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This week we talk French Melville\u2014no, not Jean-Pierre, but two temperamentally polar 1999 films by French auteurs based on works by Herman: Claire Denis's Beau Travail and Leos Carax's Pola X, based respectively on Billy Budd, Sailor and Pierre, or the Ambiguities. We ask such questions as: Why fascist aesthetics? Why opera-scored Tai Chi? Why incest? Why unsimulated sex? These are just the kinds of questions that come up when you're dealing with adaptations of classic American literature of the 19th century.

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Time Codes:

0h 01m 00s:\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Melvillian Loomings

0h 14m 31s:\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Beau Travail (1999; dir: Claire Denis)

0h 33m 26s:\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Pola X (1999; dir: Leos Carax)

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* Find Elise\u2019s latest published film piece \u2013 \u201cElaine May\u2019s Male Gaze\u201d \u2013 in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room*

*And Read Elise\u2019s Writing at\xa0Bright Wall/Dark Room,\xa0Cl\xe9o, and\xa0Bright Lights.*

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Theme Music:

\u201cWhat\u2019s Yr Take on Cassavetes?\u201d \u2013 Le Tigre