The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema

Fascinating, engaging and provocative ... This finely researched study is a must-read for film scholars, film lovers and anyone interested in the spiritual dimensions of popular culture and popular entertainment.



Barbara Creed, Professor of Screen Studies, Head of the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne



A highly original work of scholarship ... The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema is meticulously researched, theoretically informed and written in a style that is at once graceful and accessible.



Robert Rosen, Dean, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television



‘Magical’, ‘out of this world’, ‘an experience you’ll never forget’: Peter Weir’s films have enthralled audiences around the globe. Whether in iconic Australian works such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli or international mainstream thrillers such as Witness, Weir has deliberately created mystical movie experiences. Modern cinema studies is used to dissecting films on the basis of gender, class or race: now, for the first time, Richard Leonard shows that a mystical gaze also exists and is exercised in the secular multiplex temples of today.



The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema is a meticulous and accessible book that uses a psychoanalytic approach incorporating the insights of Jung, film theory and theology to break new ground in what continues to be a hot topic in cinema studies: the spectator–screen relationship. Leonard provides a fresh, innovative and provocative perspective on what happens when we behold a film.