ABSTRACT
In this paper I approach the study of transnational cinema from the perspective offered by Ian Woodward and Zlatko Skrbiš’s concept of cosmopolitan performance. I explore the historical and conceptual links between theatrical, cinematic and social performance in order to frame film performance as a special type of social performance. In order to illustrate this I focus on the performances offered by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. My analysis seeks to highlight the transnational dimensions of the films’ meanings and the celebration they offer of cosmopolitan values. At the same time, I argue that the films’ use of cosmopolitan performance privileges a certain type of elitist and homogenising transnational relationships and excludes many others. In this the trilogy can be seen as part of a growing number of films that I call ‘cosmopolitan art cinema’. In more general terms, my analysis underlines the value of cosmopolitan theory to approach contemporary cinema’s complex and contradictory role in dealing with the epochal changes brought about by the intensification of globalising processes.
