"This is the first English-language book on controversial female director Catherine Breillat. Thematic groupings - female coming-of-age films, movies about masculinity in crisis and films dealing with a woman's sexual odyssey - provide the opportunity to study Breillat's treatment of such issues as female virginity, body image, sisterhood, conformity, desire, shame, masochism and self-empowerment, as well as male gender identity, androgyny and macho violence." "This volume explore's the director's complex relationship to religion and to feminism, and examines the difference between Breillat's films and patriarchal pornography, engaging in detailed analysis of her intimate scenes between men and women. Keesey also discusses the literature, films, paintings and photos that have influenced Breillat's work, and extends this to show how Breillat's films have influenced other filmmakers and artists in turn." "An accessible introduction, this book will appeal to students and researchers, as well as all those with an interest in gender studies, French film and contemporary drama."--BOOK JACKET.