Panteridad

Abstract

Produced by horror pioneer Val Lewton and revived by feminist film theorists in the ‘80, Cat People (Tourneur, 1942) is read by the author as a text providing representation to Freud’s notion of death drive as crucial “Grenzbegriff” in psychic life. Attention to the very interesting and innovative use of asynchronous sound in the film, together with a discussion of diegetic and extra-diegetic material, allow for a reading that points to the complex connections between body and desire, otherness and human selfhood.