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Coates presents the face in film as a place where transformations begin, reflecting both the experience of modernity and such influential myths as that of Medusa. This is exemplified by a wide range of European and American films, including Ingmar Bergman´s Persona .

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Acknowledgements Introduction Faces and ´Faciality´ The Fate of Contemplation: Closeness and Distance Masks and Metaphor: Doubles and Animals Invisibility, Medusa, and the Mask Dissonance and Synthesis: Persona, the Face, the Mask and the Thing Works Cited Index

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´Sharing Barthes´ and Bergman´s premise that the human face remains central to cinematic art, Coates´ new book draws on film theory, philosophy, art history, and cultural studies to produce fresh, startling insights on the films that truly matter. The range of examples is as impressive as the erudition.´ - Lloyd Michaels, Allegheny College, USA

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PAUL COATES Professor in Film Studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He has taught at McGill and the University of Aberdeen. His publications include The Story of the Lost Reflection (1985), The Gorgon´s Gaze (1991), Cinema, Religion and the Romantic Legacy (2003), The Red and the White: The Cinema of People´s Poland (2005) and Cinema and Colour (2010).

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