ABSTRACT
In Speculum of the Other Woman, Luce Irigaray retells Plato's cave allegory. She writes '[t]he other, and the move from the female one to the other, are forgotten upon this theatre of representation where light, which lets us see, holds centre stage'. This chapter focuses on two feminist filmmakers, Agnes Varda and Chantal Akerman. The films examined include Cleo de 5 a 7 and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080, Bruxelles. Although both filmmakers have denied being feminist filmmakers or even that there can be a 'woman's cinema' different from men's, they respond to social changes from the second wave of feminism beginning in the 1960s. Both filmmakers were influenced by events such as the combination of general strikes and student occupation of the universities in Paris in May 1968. The phrase 'May 1968' became resonant with civil unrest, revolution and the feeling of being at a turning point in history.
