Erotic Intertextuality

Chapter 3 studies what could be called the erotic intertexts of film curation. Programming pushes eros askew, congealing homomorphic patterns of editing, production design, performance style, and frame composition to make form itself the object of mimetic desire. As a central case study, the chapter selects the Nuart’s 1978–79 winter calendar, including deviant cult classics Salon Kitty (dir. Tinto Brass, 1976), The Night Porter, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Women in Love (dir. Ken Russell, 1969), Maîtresse, Sebastiane (dir. Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress, 1976), as well as a Marlon Brando retrospective, to do a close intertextual analysis of the calendar’s erotic scales, textures, and durations.