Losey

Summary

Dominique Pagani cites Joseph Losey almost always for The Servant, which he calls a masterpiece12. From 2014 to 2023, he returns to this film to illustrate the Hegelian master–slave dialectic3. The master, who can do nothing himself, depends on his servant's labour. When the servant stops serving, which the film presents as a strike, the master becomes powerless: he is the slave of his slave45. The slave, for his part, frees himself through his know-how. He uses this example in varied contexts: Rousseau, Hegel, labour and the right to work, a discussion of Popper, the question of the sciences of history, Clouscard. He places it in caste-bound England6. In 2023, he also draws a remark about matter from it: the master abandoned by his servant is more determined by matter than the one who transforms it7. Only once, in 2022, does he mention Losey for his Don Giovanni, which he presents as a real film rather than a filmed opera8.

1. 1#2 Rousseau, a world that begins20 Sept 2014 · 11:48
2. 2#9.14 How can sciences of history be real?5 Feb 2021 · 1:44:51
3. 3Hegel on the Beach 4/52 Feb 2016 · 1:27:52
4. 4Z for Zero9 Jan 2015 · 8:56
5. 5Work and the right to work20 May 2018 · 44:49
6. 6Beware of misreadings! Clouscard and the ideology of desire, in homage to Le Précepteur14 Jan 2023 · 20:52
7. 7Praxis and psyche27 Mar 2023 · 57:45
8. 8Hesitation fascinated by hearing and by sight: Siegfried and Perceval12 Dec 2022 · 23:23

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.