Kafkaesque Cinema in the Context of Post-fascism

Abstract

This article discusses Kafkaesque cinema as a response to historical conditions of post-fascism through the close-reading of three films: Chris Marker's La Jetée (1962), Béla Tarr's Werckmeister harmóniák ( Werckmeister Harmonies , 2000), and Christian Petzold's Transit (2018). Important interlocutors are the Hungarian philosopher Gáspár Miklós Tamás and the Italian historian Enzo Traverso; both understand post-fascism as a historical condition that perpetuates fascism's hostility to the Enlightenment, but which, however, permeates even mainstream politics. Drawing on their work, the article shows how the films' Kafkaesque aesthetic and themes invite us to consider the link between post-fascism and the defeat of the radicalized Enlightenment thought.