The films of Darren Aronofsky invite emotional engagement by means of affective resonance between the film and the spectators lived body. Aronofskys films, which include a rich range of production fromRequiem for a Dream toBlack Swan,are often considered cerebral because they explore topics like mathematics, madness, hallucinations, obsessions, social anxiety, addiction, psychosis, schizophrenia, and neuroscience. Yet this interest in intelligence and mental processes is deeply embedded in the operations of the body, shared with the spectator by means of a distinctively corporeal audiovisual style.Bodies in Pain looks at how Aronofskys films engage the spectator in an affective form of viewing that involves all the senses, ultimately engendering a process of (self) reflection through their emotional dynamics.

Tarja Laineis Assistant Professor of Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam, and Adjunct Professor of Film Studies at the University of Turku, Finland. She is the author ofFeeling Cinema: Emotional Dynamics in Film Studies (2011) andShame and Desire: Emotion, Intersubjectivity, Cinema (2007).

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction:Aronofsky, Auteurship, Aesthetics

Chapter 1. Noise:Pi

Chapter 2.Rhythm:Requiem for a Dream

Chapter 3.Grief:The Fountain
Mind and Body
Science and Spirituality
Finitude and Infinitude
Working Through Grief

Chapter 4. Masochism:The Wrestler

Chapter 5.The Uncanny Sublime: Black Swan

Conclusion

Appendix: Darren Aronofsky Filmography

Bibliography
Index