The Creative Evolution and Crystallisation of the 'Bastard line': Drifting from the Rive Gauche into Suzhou River

Citation

Fleming D (2014) The Creative Evolution and Crystallisation of the 'Bastard line': Drifting from the Rive Gauche into Suzhou River. Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 8 (2), pp. 135-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508061.2014.915563

Abstract
Deleuze argues that ‘it is never at the beginning that something new, a new art, is able to reveal its essence’; instead, what is tacit at the outset only reveals itself later, after taking a significant ‘detour in its evolution’. This paper argues that Lou Ye's Suzhou River can be understood as the détournement of the ‘bastard line’ of the so-called Sixth Generation's urban realist impulse, and as such materialises a new modality of mainland time-image cinema. By also putting the film into critical relation with Alain Resnais’ Last Year in Marienbad (1961) via Deleuze, I aim to illustrate how Lou's evental film can be understood as actively modifying our understanding of the cinematic past.

Keywords
Lou Ye; Suzhou River; Alain Resnais; Last Year in Marienbad; Deleuze; Guattari

Journal
Journal of Chinese Cinemas: Volume 8, Issue 2

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Dr David Fleming

Senior Lecturer, Communications, Media and Culture