Themes in the cinema of Jean Rouch

Abstract

This paper discusses major themes in Jean Rouch's cinema for the purpose of illuminating their interdependence with a conception of ethnographic practice. Four themes appear central to the corpus of Rouch's work. The most crucial of these is the attempt to create a filmic synthesis of the theories of Robert Flaherty and Dziga Vertov. From that synthesis follows the attempt to elaborate a method of cinéma‐vérité and cinéma‐direct; the attempt to create a genre of filmic ethnographic fiction; and a preoccupation with filmic conventions of personal reflexivity, authorship, and anthropologie partagée. These themes are analyzed with reference to Rouch's writings and films.