The Staging of a Scene: Feminist Politics in Jogo de Cena (2007) & The Arbor (2010)*

Abstract

In this article I propose to examine the use of first-person testimonies and their re-enactments in Jogo de Cena (Eduardo Coutinho, 2007) and The Arbor (Clio Barnard, 2010). Through a careful comparison between these two films, I will argue that re-enactment complicates the employment of first person testimonies, producing duplicity and a feeling of estrangement in the viewer. Rather than indicating the ambiguous distinction between reality and fiction, re-enactment presupposes instead the staging of a scene of co-appearance.