Criminal Desires: Jean Genet and Cinema

Persistence of Vision

by First Last, Edmund White (Preface by)

Jean Genet, the French author notorious for his overt celebration of criminality and homosexuality, was also fascinated with cinema.

His only film, Un Chant d'amour, made in 1950, was a poetic and sexually explicit visual paean to homosexual desire, the criminal impulse, and the power of the imagination. Banned on the grounds of obscenity, the film has since become a cause celebre of gay rights and freedom of expression, as well as being recognized as a masterpiece of underground cinema.

Criminal Desires contains complete documentation of the making of Un Chant d'amour, including an illustrated shot-by-shot description, thematic analysis, and exhibition history.

The book also documents:

* Genet's many other unfilmed screenplays.
* Film appearances by Genet himself
* Screen adaptations of Genet's work made by other directors including Deathwatch, The Maids, Todd Haynes Poison, and Rainer Fassbinder's extraordinary and apocalyptic vision of Querelle.

Illustrated throughout and featuring an introduction by acclaimed novelist and Genet biographer, Edmund White, Criminal Desires is a compelling induction into Jean Genet's underworld of prisons, voyeurism, and homosexual lust which starkly illuminates a fascinating zone of forbidden cinema. Ties-in with the release of Un Chant d'amour on dvd (BFI).

Genres: LGBT, Film

100 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2002