Abstract
Muses are powerful goddess figures from Greek mythology that continue to emerge in contemporary media, however the label ‘muse’ has changed significantly in meaning, becoming a misogynistic way to subordinate the woman in an artistic pairing. This thesis investigates the relationship between directors as artists and actresses as muses in European cinema. Focusing upon the contemporary muse dynamic in terms of collaboration, inspiration and authorship, it will assess whether contemporary muses can regain the agency they lost in their shift from mythical goddesses to cinematic actresses. More specifically, it compares the romanticised muse-artist pairing of Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina, with the cruelty and provocation in the partnership between Lars von Trier and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The thesis addresses a gap in academic theory regarding the relationship of musedom to prominent director/actress pairings.
To introduce the field, I conduct a literature review to establish the various types of Muse from Greek mythology, which allows for comparison between the iterations of the figure throughout the thesis. In chapter two I survey historical sources: The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe, the Pygmalion myth, and the Svengali figure, as recurring cultural narratives of inspiration that highlight themes of control, romance, and female suffering, which are associated with muse partnerships. In a contemporary context, Maria San Filippo’s book Provocauteurs and Provocations: Screening Sex in 21st Century Media (2020) offers a useful framework for discussions on gendered power dynamics, and portrayals of sex on screen in the post-#MeToo film industry. Equally, I use close textual analyses to provide detailed comparisons of the way muses are presented visually.
Chapter three considers the auteur, as the other half of the muse dynamic, and gives an historic account of the scholarly debate on auteur theory. Next the Dogma 95 and French New Wave film movements of my case study directors are compared. I assert the significance of auteur theory in the perpetuation of the artist-as-genius notion in the contemporary muse narratives.
In chapter two I create a template for a contemporary muse dynamic, which is then applied to my case studies in chapters five and six. I argue that Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina portray a normative contemporary muse relationship, which Lars von Trier and Charlotte Gainsbourg subvert. Chapter five uses close textual analysis to consider how Karina is looked at in her films with Godard, and in relation to other artistic mediums. I then compare Karina to Gainsbourg in chapter six, while asserting Gainsbourg and von Trier’s subversion from the normative muse relationship I have constructed. Subversion of the normative dynamic demonstrates the possibility of a modern muse having agency, and I conclude that the von Trier/Gainsbourg relationship thereby returns us to the origins of the Muse figure.