ABSTRACT

This distinctively interdisciplinary book draws upon psychoanalytic theory to explore how expectations, desires and fears of documentary subjects and filmmakers are engaged, and the ethical issues that can arise as a result.

Original and accessible, the second edition of this ground-breaking book addresses the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis and documentary film, reviews documentary film practice as a field, provides a personal account of the author’s relationship with a subject of her own work, and presents a thorough interrogation of the ethics of documentary. The updated text includes a new introduction by the author and an additional chapter ‘Stories We Tell’ by Sarah Polley, centered on ethics and the role of the filmmaker in relation to her participants.

Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film, 2nd revised edition has already been used widely and is crucial reading for film studies scholars, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and psychotherapeutically engaged professionals, as well as filmmakers, culture studies students and anyone interested in the process of documentary-making and contemporary culture.

chapter |19 pages

Introduction to the first edition

chapter |16 pages

Introduction to the second edition

chapter 3|25 pages

Documentary film

A discourse of desire

chapter 4|19 pages

Documentary as interpellation

chapter 5|22 pages

The conman and I

A study in transference

chapter 6|14 pages

The ethics of documentary

chapter 7|22 pages

The ethics

What ethics?

chapter 8|20 pages

The horror of the doppelganger

chapter |20 pages

Final concluding remarks