Derrida

Plot Summary

The most ambitious cinematic project ever undertaken about a world-class philosopher, Derrida (co-directed with Amy Ziering) is a complex, personal and theoretical portrait of the internationally renowned French philosopher, Jacques Derrida. Best known for generating a movement known as "deconstruction," Derrida's radical rethinking of the founding precepts of Western metaphysics has profoundly influenced the fields of literature, philosophy, ethics, architecture and law, inalterably transforming the intellectual landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries. Filmed over five years across several continents, Derrida is far from a talking heads movie or conventional biographical portrait. A complex and reflexive work that attempts both to capture its protagonist and be a cooperative venture with him, the film's bold, visual style, mesmerizing score by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, and novel editorial approach create a rich, lively cinematic experience, which simultaneously provokes, amuses and entertains. Interlacing rare vérité footage of Derrida in his private life with his reflections on deconstruction, violence, the structure of love, filmmaking, and the death of his mother, the film becomes a rich and moving meditation on both Derrida himself and the themes that haunt and inspire his work.