‘Full-Bodied’ Embodiment in Chantal Akerman’s La Folie Almayer

The final chapter contends that the character of Nina Almayer from Almayer’s Folly is given a feminist afterlife in Belgian film director Chantal Akerman’s 2011 film adaption La Folie Almayer. The chapter positions the film in the context of Akerman’s canon rather than Conrad’s and stresses the significance of Aurora Marion’s performance as Nina. The emphasis placed on Nina’s body in Akerman’s film, as a material, resonant vessel rather than as a sexual object, is crucial to her depiction as the narrative’s central character. This chapter proposes that because of the film’s investment in the backstory of Nina’s colonial education, La Folie Almayer constitutes an alternative version of the ‘Lingard trilogy’ that may be studied and taught in the place of canonical ‘Conradian’ texts, like Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim.