Abstract

The article explores the relationship between enjoyment and film to advance a theory of cinema based on an innovative use of Lacanian theory. Until now, psychoanalytic film theory has privileged the Lacanian category of the Imaginary and the corollary question of audience identification. In so doing, it has overlooked the order of the Real, which in Lacan overlaps with enjoyment. The article assesses whether cinematic fiction is able to evoke enjoyment as the disavowed core structuring not only film but also our perception of social reality itself. The main focus is Lacan's theory of sexual difference, understood as a universal antagonism that cuts across any attempt at symbolizing reality. By conflating sexual difference and the cinema of Federico Fellini, the aim is to identify a specific cinematic context where the excess of representation becomes visible.