Introduction: Into the Past/Out of the Past

Abstract

I begin with a consideration of the histories of film noir and Lacanian film theory in Film Studies and indicate the points at which these concerns have thus far intersected. Not only was psychoanalysis a key determinant in the appearance of those films associated with the “classic” period of noir (roughly 1940–1958), but both noir and psychoanalysis also played a crucial role in the establishment of the study of film as an academic discipline. I note the more recent “philosophical turn” in Film Studies: away from 1970s psychoanalytic film theory, which constituted a limited engagement with Lacan. It is here that my project will intervene to demonstrate the contribution a fully Lacanian analysis can make to the theoretical and philosophical analysis of the cinema. I will suggest that reading Lacanian psychoanalysis and film noir together provides an opportunity to offer new insights into two areas of Film Studies that hitherto might seem to have been exhausted.