Philosophical discourse can take shape not only through words but also through the frames of a film.

Beatrice Bianchini knows this well, as the author of a passionate and captivating essay on cinema and philosophy, and especially on the connection between the seventh art and philosophical counseling.

Philosophical counseling is a verbal exchange between two people, where the philosopher initiates a process of care for the person in front of them. It is a stripping away of thoughts, a demolisher of mental patterns.

Dialogue becomes a tool through which to open the mind, exercise doubt, and broaden one’s perspective.

If all of this is reinforced by the viewing of films, philosophical counseling becomes a space where art, thought, culture, static and moving images, and music merge.

Beatrice Bianchini's study of philosophy has developed a powerful critical capacity in her.

The author has skillfully applied her artistic sensitivities not only in philosophical counseling but also in writing film analyses.

Her writing is a flowing essay that operates on four different levels: film reviews, the philosophy within the reviewed films, feature films whose themes can open the reader's mind, and the writing of two real-life counseling sessions.

The first counseling session features Cloè, a young woman in a complex romantic situation, who is recommended to watch Lars Von Trier's masterpiece "Dogville."

The second session centers around Amanda, another woman, this time struggling with her daughter’s eating disorder. For her, the film "Pleasantville" by Gary Ross is suggested.

Cinema is philosophy; through films, we reflect and learn.

The Double Gaze is divided into five chapters. The fourth, which skillfully combines philosophy and cinema, tackles universal and contemporary themes such as adolescence, patriarchy, female emancipation, body perception, sex, euthanasia… for each of these subjects, there is a film, a review, and a universe of words and concepts that can help one understand themselves.

Beatrice Bianchini adopts Deleuze’s lesson; through her text, she expresses the concept of the filmmaker as a philosopher—the former thinks in images, the latter in concepts.

The Double Gaze, however, takes an additional step forward, demonstrating that the two can merge, becoming a Pandora’s box filled with words, images, and notions… all capable of illuminating.

The paintings created by Beatrice Bianchini are concepts written through images, and her reviews are equally concepts that philosophically reinterpret cinematic images.

Cinema has prophetic powers, often arriving before reality itself. Watching, as Lacan declares, can be a scopophilic act that divides rather than unites.

Bianchini challenges this statement and demonstrates that viewing becomes a possibility for understanding.

542 pages in which words contaminate images and vice versa, films infect philosophy and vice versa.

Insightful aphorisms abound, and the author's passion is overwhelming.

22-Sep-2024 by Beatrice