Work

The Evolution of Existentialist Ideas in Michel Houellebecq's Work and Film Adaptations of His Prose

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The article analyzes the films based on the novels and essays by the modern French writer and poet Michel Houellebecq. This article shows what transformations occur when translating Houellebecq's prose into the film language. The author compares the plots of the literary sources and their adaptations (in particular, finales) focusing on the directorial techniques of transferring literary images into the screen space and discusses the factors that determine the tendency of softening Houellebecq's rigidly pessimistic worldview by strengthening the melodramatic component of the story and introducing optimistic motifs into the finales of their films.

Source: Journal of Film Arts and Film Studies

DOI: 10.69975/2074-0832-2025-64-2-84-101

Author: I. I. Ivanchenko

Institution: Russian State University of Cinematography named after SA Gerasimov

Language: English

Topic: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4411493364

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