Walking with Hegel in Marseilles: Robert Guédiguian and Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro. (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ungar, Steven
• Editors: Hewitt, Nicholas
• Is Part Of: French cultural studies. Volume 25:Number 3/4(2014:Aug./Nov.)
• Page Start: 281
• Page End: 289
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: Robert Guédiguian -- G. W. F. Hegel -- Jean Jaurès -- Marseilles -- sense of place -- warm realism; France -- Civilization -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 306.094405
• DOI: 10.1177/0957155814534149
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0957-1558

Abstract

Robert Guédiguian's Les Neiges de Kilimandjaro (2011) draws on Marius et Jeannette (1997) and La Ville est tranquille (2000), features he likewise filmed on location in his native Marseilles. As a series or set, the three films constitute a loose version of the Hegelian dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis that is evident in Guédiguian's cinematic treatment of Marseilles' evolving topography and demographics. The conclusion of Les Neiges de Kilimandjaro suggests a possible means of updating a commitment to social change based in overcoming class difference at a moment when this has yielded to a more brutal distinction between the rich and the poor.