Introduction. 1. The Pauline Holy Fool and Its Successors. 2. Speaking Truth to Power: The Holy Fool in Soviet and Russian Cinema. 3. Holy Fools in the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky. 4. The Suffering Fool in French Cinema. 5. The Bressonian Holy Fool. 6. The Fool’s Challenge to Reason in Danish Cinema. 7. Idiocy as Technique: The Dogme 95 Movement. Conclusion.
Biography
Alina G. Birzache was an assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest before she moved to the United Kingdom where she obtained a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. She has interests in religious representations in art, literature and film and has published on these topics.
"The tradition of the ‘Holy Fool’ is much neglected in modern study. This book resurrects that tradition and gives it a more contemporary appeal by tracing its provenance in significant aspects of European cinema. Engaging and accessible, this work should appeal to students of religion and of film, as well as to those who see culture as the locus for religious engagement and debate." —Ward Blanton, University of Kent, UK
