Of Time and the City de Terence Davies. Nostalgie de la mémoire ouvrière et introspection sociologique à l’écran

Abstract

Of Time and the City (2008) by the English filmmaker Terence Davies crosses archive footage, photographs and sequences shot in present, in order to reconstitute the working-class memory of Liverpool, from an autobiographical point of view. Based on the film, the article explores remembering modes which don’t fit into the usual frameworks of Memory Studies, whether it be the trauma paradigm or the patrimonial logic, and which express more a nostalgic feeling for the past. In the case of Of Time and the City, the nostalgic mood is linked to the social position of the filmmaker, which corresponds to the situation of ‘class defector’ described by Richard Hoggart and Didier Eribon. In consequence, the article examines how the social position of Davies appears in the film, through editing choices which lead to mix together high and low culture, intimate and collective history.