Horror and the Holocaust: ‘Prestige Horror’ and Frank Pierson’s Conspiracy (2001)

In an article published in 2004, Picart and Frank examined the use of stylistic and thematic elements Holocaust cinema can borrow from the horror film. Their argument at the time was constrained by the availability and their choice of primary texts, but the recent emergence of what has been called ‘prestige horror’ invites viewers to revisit their critical arguments and positions. Since ‘prestige horror’s’ aesthetic strategies tend to challenge conventional definitions of the horror genre, revisiting Picart and Frank’s argument proves most productive in the context of a Holocaust film, Frank Pierson’s Conspiracy (2001), which, in turn, operates in creative dissonance with some of the conventions of Holocaust cinema.

On (not) Watching The Lady in Number 6: Digital Holocaust Film, Copyright Infringement and the Obligation to Remember

This article discusses the tension between the legal framework of copyright and the moral obligation, as framed in Holocaust studies, to remember the atrocities of the Nazi murder of European Jewry. Starting with the case study of a recent award-winning film, The Lady in Number 6, the essay takes the movie’s difficult availability as an occasion to reflect upon the need to access and distribute this film, even if this creates conflicts with copyright laws, situating this discussion in the larger discussion about law and literature.

Sexualization of Female Perpetration in Fictional Holocaust Films: A Case Study of The Reader (2008)

The publication of Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader (1995) sparked conversation and controversy about sexuality, female perpetrators and the complexity of guilt regarding the Holocaust. The screen adaptation of the book (Daldry 2008) amplified these discussions on an international scale. Fictional Holocaust films have a history of being met with skepticism or even reject on the one hand and great acclaim on the other hand. As this paper will outline, the focus has often been on male perpetrators and female victims. The portrayal of female perpetration reveals dichotomous stereotypes, often neglecting the complexity of the subject matter. This paper focuses on the ways in which sexualization is used specifically to portray female perpetrators in The Reader, as a fictional Holocaust film. An assessment of Hanna’s relationship to Michael and her autonomous sexuality and her later inferior, victimized portrayal as an ambiguous perpetrator is the focus of my paper. Hanna’s sexuality is structurally separated from her role as a perpetrator. Hanna’s perpetration is, through the dichotomous motif of sexuality throughout the film, characterized by a feminization. However, this feminization entails a relativization of Hanna’s culpability, revealing a pejorative of her depiction as a perpetrator. Consequently, I argue that Hanna’s sexualized female body is constructed as a central part of the revelation of her perpetration.

Beyond a Court of Law: Holocaust Film and the Tensions in Primo Levi’s ‘Grey Zone’

The influence of Primo Levi’s writing on the ‘grey zone’ has only sharpened over the last decade, not only in terms of its broader application to human rights contexts beyond the Holocaust, but also through a greater focus on the question of how to understand the behaviour of so-called ‘privileged’ prisoners in the Nazi camps and ghettos. History has shown a court of law to be an inadequate setting for negotiating the complexities of the ethical dilemmas forced on victims in extremis, and substantial problems of judgement and representation have plagued efforts to understand these liminal figures elsewhere. This article examines the tensions within Levi’s writings and maps these onto attempts to represent the ‘grey zone’ in Holocaust films. Engaging in particular with Margarethe von Trotta’s critically acclaimed feature film Hannah Arendt (2012) and Tor Ben-Mayor’s lesser known documentary Kapo (1999), I highlight how these distinct approaches to depicting ‘privileged’ Jews expose the fraught nature of portraying victim complicity on screen.

“It’s Probably Going to Be the Hardest Film to Make”

Stanley Kubrick wanted to film Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle since the early 1950s. His interest lay in Schnitzler’s fascination with sexuality and domesticity. The intersection of Schnitzler’s writings with those of Sigmund Freud was of particular interest. Kubrick’s favorite director, Max Ophüls, had adapted some of Schnitzler’s plays, and this also attracted the author to Kubrick. Even though he kept putting off the making of the film, its ideas percolated into those films he did make, from Fear and Desire through The Shining. During this long period of gestation, Kubrick entertained many ideas for writers and stars. At one point, he wanted to make it as a comedy. Only after the failure to get his Holocaust film or his science fiction film, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, made did he finally turn to directing Eyes Wide Shut.