The films of Darren Aronofsky invite emotional engagement by means of
affective resonance between the film and the spectator's lived body.
Aronofsky's films, which include a rich range of production from
Requiem for a Dream to Black Swan, are often considered "cerebral"
because they explore topics like mathematics, madness, hallucinations,
obsessions, social anxiety, addiction, psychosis, schizophrenia, and
neuroscience. Yet this interest in intelligence and mental processes is
deeply embedded in the operations of the body, shared with the spectator
by means of a distinctively corporeal audiovisual style. Bodies in
Pain looks at how Aronofsky's films engage the spectator in an
affective form of viewing that involves all the senses, ultimately
engendering a process of (self) reflection through their emotional
dynamics.