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Derrida's Elsewhere directed by Safaa Fathy. Reviewed by Roy R. Behrens E-mail: ballast@netins.net Devotees of Jacques Derrida (1930-), the chief proponent of Deconstructivism, will undoubtedly find this enthralling, as did critics at two film festivals, where it was honored with several awards. At the same time, it may not be entirely delightful for those who have suffered at whacking a trail through translations of Derrida, not to mention those endless discussions of him in PhD dissertations. Thank goodness, this film is like Derrida Lite, in the sense that it largely consists of a more or less leisurely saunter with the aging French philosopher (now 72), in which we see him in his car (playing his cassette tapes), strolling the streets of his native Algiers, relaxing on the beach, standing in front of an aquarium (comparing his school and himself to the fish), lecturing to entranced French university students, touring the burial sites of his cats, and having his photograph taken. All the while, even as the nemesis of metaphysics, he keeps up an unbroken banter in which the most trivial physical things are described as if more lofty, as metaphysical. Among the most interesting episodes are the tour of the disordered library in his attic, which he calls his "sublime hideout" (he also has an outdoor shed, which is even more musty and messy), and a scene in which he sits in front of El Greco's famous painting of the Burial of Count Orgaz and recalls the details of his mother's demise. (Reprinted by permission from Ballast Quarterly Review 17, No. 2, Winter 2001-2002.) |
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