Lynne Ramsay: Character´s multi-sensorial experience

Abstract

This thesis is motivated by my strong conviction that the films written and directed by Lynne Ramsay are worthy of serious engagement and critical scrutiny. The Scottish filmmaker is one of the rare artists who was able to bend the cinema to the shape of her own extraordinary vision, which establishes her among the most original voices working in independent cinema today. This dissertation is also motivated by my curiosity about the seemingly inexhaustible pleasure and edification I derive from her films. It analyzes the consistency,meaning, persistence of style and theme in the corpus of her work. Ramsay’s filmmaking was always described as “cine de autor” (auteur cinema). Indeed, her films are an evidence of a personal involvement in every aspect of filmmaking. This thesis will define and explore the characteristics and conditions of her authorship which constitute an expression of the enduring usefulness of auteurist criticism. In this case, this critical approach tends to yield the deepest insights into her films, identifying the unique qualities of Ramsay’s film grammar, such as the narrative, aural, visual components, while stimulating quests for the importance of the auteur. Since, my research into the literature on the films of Lynne Ramsay failed to find any serious evaluations, my analysis benefits from references taken by different theories included in the thesis and by the audiovisual materiál provided by the films. Primarily, it is an approach to criticism I learned from my mentors at FAMU( Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague), while my direct experience as film-maker will add an operative critical approach to elaborating the stylistic trademarks and identify director’s artistic and dramatic decisions. Each film will be subjected to a close reading illustrated with images from it. These readings aim to structure Ramsay’s method of creation while thinking with the films rather than thinking against or about them