The Belly Of An Architect

An in-depth study of Peter Greenaway's films.

This collection is based on the papers given at a conference at the University of Nottingham in September 2005. The conference was intended to explore Rome as a site for the making of films, and also its changing role as a setting for cinematic narrative. The resulting collection of essays will contribute to the burgeoning genre of studies on cinema and the city, by focusing on one particularly rich case study both for the nature of the films discussed, and the complexities of the city and its representation. The volume will also reach beyond film studies in so far as the subject draws on and informs other approaches to Rome's cultural history (geography, art history, urban history, classics).The essays address topics ranging from the interwar period to the present. A diverse set of cinematic interactions and interventions are placed within the context of the evolving architectural, social and political fabric of Rome in a period of rapid and often traumatic historical change. Implicit in the conception of the conference was the idea that cinematic representations of the city inherit and rework established habits of visualisation used to produce images of the Eternal city. Three other tropes which constitute key elements in Rome's international reputation can be seen as being embedded in cinematic narratives. Firstly, the trope of transformation - artisic, narratives.Firstly, the trope of transformation -artisic, psychological, spiritual; secondly, the city's reputation as a cosmopolitan crossroad. Thirdly, Rome's status as a locus classicus for the juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern, which was given a new relevance and complexity in films which sought to focus on aspects of contemporary life, be it in the Fascist era, or the extreme contrasts of poverty and international bohemianism of the postwar era.

British filmmaker Peter Greenaway says life offers only two subjects: “One is sex and the other is death.” Greenaway uses both and romanticizes neither; indeed, his goal is the antithesis of the sanitary and sentimental portrayal of humanity. Although his films have met with outrage from some viewers, cult audiences praise them for insightful messages: that people are detached from violence because they fail to see others’ bodies as identical to their own; that predatory capitalism has caused humans to lose sight of our shared physicality and mortality; and that taboos are simply a system allowing people to exercise power over others. This book examines nine of Greenaway’s feature films, dedicating a chapter to each: The Draughtsman’s Contract; A Zed and Two Noughts; The Belly of an Architect; Drowning by Numbers; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Prospero’s Books; The Baby of Mâcon; The Pillow Book; and 8 1⁄2 Women. The author examines the characters and plot, studies the structure and elements of the story, explores Greenaway’s motives and reactions, and reveals audience reactions, including comments from viewers. A filmography lists films written and directed by Peter Greenaway from 1962 to 2004.

Peter Greenaway shows us that you can avoid paintings, literature, and even (if you're ingenious) music, but you can't avoid architecture.

Atlas of Emotion is a highly original endeavour to map a cultural history of spatio-visual arts. In an evocative montage of words and pictures, emphasises that "sight" and "site" but also "motion" and "emotion" are irrevocably connected. In so doing, Giuliana Bruno touches on the art of Gerhard Richter and Annette Message, the film making of Peter Greenaway and Michelangelo Antonioni, the origins of the movie palace and its precursors, and her own journeys to her native Naples. Visually luscious and daring in conception, Bruno opens new vistas and understandings at every turn.

One of the fundamental tenets of modernism was its image of hygiene, its ideal of bringing cleanliness and order to the great unwashed, as evident in Adolf Loos's 1898 article, Plumbers. Using Loos as a point of departure, the essays in this collection examine architecture through the multiple meanings inherent in plumbing - from the pipes of modern hygiene, to the plumb line of the right angle, to Marcel Duchamp's Ready-made urinal.

Architecture and Film looks at the ways architecture and architects are treated on screen and, conversely, how these depictions filter and shape the ways we understand the built environment. It also examines the significant effect that the film industry has had on the American public's perception of urban, suburban, and rural spaces. Contributors to this collection of essays come from a wide range of disciplines. Nancy Levinson from Harvard Design Magazine writes on how films from The Fountainhead to Jungle Fever have depicted architects. Eric Rosenberg from Tufts University looks at how architecture and spatial relations shape the Beatles films A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and Let It Be. Joseph Rosa, curator at the National Building Museum, discusses why modern domestic architecture in recent Hollywood films such as The Ice Storm, L. A. Confidential, and The Big Lebowski has become synonymous with unstable inhabitants. I.D. Magazine writer Peter Hall discusses the history of film titling, focusing on the groundbreaking work of Saul Bass and Maurice Binder. Edited by Mark Lamster examines the anti-urbanism of the Star Wars trilogy. The collection also includes the voices of those from within the film industry, who are uniquely able to provide a "behind the scenes" perspective: film Edited by Bob Eisenhardt comments on the making of Concert of Wills, a documentary on the construction of the Getty Museum; and Robert Kraft focuses on his work as a location director for Diane Keaton's upcoming film about Los Angeles. Also included are interviews with David Rockwell, architect of numerous Planet Hollywood restaurants worldwide and designer of a new hall to host the Academy Awards ceremony; Kyle Kooper, who created title sequences for Seven and Mission Impossible; and motion picture art director Jan Roelfs, whose credits include Gattaca, Orlando, and Little Women.