Books by Bruce Bennett

As this book shows, films, novels and memoirs enable authors to imagine the deep-seated predilections and peccadilloes of spies and secret agents over the last four centuries of Australian existence. Sex and seduction? Those books and this one are replete with it. Narcissism? It is everywhere in novelistic and filmic treatments of the theme.

This comprehensive study of prolific British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom explores the thematic, stylistic, and intellectual consistencies running through his eclectic and controversial body of work. This volume undertakes a close analysis of a TV series directed by Winterbottom and sixteen of his films ranging from television dramas to transnational co-productions featuring Hollywood stars, and from documentaries to costume films. The critique is centered on Winterbottom's collaborative working practices, political and cultural contexts, and critical reception. Arguing that his work delineates a 'cinema of borders', this study examines Winterbottom's treatment of sexuality, class, ethnicity, and national and international politics, as well as his quest to adequately narrate inequality, injustice, and violence.