Badiou and Lévy on the Art of Cinema

As a preliminary remark, in order to situate cinema within the broader philosophical system elaborated by Alain Badiou, it is important to bear in mind that, so far as he is concerned, philosophy does not produce truths in and of itself. Rather, truths are produced by generic procedures. He names four such procedures: politics, science, art, and love, each of which is required for philosophy’s very existence in so far as they give philosophy cause to think the truths that they themselves create. Naturally, cinema has its part to play in the artistic procedure, and even holds a close second place (ex æquo with theatre) in Alain Badiou’s writings, only slightly behind the first, which is reserved for poetry.