Foucault Against Himself
Icarus Films • 53m
Directed by Francois Caillat • Documentary • With Michel Foucault • 2014 • 52 minutes
From the history of madness, to sexuality and pleasure in classical antiquity, to the law and penal institutions, the breadth of Michel Foucault's thought was astonishing.
One of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, Foucault bridged the roles of intellectual and activist, attaining the highest honours of the French academy while using his position to attack the very institutional power that gave him a platform.
Divided into four chapters, FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF focuses on Foucault's critique of psychiatry, his work on the history of sexuality, the growth of his radicalism arising from his research into the French penal system, the nature of knowledge and underlying structures of human behavior, and his immersion in American counter-cultural movements - in particular the resistance to current social structures that he found among sexual minority communities in San Francisco.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF captures the energy and fierce intellect of the man, introducing us to some of the key elements of his work, while also acknowledging - and even celebrating - its many contradictions.
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