Projections Podcast
113 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 53 ratingsA dialogue about film and psychoanalysis hosted by Sarah Kathryn Cleaver and Mary Wild
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Episodes
Bonus: Erotic Cinema Also Rans
December 14, 2022 08:56 - 1 hour - 99.3 MBWe're back and thrilled to be joined by Dario Llinares of The Cinematologists podcast to discuss some films that didn't make it into our erotic cinema series. Listen to discover some of our naughty faves.
Erotic Cinema Episode 7: Paraphilias (Nymphomaniac & Crash)
November 09, 2022 08:51 - 1 hour - 143 MBIn the final episode of our erotic cinema series, Mary and Sarah talk guilt, S&M therapy and the sublime in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac (2014) and David Cronenberg's Crash (1996).
Bonus: LFF 2022 Round-up
October 19, 2022 07:50 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBWondering what films to see in the upcoming months? Sarah and Mary share their picks from the 2022 BFI London Film Festival. Films covered (spoiler free) include The Whale, Decision to Leave, Triangle of Sadness, Holy Spider, No Bears, The Wonder and more…
Erotic Cinema Episode 6: Fetish (The Night Porter & Secretary)
October 07, 2022 08:11 - 1 hour - 76.5 MBThis week we return to the erotic film series. Mary and Sarah discuss fetish, mortification and fairy tales in Liliana Cavani's controversial 1974 classic The Night Porter, and Armie Hammer's favourite film Secretary (2002).
Bonus: House of Hammer
September 21, 2022 07:53 - 1 hour - 78.8 MBAs promised, Mary and Sarah watch Discovery+'s three-part House of Hammer documentary, and deliver their psychoanalytic verdict. We speculate on Armie Hammer's unconscious motivations, kink shaming, rogue therapists, trauma as spectacle and a serious misreading of the 2002 film Secretary. TWs obviously include sexual assault and abuse.
Erotic Cinema Episode 5: Taboo (Y Tu Mamà También & 9 1/2 Weeks)
September 07, 2022 07:04 - 1 hour - 135 MBThis week Mary and Sarah talk taboo, manic pixie dream girls and curatorship in two erotic classics: Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mamà También (2001) and 9 1/2 Weeks (1986) by Adrian Lyne.
Erotic Cinema Episode 4: Softcore (Emmanuelle & Paprika)
August 24, 2022 07:41 - 1 hour - 133 MBFor episode 4 of our Erotic Cinema series, Mary and Sarah review two soft-core classics, Just Jaeckin's directorial debut Emmanuelle (1974) and Tinto Brass' gorgeous Paprika (1991). Digressions include Mary's favourite porn stars and Sarah's greatest ambition...
Erotic Cinema Episode 3: Excess (Showgirls & Basic Instinct)
August 03, 2022 08:28 - 1 hour - 133 MBIn episode 3 of our Erotic Cinema series, Sarah and Mary analyse a Paul Verhoeven double bill over a delicious meal of brown rice and vegetables. We discuss excess and female jouissance in Basic Instinct (1992) and Showgirls (1995).
Erotic Cinema Episode 2: Thanatos (Damage & Shame)
July 13, 2022 06:41 - 1 hour - 75.9 MBIn episode 2 of our Erotic Cinema series, Mary and Sarah analyse Thanatos, family dysfunction and repetition compulsion in Louis Malle’s Damage (1992) and Steve McQueen’s Shame (2011). We also completely rebrand the death drive, no big deal.
Erotic Cinema Episode 1: Eros (9 Songs & Sex & Lucia)
June 29, 2022 07:08 - 1 hour - 160 MBWe're back with a new series on Erotic Cinema! Mary and Sarah catch up on life and films before delving into their first topic of the series – 'Eros'. We discuss sex, creative work and the mystery of female sexuality in Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs (2001) and Julio Medem's Sex and Lucia (2004).
Bonus: Love Life Advice
March 09, 2022 08:34 - 1 hour - 67.2 MBMary and Sarah turn agony aunts to tackle 5 romantic listener queries, and give their thoughts on The Tinder Swindler (2022) for a special bonus episode.
The Uncanny Episode 6: Tech (Ex Machina and Her)
January 26, 2022 08:53 - 1 hour - 143 MBIt’s the final episode of The Uncanny series! Mary and Sarah discuss uncanny tech in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2015) and Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and share some of their own strange technology experiences.
The Uncanny Episode 5: Surgery (Eyes Without A Face & The Skin I Live In)
January 12, 2022 08:39 - 1 hour - 126 MBIn the penultimate episode of our Uncanny series, Mary and Sarah talk surgery and identity formation in Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (2011).
The Uncanny Episode 4: Dolls (Dead of Night & Child's Play 2)
December 22, 2021 09:17 - 1 hour - 118 MBMary and Sarah explore the meaning of dummies and dolls in two uncanny horror movies; the 1945 anthology film Dead of Night, and John Lafia’s Child’s Play 2.
The Uncanny Episode 3: Beauty (Death Becomes Her & Make Up)
December 08, 2021 08:48 - 1 hour - 77.2 MBMary and Sarah discuss the differences between beauty and the sublime in episode three of our series on The Uncanny. First up the sublime becomes ridiculous in Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her (1992), then beauty lead to the sublime in Claire Oakley’s Make Up (2019).
The Uncanny Episode 2: Food (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane & Swallow)
November 23, 2021 22:17 - 1 hour - 125 MBOn episode two of The Uncanny series, Mary and Sarah engage in a slightly delirious discussion of food, family dynamics and trauma in Robert Aldrich’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Swallow (2020). Deviations include our favourite bodily fluids and a great idea for a new A24 project.
The Uncanny Episode 1: Home (The Exterminating Angel & The Tenant)
November 09, 2021 23:29 - 1 hour - 142 MBWelcome to series 7 of Projections Podcast. This week Mary and Sarah kick off The Uncanny with a look at two domicile-based films by masters of cinema: Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Roman Polanski’s The Tenant (1976).
The Double Episode 7: Transformation (Antiviral & Black Swan)
July 21, 2021 07:16 - 1 hour - 159 MBIt’s time for our final episode on the subject of The Double. Mary and Sarah discuss two body horror films about transformation, Brandon Cronenberg’s inspired debut Antiviral (2012), and Mary’s favourite film, Darren Aronofsky’s contemporary classic Black Swan (2010).
The Double Episode 6: Confused Identity (The Man Who Haunted Himself & Always Shine)
July 07, 2021 07:45 - 1 hour - 74.4 MBIn our penultimate episode of The Double series, Mary and Sarah explore confused identities, society’s love for the persona and LARPing in Basil Deardon’s The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) and Sophia Takal’s Always Shine (2016).
Bonus: Slavoj Žižek!
June 23, 2021 07:49 - 78.7 MBIn a very special bonus episode, Mary and Sarah fulfil a shared dream and speak to philosopher, writer, Pervert's Guide star and meme sensation Slavoj Žižek! The conversation covers the pop culture subjects of Lars Von Trier films, 'yes means yes' laws, pandemic viewing, Agatha Christie, identity politics and sex advice.
The Double Episode 5: Stage Personas (I'm Still Here & Velvet Goldmine)
June 09, 2021 07:47 - 1 hour - 79.8 MBSarah and Mary are back with another episode of The Double series. This time we're looking at stage personas in Casey Affleck's performance piece I'm Still Here (2010) and Todd Haynes' cult masterpiece Velvet Goldmine (1998). We discuss the psychoanalytic persona and Mary gives an insight into her own change of name–plus numerous fun facts about David Bowie and Joaquin Phoenix.rous fun facts about David Bowie and Joaquin Phoenix.
The Double Episode 4: Parallel Realities (Us & Triangle)
May 26, 2021 08:34 - 1 hour - 85.1 MBMary and Sarah are back on the theme of ‘The Double’, discussing the Jungian shadow in Jordan Peele’s Us (2019) and Christopher Smith’s Triangle (2009). Ideas thrown about include ‘the deplorables’, the interior world of the abuser and why Australians are so damn good at cinema.
Bonus: Promising Young Woman & Violation
May 12, 2021 07:21 - 1 hour - 159 MBIn this bonus episode, Mary and Sarah review two recently released rape revenge films; Emerald Fennell's highly anticipated Promising Young Woman (2020) and Madeleine Sims-Fewer's Violation (2020) which several listeners recommended to us. Spoiler warning!
The Double Episode 3: Clones (Moon & The Brøken)
April 28, 2021 07:26 - 1 hour - 153 MBFor episode 3 of The Double series, Sarah and Mary discuss ‘Clones’ and relationship anxiety in Sean Ellis’ 2008 film The Brøken and Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009). Deviations include Edgar Allan Poe and… Jackie Collins.
The Double Episode 2: Lookalikes (The Double Life of Veronique & Face/Off)
April 14, 2021 06:53 - 1 hour - 139 MBContinuing our series on the subject of The Double, Mary and Sarah discuss lookalikes in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s sublime film The Double Life of Veronique (1991) and John Woo’s ridiculous one Face/Off (1997). We talk Otto Rank’s influential text, projection, creativity and religion.
The Double Episode 1: Twins (Dead Ringers & L'Amant Double)
March 31, 2021 07:21 - 1 hour - 152 MBWelcome to Series 6, in which we will explore The Double in cinema, an uncanny storytelling device often relied upon to represent self-division, a split in personality, or an emotional conflict. In Episode 1, Mary and Sarah discuss the desire to return to the womb and the doubling of the psychoanalytic process in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988) and François Ozon's L'Amant Double (2017).
Bonus: Framing Britney Spears
March 02, 2021 21:59 - 52 minutes - 98.1 MBIn this relaxed fit bonus episode, Sarah and Mary speculate over the things left unsaid in the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears (2021)
Bonus: Hammertime (Armie Hammer's Leaked DMs)
January 18, 2021 09:25 - 1 hour - 82.3 MBWe tried to take January off, but felt duty bound to analyse the FEAST of signifiers within the (alleged) Armie Hammer DMs situation. Mary and Sarah talk abandonment issues, wife envy and borderline personality disorder, and come up with an amazing idea for a screenplay. Slide into our DMs producers! We do read these messages aloud so TW for mentions of cannibalism, mutilation, rape and Olympic swimmers.
Cults on Film Episode 6: Deprogramming (Holy Smoke! & Charlie Says)
December 31, 2020 10:27 - 1 hour - 76.6 MBIn the final episode of our Cults on Film series, Sarah and Mary talk deprogramming in Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke! (1999) and Mary Harron’s Charlie Says (2018). Our discussion covers the termination of psychoanalysis, education and the ‘cult of love’. Also we wonder whether any Manson family member really cut an umbilical cord with their teeth and find out whether babies can breathe underwater. Thanks for listening to our latest series, we’ll be back with a new one in February.
Cults on Film Episode 5: Isolation (Martha Marcy May Marlene & Madeline's Madeline)
December 16, 2020 09:18 - 1 hour - 133 MBIn the penultimate episode of our Cults on Film series. Mary and Sarah tackle two heavily alliterative titles; Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline. We discuss isolation, disassociation and the psychically dangerous profession of acting.
Cults on Film Episode 4: Brainwashing (The Master & Going Clear)
December 02, 2020 08:41 - 1 hour - 160 MBSarah and Mary dive into the murky waters of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012) and Alex Gibney's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) to explore brainwashing, Lacan’s four discourses and families in the fourth episode of our cults on film series.
Cults on Film Episode 3: Identification (Fight Club & Midsommar)
November 18, 2020 07:59 - 1 hour - 55.3 MBIn episode 3 of our Cults on Film series, Mary and Sarah discover that David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999) and Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019) are essentially the same film, and discuss Freudian ideas of identification and lack.
Cults on Film Episode 2: Conspiracy (The Devils & The Endless)
November 04, 2020 08:14 - 1 hour - 150 MBOur Cults on Film series is back. Sarah and Mary talk conspiracy, lack and possession in Ken Russell's The Devils (1971) and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's The Endless (2017), coming to the conclusion that conspiratorial thinking reigns when trauma is seen as not being enough.
Bonus: LFF 2020 Round Up
October 21, 2020 07:47 - 47 minutes - 88.4 MBMary and Sarah discuss their top five films from the London Film Festival, Natalie Erika James' Relic, Josephine Decker's Shirley, Natalia Meta's The Intruder, Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor and Francis Lee's Ammonite.
Cults on Film Episode 1: Faith (The Beach & Holy Hell)
October 07, 2020 07:54 - 1 hour - 147 MBWelcome to Series 5: Cults on Film! Mary and Sarah begin with a discussion of faith, infantilism and creative purpose in Danny Boyle's The Beach (2000) and Will Allen's Holy Hell (2016). Join us!
Bonus: Psychoanalysis, the Occult and Hereditary with Vanessa Sinclair
September 23, 2020 07:34 - 1 hour - 132 MBWe warmed up for our upcoming series on cults by discussing psychoanalysis, the occult and Ari Aster's Hereditary (2018) with special guest Vanessa Sinclair. Vanessa Sinclair is a practicing psychoanalyst, writer, podcaster, and collage artist. Together we discussed the connections between the practices of art, magic and psychoanalysis, grief and rogue therapists on film.
Work and Money Episode 8: Liberation (Bonnie and Clyde & American Beauty)
August 26, 2020 08:37 - 51 minutes - 31.7 MBWrapping up our ‘Work and Money’ series, Mary and Sarah discuss whether we can liberate ourselves from the tyranny of neoliberal oppression, as tested in Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Sam Mendes’ American Beauty (1999).
Work and Money Episode 7: Post-Digital Work (Sorry We Missed You & Cam)
August 12, 2020 07:38 - 1 hour - 121 MBIn the penultimate episode of our Work and Money series, Mary and Sarah discuss the absence of humanity in the post-digital economy, as exemplified by Daniel Goldhaber and Issa Mazzei’s Cam (2018) and Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You (2019).
Work and Money Episode 6: Property (Poltergeist & Sorry to Bother You)
July 29, 2020 08:27 - 1 hour - 118 MBThis week on our Work and Money series, Mary and Sarah talk liminal spaces and the uncanny in the homes of Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982) and Boots Reiley's Sorry to Bother You (2018).
Work and Money Episode 5: Austerity (Compliance & Under the Skin)
July 15, 2020 07:33 - 55 minutes - 103 MBMary and Sarah return to the exploration of work and money with a look at the concept of ‘austerity’ and its effects in two unsettling films; Craig Zobel’s Compliance (2012) and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (2013).
Work and Money Episode 4: Livelihood (Misery & Office Space)
July 01, 2020 07:23 - 1 hour - 127 MBThis week Sarah and Mary discuss working to survive in Rob Reiner's Misery (1990) based on the Stephen King novel that Sarah was too scared to finish reading, and Mike Judge's cult favourite Office Space (1999).
Work and Money Episode 3: Competition (Glengarry Glen Ross & Crime D'Amour)
June 17, 2020 08:48 - 58 minutes - 37.2 MBContinuing their look at work and money on screen, Mary and Sarah find themselves with an ambivalent view of competition after watching James Foley’s Glengarry Glen Ross and Alain Corneau’s Crime D’Amour.
Work and Money Episode 2: Pursuit (Eyes Wide Shut & The Bling Ring)
June 03, 2020 08:36 - 1 hour - 152 MBThis week Sarah and Mary continue their discussion of economics through the lenses of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring (2013). We discuss the interlacing of sex and money, emotional labour, the masks we wear at work, the sadness of consumption and so much more!
Work and Money Episode 1: Excess (The Wolf of Wall Street & Spring Breakers)
May 20, 2020 06:46 - 1 hour - 123 MB‘Neoliberalism is capitalism without a safeword’. Welcome to Series 4: Work and Money. In our first episode in the series, Mary and Sarah discuss ‘excess’ in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (2012).
Bonus: Art Horror (Velvet Buzzsaw and The House With Laughing Windows)
April 14, 2020 21:52 - 1 hour - 125 MBIn this bonus episode recorded a little while ago, Mary and Sarah invited special guest, psychotherapist and friend of the podcast Alex Pearce to discuss the horrors of art, as represented in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) and The House With Laughing Windows (1976). https://www.alexpearcetherapy.co.uk/
Bonus: Art Horror (Velvet Buzzsaw & The House With Laughing Windows)
April 14, 2020 21:52 - 1 hour - 125 MBIn this bonus episode recorded a little while ago, Mary and Sarah invited special guest, friend of the podcast Alex Pearce to discuss the horrors of art, as represented in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) and The House With Laughing Windows (1976).
Bonus: Our Shudder Picks
March 31, 2020 22:37 - 55 minutes - 101 MBWith Shudder giving new customers a 30 day free trial with the code 'Shutin' Mary and Sarah see what the horror streaming service are offering and give their top picks to take you through the lockdown. Stay inside, stay safe!
Bonus: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (with Katy D'Avella)
March 17, 2020 23:37 - 45 minutes - 84.8 MBThis week Sarah takes a day off, and Mary invites writer and cinephile Katy D'Avella to see and discuss Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020). In this spoilerific discussion, the two look at the film through the lenses of desire, psychoanalysis and... astrology.
Bonus: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020) with Katy D'Avella
March 17, 2020 23:37 - 45 minutes - 84.8 MBThis week Sarah takes a day off, and Mary invites writer and cinephile Katy D'Avella to see and discuss Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020). In this spoilerific discussion, the two look at the film through the lenses of desire, psychoanalysis and... astrology.
Bonus: The Invisible Man & Upgrade (SPOILERS)
March 04, 2020 08:30 - 48 minutes - 90.6 MBWhile we work on our new series we’re releasing some bonus content. Mary and Sarah discuss Leigh Whannell’s new release The Invisible Man (spoilerific) and then Mary discusses Whannell’s previous film Upgrade (2018) with special guest… her sister, Mimi!