Refocus: the Films of Denis Villeneuve

Critically examines the work of Qu b cois filmmakers Denis Villeneuve

Engages with all of Villeneuve's feature films (some individually and some comparatively), including those that have up until now received little critical attention
Proposes original analyses of all the films from multiple critical and theoretical approaches (thematic, sociocultural, formal, ontological, feminist, allegorical, narrative, spectatorial, intertextual) which both contribute to current scholarship and serve as a resource for undergraduate and graduate students
Offers a clear overview of Villeneuve's contributions to contemporary cinema, both in a Qu b cois context and with regards to his Hollywood films

The nimble, creative spirit of Qu b cois screenwriter and filmmaker, Denis Villeneuve, is reflected in his varied body of work. Villeneuve explores questions of alterity and interculturality, of language and identity, of memory and forgetting, of violence and retribution, throughout his filmography: Un 32 ao t sur terre (1998), Maelstr m (2000), Polytechnique (2009), Incendies (2010), Enemy (2013), Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and Dune: Part 1 (2021).

This edited collection brings together original works of scholarship on all of Villeneuve's feature films from different theoretical approaches, in order to deepen our understanding of this important and yet relatively understudied director; read individually or as a collective whole, these studies reveal important elements of Villeneuve's filmic practice, as well as the evolutions of his oeuvre.