ABSTRACT
Theories of trauma have, focused on the experience of victims and the actions of perpetrators. They have also opened up rich and sometimes controversial discussions of perpetrator trauma and the transmission of trauma to subsequent generations and even to onlookers and bystanders. Cache offers a portrait of Georges Laurent, the successful host of a literary talk show on French television. By focalizing the film primarily through Georges, but preventing any kind of easy identification with his perspective, Cache opens up an intermediate space for exploring dilemmas of justice and historical responsibility, and rethinking trauma. Traumatic experiences, the theory also suggests, frequently bear the residues of both historical violence and contemporary inequality. Nothing should distract people from the suffering of traumatized victims or from the need to hold perpetrators accountable. Framed by a narrative of traumatic return, Cache explores implication at these three levels of event, social group and mode of production.
