Jean Genet, the French author notorious for his overt cele-bration of criminality and homosexuality, was also fascinated with cinema.
??His only film, Un Chant d'amour, made in 1950, was a poetic and sexually explicit visual paean to homosexual desire, the criminal impulse, and the power of the imagination. Banned on the grounds of obscenity, the film has since become a cause celebre of gay rights and freedom of expression, as well as being recognized as a masterpiece of underground cinema.
??Criminal Desires contains complete documentation of the making of Un Chant d'amour, including an illustrated shot-by-shot description, thematic analysis, and exhibition history.
??The book also documents:
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Illustrated throughout and featuring an introduction by acclaimed novelist and Genet biographer, Edmund White, Criminal Desires is a compelling induction into Jean Genet's underworld of prisons, voyeurism, and homosexual lust which starkly illuminates a fascinating zone of forbidden cinema.
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Jane Giles is director of cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
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