature the stories needed in order to produce enough movies to comply to the always growing demand of the cinemas. It was in this context that Naruse (1905-1969) realized six movies inspired by Hayashi Fumiko's (1903-1951) works. These movies are exemplary of the relationship between literary institutions and the film industry at the time they were shot. They are also typical of the importance of literature in the production policy of the diverse film studios as well as the manner movie critics received these screen adaptations.Besides the presentation of the contextual and historical aspects, our objective is to identify ways which would help to discover Naruse Mikio's works through the filter of choices made by him at the time of the adaptation, be it when choosing the topic, the story construction or the stage direction. Naruse was able to find a balance between his formal ambitions and the requirements of the story by skillfully elaborating a subdued or “invisible” style. In order to highlight the singularities of his personal style, we have concentrated our effort on the analysis of the diverse elements of our corpus: the films, texts and scripts. In this endeavour Hayashi’s writings are a precious point of reference helping us to determine the precise nature of the relationship the film director had with his subject, with the script as well as the constraints imposed by the frame he was working in.

Selon le philosophe Gilles Deleuze, l’arrivée du néo-réalisme italien constitue le point de passage entre une forme classique du cinéma (L’image-mouvement) et une forme moderne (L’image-temps) entre le cinéma moderne. Une telle distinction est largement approuvée par les théoriciens, les critiques les historiens du cinéma. Loin de correspondre à unerupture historique, elle renvoie à deux types de cinéma qui possèdent leurs propres caractéristiques. Cette étude envisage dans un premier temps d’aborder, à partir de la typologie deleuzienne, les spécificités de chacun de ces régimes du point de vue de la création. Les films de Takeshi Kitano, cinéaste japonais, et Hong Sangsoo, cinéaste coréen, sont analysés selon cette perspective. Les premiers présentent effectivement une structure basée sur un régime classique, tandis que les seconds se fondent sur les caractéristiques du cinéma dit moderne. Leur analyse permet aussi de suivre le processuscréatif de ces deux réalisateurs reconnus internationalement. Cette étude tente, dans un deuxième temps, de montrer qu’ils s’inscrivent dans une perspective universelle sur le plan de la création. / According to the studies of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, the arrival of Italian neorealism is the crossing point between a classic form of film (The movement-image) and a modern one (The time-image). Such a distinction is widely endorsed by theorists, critics and historians of films. Far from corresponding to a historical rupture, it refers to two types of films that have their own characteristics. This study intends initially to approach, from Deleuze's typology, the specifics of each of these regimes in terms of creation. The films of Takeshi Kitano, Japanese filmmaker, and Hong Sangsoo, Korean director, are analyzed under this prospect. The former represent a structure based on a classical scheme, while the latter is based on the characteristics of modern film. The analyst also allows following the creative process of these two internationally renowned filmmakers. This study attempts secondly to illustrate that they have a universal perspective in terms of creation.

[pt] Esta tese relaciona os debates sobre modernidade, cultura e revolução na perspectiva das representações do corpo violado e sexualizado, e explora as repercussões de tais debates na chamada temporada política do Japão pós II Guerra Mundial. Especificamente, a análise se detém na problematização das esquerdas revolucionárias pelo cinema de Oshima Nagisa (1932-2013), reconhecido como mentor do Nuberu Bagu (a nouvelle vague japonesa), e de Wakamatsu Koji (1936-2012) e Adachi Masao (1939-), da vertente erótica/pornográfica Pinku eiga. Cineastas cuja produção foi orientada pela fusão de política, sexo e violência, e marcada pelo ativismo dos movimentos pró-democracia a partir dos anos 1950 — suplantado no início dos 1970, quando o país se converteu em uma potência econômica mundial. O debate sobre a aporia da modernidade japonesa, fundado na persistência de vestígios agonizantes pré-capitalistas em uma sociedade capitalista, produziu diversas narrativas antagônicas no decorrer do século XX. Dentre elas, a que refutava a subordinação cultural ao Ocidente deu respaldo ao imperialismo ultranacionalista na guerra que dilapidou o país. Em decorrência do processo de democratização e desmilitarização durante a ocupação do Japão pelos EUA (1945-1952), e dos conflitos que vieram com sua consecutiva reversão, as discussões sobre a modernidade se multiplicaram no conturbado pós-guerra. A abolição dos poderes políticos do imperador Hirohito, que foi levado a abdicar publicamente de sua condição divina e a assumir-se como simples mortal, foi a mais impactante das mudanças realizadas no período. Ao declarar a derrota do país e a sua carnalidade, o imperador implodia a força do Kokutai, o corpo-nação, que organizava todo o sistema simbólico nipônico. Nos primeiros anos da ocupação, escritores como Sakaguchi Ango (1906-1955) e Tamura Taijuro (1911-1983), referências da literatura carnal na cultura subterrânea kasutori, exaltavam o corpo carnal (nikutai) como contraposição ao corpo-nação (Kokutai). De fato, a literatura carnal foi uma das diversas expressões do pós-guerra que, em dissonantes abordagens, reverenciaram o nikutai e o shutaisei. Nela, a decadência e a imoralidade eram defendidas como base para uma apreensão mais realista da precariedade humana, para a construção de uma nova ética, subjetiva e autônoma (shutaisei), e como condição para o acesso ao moderno. O filósofo político Maruyama Masao (1914-1996), um dos mais conhecidos modernistas defensores da ética do shutaisei, posicionava a literatura carnal, no entanto, na contramão de um Japão democrático e culto (ou moderno), já que as representações sensuais e violentas expressavam justamente a natureza que deveria ser superada. Isto é, as abordagens da sexualidade, da crueldade e da perversão, embora reivindicassem o moderno (ou a recusa da autoridade do Kokutai), remetiam à sensibilidade nativa pré-moderna. O que sugere que a aporia da modernidade na desintegração do pós-derrota era expressa na ambiguidade da apreensão política do shutaisei. Noção que seria central na formação do sujeito político vinculado aos movimentos pró-democracia e na expressão das vanguardas artísticas dos anos 1950 ao início dos 1970. / [en] This thesis relates the debates about modernity, culture and revolution in the perspective of the depictions of the violated and sexualized body, and explores the repercussions of such debates in what became known as the political season of Japan after World War II. Specifically, the analysis focuses on the problematization of the revolutionary left factions by the films of Oshima Nagisa (1932-2013), recognized as mentor of the Nuberu Bagu (Japanese New Wave), of Wakamatsu Koji (1936-2012) and of Adachi Masao (1939-), from the Pinku eiga (Pink Film) genre, which dealt with the erotic and the pornographic. Filmmakers whose production was driven by the fusion of politics, sex and violence, and marked by the activism of pro-democracy movements beginning in the 1950s — supplanted in the early 1970s, when the country became a world economic power. The debate about the aporia of Japanese modernity, based on the persistence of agonizing pre-capitalist vestiges in a capitalist society, produced several antagonistic narratives throughout the twentieth century. Among them, that which refuted the cultural subordination to the West gave support to the ultranationalist imperialism in the war that squandered the country. As a result of the process of democratization and demilitarization during the US occupation of Japan (1945-1952), and the conflicts that came with its subsequent reversal, discussions of modernity multiplied in the troubled post-war period. The abolition of the political powers of the emperor Hirohito, who was led to publicly abdicate his divine condition and declare himself a mere mortal, was the most shocking of the changes made in the period. In declaring the defeat of the country and his carnality, the emperor imploded the power of the Kokutai, the nation-body, which organized the entire Japanese symbolic system. In the early years of the occupation, writers such as Sakaguchi Ango (1906-1955) and Tamura Taijuro (1911-1983), exponents of carnal literature in the kasutori underground culture, exalted the carnal body (nikutai) as a counterpoint to the nation-body (Kokutai). In fact, carnal literature was one of several postwar expressions, which, in dissonant approaches, revered nikutai, and the concept of shutaisei. In it, decadence and immorality were defended as the basis for a more realistic apprehension of human precariousness, for the construction of a new ethics, subjective and autonomous (shutaisei), and as a condition for access to the modern. The political philosopher Maruyama Masao (1914-1996), one of the best-known modernists who defended the ethics of shutaisei, posited carnal literature, however, against a democratic and cultured (or modern) Japan, since the sensual representations and violent ones expressed precisely the nature that should be overcome. That is, the approaches to sexuality, cruelty and perversion, while claiming the modern (or the refusal of the Kokutai s authority), referred back to the pre-modern native sensibility. This suggests that the aporia of modernity in the disintegration of post-defeat was expressed in the ambiguity of the political apprehension of the shutaisei. This notion would be central to the formation of the political subject linked to the pro-democracy movements and the avant-garde art expressions from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

This thesis examines the embodiment of the sexed body and the struggle of fitting into the narrow frames of what a woman is supposed to behave and look like in Japanese cinema. Using the medium of film, I, therefore, seek to produce knowledge regarding the internalized gaze of the oppressor, and self-objectification, caused by the capitalist heteropatriarchy. Thus, I am drawing from cyborg feminism, and the second wave of sexual difference theory’s concept of becoming, expanded upon by the Italian-Australian philosopher Rosi Braidotti. I further use the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of masculine domination and the American philosopher Gayle Rubin’s charmed circle, in creating a theoretical framework, and using the methods of cultural and feminist film analysis to contextualize the films and locate the subjectification of the women. The movies that I will be analyzing are the Japanese director and poet Sion Sono’s Antiporno (アンチポルノ, 2016) and the Japanese director and photographer Mika Ninagawa’s Helter Skelter (ヘルタースケルター, 2012), which both center around two women and their struggle in becoming-cyborg, in relation to power, trauma, sexuality, technology, and beauty ideals in ‘modernized’ Japan. In that sense, I will study the phenomenon of operating outside the lines of social norms of femininity and desire.

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