J E A N M I T R Y

AND
PSYCHOLOGY
OF THE
CINEMA
TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOPHER KING
THE AESTHETICS AND
PSYCHOLOGY OF
THE CINEMA

JEAN MITRY

T R A N S L A T E D BY C H R I S T O P H E R K I N G

I N D I A NA U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS
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Translated from the abridged edition of Esthitique et psychclogie du cinema

by Jean Mitry (1^Ю)
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Mitry, Jean.
[EstM tique et p ■ du cinema. English]
The aesthetics and p ychology o f the cinema / Jean Mitry ;
tran slated by Christopher King.
p. cm. — (The ^Society for Cinema Studies translation series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 6-M 6-33302-4. (alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures— Aesthetics. 2. Motion pictures— Psychological
a s . L Scries.
P s\ 1 9 9 5 .^ 5 1 3 1997
791.43'01— dc21 96-54298

ISB>: 0-253-21377--0 (pbk : alk. paper)

2 3 4 5 6 05 04 03 02 01 00
 CONTENTS

FOREWORD TO THE f:\GLISH TRA VSLATIO \ BY BRIA N LEWIS v i i

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTIO N BY BE NOiT PATAR x i i i

INTRODUCTIO I 1

I. PRF1 1M1NARIFS
Cinem a and Creation 4
Cinem a and Language 13
Word and Urnige 19

IL T H E FILM I MAGE
The Image ltself _29
Structures o f the hmige 59

Ill. R H Y T H M A N D M O N T A G E
T he Beginnings o f Memtage 89
Cinem atic R hythm 104
The P sychology o f Mon Iage 150

IV. RHYTHM. A N D M O V I N G S H O T S
T he Liberated Cam era an d Dcpth-of-Fiehi 168
Speech an d S ou n d 230.

V._ TIME AND_SPACE_OF THE D R A MA

In S earch o f a D ram atic Structure 276^
C ontent an d Form 3 3 6

\otes 381

I de 389
 FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Brian Lewis

Jean Mitry loved the cinema and devoted shift. Previous thinkers interested in the
much of his life to it. cinema had largely developed their de­
At the center of any critical theory lies a scriptions and theories under the influence
fundamental experience to which a critic of newly developing styles of film practice,
remains devoted deep in his or her heart, a which they tended to champion as the final
"what if" or "how come" or "w hy" experi­ cause of the cinema. But by the 1960s, the
ence, which goes on to generate a life's cinema had, in a sense, been fully invented
work of observation, rationalization, intel­ stylistically, and Mitry was the first to at­
lection, and theory. Underneath it all, Jean tempt to take stock of this phenomenon in
Mitry was driven by the "wow" experi­ all its variety and complexity.
ence. He loved the experience of sitting in Mitry was one of the earliest university
front of the screen. He loved the movies. teachers of film history and theory and one
Driven by the "wow ," Mitry endeavored of the first to legitimize film aesthetics as
to explain the "why," "what if," and "how an object of serious study. He planned his
come": Why the world on the screen was so two-volume Esthetique as a definitive step
compelling. Why, when leaving the theater, forward and away from that of his prede­
life could seem so pale and flat. Which films cessors, correcting their errors and mediat­
gave us this experience. How they worked ing their disputes. The discipline still
their magic. Which films failed and why. seemed young enough to accept that sort
Jean Mitry's Esthetique et psychologie du of encapsulating and transcendent per­
cinema, first published in 1963-65, is thus spective. Acknowledging his predecessors'
a description and defense of a certain type contributions to our understanding of cer­
of cinema, an important type but certainly tain types, or forms, of film, he nonetheless
not the only one. He used many of the in­ found earlier thinkers overtly partisan. His
tellectual weapons of his day, including first volume, Structures, would transcend
psychological theory and phenomenology, these "monumental stylistics" and define
to valorize this cinema above all others, to the essence of all film experience. His sec­
define an essence which was and remains ond volume, Formes, would treat the cin­
now the essence of the "wow" experience. ema in its various styles and manifesta­
Mitry's cinema comprises those movies tions. While his descriptions of the values
whith elevate us from the everyday, pre­ and capacities of the cinema admittedly
senting a vivid, concrete world of experi­ lead to a critical hierarchy or canon, it is
ence, pregnant with symbolic meaning and one, he claims, based not on mere prefer­
deep feeling, a world which is "sam e" but ence but on a scientific analysis of the
"other." unique capacities and expressive potentials
Esthetique et psychologie du cinema ap­ of the cinema itself.
peared at the moment of a significant par­ Mitry attacked the need to explain and
adigm shift in the history of film studies, a correct with extraordinary eclecticism, delv­
moment of awakening and self-conscious­ ing into any literature that might help ac­
ness. Mitry played a pivotal role in this count for the maturing art form: philosophy
v iii FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATIO N

psychology, linguistics, biology, physics, sion of ideas through the narrative presen­
aesthetics, and, most significant, the litera­ tation of concrete rea lity -a language em­
ture of film theory and criticism itself, which bedded in and arising from the experience
he was the first to present as a systematic of the concrete. This investigation leads
body of knowledge worthy of analysis and him into lengthy discussions of the nature
critique. of perception and intellection, the symbolic
Esthetique et psychologie du cinema is, then, capacities of the arts, and the expressive ca­
both about film and about film theory. In pacities of discursive language itself. He ar­
fact, we find within it at least three major gues the unique status of the cinema as a
ambitions, each of which Mitry attempts to means of expression which is at the same
fulfill comprehensively: a psychology of the time a double of reality, an art, and a kind
film experience, an aesthetic-linguistic the­ of language.
ory of film as a means of symbolic expres­ For better and for worse, it was Mitry's
sion, and a critical history of film theory. fate that his writings begin at the dawn of
Mitry would first delimit and investigate film aesthetics and span its entire history
a central knot of experiential factors which up to the structuralist and deconstructivist
structure all of our film experience. These theories of the 1970s. On the positive side,
"structures" define what it is to sit in front ^ ts gave Mitry an extraordinary intimacy
of a screen and watch a movie. He describes with and historical perspective on the
the mechanisms which aliow us to perceive works of others, as well as on the evolution
movement and depth, the fundamental of his own work. Mitry was really one of
psychological duality of the moving image the first true moderns of film theory, a tre­
as real and not real, the structuring aspects mendously important transitional figure,
of the frame, and the concrete qualities of who was able to synthesize and correct the
sound. He contrasts these perceptual and work of his predecessors and point in the
psychological aspects of the film experi­ direction of new approaches.
ence with the experiential features of other On the other side, it led him into debates
arts, laying the ground for a claim that the which today appear unimportant, trapping
cinema has a unique potential and unique him on the trailing edge of a paradigm re­
vocation as an art form which engages all jected by the critics who were to follow: the
of the senses simultaneously. Mitry goes on grand aesthetic theory which focuses on
to show how various styles or forms of film film as an object of perception. Mitry con­
work to create different modes of the core tributed to the paradigm shift in film the­
cinematic experience, without defining its ory, leapfrogging his predecessors. But he
true essence. also suffered the same fate, and almost im­
Mitry then explores the expressive and mediately. Mitry published his film theory
symbolic capacities of the cinema. Film is just as semiotics became fashionable, just in
more than art, he argues, because it can be­ time to be critiqued as a nonscientific ide­
come discourse and language as weU. How alist by the new "scientists" of film theory,
does film signify? How does it say and following Christian Metz in France and in
what can it say? This is the second great Britain. Just in time to become unfashion­
interrogation of his work and the heart of able virtually overnight.
his aesthetic and critical theory: an investi­ was an extraordinarily unfortunate
gation of the cinema as a kind of language coincidence, both personally for Mitry and
system which can work toward the expres­ for anyone interested in thinking seriously
 FOREW ORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION ix

about film. In France his work was largely, given the attention he paid to his work,
undeservedly, dismissed. In English, his that Metz realized the importance of
monumental history of the cinema remained Mitry's writings, even while leading the
untranslated, and his theory is only appear­ charge in a new direction.
ing now, more than thirty years later, in Mitry was a wonderful, generous, ener­
translation of the abridged version edited getic person and thinker. He had a remark­
by Benoit Patar and published in France in able memory for films and saw everything
1990 (see Patar's introduction following he could as many times as possible. He was
this preface). Where Mitry is known, it is born to a middle-class family in Soissons,
largely through the analyses of others: near Reims, in 1907. ("Jean Mitry" is actu­
Dudley Andrew's chapter in The Major Film ally a nom de plume which he chose from
Theories or my own book, Jean Mitry and the a map of France, replacing, he told me,
Aesthetics o f the Cinema. Irony of ironies, Jean-Rene-Pierre Goetgheluck le Rouge
many people know Mitry's work through Rillard des Acres de Presfontaines.) The
two extended critiques by his great rival, family moved to Paris some ten years later,
Christian Metz, partly translated in Screen. on the death of his father. While Mitry says
What is remarkable to me now in reading he was not a particularly brilliant student,
this translation is the freshness of Mitry's he claims to have always been fascinated
description of the film experience. In hind­ by the physical sciences and how things
sight, the arguments of his many critics work. Spending a high school year with a
often seem crude; they are not so much say­ family in Manchester, England, he fre­
ing that Mitry got it wrong but rather that quented the cinema as a kind of refuge, and
his was not a question worthy of serious it became a central focus of his interest. He
study. returned to Paris a "cinema addict."
Semiotics has had its day, and Mitry Mitry seems to have known and hung
arises with this new translation, from the out with everybody on the Paris film, the­
ashes as it were, still important, still rele­ ater, and arts scenes: the Prevert brothers,
vant. It is really a matter of adequation. As Artaud, Aragon, Andre Breton, Alberto
film is a complex social, cultural, psycho­ Cavalcanti, Jean Epstein, Louis Delluc
logical, and physical phenomenon, so it (who later would coin the expression
can be analyzed from different perspec­ "photogenie" to indicate that "magic of the
tives, and the theories, critical languages, movies" Mitry spent a life attempting to
and methodologies which inhabit these describe). He helped found Paris's first film
perspectives can coexist. The fact is, no one club. He wrote for and edited many of the
can explain the psychological power of a earliest cinema journals. He assisted on the
certain type of film better than Mitry. No sets of numerous productions such as
one has ever described the experience of Napoleon by Abel Gance. (Eventually Mitry
these movies better. No one has ever writ­ would produce several short films of his
ten better criticism, for example, of an "au­ own.) He met Sergei Eisenstein in Paris,
teur" cinema or an "art" cinema - o f the and I believe this encounter was seminal to
work of, say, Sergei Eisenstein or John his later theory. He worked briefly with
Ford, two creators who made the types of Jean Renoir. He helped to cofound the
films Mitry held most dear. Taken in this Cinematheque Frarn;aise. He taught film
context, Mitry's ideas and descriptions are history at the Institut des Hautes Etudes
fundamentally valid, profound. It is clear, Cinematographiques, then at the Univer-
x FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION

site de Paris, and later at the Universite de ble for us literally to relive the world in a
Montreal. (A film club in Montreal still new and fully experienced mode of appre­
bears his name.) hension.
His output was prodigious: histories, Clearly there is more going on here than
theories, works of criticism, reviews, edit­ scientific description. There is a kind of
in g-ceaseless production and reflection means and ends test: those forms of film
on the cinema. How remarkable it is to read which do not work this way, which do not
"I saw Nanook o f the North for the first time fulfill this unique potential, will not pass
(at least as far as I can remember) in Sep­ the ultimate test. Is the film concrete and
tember 1922" and to realize that ^ ts man alive; does the film evoke the ecstatic and
would continue to be thinking and writing mediating possibilities of great art; does the
about the cinema some fifty years later. film, finally, stimulate a rethinking and
The original Esthetique et psychologie du reexperience of the world? To violate the
cinema comprised some 900 pages of very illusion of concrete reality, the effect of the
small print in two volumes. These volumes simulacrum, fails the means test. To show
were condensed by Patar, a philosophy without speaking fails the ends test. The ei­
professor and cinephile of Belgian origin ther case the full potential of cinema is frus­
living and teaching in Montreal, who be­ trated. Eisenstein, a great theorist and prac­
came a good friend of Mitry. With ^ ts con­ titioner of symbolic meaning and the
densed (but still generous) volume now concrete symbol, passes with flying colors.
available, no longer will Mitry be accused Jean-Luc Godard will not.
of trying to say everything about every­ The fact, to be fair, Mitry seemed to love
thing in a treatise on the cinema! Of course, all movies, but those that worked their ex­
some of the charm and frustration of slog­ periential and symbolic effects in this spe­
ging through the extended philosophical, cial way were those that really interested
historical, and psychological detours of the him. Even his one-volume history of the
original is gone, but the essential ideas and experimental cin em a-a type of filmmak­
all of the passion seem to be here, and ing not obviously accessible to his ap-
translated in a very flowing and precise proach-contains wonderful descriptions
language by Christopher King. of a certain kind of experimentation in
The Aesthetics and Psychology o f the Cinema cinema.
offers the reader a thoroughly modem psy­ Mitry's theory can be surveyed for vari­
chological description of why and how ous formative affinities and influences, in­
most people love the movies. Thethe movies, cluding the writings of Eisenstein, gestalt
"reality itself" becomes transformed, full of psychology, and phenomenological aes­
meaning. This is the magic of the cinema, thetics. In fact, I situate his work in a much
the essence of the "wow" experience. And larger tradition of aesthetic theory, dating
in this potentiality, Mitry argues, film lan­ back at least as far as the Romantic poets,
guage is uniquely equipped. Only the cin­ traceable through the French Symbolists
ema, he says, can speak to us through the and reaching forward even to contempo­
virtual perception of concrete reality, lead­ rary literary and film theorists. Mitry
ing to emotions, reason, and richly sugges­ shares a passion for the concrete symbol as
tive symbolic meanings. Cinematic lan­ an instrument of revelation. He has ex­
guage, articulated first though perception tended the language of poetic theory to cin­
and emotion, opens a door, makes it possi­ ema. In cinema he finds the ultimate form
 FOREW ORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATIO N xi

of nondiscursive or lyrical language: the chology of the film experience which has
concrete symbol, perceived through the never been bettered. Mitry explains to us in
senses, opening doors to experience and an entirely compelling way the charms and
meanings beyond the realm of normal dis­ magic powers of the cinema.
cursive expression. Film is a vehicle for re­
newal and discovery. Simon Fraser University
Reading Mitry again, thirty years after July 1996
reading the first time, it ifi clear to me
that his work will never really grow old. Ma
a history, synthesis, and correction of early WORKS CITED
film theory, it will remain useful and inter­
esting. As a defense of symbolic expression Dudley Andrew. The Major Film Theories. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1976, pp. 185­
generally, it is an important extension of
211.
aesthetic theory into a new domain. Most
Brian Lewis. Jean Mitry and the Aesthetics of the
of all, Mitry still gets the experience of the Cinema. Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1980.
movies right. Mitry's description of the Christian Metz. Essais sur la signification au
structures and forms of film constitute a cinema. Vol. 2. Paris: Editions Klincksieck,
comprehensive and powerful model of film 1972, pp. 9-86. Translated in Screen, vol. 14,
as an experiential phenom enon-a psy­ no. 1-2 (Spring-Su^m er 1973), pp. 40-88.
 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
B e n o it P a ta r

Jean Mitry stands by himself and needs no The cuts suggested by Mitry were as fol­
explanation. I shall therefore confine my­ lows:
self to providing the reader with some in­
dications as to how I proceeded in editing Volume 1 Volume 2
and abridging his original two-volume Pages 1-47 Pages 87-92
Esthetique et psychologie du cinema and to 56-57 156-160
suggesting some directions which might 66-89 171-259
assist in reading this translation of my 90-94 275-334
abridgment. 98-101 357-368
The guidelines which governed my work 149-165 385-400
were threefold: to respect the author's 195-258 410-430
wishes, to abbreviate the text without mu­ 404-418
tilating it, and to underline his cinematic
approach. As readers of the original Esthetique may
In the first instance, I used the notes realize, I have followed the m aster's sug­
which Mitry had written in a copy of the gestions quite faithfully. But, at the same
two-volume edition, following the work of time, I have attempted to save a number of
his editor, and observations made to pages which, in my view, seemed indis­
both by me and by my friend Fran;ois pensable. For instance, I avoided cutting
d'Apollonia. the passages devoted in volume 1 to the
Then the general principle I adopted cinema and its creation (29-47) and to shots
(which was also Mitry's own) was to cut and angles (91-94) and in volume 2 to the
out the chapters and subsections with no problems of dramatic structure (281-334)
direct connection with the cinema—such as and to thoughts about content and form
the lengthy remarks on the history of paint­ (385-400). I made the choice to abbreviate
ing and music. The author and I had had these passages rather than eliminate them
several discussions about this and agreed altogether.
that it would be better to remove these sec­ In addition, I had to move the subsection
tions. In fact, Mitry was perfectly well devoted to color to the end of the volume,
aware of the irrelevance of these analyses. after the lengthy remarks about the camera
In addition, I had to remove any text re­ and depth-of-field. To have included the
quiring specialized philosophical or techni­ question of color in the cinema in analyses
cal knowledge. Moreover, several "argu­ relating to sound and music would have
ments" had become dated and therefore been both incongruous and perverse. (In
needed shortening. I also had to abbreviate any case, color nowadays is not regarded
certain quotations which, in the circum­ as a variation or support for the mise-en-
stances, no longer proved the point. scene or story telling.)
The object otherwise was to preserve the That being so, I might be criticized for
text and to make it intelligible despite the not having respected the original intentions
cuts and sufficiently representative of the of the great historian of the cinema, for hav­
original edition. ing made unnecessary cuts, and for having
xiv EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

shortened a particular passage and left an­ bate; no one more than he understood the
other alone. That is the fate of all editors. artificial (in the sense of arti-fex) nature of
However, what I would say to any poten­ speech (Russell and logical positivism counts
tial critic is that it was Mitry's firm inten­ for something), but this did not prevent
tion to fuse together the two volumes and, him from proclaiming the descriptive and
without hesitation, make savage cuts in ontological (that tainted word!) nature of
certain chapters. In truth, the author of the ^ ^ ^ n g . How can a debate be continued if
Esthetique was a modem, i.e., someone who it is bogged down in a contrived nominal­
refused to take refuge in some intangible ism where words and syntagms have only
past but who adjusted to the times. Conse­ potential reference value and are left ad
quently I never had the impression of placita (to use as the speaker sees fit).
betraying his ^ ^ ^ th g in bringing it up to It was necessary to delve back into the
date, only the conviction of serving it and history of the cinema and reconfirmed
providing researchers the opportunity of memory. This Mitry did with a patience
understanding it. and modesty inspirational to any re­
searcher or scientist. Patience, first and
Rereading Jean Mitry is a stimulating foremost: seeing certain films seven, eight,
and cleansing exercise, for the author of the nine times, listening to colleagues' opinions,
Esthetique was a thinker in every sense of trying to confine his attention to the per­
the word, unaffected by fashion, rigid ceived object (always difficult to achieve).
thinking, or established traditions. All that Modesty, then: always prepared to revise
mattered for him was a constant contact his judgments, to reevaluate a fact, to con­
with the cinema. Indeed, his whole think­ sider new approaches.2 His wonderful
ing is, first and foremost, a phenomenolog­ memory, his extraordinary knowledge of
ical (in the true sense) inquiry into the "sev­ the great era of cinema, did not remove his
enth art." To his eyes, theory always desire to know more or to rediscover what
derives from an understanding of the ulti­ he already knew. No one would deny, least
mate function of story telling. This initial of all he himself, that he could at times
impetus, interpreted scientifically, was make mistakes.3 in no way under­
what he used to describe and formalize its mines the essential part of his judgments,
meaning. That this should correspond or since these are above all built on epistemo-
not with modem rhetoric is of little conse­ logical skepticism (interpreted by some as
quence to ^ m ; or rather leads him to de­ methodological doubt) and on a genuine
velop a polemic, intended to be exclusively applied knowledge of film storytelling tech­
reflexive and critical. niques. With this in mind, the fact that Cit­
The isolation experienced, more often izen Kane is not the masterpiece it is gener­
than not, by the great historian of the cin­ ally held to be or that Broken Blossoms is a
ema essentially came from radical and timeless work of art in no way vitiates his
rigorous attitude.1 In fact, it is much easier analysis or the range of his working methods.
to carry on theoretical discussions within What form does his analysis take? First,
university campuses or between recog­ the author of the Esthetique considers that
nized spokesmen than continually to cinematic language, because of its specific
demonstrate the truth of an argument and structure, has no affinity with the other
how precisely it corresponds to the object arts. For him, the characteristic of cinematic
it expresses. No one more than Mitry knew language is that it is not a language in the
the social and logical foundations of de­ conventional sense of the word but a rep­
 EDITOR'S INTROD UCTIO N xv

resentation with signs developed within it tion! In reality, the director is responsible
in a way not to be compared with any pic­ for what happens on the screen, not the
torial or literary method of development. novelist. The latter supplies an intention, a
In the cinematic method, the represented purpose, for the ^ m , which the director
object encourages the storyteller to exploit uses with more or less talent and skill. That
it in order to make it into a signifying fact is not to deny the influence the screen­
devoid of any demonstrative or symbolic writer (the producer even) may have on the
reference. What is more, the symbol struc­ film m aker-like any other creator, a direc­
ture of the seventh art (when it exists) in no tor is affected by those around him - b u t
way derives from the photographed object that does not give us license to say that he
or objects but from the organizing relation­ is the author of the film.
ship established between them in the nar­ Moreover, the dramatic nature of the cin­
rative sequence. In this context, realist cin­ ema has little or nothing in common with
ema does not exist at all, since it is the result the theater. That they both employ actors
of a deliberate fabrication of reality accord­ performing on sets does not make the two
ing to the perceived angle, chosen light, or modes of expression similar; for, in the the­
time span expressed. ater, speech is the vehicle for the storytell­
For Mitry, there is no such thing as gram­ ing, whereas in the cinema, it is only its
mar in the cinema, since the ^ m sign is necessary support (as much for the silent
always new and original. Though literature cinema as for talkies), the sign which is a
necessarily involves syntax and grammar, token of its intention.
the cinema avoids them at all cost, since it Mitry's t ^ ^ ^ g , as we see, is uncompro­
does not transmit but rather refers to the mising. It aspires to be an understanding of
concept it exploits. Screen adaptations of circumscribed reality, a strict theorization
novels are a snare and a delusion, since the of a well-ordered argument. Yet above all
only element in common between a literary else, it is a passion, an unswerving wish to
narrative and "its" cinematic equivalent is protect meaning in the cinema and extol its
the story line. And that is a slender connec­ virtues.
THE AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY
OF THE CINEMA
■■
■■
 Introduction

The cinema, by virtue of its novelty as an of the need for an aesthetic principle. Al­
art form different from all others (though though he was not exactly a theorist, he
including certain features peculiar to each), was the first to prepare the ground and
has given rise to a number of problems and point out the essential resources of cinema­
has confronted us with the question of es­ tic expression discovered haphazardly in
tablishing an aesthetic principle appropri­ the work, at that time revelatory, of D. W.
ate to it alone. Griffith, Thomas Ince, Mack Sennett, and
When it was realized that the circus Charles Chaplin.
spectacle of the cinema's first years was The first theorist of the cinema, however,
able, in its own way, to tell a story and was, without a doubt, Jean Epstein, whose
even suggest a few ideas, the first concern essays in 1920 and 1922 laid down the first
was to take stock of its gains and to estab­ foundations of a visual expression based on
lish, in the absence of workable rules, an devices quite rightly considered to be fun­
elementary system of operation. For this damental: montage [the French term refers
we are indebted to a few technicians aware to the general process of editing, i.e., the
of the requirements of their craft; the aes­ assembly of various disparate shots to form
thetic considerations did not come until a coherent continuity, as well as to the more
much later. specific form of editing which is best de­
From 1911 onward, however, the poet scribed in Eisenstein's Theory o f Cinedialec-
Ricciotto Canudo, a friend of Blaise Cen- tics] and closeup, in other words, rhythm
drars, Picasso, and Apollinaire, was the and symbol. Even so the sole concern was
first to wonder about the future and the still to establish an elementary syntax, a ru­
possibilities of the cinema, which, there and dimentary code of style. The cinema was
then, he christened the "seventh art." In it well into the process of evolution; people
he could see the powerful instrument of a were only just beginning to know how to
new lyricism; and his insight, inspired by make use of it; it was being studied; its ca­
an intuition of his genius, did much to pabilities were being assessed. The time for
bring it under the consideration of a few an aesthetic principle had not yet arrived.
intellectuals, among whom were, as might Germaine Dulac was about to follow up
be expected, Cendrars and, a little later on, the researches of Epstein to determine the
Louis Delluc, Colette, and the very young elements upon which editing depended
Louis Aragon. Still there were no rules, no and to adumbrate her first notions of "pure
system; only discoveries and insights of the cinema," while Elie Faure, revealing a vi­
most incredible lucidity. sionary genius, was in tum indicating the
Before he became one of the lieutenants essential properties of the new art.
of the French school of the 1920s, Delluc We should be careful not to overlook
was the first to become aware, from 1918, Abel Gance and Marcel L'Herbier, whose
2 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

personal ideas were more effectively ex­ sion. But their work has been superseded
pressed in their films than in their writings; for the very simple reason that their system
nor, of course, the most outstanding repre­ was based not on the fundamental princi­
sentatives of the German Expressionist ples of this expression but on certain no­
school, Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau, Lupu tions which, though essential, are not
Pick, and the screenwriters Carl Mayer, and enough to explain the whole of cinema.
Henrik Galeen, whose work was the most All the same, ^ ^ ffeim was the first to
active evidence of their very precise opin­ try to establish general guidelines by relat­
ions concerning the capabilities of the cin­ ing the film effect to the psychology of per­
ema. Nor should we forget critics such as ception. But he went no further than a few
Emile Vuillermoz, Rene Jeanne, Pierre elementary principles in basing his analysis
Henry, Lucien Wahl, and especially Leon upon the differences between real events
Moussinac, who, in his writings, carried and their reproduction in motion pictures,
forward the heritage of Delluc; nor aesthe- without attempting to define the why and
ticians such as Lionel Landry and Dr. Paul wherefore of this differentiation, and with­
Ramain. out attempting to justify a system of aes­
The aesthetics of the cinema, however - thetics based on this evidence.
at least in their most important characteris­ It can be stated categorically that all sys­
tics, assembled into systematic and tems of aesthetics, that is, all studies to
carefully considered theories and no longer date, limit themselves to a definition of the
dependent on fleeting and scattered in­ principles of "montage" by overcodifica­
sights -w e r e to make their appearance in tion, turning one possible stylistic code into
Soviet Russia as the consequence of the the basis for a general system of aesthetics.
work of Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov, Though it is true that "montage" is one of
Pudovkin, and Eisenstein. the essential components of film expres­
The writings of the latter are even to this sion, it is only one manifestation, one ele­
day the most penetrating that the art of film ment of language and structure and not a
has ever prompted. Nonetheless his aes­ condition for that language.
thetics (for here we are indeed dealing with Some younger theorists, doubtless alien­
a theory of art), however noteworthy, are ated by this categorization but categorical
of limited scope. I mean that they treat only in their own way, have tried to deny the fact
one aspect of the cinema, the aspect which of "montage," merely to replace it with a
was to earn Eisenstein his reputation. They certain use of "depth-of-field" - without re­
cannot be generalized. Rather than aesthet­ alizing that the latter is nothing more than
ics, they constitute a monumental code of a particular manifestation of the former.
stylistics proceeding from a set of aesthetic A system of aesthetics can never confine,
principles to which it attaches importance within one interpretation, notions which
without providing a definition. must include them all.
In fact, these "general aesthetics" are to The aesthetics of painting must include
be found only in the writings of two theo­ the fundamentals of pictorial art, must con­
rists: Bela Balazs and Rudolf A^freim. Both sider them in their entirety and then con­
of them tried, using the work of their pre­ clude that all forms and styles are equally
decessors as a springboard, to define and viable, from the frescoes of antiquity right
codify, in a systematic and coherent manner, up to abstract painting, as well as all the
the generative elements of visual expres­ schools in between; in other words, as much
 INTRODUCTION 3

the Conventionalism of Bougereau and the Since cinema derives from life and from
Mannerism of Boucher as Impressionism or immediate reality it seemed to me neces­
Cubism. sary to place,from the outset, the film image
Without claiming to wall up the art of in the context of this "objective reality."
cinema behind formal laws constantly in Thus no one will be surprised to find here,
flux, believing that such laws apply only to even before we embark on the question of
style and, more generally, that any work of aesthetics, essential information concern­
art worth the name determines the rules ing the notions of language, structure, and
appropriate to it alone, I have tried to de­ perception which define this image, its role,
vise a system of aesthetics by attempting and its capabilities and which constitute
simply to define the rules of its exi.Stence. the foundations of any aesthetic of film.
 Preliminaries

Cinema and Creation vious is prompted by aU those who believe

that the cinema is an art and concern them­
By the very fact that it is expressed both in selves (or wish to concern themselves) only
space and in time, the cinema is connected with the conditions which make it what it
to the arts which preceded it. This is not to is. If I heeded only my feelings, I would be
say, however, that it has no value without limiting myself to the consideration of that
them. It is possessed of resources which be­ quality strongly in evidence even in the
long to it alone and, through them, of a most insignificant film. However, though
specific quality guaranteeing its indepen­ the industry and its priorities are most
dence. The association of the primary ele­ often in opposition to the needs of art, we
ments gives rise to a new entity which must own, in all fairness, that were there
transcends them just as a multicellular no industry, the cinema would have no
body transcends the individual cells which chance of being art because it would not be
compose it. able to support itself.
What, then, are the resources of the cin­ The production of films entails such re­
ema? How does it relate to the other arts and sources that no fortune would suffice were
how is it different from them? This is what only the consideration of art to be taken into
the present study proposes to examine. account. It is only the commercial aspect
which can ensure the continuation of pro­
Who Is the "Auteur" of я Film? duction and, as a consequence, any possible
progress, whether it be technical or artistic
The question of a film's "auteur" has (the one being the result of the other). It
often been discussed, but the problem has must be noted that the cinema became an
always been badly presented. In fact, to ask art only by means o f-a n d in proportion to
oneself who is the creator of a film is to - i t s industrial growth. To overlook this is
suppose that all films are produced in the to ignore the most obvious reality. Neither
same way, according to the same rules or should it be forgotten, however, that it could
m ethods-w hich is to disregard, from the not be an industry without being an a r t-a n
word go, the material conditions for cine­ artistic spectacle, a story in moving pictures.
matic production. This industry must, therefore, be rational,
In Andre Malraux's Psychotogie du aware of its obligations and needs, and not
cinema, a popular work (Malraux uses lay­ attempt, blinded by self-interest, to stifle or
man's language to describe very special­ paralyze a quality which is its justification
ized knowledge), he concludes: "In any (even though, from time to time, it does
case, the cinema is an in d u stry ...." have to curb its excesses).
This "in any case" which haughtily dis­ The sole raison d'etre of cinema resides
misses a reality as unfortunate as it is ob­ in the extent of its mass appeal. In these con­
 PRE L IMI NA R I E S 5

ditions, works of art are bound to be the Film, then, has an auteur. It remains for
exception. Their number is increasing by us to discover who.
virtue of the development of cinemagoers
and particularly by virtue of the interest that Standard Production
the cultivated public takes in the art of the
screen, but this public constitutes a tiny mi­ In standard production the producer
nority. Nevertheless, production nowadays, buys up the rights of a novel because it is
precisely because of industrialization, well known, because it is a bestseller, or,
has reached a level of average quality which quite simply, because he sees in it a possible
guarantees, to some extent, the value of the part for a star whose name will potentially
spectacle. If there is a plethora of mediocre guarantee the popular success of the
films, their mediocrity is most often found planned film.
in their content rather than their form, and Once the star has been contracted and
very bad (that is, badly made) films are be­ the financial backing secured (as far as pos­
coming increasingly rare. sible), the producer hires a scriptwriter
Since the cinema is industrialized, all whose task is to adapt the novel, i.e., trans­
films are the product of a combined effort; form the situations developed in literary
but though different technicians have to form into scenes suitable for cinematic ex­
solve certain particular problems, the over­ pression. Working sometimes by himself,
all question is always posed by an individ­ sometimes in collaboration, the scriptwriter
ual -g u id in g it in the direction he wishes then writes a treatment, that is, a series of
it to take. To say that a ^ m is produced by scenes with the purpose of highlighting the
teamwork, implying thereby that the auteur important events of the dramatic action
is the team, is absurd. It is to mistake one and placing them in space and time,
thing for another. thereby creating the framework, the skele­
A cathedral is the product of a combined ton, of the film. He may not write the dia­
effort, but it is not a combined work o f art. logue himself, in which case his work will
It has only one creator: the man who con­ pass into the hands of a dialogue writer.
ceived it, who imagined and planned i t - This writer will provide the characters with
the architect. The others, whatever their the speeches which reveal their respective
talent or the extent of their contribution, personalities, their behavior, and will ex­
merely followed orders. Obviously the press certain ideas which the images might
painter who designed the stained-glass not have been able to suggest. With
windows and the sculptor who fashioned work complete, the producer wiff hire the
the statues are the only creators of the technicians, that is, the director (chosen by
stained-glass windows and statues; but be­ virtue of the subject matter and the quali­
cause these are never more than ornaments ties for which he is known), the camera­
whose position, size, and requirements man, and the designer (each of them
have been planned by the architect, these accompanied by his assistants).
details add to the work but do not actually In ideal circumstances, the director, tak­
constitute the work itse lf-a t least not in its ing over the work of the scriptwriter (with
basic structure. They become part of i t - or without him but preferably with him),
that is all. Although Hardouin-Mansard will compose what is called the storyboard
needed the assistance of a few stonema­ (or shooting script). He will divide the script
sons, the palace of Versailles is still his into a series of sequences and each se­
work alone. quence into a series of shots. Each of these
6 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

shot descriptions will include indications making a film is a tricky business subject
for framing and lighting (with special re­ to endless compromises.
gard to camera movement or movement of It is therefore abundantly clear that the
each of the characters), with a detailed de­ director, in this instance, though he might
scription of the image as it will appear to have directed the actors and conceived the
the audience once the film has been com­ cinematic structure of the film (having in­
pleted. Certain shots or visual effects might evitably imposed on it his character and
seem to him sufficiently expressive, in personality), can hardly claim credit as the
which case he will cut, where he thinks fit, creator of the film. At least he cannot be
any superfluous dialogue. considered as such in principle and by defi­
After which, with the storyboard as a nition. The dramatic structure is not his,
reference, the designer will create the nec­ nor the dialogu e-and the dramatic struc­
essary sets, constructing their space in con­ ture is what determines the director's
formity with the requirements of the drama work, whatever form this might take. Chro­
and the movements which it entails. nologically and dramatically, the work of
Through many discussions, the director, the screenwriter precedes-and affects-
designer, and cameraman will hammer out that of the director.
in the most minute detail the delicate prob­ Now, like the director, the screenwriter
lems raised by the technical considerations. has only worked on commission. However
When this has been done and the sets much of his own personality he was able
dressed by the set dressers and prop men, to inject into his adaptation or dialogue (if
the lighting set up by the electricians, the indeed it is he who has written the dia­
actors and crowd artists hired by the pro­ logue), he is no more the "creator" of the
duction department, the actual business of film than the director.
shooting begins. One might conclude from th is -a s peo­
With everything planned and fitted into ple h a v e -th a t the creator is the producer.
a detailed schedule, the next part of the pro­ Indeed, the producer is - a t least in inten­
cess is really nothing more than the execu­ tion - t h e initial creator, the instigator of the
tion of a predetermined plan, like the work. But by himself he has created nothing.
construction of a building from the blue­ He has launched a combined effort, a film
prints of an architect-w ith this exception, that owes its existence to him perhaps but
however: that the "materials" used, far whose qualities are quite independent of
from being inanimate like building materi­ his personality. The producer gives orders
als, are living and therefore in a state of but is not creative.
constant change. It is mainly the actors who Who, then, is the auteur, the essential
have to be directed to obtain certain effects creator?
or fu lfil various dramatic needs, a task The answer is quite simple: it is, out of
which falls essentially to the director, who, the scriptwriter, the director, or the dia­
on the set, has merely to ensure that the logue writer, the one whose personality is
work is carried out according to the pre­ strongest, the one capable of imposing
established plan (although he has continu­ most definitely his creative will. Often it is
ally to deal with the unforeseen and must the director because, in his capacity as head
be able to improvise around the original of the operation, he is able to reevaluate,
ideas when the infinitely variable practical rethink, and relate to his own personal vi­
considerations show these to be impracti­ sion the work of all his colleagues, whoever
cable or impossible). The actual reality of they might be. But if he is merely a consci­
 P REL I MI NA RI ES 7

entious craftsman, if he has confined his It is not possible to make films in nor­
work to the perfect technical execution of a mal conditions-that is to say, without con­
plan imposed on him, then dearly it is the ditions -u n til producers provide the funds
scriptwriter who is the strongest influence. necessary for their production. Add to this
To the perceptive critic this is immediately the so-called commercial imperatives im­
apparent. Films like Marty or Twelve Angry posed by distributors and it is easy to un­
Men are the work of screenwriters, whereas derstand why, as things are, a director
films such as Rio Bravo, Gunfight at the O.K. cannot do as he wishes. To repeat: one does
Corral, and Rebel without a Cause owe every­ not make a film to make a film; one does
thing to the director. In these films, the it to make money.
work of the screenwriter is eclipsed by the
personality of the director. Standard Production in the U.S.A.
Som etim es-but ra rely -th e relation­
ship between scriptwriter and director is The arrangement just described is really
such (and their collaboration so close) that only valid in France and countries with
they succeed in forming a creative unity small film industries. Whatever the film,
which then becomes the real auteur of the the director in our industry always retains
film. We might cite the couples: Came-Pre- some measure of personal creativity. He re­
vert, Aurenche-Lara, Feyder-Charles Spaak mains the man in charge and requires of the
(although a film such as Le four se leve owes scriptwriter merely a dramatist's work
more to the director Marcel Carne than to from which he constructs "his" film.
the dialogue-writer Jacques Prevert or the This does not apply in the United States,
scriptwriter Jacques Viot, whereas Les En- where the cinema is an organized industry.
fants du paradis can be attributed to Jacques In the normal run of modern production,
Prevert as much as to Marcel Came). the technical shooting script is not devel­
All the same, we are concerned here oped by the director but by a specialist who
with auteurs in the strict sense. The prob­ has responsibility for the "screenplay."
lems that their relationships entail have so Most often it is the scriptwriter himself. The
far been merely touched upon. We should latter is no longer, as in France, a dramatist
add the following: A film is expensive only or dialogue writer who writes for the cin­
because producers have no money. Say they ema but a film auteur in the strict sense of
make a film which n orm ally-that is, with the word, that is, a creator who writes the
good actors -m ig h t cost a million; they shooting script of his story at the same time
might have at their disposal (and even then as he is composing its dramatic structure.
not always) a quarter of that. With as much He is a creator, an expert in the techniques
again from outside funds, they have half of his craft, who has no interest in directing
the necessary capital. And the rest? Well, (or has yet to develop it or lost it) insofar
this is credit advanced by the distributors as practical considerations or material diffi­
to whom the film is sold in advance. Now, culties are concerned.
credit is expensive. To make sure of the box- It is clear that, in this case, the director
office success of the film, the distributors who receives (sometimes the day before
demand stars, and the stars, knowing they shooting) a script in which everything has
are necessary, put themselves at a high pre- been predetermined down to the last detail
m i^n, with the result that the ^ m which and who has merely to deliver it as such
could be produced for a million ends up cannot be regarded as an auteur. Here di­
costing twice that amount. recting takes on its true meaning, that of
8 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

delivering or putting in place, just as in the allows them access to freedom of choice,
theater. It is merely a matter of directing the conception, and treatment in the cinema.
actors, of controlling a crew of technicians. Given the opportunity, they tum into genu­
It is a difficult, often delicate job but one ine creators.
which has nothing to do with creativity in
the proper sense; or it is at the margins of Artists and Artisans
"creativity" where we find the orchestral
conductor with his interpretation of a mu­ We can understand therefore why, of all
sical score. the arts, is definitely the most difficult.
Needless to say, it depends entirely on It is also (financial considerations apart) the
personality, the understanding between easiest in which to start. It provides a
scriptwriter and director-indifference or handy tool for producing acceptable work.
enthusiasm, active participation or pedes­ In the cinema, anyone can easily pass for
trian execution. In so many cases the influ­ an artist because the mechanical resources
ence, taste, and talent of the director bring available to him are self-operating and pro­
out (or not) the salient features and color of duce (with no application of talent neces­
the primary material, for a script (however sary) a result which is already in some
perfect), though it is obviously the idea of measure a work of art.
the film, even the formal idea of the ^ m , is If he is observant, if he has foresight and
always only primary material. A film exists a certain feeling for the cinema, six months'
only on film. apprenticeship in a studio under a director
For the director directing a script he has (preferably of mediocre talent, in order to
written or adapted himself, the shooting learn above all what not to do) will be quite
script is no more than an aide-memoire. On enough for him to become acquainted with
the set (often the day before) he gives nec­ what is pompously called the "industry"
essary instructions to the crew but he does and be able to direct a feature film. In fact,
not need to give them to himself. He knows the production, sets, lights, photography,
beforehand what he wants to do; he has and acting, all organized into some sort of
thought out his fiim. On the other hand, coherence around even a cliched subject,
when a scriptwriter prepares a script for a cannot help but give (unless there is poor
director, it is essential that all the instruc­ cooperation) a passable result.
tions be written down in precise detail. If The actors may be excellent performers
they are n o t - f o r the reasons we have just (even badly directed they still know their
cite d -th e director becomes the real auteur. craft); the sets may be interesting, the pho­
We can see, then, that in current produc­ tography outstanding, the dialogue witty.
tion methods the question of authorship With technicians or artists working in a me­
depends on the individual case in point. As dium where each is a past master in some
a general rule, however, we may say that special field, it is quite rare for the coordi­
the auteur of a film is whoever writes the nation of their efforts to be completely de­
shooting script, be it the director as is usual void of interest. Blessed with a secure talent
in France or the scriptwriter as happens and skilled in a craft acquired most fre­
most often in the United States. quently over a long period of study, these
Whatever the case, the strongest person­ collaborators protect the director from mis­
ality will always impose itself. It is person­ takes he could easily make in areas of
ality, in the American industry, which knowledge where he is ignorant. Thus they
distinguishes the directors of real talent. It put their know-how to the service of "his"
 P RE L IMI NA R I E S 9

work of art, it being that, most frequently, and counterpoint. And this theory is not
the art of the director consists in knowing learned in a matter of weeks; it requires
how to put different talents to use. A film many years.
could easily be made without him and not This said, anybody (no matter who) can
suffer too much for it. All of which does not claim to be a director within a few months.
prevent our director from believing himself He will always be under the impression
to be a genius and, with all due modesty, that he is directing the film when the whole
comparing himself with Shakespeare. technical process starts to work for him,
To say that a director knows his craft is when the technicians, skilled in their par­
to say that he knows how a shot is made, ticular craft, undertake to deliver what he
how it is framed, how a tracking shot is believes he has conceived. For film most
done, all of which are practicalities which frequently is merely the product of a com­
even the least gifted might learn in a few bined effort, the production of an artifact
months. Which all seems absolutely essen- which may well have certain qualities (may
t ia l- t o judge by the interest certain maga­ even become a "work of art") but which we
zines take in explaining them tediously to would be hard put to describe as evidence
introduce their readers to the art of film. of a creative spirit. It sometimes happens
Rather as if one were trying to explain ar­ that a harmonious relationship, a mutual
chitecture to someone by showing him how understanding, succeeds in creating a kind
a plumbline is used. of (entirely latent) second personality
Obviously the majority of film directors which shocks us when it appears. The film
are nothing more than artisans. But the job then gains from this a strength, a meaning,
of managerial function has nothing to do a quality, which makes us believe that an
with the art of film, and for a director wor­ artist is expressing himself; but our shock
thy of the name it is the least part of his job. is no less great when the next film pro­
To my mind, the misunderstanding is duced by the same crew does not live up
caused by the fact that there is a confusion to expectation.
between the job performed by the director If a director wishes to be something
(generally connected with aesthetics) and the more than the headcraftsman, if he wishes
job performed by his collaborators-tech- to be creative, then of all the artistic profes­
nicians whose work is connected to tech­ sions his is certainly among the most diffi­
nique rather than aesthetics (though the cult there are.
two are related). Does the director imagine In general, it is no more difficult to make
a tracking shot? It is not he who pushes the a film than to write a novel. Given perfect
dolly. The technicians are there for that, and resources at one's disposal and the skill of
theirs is not to reason why. But he must the technicians at one's command, the job
know absolutely why. Now, the why is the of directing could, in many respects, be
province of aesthetics, i.e., pure theory, and even easier. In reality, however, the practi­
has nothing to do with practical craft. The calities of making a film are a great deal
director knows this from the start without more difficult. That is true first of all be­
needing to have served as an assistant for cause, though sehools teach grammar and
ten years to learn it. Provided, of course, he syntax, they do not seem to have heard of
has gained the requisite theoretical knowledge. the aesthetics of the cinema. The novelist
One can be the conductor of an orchestra needs only a knowledge of his own lan­
without knowing how to play the v io lin - guage, whereas the would-be filmmaker
but not without a knowledge of harmony (though he might have a doctorate) has ab­
10 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

solutely no knowledge of the language was not at least completely aware of what
which he must use. Today the principles of he was doing and why he was doing it. For
film structure are clear enough, but they are if the work of art is the product of ehance,
still very rudimentary. A knowledge of as sometimes happens, it is chance, in this
them is not enough to make a film. As well case, which is the artist. The so-called cre­
as talent and ideas, which are as essential ator plays no part. To be a sleepwalker is
to him as to the novelist, the filmmaker one thing; to be a genius quite another.
must have a style; that is, he must know
how to adapt his knowledge of aesthetics Film Auteurs
toward the production of a personal work
of art and use that knowledge in a con­ However small their number, it is these
scious manner. Above all he must establish creators who are relevant to u s -a n d they
new rules which may have application only alone.
in the work in hand but which will bestow We have set out a panorama of the meth­
on it its originality and make of it some­ ods of modern production in order to show
thing more than the trite and methodical - a n d p ro v e-th a t the director cannot al­
application of an academic knowledge. If ways be regarded as an auteur and is not,
every work presupposes its own rules, it in principle and by definition, the auteur of
must also be able to justify them. It is not every film (in contrast with the novelist,
enough to choose such and such a form who is the auteur of everything he writes).
over some o th er-o n e must know why and All things considered, however, it is of
know it inside out. absolutely no importance whether the au­
Thus if a creator of films wishes to be an teur in a normal, standard production (a
auteur, it is not enough for him to know his fundamentally impersonal operation) is the
theory as any more than a series of first scriptwriter, director, or floorsweeper. Since
principles to guide him in his work. He the question does not arise unless it con­
must also know psychology in its various cerns a work whose nature rouses the in­
forms: behavioral psychology, to be able to terest or curiosity of the public, there is no
give life and veracity to his characters and need to wonder who "as a rule" is or
order their behavior; the psychology of per­ should be the auteur of a film; however,
ception, to be able to gauge how and why there is a need to know, when it concerns a
a particular form, rather than another, will worthwhile work of art, who is responsible
produce the desired effect in the audience, for it. This becomes self-evident, for when
making effective a predetermined effect. In a film displays an aesthetic principle and
short, the knowledge the novelist possesses reveals a personality, it is not difficult to
(deriving from writing but which 2,000 observe that this personality always comes
years of culture and use of verbal language from the director. Which is tantamount to
have enabled ^ m to measure and control) saying that the auteur of a film is whoever
the filmmaker has to discover and pioneer composes its visual content, its form - s o
- i t being his responsibility to try and esti­ true is it that images here are what words
mate the value of new methods. are for the novelist, what notes are for the
It will be argued that a novelist, painter, composer. And so obvious is it also that
or poet is not necessarily a theoretician. here, when he has something to say, it is he,
This is self-evident; but there is not a single the director, who chooses his subject and
great artist to my knowledge who was not makes his adaptation. The producer con­
, theoretician in some way or another, who fines himself to producing.
 P RE L I MI NA RI ES 11

On the other hand, it will be argued that It would be useless, however, to look for
aJohn Ford, a Fritz Lang, or an Orson Welles analogies between The Informer, also by
is not always (is rarely even) the creator of John Ford, and C'est arrive demain by Rene
the subject he directs. But here again the au­ Clair, both of whieh were produced from
teur does not demand of a given subject scripts by Dudley Nichols. The auteurs of
anything more than a theme through which these films, one might say, are Liam
and by means of which he succeeds in sig­ O'Flaherty and Lord Dunsany, to whom we
nifying the ideas precious to him, express­ owe the novel and the short story which
ing them in a manner peculiar to him alone. inspired the films; the difference is to be
A film is, to begin with, a subject, an found in the originals and not the adapta­
intention. In other words, an auteur is less tions. That is as may be. In this case,
whoever thinks of a story than whoever gives it though, the directors themselves are no
a form and style. Otherwise Racine, Cor­ more than adapters. Yet they can be seen in
neille, and Shakespeare could not be re­ each image, in each shot, in each camera
garded as auteurs. movement. If the scriptwriter really were
In the cinema, form and style are the the dominant personality, it would be his
product of the images, and the images are and his alone which I should be able to
the product of the director. The scriptwriter perceive and recognize, just as I recognize
can never consider himself as auteur of a Gounod in Faust and Berlioz in The Damna­
film (whose situations and characters he tion. But it is to Gounod that I refer, not
may well have imagined) until the day he Michel Carre or Jules Barbier. The filmma­
has directed it or supervised its execution ker in film can be compared with the com­
firsthand. poser in music and the scriptwriter with
It does not take much to realize that in the librettist. As for the author whose work
all the films of Carl Dreyer, Sternberg, has been adapted, his work (though it
Murnau, King Vidor, John Ford, and might be a masterpiece) is never more than
Lubitsch, who rarely used the same script­ a point of departure, an argument reviewed
writers from one film to the next, there is a and reconsidered from another point of
formal and thematic identity, immediately view. What is important in the opera is not
recognizable; while it would be useless to Goethe but Berlioz. The same is true of the
look for some similarity of tone or spirit in cinema. For a work of art worthy of the
two scripts by the same writer directed by name is not an intrinsically valid story ca­
two different directors. pable of being expressed as successfully in
Take, for instance, Lubitsch's Trouble in literary, theatrical, or cinematic form; it is
Paradise and Design for Living. His script­ not a narrative existing prior to its expres­
writers for these were respectively Samson sion in one form or another which one at­
Raphaelson and Ben Hecht. Both conceived tempts to put into words or images, but a
in the same genre, satiric comedy, they ex­ narrative constructed and achieving bal­
ploit the same themes in exactly the same ance and meaning as it develops, deriving its
way and form. The same is true of John life and meaning not only from but because
Ford, whose Stagecoach (scripted by Dudley of the genre in which it is expressed.
Nichols), My Darling Clementine (scripted "A play" as Andre Malraux says, "is
by Samuel Engel and Winston Miller), and people speaking, and the efforts of even the
The Grapes of Wrath (scripted by Nunnally ablest stage director merely help to suggest
Johnson) display an identical style and sim­ a world around the speeches."
ilar preoccupations. A film is people living and acting. The
12 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E MA

efforts of the director consist in making is, those who first have something to say
them come alive, in putting them "in the and then know how to say it in visual
world," in determining their mutual reac­ terms. For a long time now, the scriptwrit­
tions, and in placing them in relation one ers would have had the upper hand had
to the other. He has to create a whole uni­ they been able to write in images, but they
verse of forms and relationships, signify were incapable of speaking except with
through the images and not illustrate with words. They resemble beginners le^arning a
them. It is not a matter of photographing foreign language who translate mentally
people speaking. what they are thinking into their own lan­
The craft of Orson Welles is in no way guage. They mumble and stumble. Some­
comparable with that of Stanislavsky or one else has to translate what they say into
Toscanini. Directed by Jean-Louis Barrault language which can be understood.
or some provincial director, Hamlet will al­ For a real film auteur there is no appre­
ways be Hamlet. Played by the Berlin Phil­ ciable difference between scripting, direct­
harmonic or a brass band, the Fifth Sym­ ing, and editing. These are merely three
phony will always be the Fifth. The auteurs different phases of the same creative pro­
will always be Shakespeare and Beethoven. cess; one is inconceivable without the oth­
Similarly, written with images rather than ers. It is not possible to cut together two
words, films are by Eisenstein, by Chaplin, different shots to create a particular effect
by Mumau, particularly since a s c rip t- unless they have been shot with that inten­
even the most detailed of shooting scripts tion; which is, in tum, not possible unless
- h a s nothing to compare with a novel or it has been planned that way in the shoot­
play. An unplayed score, an unedited novel, ing script.
an unperformed play, retains its own
definite identity. An unproduced film does The Auteur and His Work
not even exist.
Almost always, the filmmakers most ap­ Thus filmmakers of any worth make
parent in their films are directors who, from their presence felt in their work and
necessity, become scriptwriters. Since they through their work. It bears the imprint of
alone are able to write in images, to see in their Tharacter and temperament, insofar as
detail what they imagine, they prepare an auteur is always his own subject. Some
their own script (alone or with the collabo­ of them bring a personal message (Berg­
ration of a scriptwriter subordinate to their man, Visconti, Fellini, Bunuel); others pur­
wishes) from subjects which they choose. sue an. original theme (Bresson, Renoir,
Obsessed by a few fixed ideas, the most Fritz Lang, Sternberg, Dovshenko, John
interesting have a personal vision of the Ford, Donskoy). They are novelists or
world and what it contains. They concen­ short-story writers (Stroheim, Orson
trate on a moral, social, or philosophical Welles, Kurosawa, Antonioni) or lyric or
aspect on which they focus their attention epic poets (Chaplin, Flaherty Murnau,
most sharply. Mizoguchi, Griffith, Eisenstein).
Yet the future of the cinema, inasmuch For this fact, lesser films rouse an inter­
as one believes the cinema to be an art, does est sometimes greater than an accidental
not lie in the hands of directors (however success. This is a normal state of affairs—as
good the best of those working in the con­ long as it does not have the effect of warp­
temporary cinema may be in matters of ing the critical judgment of those all too
style) but in the hands of the auteurs, that ready to proclaim the latest offering of an
 P RE L IMI NA R I E S 13

admired filmmaker as a masterpiece. A first to see in the cinema a new form of

work is not automatically good because it writing and to wonder whether or not the
is produced by the pen, brush, or camera cinema was an art), "It is as though one
of a great artist. A daub, even if it is signed were asking: Are words art? Are colors art?
by Poussin or Picasso, will still be a daub. Are musical notes art? Surely it is the way
The signature cannot make me see it as a in which words, colors, and musical notes
work of genius-contrary to those few for are utilized which constitutes the arts of
whom the latest film of a filmmaker is nec­ writing, painting, and music. The same is
essarily better than his previous work on the true of the cinema: it is a medium, but what
assumption that an artist's personality is a medium!"
bound to develop and become rieher as it A means of expression, then, before
gets older. being (even potentially) an art. But this re­
As for me, I take to heart Tolstoy's re­ quires clarification: a means of expression
mark: "Goethe? Shakespeare? Everything (keeping to the limited sense of the word)
signed in their names is supposed to be allows only the translation of feelings and
good and every effort is made to discover emotions and is incapable of expressing
beauty in stupid failures-w h ich has the ideas. At best it is able to suggest a few
effect of perverting general taste. All these ideas deriving from the impressions it com­
great talents, the Goethes, Shakespeares, municates, but here they are only vague,
Beethovens, Michaelangelos, created, along­ imprecise ideas completely dependent on
side their beautiful works, things which the nature of each. Painting and architec­
were not only mediocre but, quite frankly, ture - the plastic a rte -a re means of expres­
awful." sion; also dance and music; with this
No one could claim that film m akers-be difference, however, that they are devel­
they Chaplin, Eisenstein, Bergman, Ford, oped in time, by which fact they imply a
Fellin i-h av e divine infallibility as artists. mobility of emotion. But music and dance
Even if this were so, "one would have to are no more able to express ideas than the
admit that whenever it is encountered, it is other arts.
always accompanied by a complex of spe­ A means of expression capable of organ­
cial circumstances which make the result a izing, of constructing and communicating
thousand times more fortuitous in the cin­ thoughts, able to develop ideas which can
ema than in painting or literature" (Bazin). change, form, and transform themselves,
Auteurs, then, but only of something, then becomes a language-indeed is what
judged according to the criteria of what they is termed a language. If literature allows for
do-n oth in g more. the expression of ideas as well as emotions,
it is because poetry and the novel are the
aesthetic forms of a language which is
Cinema and Language speech. We should observe in passing that,
in "means of expression," ideas (vague and
At the b e^ ^ lm g of study, we sug­ imprecise) are reached by passingfirst of all
gested that the cinema was an art. We were through emotion. Conversely, in language,
perhaps confusing the means with the end emotions are reached by passingfirst of all
and examining its self-declared purpose as through ideas. Whieh leads us to a defini­
though it were predetermined. tion of the cinema as an aesthetic form Gust
Yet, as was pointed out by Victor Perrot like literature), exploiting images which are
(who, from 1919 onward, was one of the (in and by themselves) means o f expression
14 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

whose extension (i.e., logical and dialectical The idea, in film expression, is subject to
organization) is language. the conditions of perceptible reality which
The cinema is also a means of reproduc­ it exploits to prove its validity. It must
tion and communication, inasmuch as it is never interfere with the logical develop­
initially no more than a series of moving ment of this narrative reality; on the con­
photographs of real or imaginary events. trary, it must become identified with that
But the cinem a-w hich is to images what reality, finding its true purpose within it.
literature is to speech - i s understood at It will perhaps be argued that film is a
one and the same time as the instrument of form of writing rather than a language,
a particular dialectic, the art of exploiting since film images have no phonetic equiv­
that instrument and the means of commu­ alent (necessarily related, therefore, with
nicating the result. There is, unfortunately, words). The image of a chair indeed shows
only one word to cover these three mean­ us the object but does not name it. It brings
ings. We would need to be able to say: mo­ to mind the word defining "chair." How­
tion picture to correspond with speech; film ever, it would be giving language a very lim­
effect (or art of the cinema) to correspond ited meaning to confine it to speech alone.
with literature; and cinematic effect to corre­ It is obvious that if by language we mean
spond with printing. the only medium through which conversa­
In ideographic writing, ideas are signi­ tion may be carried out, then the cinema
fied by the associations between the com­ could never be termed a language. Images
ponents of a single ideogram. The same can provide the means of self-expression
component assumes different meanings ac­ but never the exchange of ideas (for then
cording to its associations with different conversation would be difficult, costly, and
others. The forms, however, are fixed. Each long-winded!).
structure has a precise and unequivocal Nor, in this case, could m athem atics-
meaning; the same ideogram has to be used for I cannot see how one could talk about
to signify the same idea. rain or fine weather in terms of algebraic
To some extent, the cinema appears to be formulae! And were we all to agree that
a new form of ideographic w riting -w ith language is merely the use of speech, what
this very great difference: that the artificial would we call the organic structure which
and conventional symbols of the latter are makes it possible to express an idea with a
replaced, in the cinema, with fleeting sym­ sign, symbolic or not, fixed or ephemeral?
bolic values depending less on the objects It is this structure (and it alone) which I
or scenes represented than on the visual shall continue to call language—verbal lan­
context in which they are placed. And this guage, peculiar to conversation (of which
context-through the associations and rela­ it is merely one particular form -perhaps
tionships which it determ ines-lends to the most supple and manageable form but
these objects or scenes a temporary meaning. by no means the most perfect). "Means of
These same ideas can thus be signified expression" does not imply any dialectical
in many different ways, but none of them development, since this development itself
can be signified each time by the same im­ is the very stuff of which language is made.
ages. There is no link, no causal quality, To repeat: all forms of writing necessar­
between signifier and signified -otherw ise ily imply language of which they are the
the former very quickly becomes an ab­ symbolic form fixed into words or other
stract sign devoid of the living qualities in­ symbolic representations. Since film im­
dispensable to it. ages are not used, for their expressive pur­
 P RE L IMI NA RI ES 15

pose, as simple photographic reproduction For this classical definition pertains to ver­
as a means of transmitting ideas, we are bal language; it is a linguistic definition, not
indeed dealing with a language. A lan­ one of "logic."
guage in which the image plays the part of A film is something other than a system
both speech and word through its symbolic of signs and symbols (at least it does not
and logical properties and its attributes as present itself as that exclusively). A filmfirst
a potential sign. A language in which an and foremost comprises images, images of
equivalence of the data of the perceptible something. A system of images whose pur­
world is no longer acquired through (more pose is to describe, develop, and narrate an
or less) abstract shapes but through the re­ event or series of events. However, these
production o f concrete reality. im ages-according to the chosen narrative
Thus reality is no longer "represented" -b ecom e organized into a system of signs
-signified by a symbolic or graphic sub­ and symbols; in addition they become (or
stitute. It is presented. And this is what is have the possibility of becoming) signs.
used to signify. Ensnared in a new dialectic They are not uniquely signs, like words,
for which it becomes the form, reality be­ but first and foremost objects and concrete
comes employed as an element in its own reality, objects which take on (or are given)
narration. a predetermined meaning. It is in this way
that the cinema is a language; it becomes
Observations language to the extent that it is first o f all
representation and by virtue of that repre­
Besides the observations we have sentation. It is, so to speak, a language in
noted, certain critics (and some psycholo­ the second degree. It appears not as an ab­
gists) have argued against this notion of stract form to be supplemented by certain
language but, I fear, by basing their objec­ aesthetic qualities but as the aesthetic qual­
tions upon inaccurate information or, at ity itself supplemented by the properties of
least, by confining the concepts of lan­ language; in short, an organic whole in
guage within an extraordinarily narrow which art and language are fused, the one
perspective. Here, as often as not, each of being indissolubly linked with the other.
us examines more general concepts to the In a sense, this would be the perfect par­
limit of his own speciality, sometimes re­ adigm for the theories of Benedetto Croce,
fusing to consider what is outside our par­ for whom aesthetics and linguistics are one
ticular sphere of interest. Often logicians and the same science. As he says,
suffer for not being psychologists and vice
versa (and critics suffer for having no In fact, for linguistics to be a separate sci­
knowledge in any field). ence from aesthetics, it ought not to have
expression (the aesthetic effect itself) as its
It is obvious that the cinema could never
aim. Now, it seems superfluous to prove
be a language except outside the classical
that language is expression. . . . It is al­
definition, which would suggest that cin­
ways possible to reduce the scientific
ema makes use only of abstract signs questions of linguistics to their aesthetic
whose forms are fixed and whose mean­ formulae. . . . The philosophies of lan­
ings are constant. But it is one thing to won­ guage and art are one and the same.
der whether it comes under the heading of
a certain definition and another to wonder We could prove that at the level of cur­
whether it is not a language after all and rent language the ideas of Croce are inac­
that it is the definition which is inadequate. curate. In fact, expression may well be an
16 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N EMA

effect of aesthetics, but it is not the sole ef­ guage, for there can be no relationship between
fect. In other words, any aesthetic effect is the filmic and the verbal except inasmuch as
expression, whereas any expression does they are both languages. We search for syntac­
not necessarily derive from aesthetics. tical analogies where there are none. The point
When I write a letter to my tax man, I am o f comparison is not to be found in the forms
indeed expressing ideas, but the letter has but in the structures. And it is time that the
nothing to do with aesthetics. Conversely, overrestricted definition of linguistics gave
if I write a poem, the ideas, the sentiments, way to a logical definition of greater scope.
acquire a value; the expression in a poem Since it is a means o f translating the tiny
becomes the aesthetic effect itself. The ideas impulses o f thought, all language is necessarily
of Croce are true only as fa r as poetry is con­ associated with the mental structures which or­
cerned; the work of art makes them so. ganize them, i.e., with the operations o f the
This distinction does not apply to the mind, which consist in conceiving, judging,
language of film, however, for the simple reasoning, ordering, according to associations
reason that it is always placed at the level of analogy, consequence, or causation.
of the work of art. Whether the work is In this way, we can say that a language
good or bad changes nothing; it is not a is a means of expression whose dynamic
matter of quality but of fact. The language nature implies the development, in time, of
of film, by principle and definition, derives some sort of system of signs, images, or
from artistic creation. It is not a discursive sounds.1 And the purpose of the dialectical
but a developed language. It is lyrical organization of this system lies in the ex­
rather than rational. The language of film pression and signification of the ideas,
is not the language used in conversation emotions, and feelings included within one
but that used in a poem or a novel; and stirring thought of which these form the
im ages-though organized according to a actual tiny impulses.
predetermined m eaning-inevitably leave Thus language implies different systems,
an area of vagueness around the thing ex­ each of which has its own appropriate set
pressed which makes us rather think that of symbols but which combine in the formu­
it does not encompass or designate a ra­ lation of ideas of which they are merely in the
tionally defined thought. formal expression (in whatever form they
The essential nature of the cinema is to appear). Thus verbal language and film lan­
be an image. A sequence of moving images, guage express themselves by using diferent
naturally. In its structure, film is movement elements in diferent organic systems.
and change: change of shot, sequence,
angle of view; movement suggested intel­ Cinema and Literary Discourse
lectually (for instance, between several ac­
tions going on in different places). We all "Yet," as Henri Agel asks, "is film lan­
agree, however, that it is, above all, the rep­ guage specific or is it merely the fascinating
resentation of m ovem ent-w hich it could integration of methods borrowed from
never be were it not in motion itse lf-b u t other means of expression?" In other
which even so ensures that it is above all an words, is this not a restatement, in the way
image. images are organized, of modes of expres­
If it is normal that linguistics should be sion or methods deriving directly from lit-
concerned only with the verbal language, eratu re-th at is, the visual transposition of
it is perhaps time that we attempted to pro­ certain literary devices? We must accept
vide a definition of the "essence" of Ian- that almost all of them can be found. Ellip­
 P R E L IMI NA RI ES 17

sis, syllepsis, repetition, contrast are all in language over thought nor the consider­
constant use. Litotes is quite infrequent but able part it has played in its expression.
it does exist. Antithesis, periphrasis, hyper­ Without it, thought would have remained
bole, enumeration, gradation, suspension. primitive, rough and ready and without
As for metaphor and synecdoche, they are flexibility. But it would have been the forms
common currency. and not the intentions which would have
We shall examine them all when we con­ been primitive. The thoughts of ancient civ­
sider, further on, genre and style. I would ilizations were simplistic only by the ab­
simply say that (with the exception of the sence of means tro u g h which they might
structural devices such as ellipsis) these have been produced.
stylistic devices, as used in the cinema - b e ­ What we must remember is that the
cause of the different forms they a ssu m e- means of expression preceding grammati­
have quite a different meaning from what cal language contained structures capable
they have in literature. There is very little of translating the "mental shapes" deter­
connection between synecdoche in film and mined by the thought process. There is no
synecdoche in literature, visual metaphor doubt but that language gave to these
and verbal metaphor, unless they are both structures a hitherto unsuspected flexibility
synecdoche and metaphor, i.e., a particular and allowed thought to become more pre­
way of approximating or presenting ideas. cise by making its expression more precise.
However, they can be distinguished in their B u t-th o u g h it perfected the expressive
effects. fo rm s -it did not create methods of think­
It is not the least bit surprising to me that ing appropriate to thought itself.
critics and teachers are amazed and as­ If the purpose of cinematic technique is
tounded to encounter such similarities be­ to translate this thought process in terms of
cause, in fact, these devices are not really a film, then it is done using "mental shapes"
function of language. They are not "genu­ and not literary shapes, which are merely
inely" part of it. They are merely the im­ its verbal application. It is normal, both in
pressions left by thought structures and are the cinema and in literature, for these
literary only because, up to now - for many "mental shapes" to be found in various dif­
thousands of y e a rs -th e verbal language ferent forms.
has been the only possible way of translat­ We cannot overlook the fact that it is lan­
ing or applying them. guage which has fashioned the mentality
This is quite untrue, I hear you s a y - of human beings; it is through and by
these forms of thought are the way they are means of language that we think. We can
only because language has allowed them to claim, therefore, that the basic characteris­
be formulated in that particular way. They tics of film expression derive from the
would not exist without it. thought processes to which language has
It is quite true that language has given accustomed us; but it is wrong to say that
a matrix to thought; it has, through its very these characteristics are merely the transpo­
structures, given rise to certain ways of sition of certain structures whose origins
^ ^ ^ n g or, more exactly, it has forced are exclusively literary.
thought into existence through the forms The first director to create a visual met­
which it provides. However, what is the or­ ap h o r-m o st probably G riffith -did not
igin of these forms if it is not thought itself stop to consider how he might arrange his
seeking to become organized in speech? No images to create the equivalent of a meta­
one could possibly deny the influence of phor; but, knowing that he had to express
18 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

something in a certain way, he constructed suggesting a comparison with a tracking

his film accordingly. He collected various shot (only a tracking shot could easily pro­
images intuitively, created various associa­ vide the same effect) but which it can only
tions, and, remarkably enough, produced a suggest because the cinema exists and is in
metaphor. It was the same with all the tech­ no way a precursor to that existence.
niques of the cinema. This is why it seems We read in Proust: "A t first, as my mouth
to me rather futile (if not a little puerile) to got closer to the cheeks which my eyes of­
search in the arts and methods of expres­ fered for me to kiss, the latter, as their per­
sion of the part for the various forms or spective changed, focused on new areas of
means which anticipated film expression. cheek, the neck observed from much closer,
Throughout the ages, people have as though through a magnifying glass, ex­
thought and tried to express their thoughts. hibited with all its open pores a crudeness
Throughout the ages, they have also sought whieh changed the character of the face." Is
to express movement, sometimes signi­ this not the equivalent of a track forward
fying it in pictorial terms, sometimes de­ into extreme closeup, with the camera being
scribing it through speech, impressing on used subjectively? A trackforward in which
it movement deriving from imposed the movement and effect of magnification
rhythm and cadence. The great thing change in proportion to the perception of
would be to discover certain features of the object in the viewfinder? Obviously! But
this movement (such as those captured while we had to wait for Proust to translate
today by the cinema) in the masterpieces these impressions in literature (and for the
of literature! For in literature we see track­ cinema to become aware of the potential), I
ing shots, pans, closeups, and dissolves do not think that people in love waited for
when we observe quite simply the expres­ either Proust or the cinema before they got
sion of these same forms of thought, the close to a face they desired and experienced
same rhythmic associations and the same an emotion.
descriptive sequences -e x c e p t that the It is obvious that the cinema brought
means are different, means which try to give, about an effective solution to the problem
in a roundabout fashion, what the cinema of reproducing movement; but there again,
achieves directly. Should this be any sur­ art has always tried to translate movement
prise? in some way or another. We might search
No one could fail to see that the first in vain for some trace of precinema in the
sentence of Salammbo—"C'etait a Megara, simple fact of this expression, but the ex­
faubourg de Carthage, dans les jardins pression of something only the cinema can
d'Amilcar . . . (It was at Megara, on the out­ reproduce perfectly. But that is another
skirts of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamil- problem altogether.
car . . .)"-o p e n s out like a long tracking We must not forget to point out this
shot complemented by a sort of descriptive major difference: if art translates move­
pan. However, this is produced solely by ment, it signifies rather than expresses it.
the metrical requirements of the sentence, And it signifies it only because it does not
revealing a universe and introducing us to possess it. The cinema, conversely, does not
it with the luxurious langor of a movement signify movement; it represents it. If it
perfectly in keeping with the listlessness of signifies, it is with and by means o f move­
the climate, morals, and spectacle; in other ment. Where, in literature, movement is a
words, everything for which it serves as an goal, in the cinema it is merely a beginning.
introduction. A "descriptive" movement Thus to discover apparent comparisons,
 P RE L IMI NA RI E S 19

techniques corresponding in the language fe s t-in other ways. Primitive language, as

of cinema to various categories of shot and we have seen, was a way of translating
camera angle, long shots alternating with states of awareness or mental attitudes by
closeups, shot/reverse shot, pans/tracks, means of purely physical reactions.
upward/downward tilts, editing effects (or All the same, thought is based on con­
any other characteristic form) in the works cepts and judgments. These judgments,
of Virgil, Homer, Livy, Racine, Victor Hugo, however, are no more than the intellec-
Byron, Shelley, Dickens, Coleridge, or tualized product of a series of elementary
Pushkin, as has been done w ith authors reactions in which it would seem that
such as Paul Leglise, Etienne Fuzellier, and conditioned reflexes play an important
Henri Agel, is devoid of interest from the part.
film point of view and can lead to nothing That the associationist principles of clas­
which might enrich our knowledge of the sical psychology have proved inadequate
cinema through the discovery of an expres­ for explaining certain conditions of con­
sion falsely characterized as precinematic. sciousness (notably, the phenomena of per­
It is rather as though we suddenly realized ception) and have been mostly superseded
that men walk and, in walking, prefigure nowadays does not mean that we may de­
the tracking shot or that, since they are able duce that association has no part to play
to turn their heads left or right, this simple in psychic life. On the contrary, it se e m s-
gesture heralds the pan! according to Henri D elacroix-th at the
The cinema sets out to translate certain spontaneous functioning of thought hap­
aspects of the real world, certain impulses pens only as a consequence of association,
ofthought or the creation of a mythical uni­ particularly the systematic associations
verse. It is therefore normal for it to overlap which occur in conditioned reflexes and
and offer comparison with previous arts which may be considered as elementary,
pursuing comparable aims. Just as the nonverbal, nondifferentiated judgments.
means are different, so also are the results. "The very composition of the conditioned
The thought, however, is the same. reflex," he argues, "dictates a previous syn­
thesis, a synthesized understanding of ex­
perience." "Our mental process," Ruyssen
Word and Image observed in 1904, "classifies our behavior
before our minds are able to classify mate­
Thought and Language rial objects and it is through our activities
that we succeed in perceiving species and
Every thought is formed inasmuch as it is types." On which Bergson elaborates when
formulated. Since language is the most di­ he writes: "all living beings generalize-by
rect expression of thought, we may say that which I mean they classify. They thereby
the latter is, for the most part, formed in isolate the character which interests them
words. But language is an objective reac­ and further attach to it common properties;
tion whose nature is not essentially differ­ in other words, they classify and, conse­
ent from the majority of reactions which quently, abstract and generalize. Abstrac­
make up human behavior and for which it tion and generalization are first of all
can stand as a substitute. Nonformulated experienced before they are thought.
thought, reduced to states of awareness, Generalities automatically assumed, occur­
preexists and stands outside language and ring in representations, become trans­
may be translated - or, at least, become mani­ formed, in man, into general ideas, com­
20 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

plete and carefully considered" (L'Evo- Ma, relate, in all languages, to the basis of
lution creatrice). Ribot added: "Ideas are material objects, to matter, mass, the womb,
merely transformed feelings," and already the mother, and also the sea."
Gassendi could see a primitive judgment We are not making a philological study
in the joy of a dog recognizing his master. here and so we must agree, for the sake of
Thus if thought is formed insofar as it is convenience, that the word is a conven­
formulated, then it is clear that all ideas are tional sign, from both the phonetic and the
linked to the method and forms of expres­ morphological points of view. Take, for ex­
sion which signify them. A thought ex­ ample, the word chair. We all agree that it
pressed cannot be separated from the indicates a certain object in current use, a
language which expressed it. And since we piece of light, movable furniture we are ac­
express ourselves with words, "language customed to sit on. It may be a chair or
requires that we establish between our this chair but the individuality of this ob­
ideas the same clear and precise distinc­ ject becomes apparent only through the
tions, the same discontinuity, as between use of the determinative article. If I say the
material objects" (Bergson). chair, each of us will, of course, recognize
that we are talking about the same object;
Word and Idea but each of us might be seeing a quite dif­
ferent object, for, though nothing resem­
Every verbal expression begins with bles one chair more than another, they can
words indicating objects or translating all be distinguished by some idiosyncrasy
ideas. Considering that there might origi­ of shape or style. The word is automati­
nally have existed in written signs or cally transformed into a concept by the fact
sounds a more or less symbolic representa­ that it cannot limit itself to the simple rec­
tional relationship with the signified, it is ollection of the unique and essentially in­
all the more probable that this "identifica­ dividual experience which is its origin and
tion" became manifest in the practice of to which it owes its existence. Thus it in­
magic characteristic of primitive civiliza­ dicates a type, a category, grouping to­
tions. But we have seen how quickly the gether all the objects which, stripped of
sign became liberated from its role of sub­ their individual character, reveal features
ordinate to reality and became conven­ of the same design. The word becomes an
tional in its essence. Sound groups also idea, an abstraction. Starting with this de­
became differentiated through the great va­ sign, i.e., four feet supporting a horizontal
riety of languages. However, in certain surface with a backrest, a chair may be rep­
roots belonging to the expression of similar resented with innumerable peculiarities.
things, we do find obvious traces of Provided that the image corresponds with
"sound-images" which evoke the things the requirements of the category, each
being signified. As Dr. Allendy indicates, chair will be understood as a chair. The
"this is how the sibilants Ji and Zi suggest concept is therefore the object type reduced
the sound of the sighing or soughing of the to its essential characteristics, its specific at­
wind, the sound of fire, a whirlwind, or an tributes.
arrow, and express the idea of rapid move­ Any phrase in which abstract subjects
ment or life, as in the Semitic root word Ziz, such as table, chair, and rain are included
the Sanskrit Jiv, the Greek Zoe, the Russian can easily be transposed into another
/izn, etc. The bass sounds suggesting the which has the same meaning but in which
fall of a heavy, soft body, like the syllable the subjects are replaced by expressions of
 PRE L IMI NA R I E S 21

a symbolic nature indicating "sensory con­ an intelligible or imaginary world. But if I

tents."2 If a child is asked, "W hat is rain?" wish people to understand whatever I
he will reply, "When water comes down." might imagine or put a name to, I must be
Granted the meaning here is vague, but we p re cise -I must describe it in some way or
would find it difficult to argue that it is another. If I invent a mythical, as yet un­
more precise to say "It is raining" -b e in g known creature-w hich I call a "unicorn"
as each of us then sees an image associated - 1 must decide that it is a white horse with
necessarily with the concrete. The "idea" is a sharp horn on its forehead, i.e., I must
contained only in the words, not in what construct it from information I already
they represent. The mind cannot compre­ possess.
hend rain through an "in-itself," only
through an image associated with particu­ The Two Languages
lar sensory data.
Popular language is rich with symbolic That words in scientific statements
representations, picturesque, living expres­ should have a precise meaning consistent
sions. The study of dialects or slang is signi­ with logic, that their g r ^ ^ a tic a l struc­
ficant in this respect. Abstract meaning, of tures should be regulated to avoid any con­
a more intellectual nature, is the language tradiction is, as we have seen, the most
of logic. But, by a strange paradox, because important consideration as regards rational
of their grammatical structures, it is ab­ language. However, the very preciseness of
stract words which generate the greatest this language puts it beyond any aesthetic
number of confusions. In that it apparently consideration.
follows a logical development, the gram­ In fact, art gives rise to a creative inter­
matical form implies meanings which pretation serving as a response - lik e a
words could never possess were they re­ changed, transformed e c h o -to the cre­
duced to their primary meanings. ative impulse of the artist. All poems, all
In fact, current language has little regard novels, imply a mutual interaction be­
for the expression of transcendental truths. tween author and reader. Logic (which also
It is limited to observation and aims less at plays its part) becomes a "logic of interac­
translating intelligible reality than at pro­ tion," in other words, something like the
viding a rule of conduct, at being part of logic of probability in aesthetics. In much
behavior. As Brice Parain indicates, "The the same way as its counterpart in aesthet­
accent of our voices, our gestures, and, es­ ics, it is based on the logic of relation­
pecially, the order which each precise task ships - w it h the exception that its effects
places on us, apparently establishing a are no longer required to be true but true
genuine common ground between collabo­ to life. They are no longer required to con­
rators, thereby corrects the impreciseness of vince but to move; they are no longer re­
language. Pass me that "thingamajig" over quired to specify but to suggest. As a
there, will you? The apprentice or work­ consequence of which, the relationships
mate addressed in this way immediately controlling them tend toward the emo­
guesses that his colleague is referring to the tional rather than the rational. Thus it is
ruler lying on the floor or the plumbline. the responsibility of logic to organize lan­
Sometimes it is enough merely to point." guage by playing up the psychophysiolog-
Besides, it is obvious that if words rep­ ical mechanisms which provide the basis
resent objects or types of objects, they may for affectivity (intuitive associations, more
also contain within themselves the proof of or less conditioned reflexes, immediate
22 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

structures of consciousness, etc.) and upon In other words, in the language of science
(true or false but perceptible) causal relation­ (or logic), each phrase has one single mean­
ships, with the aim of guiding this affec- ing, not several. An exact equivalent can
tivity into established feelings. If it moves always be found to a phrase in the lan­
into the realm of ideas, it is those ideas guage of logic.
requiring the participation and intellectual The language of logic considers the sum
activity of the spectator or reader, deriving total of all phrases such that it becomes pos­
from feelings thereby established in them. sible to agree totally as to their meanings.
There is no connection, therefore, be­ These phrases contain equivalents translat­
tween lyrical and logical language, except able from one language to another. From the
inasmuch as they both have their origins in point of view of logistics, the number of
organizing structures. In his work on lan­ meanings capable of being transmitted
guage and rhythm, M. Pius Servien points through the language of science is infinite.
out this difference very effectively. He Conversely, in lyrical language, each
writes: phrase has only one meaning and can never
be the equivalent of any other. The meaning
At the heart of language-language of phrases in lyrical language is intimately
which we thought to be an integrated related to and uniquely dependent on their
whole, a sort of boundless o c e a n -w e
rhythm. In this way, these phrases can never
have discovered two areas with opposite
be reduced to the language of science,
characteristics. We have given them a
which is "an impoverished, limited lan­
name: the first, the Language of Science,
the second, the Lyrical Language (these
guage detached from language in its totality
are really just two labels, newly attached to become introverted, with entire catego­
to two newly discovered areas and not ries of phrase lost forever." This is true, for
vague or imitated meanings). This was instance, of all categories of the optative
the beginning of entirely new research mood (Racine's "Dieux! Que ne suis-je as­
into language, into Lyrical as well as sise a l'ombre des forets") and all those
Scientific language. which are exclamations (P. Valery's "Helas:
The deep-seated reason why aesthet­ j'ai quelquefois entendu Herodiade decla-
ics has been incapable of progress, only of mee, et le divin cygne!" and "Avec ces mots
grand ambitions and ever-changing am­
vivants, il n'est jamais possible de savoir
biguity, becomes apparent: one of the
dans quelle mesure nous nous entendons
areas, Lyrical language, cannot be re­
duced to the other (moreover, both of les uns les autres [With these living words,
them are equally inaccessible to any over­ it is never possible to know how much we
ture from the effete bastard language of understand each other]").
Metaphysics). Yet the fact that the meaning of phrases
The poet, the Master of words, essen­ depends on their rhythm, that the very
tially qualified to make his voyage of dis­ meaning of words depends to a a large ex­
covery deep into the heart of language tent on their position in the phrase (or the
and draw up new resources with each rhythmic structures governing them), does
successive discovery, perceives these two
not prevent either the words or the phrases
poles, these two heights for him to scale,
from having a logical meaning. Obviously
these two areas of concentration of ex­
it is the "secondary" meaning, determined
treme beauty: extreme Lyrical language
and the language of Science at its most
by the rhythm, which becomes the most im­
extreme which, as we have seen, is math­ portant, superimposed over the "primary"
ematics. (Science et poesie) meaning, extending or opposing it, rein­
 P RE L IMI NA RI E S 23

forcing or canceling it, playing with or particularly, the image suggested by pho­
against it. But what is remarkable is that it netic structures which then become caus­
cannot exist without it. The "secondary" (or ative.
lyrical) meaning of a word exists and can To say, as we have, that the idea is identi­
only exist as the consequence of the logical fied with an image is tantamount to saying
meaning which determines and guarantees that all words suggest images. But, as we
the word. saw in the example of the chair, though the
In other words, though lyrical language representations associated with it are infi­
might not allow itself to be bounded by nitely variable, the image - at that level - is
precise definitions like the language of limited to describing the object, represent­
logic, it can still be only one part ofit, being ing it in our consciousness. It agrees with
partly based on it. It is merely one form, the logical meaning and does not go be­
both larger and more subtle (the aesthetic yond it. On the scale of aesthetic values, it
form itself), whose basic resources still lie might be called a primary image. It is the
outside language -alth o u g h the lyrical qual­ image we "see" when we read a text in
ities of that language derive from it. These which words are unimportant, transparent,
resources, this foundation, is rhythm. as it were, with the ideas they suggest.
Lyrical language is nothing more than We guess at these words rather than
the effect of rhythm being injected into nor­ read them. Our imagination is immediately
mal language, then subjected to the logic of carried to the signified, that is, to the im­
numbers and metric relationships (rather ages which establish in our minds a whole
than formal logic), both of them set in ap­ series of associations and connections for
position, opposition, and juxtaposition to whieh they are merely the temporary but
each other in an interplay of never-ending necessary support. Their sequence creates
interrelationships. a universe which becomes formed or de­
formed, according to the way it is read, in
The Verbal Image a continuous, homogeneous, and con­
stantly variable mental activity.
The term verbal image is often accorded Thus in the language of logic, though
by linguists (Vendryes, among others) to the word chair betokens a particular object,
the psychic unit preceding speech. Accord­ it manifestly does not have any of the prop­
ing to Charcot, this unit is formed by a col­ erties of that object or that idea. The word
lection of several images, differently en­ virtue has no particular virtue and the word
dowed: a visual image and an auditory dog does not bite.
image accompanied by a "kinesthetic" In lyrical language, the word dog does
image (associated with tactile impressions not bite, either. But it does suggest (or
or with muscular effort signified by the ob­ rather may suggest) something other than
ject) and an "oral" image (associated with what it signifies. It may become the image
the mechanics of speaking). The sum total of a feature of the animal and, by extension,
constitutes the word, regarded as the de­ the image of all features similar to a feature
veloped consequence of the basic motor of the animal. Mention fidelity, for instance,
mechanisms to which we referred earlier. and we include everything which fidelity
However, under "verbal image" we are suggests.
including all the different features of the In Racine's line "Dans l'orient desert
mental image, insofar as this is associated quel devint mon ennui?" the word orient
with the words which invoke it and, more not only describes a geographically de­
24 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

fined area; it also reveals a whole series of ideas, the product of comparisons or asso-
images relating to some previous historical cia tio n s-it becomes an active mental rep­
or biblical knowledge we may have of the resentation. As creator of ideas and currents
Orient (custom, behavior, action, ostenta­ of ideas, it is dynamic. In lyrical language,
tion, or solitude). Its semantic density the "word vehicle" becomes charged with
opens out like a fan and becomes the sum added meaning. The emotion it contains is
of colliding, collecting images comple­ translated by a whole network of strange
menting or contradicting each other, a relationships. Transformed into a metaphor
"feeling" which, while subordinate to the or symbol, the image may be called second­
general meaning of the phrase, neverthe­ ary. This is the image generally described as
less contains it, puts it into context and the "poetic image." But another image may
gives it its particular color and both richer be added to the poetic image, one which is
and more ambiguous character. often more subtle-determ ined by the
Words, in this case, are no longer merely music of the words, whose meaning is allu­
interchangeable means of expression; they sive. Produced by associations of pitch and
become creative. In other words, they are tone, relationships of strong and weak
able to suggest ideas beyond those they nor­ tempi, this image is made all the more com­
mally signify, ideas produced by their ex­ plex by the colored sensations provided by
traordinary associations, their rhythm, and assonance and alliteration.
the tension between their differentiated The importance of alliteration is too well
m eanings-this is the "poetic effect," in prin­ known for us to dwell on it. Let us remind
ciple and by definition "its very essence." ourselves merely that in phrases such as
As Jean Paulhan notes, the "mystery" of
literature and especially poetry Un frais par^ m sortait des touffes
d'asphodele,
appears, in effect, to consist in a transition Les souffles de la nuit flottait sur Gal-
and, so to speak, a metamorphosis of such gala . . .
a kind that language and spirit are indis­
tinguishable: either the rhythm and the repetition of the f sound gives the im­
rhyme prompt the thought, or the emotion pression of a light breeze playing on the
and inspiration prompt the rhythm and wild vegetation. And this has less to do
prosody. In short, thought, in poetry, be­ with realistic imitation than with translat­
haves as though it were language and lan­ ing the physical sensation of what is being
guage as though it were thought, the evoked, of expressing the emotion engen­
whole thing arising from the same confu­ dered, discovering it in the words them­
sion (one which claims the linguist as its
selves, in their movement, their rhythm,
first victim). The difference is that, in po­
their musicality. Harmony is more sugges­
etry, this confusion appears to be more
tive than imitative.
striking, apparent, and based in reality.
Which might lead us to conclude that po­ It is true, however, that the famous verse
etry is the perfect vehicle for the study of "Pour qui sont ces serpents qui sifflent sur
language, even more than language is for vos tetes" tries to be imitative. But in
the study of poetry. (Les Linguistes en
defaut) Ariane, ma soeur, de quel amour blessee
Vous mourutes aux bords ou vous futes
Whereas the image suggested by the log­ laissee,
ical meaning is always more or less static,
h e re -th e synthesis of an assortment of the application of assonance and allitera­
 P R E L IMI NA RI ES 25

tion is made purely subjectively. The s essence lies in the interaction of vowels
sound is imitative of nothing at all. Nor re­ whose variable sound patterns are harmo­
ally is the f sound in nized around identical sound supports (the
consonants).
11 n'y avait pas de fange en l'eau de son
In any case, the word in the p o e m -e s­
moulin;
sential as regards logical or metaphorical
11 n'y avait pas d'enfer dans le feu de sa
forge. meaning - gives way to the syllable or pho­
nemes forming the "verbal material." The
In "Tout m'afflige et me nuit et conspire a word no longer reveals the idea: it provides
me nuire" the repetition of the i on the third a screen and presents itself as primary ma­
syllable of each of the four tonics translates terial. It signifies but through a form ren­
enervation and the pressure of overwhelm­ dered perceptible, and its value as a sign
ing emotion. In now becomes subsidiary. As a group of ar­
ticulated sounds, it is no longer the means
Le gouffre roule et tord ses plis but the ingredient of poetry. It is supported
demesures
by a musicality which translates the inex­
Et fait raler d'horreur les agres effares,
pressible-nonspecified or rather specified
by something unspecific, by a rhythm "call­
Victor Hugo, through the repetition of the
ing on" a nonsignified meaning, invoked
r sound, translates the noise and chaos of
by a sort of lyrical duplication.
the storm. But the same sounds may also
At the limit, to quote Andre Breton's ex­
achieve a caressing quality:
pression, words can be "diverted from their
Sur la plage sonore ou la mer de Sorrente mission to signify." Which leads us to the
Deroule ses flots bleus, au pied de jingles of children's games, in which words,
l'oranger . . . (Lamartine) though devoid of meaning, determine,
through a certain verbal intoxication, a
or translate a feeling of melacholy: kind of joy both physical and mental and
achieves, beyond the absence of content, a
Et la narine jointe au vent de l'oranger
real incantatory "signification." A case in
Je ne rends plus au jour qu'un regard
point would be
etranger. (Valery)

Am, Stram, Gram

Alliteration and assonance try to be no
Pic et pic et colegram
more than evocative. As was pointed out by Bour et bour et ratatam
Auguste Dorchain, who, though no great Bour, Tam, Gram,
poet, was at least a great critic, "Every time
we forget this essential truth and try to in which the strncture-consciously or not
credit these words and letters with an au­ - seems to be the copy of a syllogism (with
tonomy, an independent life, a directly im­ thesis, antithesis, and synthesis deriving
itative or symbolic quality, we lapse into from an initial proposition) providing the
silliness, unintelligibility, absurdity." logical framework within which verbal
It is no less true that actual verbal mate­ modulations referring to anything and ev­
rial is implicated here, creating and deter­ erything are placed.
mining suggestion beyond (but from the It is manifestly always easy to connect
starting-point of) the logical meaning: ex­ words "gratuitously" if the desired result
tending the metaphor and enveloping it is only the strange or amusing effect of a
with its musicality. It would seem that its telescoped expression. It is more difcult to
26 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

invest them with meaning, to impose on other meanings, of the extraordinary force
them a logical meaning necessary for ex­ which extends the emotional impulse, in
tracting an additional "secondary" meaning which the continuous rhythmic progression
to complement, extend, or negate the pre­ is modulated by the tonal or metric discon­
vious meaning. In d e ed -a ll things consid­ tinuity.
ered - i t is the most difficult. One of the features which make contem­
It is therefore important for words to porary poetry so arid is the tendency to re­
have a meaning upon which, around gard poetry as merely a "moment of sheer
which, and more especially beyond which introversion," the creation of a subjective
the rhythm is based and developed. But universe, so subjective that it cannot be
since words act above all as part of the communicated, and to ignore the require-
"structure," the power of their meaning is mente of rhythm in order to concentrate ex­
limited to that of "catalyst." The verbal clusively on an impressive metaphor.
image is a function of rhythm, tone, asso­ Disregarding the basic properties of the
nance, and alliteration. The intellectual word, many poets belonging to schools
(symbolic or metaphorical) image which evolved more or less out of Sym bolism -a
we have described as the "secondary" Symbolism which, in my opinion, they
image (which contemporary poetry seems have misunderstood and misinterpreted -
breathlessly to pursue to the exclusion of call upon the "transcendent" qualities of
all else) counts less, to my mind, than the music, for its (potential) capacity to express
verbal image, which might be described as without words, when they are at their least
the tertiary image. musical. They forget that rhythm is the first
It would appear that poetic feeling is the condition of music.
p ro d u ct-or consequence of the many fric­ Now that it has neither structure, rhythm,
tions created by words between the logical movement, nor prosody of any kind, not
meaning, the metaphorical meaning, and only can the poem dispense with all the
that inexpressible meaning arising from plastic qualities which are essential to it, but
their musicality. By their collisions, associ­ also (and more particularly) the image has
ations, and superimpositions, they become no meaning - except whatever might be im­
fused into a new meaning which is, for me, puted to it. Under the pretext of frantic sub­
the very essence of poetry. jectivism, anything can become the image of
It would appear that lyrical ecstasy is noth­ something.
ing more than the consequence of a "psycho- Now, the image is neither a beginning
physiological mechanism" of which words nor an end in itself—it is rather a conclusion,
are merely a tool. A rhythmic and measured the culmination of something upon which
laryngo-buccal action is for words - lik e it is based, which dominates and justifies
ideas developed in a rhythmic continuity- it. Deprived of this support, it is destroyed.
what dance is for the body: a specific dance Seeking this "pure image” is like wanting
or the act of dancing is more important than the perfume of a rose without the rose, the
"whoever it is who is dancing." rose without the rosebush. And these
Just as the body ignores its weight and image ideas soon become reduced to mere
becomes "transcendent" in the rhythm, ideas of images.
words leave behind their primary meaning. It is difficult for me to explain these no­
They gain another more or less incantatory tions without recourse to my own personal
meaning which transcends or negates experience, since any outside observations
them. Which is the source, among the many seem incapable of doing justice to the ob­
 P R E L IMI NA RI ES 27

ject. I beg the reader's indulgence, there­ with which it is identified. The whole thing
fore, and can only presume this mechanism forms the idea, the symbol of life-saving.
to be the same in all human beings. At least, This replica of plastic mimicry, a sort of
believing myself to have normal human simulacrum of reality in an evocative sign,
characteristics, it would be my conclusion this audiovisual entity, sensory as well as
that it is so in other people. symbolic, is, to my mind, what constitutes
As far as I can see, any image of any the act of conceiving—at least in the mind
object automatically refers to the word of a child - a n d its final conclusion in the
which designates it. And the reverse, obvi- concept. For the same is true of all the
ouslyis also true. But this word is not pre­ words of my childhood, i.e., all the usual,
sented as an abstract, amorphous, colorless familiar, everyday words. When the spell­
sign. It is presented as a dynamic structure, ing book did not provide me with an image
such as a sound-group or a verba/ image. to look at, I used to make one up in my
Take, for example, the word sauvetage mind. Such was the case with the word
(life-saving) —one of the first slightly com­ naufrage (shipwreck). I could see a clipper
plex words in a children's dictionary. I can ship overtaken by a storm with huge waves
see in front of me the image used to ac­ breaking over it, half sinking. The main­
company it (to facilitate understanding). It mast, struck by lightning, crashed down on
is a drawing representing a boat being the bridge with a dreadful noise, a noise
launched by some sailors whose prow, which coincided with thefra of naufrage. An
forced up by a wave, seems to be running enormous wave gave off the sound nauf as
against the wave or meeting it head on. In it broke over the hull and the vessel sank
the process of spelling out the word, I give in the billows like a death rattle: age.
life to the drawing: the lifeboat, illustrating Might I say that the finest poem I have
the idea of life-saving, with the sailors row­ ever read, one which overwhelmed me
ing with all their might toward the ship­ with an extraordinary, strange, indescrib­
wreck in the distance, running against the able rapture, an ecstasy I have never expe­
huge wave, riding it and, sailing over the rienced since, is the play of vowels and
choppy sea, disappearing as it makes to­ consonants in the very simple "Ba Be Bi Bo
ward the wreck. In doing this, I spell out Bu . . . Za Ze Zi Zo Zu" of the very modest
the word: sau-ve-ta-ge. Now, while the Regimbaud? It is a truism that in poems,
sounds sau-ve are associated with the even the most erudite of them, what we are
movement of the oars and the efforts of the looking for perhaps is to rediscover, ele­
sailors, these two syllables running against vated to a higher plane, the secret of our
the letter t, representing the boat riding the newborn cries, the emotion of our first im­
wave, suggest the upright consonant like pressions. In the child, there corresponds to
a wall difficult to climb. Once the wave has the audiovisual structuring I have just de­
been breasted, the boat glides along with scribed, whose purely emotional nature
a slow and extended diminishing move­ must obviously be in common to all human
ment, just like the sound age—an open a beings, a mental structuring whose nature
dying away in a sigh: ge. And the boat dis­ is purely logical. Which explains why the
appeared into the mist. child has, from its earliest infancy, an or­
The syllables thus become part of the ganizing capacity associated with reason
image. In fact, they become an image in and judgment.
their own right, and the image takes its The "visualization" of language is diffi­
movement from the verbal modulations cult to verify objectively. This is not so,
28 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

however, in the "tendency" shown in all them from their source in order to follow
children's drawings. In fact, the child never more and more closely the formation of in­
represents things according to a personal telligence itself.
vision, as, for instance, he might see them However, lyrical language and logical
from a particular angle, but according to his language find their meaning right in the
understanding. He considers things accord­ origins of mental activity, being the expres­
ing to the coherence of their characteristics. sions of two tendencies in the human mind:
The child does not draw a house or a car reason and emotion, both appearing to­
but an "idea": the "idea house" or "idea gether. Mixed up initially in the same ex­
car" always presented like the architect's pressive search, in the same feeling, these
vertical section or the engineer's blueprint two languages become separated in pro­
(allowing for simplification). portion to the extent the mind becomes
Obviously, being able to reproduce a sin­ conscious of the real world and realizes the
gle feature implies a capacity for identifying need for objective awareness.
all the different points of view with an ob­ Once again: it seems to us that the cin­
jective unity. B u t-a n d if I might cite again ema is the only art, the only means of ex­
my own memories as reference-the draw­ pression capable of bringing about the
ing is the synthesis of an analytical and log­ synthesis of two languages, able to recon­
ical examination because the child looks, in cile reason and emotion, reaching the one
all things, for the ideal model to unite the through the other in an interdependence
essential characteristics, an "in-itself" to sat­ whose reciprocity remains constant. Thus
isfy and calm ^ m , to give him the assurance we are in a position better to understand
that he has captured the "totality" of which and accept the part the image has to play
he is conscious (although the single isolated in the conditional structures of film.
feature gives ^ m the impression that part Just as lyrical language is based on verbal
of the object has eluded him). In his clum­ logic but transcends its meaning through
siness, the child wishes to "capture every­ the rhythm to which it surrenders or
thing," and this wish merely increases his through a symbolic function, the language
clumsiness. His personal vision, therefore, of film is based on the logic of reality but
does not derive from a look at the world but transcends its immediate meaning through
from his representation of it, from the make- reciprocal associations in the organic conti­
believe he uses to translate it: a make-be­ nuity of the film. The images being subor­
lieve attaching a creative emotion to reason, dinate to a predetermined rhythm, a new
enclosing it but remaining subordinate to it. meaning emerges as a consequence of that
It is for this reason that no psychology can rhythm. However, before we start to con­
be established without a starting point in sider this, we must study the individual ca­
the genesis of the mental processes, taking pacities of the film image.
 The Film Image

The Image Itself particular quality to the image and there­

fore to the objects represented in it.
The Indefinite Image It is indisputable that the photographic
image is always the consequence of a cer­
Being a moving image, the film image is tain interpretation. It is the evidence of
composed of a certain number of succes­ what one man sees and thereby carries an
sive snapshots. Each series of snapshots re­ obvious subjectivity. One may say that it is
cording the same action or the same object the "mechanical" impression of a personal
from the same angle constitutes what is vision of a given subject (which, inciden­
called the shot. The shot is the smallest unit tally, may also have been previously com­
of film, but there are a great many photo­ posed). In short, this image may be imbued
graphic elements which make up the shot with aesthetic qualities as well as a certain
and these are called frames. It is this basic intentionality.
unit, this individual photographic unit, I use the term indefinite image to describe
which we will consider first. a completely impersonal reproduction, en­
A photographic image is the "mechani­ dowed with qualities common to all images
cal" reproduction of reality viewed through in the widest sense of the word.
a lens and resulting from the impression of The image is obviously dependent on
areas of light on the subject created by the the agents producing it. Not only is it either
photochemical reaction of a light-sensitive in black and white or color (which already
emulsion on a cellulose base. It may be constitutes a certain interpretation) but, in
said, therefore, that this means ofreproduc- addition, the same subject, lit by the same
tion is quasi (to all intents and purposes) lighting, may be reproduced differently de­
impersonal. pending on whether orthochromatic or
But a photograph is the product of a panchromatic film stock is used. The feel­
photographer. With a particular reality to ing of depth is more or less pronounced
record, the cameraman makes a certain depending on whether a short or long
choice: he chooses his frame. Where neces­ focal-length lens is used. With a wide angle,
sary, he organizes the various elements in a room ten meters deep becomes huge; the
his field of vision, creating certain harmo­ receding perspectives are such that some­
nious relationships. Moreover, by regulat­ one coming from the background toward
ing the intensity of the light, composing the camera gets bigger in incredible pro­
with light and shade, he increases or re­ portions and seems to cover the distance in
duces the "impression" of size of the vari­ seven-league boots. On the other hand,
ous elements. The opening of the aperture with a long focal-length lens, a distant cav­
(the greater or smaller amount of light al­ alry charge advancing at the gallop seems
lowed into the camera body) also gives a not to get any nearer. The effect is particu­
30 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

larly striking, in the case of the wide angle, but its image: I can sit on a chair but I can­
in Citizen Kane, and the charge of the Ger­ not sit on the image of a chair. However,
man knights in Alexander Nevsky is a perfect once I stop trying to move the representa­
illustration of the use of the telephoto. tion in the way I am able to move the object
For all that and whatever the differences represented, the image, in my eyes, takes
to the reproduced object that each process on all the appearance of reality itself. Set
of photographic recording makes in its re­ down in the world, the camera fixes reality
production, we would maintain (provision­ from a single viewpoint and, in fact, repre­
ally) that the image, devoid of any creative sents only that. But in the world of reality
will of its own, is similar to the recorded (wherever that might be) I am also limited
reality. to considering space and the objects in it
It is the attribute of all images to be im­ from a single and unique point of view. If
ages of something. To demonstrate its dis­ I look at the chair in front of me, I see it as
tinction from the mental image, that is, a shape, i.e., in one plane or from a certain
from pure imagination (the attribute of con­ angle. If I close my eyes or turn my head,
sciousness and the states of consciousness), the shape disappears. But the chair contin­
the image must be produced,fixed upon a ues to exist nonetheless. It presupposes an
support from which it takes its character of infinity of different aspects depending on
objective reality. But this support is a flat the point of view from which it is seen and
surface. It would be wrong to say, therefore, coexisting within it inasmueh as it is a real
that the image of a chair is identical to the object. I can only become aware of these
chair itself. For this to be true, it would aspects successively. To do this, I must
need to be an exact copy in the same space, move around the chair; and one of these
which is the same as saying that another features must disappear for another to ap­
chair would be necessary. pear - e t c ., etc. In other words, each of these
Now, the image of a chair is not "an­ features will be presented as though it were
other" chair. Being the projection of a three­ a different image. Visual perception does
dimensional space such that the space not offer me a "space" but an "image of
retains all its apparent qualities in the trans­ space," a particular "situation" presented
fer, the film image represents as much the to my eyes as a two-dimensional image.
spatial relationships of an object as the ob­ Film being a succession of images, cam­
ject itself. It is the image of space, being the era movement allows the director to shoot
image of the shapes and relationships de­ around the object, to observe it according
fining that space. Objects have their posi­ to a whole series of successive points of
tion in it, their dimension, their size. They v ie w -ju st like the images provided by my
are in the world "here and now," specific, movements in reality. The only difference
linked together by a network of interdepen­ (quite considerable though it be) is that I
dences and reciprocal determinations as am unable to move within the "film space,"
they are, actually, in reality. This fact alone except when the director of the film wishes
does not determine the character of "real­ me to. If he decides that I may, I am forced
ity" in film images, but it does provide the to follow him -w h ereas, in actual space, I
basis for it. am free to move wherever and whenever I
To suggest that the image of reality rep­ please. In any case, the object is distin­
resents forms less than their substance and guishable by its materiality. It occupies a
their extension in space is another way of space, an area - while the images presented
saying that the image of reality is not reality by my eyes or the film are only ever two­
 T H E F I L M I MAGE 31

dimensional. Images succeed and exclude the external world and myself, between my
each other, whereas the chair is simulta­ observation and the objects I observe. It
neously all these features and yet none of stops being what it is only inasmuch as I
them. Any specific feature draws out all the stop looking at it. My moving changes its
others in the reality of the object. temporary aspect and the "object" is con­
Images relating to other experiences are structed in my mind from the sum of the
provided by memory. In my consciousness, sensations I experience. Correlative to the
the features I cannot see are the memories reality I am observing and the information
of or the potential for a particular sensa­ supplied by my perception, the image be­
tion. In other words, to a large extent, con­ comes the object, that specific object, i.e., the
sciousness signifies memory; at least the perceived reality, such as I perceive it.
one cannot exist without the other and, as As we shall see in a later chapter, the
Bergson writes, "no perception can exist object (or what we call the object) is consti­
without being mixed up with memory." tuted with the help of a great many sensa­
Seeing, in fact, is recognizing - at least from tions relating to one single structure, one
the starting point of a certain previous ex­ single "entity." It is a group of sensations
perience. in any image, i.e., in any object "objectified" around an identical being con­
we see, we recognize a series of impres­ sidered as the subject or inspiration. To
sions evoked by that particular object: the quote Bradley: "the object is the ideal con­
concrete evokes the abstract; objectivity tent of a series of perceptions." But if this
triggers subjectivity. More than ever, a per­ is the case, if the perceptual image cannot
ception is a judgment. be detached from material objects, if it is
We mentioned that the image of reality "perceived reality," then it could never be
is similar to the film image. It is obvious, similar to a two-dimensional image. By
however, that this is only an impression. in which I mean that the world before my eyes
fact, these images are quite different. The appears to them as a two-dimensional
film image effectively presents itself as an image (though it is the image of a three-di­
image. It exists objectively as such. Stuck to mensional reality). To put it another way: I
a cellulose base, projected onto a screen, it might place a window between myself and
is detached (as an image) from the material the w o rld -th e world would then appear
objects of which it is the image and has no to me through the window as though pro­
further association with them. It is indepen­ jected onto it like a film image projected
dent, autonomous. The perceptual image, onto a screen. In other words, though the
conversely, is not detached from material perceptual image (structured perceived re­
objects and has no independent existence. ality) might differ greatly from the film
It is what I see, or, more exactly, it is identical image, the "real image" (i.e., the world be­
to it: through my eyes, a "reality" is pre­ fore my eyes, the immediate representation
sented to my consciousness and my image- - t h e product of my image-making con­
making consciousness projects upon reality sciousness as distinct from the images of
the image it has structured using the infor­ which it makes images) is analogous to it.
mation provided by my eyes. Moreover, films are made to be seen:
In other words, the image is "objectified" uniquely to be seen. Now, in the cinema I
perception, related to whatever caused it perceive the image of the object in exactly
and with which it identifies. Supplied di­ the same way that I view the object itself
rectly by my consciousness, it is the prod­ when, that is, I allow myself to concentrate
uct of a permanent relationship between on it-u n le ss it becomes endowed thereby
32 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

with an aesthetic value. In which case, the standing. Through the effect of constantly
image, confirming itself as a personal vi­ renewed experience, we come to know the
sion, becomes mediatory and therefore in­ extent of the distance of objects relative to
trusive. But the "indefinite image" appears us: we know it precisely. Thus our notion
to my eyes in the same way as the object of space and our vision of objects are com­
directly observed. plementary and mutually corrective. We
To reiterate: we can only see, i.e., per­ might presume, therefore, that the impres­
ceive, objects "from the outside." From what­ sion of relief is created by the constant syn­
ever aspect it is presented, it is always chronization of visual perception and our
shown as an "image." experience of space.
The chair we mentioned, with its leather We know that distant objects appear to
seat and back rest, obviously presupposes us bigger than they would according to the
an "interior," an "inside." Equally, the laws of optics, i.e., we see them bigger than
leather hide covering it, with the shiny side we would in reality, were our perception -
showing, also has a reverse side. But I can­ or that notion - o n ly due to our vision. We
not see the reverse side - and will never see also know that someone blind from birth
it except by demolishing the chair. In other who suddenly gains his sight through a
words, the image of the interior cannot co­ surgical operation does not see things in
exist with the image of the chair, since I am relief. In spite of his binocular vision, ob­
forced to break it open in order to see its jects are displayed to his eyes as though
"inside." The interior of a solid body is im­ they were on the same plane. Habit and
possible to know. In fact, from the moment accommodation allow him to become in­
we perceive it, it stops being an "interior." creasingly more aware of relief, but this no­
If I break an object (the body of a vase, for tion is not an automatic acquisition. And
instance), it immediately appears as a sur­ there is the well-known story of the blind
face, i.e., an exterior. The interior is a con­ man seeing for the first time and suffering
struction of the mind. intense physical pain because "he could not
From the real image to the film image, tear away the images stuck to his retina";
there still remains the impression of relief. he had to close his eyes to find his way
But this sensation is less important than it around.
would appear. We know that its "render­ In a painting or a photograph, perspec­
ing" in normal perception is the effect of tive provides a "feeling" of depth, size, and
normal binocular vision and any attempt to the shading of the volumes, the "feeling"
present an impression of it is based on the of relief. But this "feeling" is less a sensa­
separation of two "parallactic" images. But tion and more an "idea." Facing these im­
the result, when it is achieved in the cinema ages, I can clearly see that certain objects
by a process of this kind (anaglyph or some "m ust" be placed in the background. I rec­
other), is always more intense than it ap­ ognize these objects to be distant, extended
pears in reality. Reality is therefore, to some in space; and I can see the effect of this
extent, misrepresented. through the use of perspective. But I cannot
Which relates to the fact that the impres­ control this distance or experience it effec­
sion of relief is not solely due to binocular tively as I might relative to objects arranged
vision. Its cause is not just optical but also on the same plane. Depth is translated by
psychological. The notion of relief is partly a facsimile.
a function of habit, an accommodation con­ In the cinema, on the other hand, the
ferred by our movements and our under­ photographs move. Their succession repre­
 THE FILM IMAGE 33

sents movement. Superficially, the feeling obsolete. But I do not think it will add
of depth is also provided entirely by the much to cinematic expression or provide a
vanishing perspective, by the relative di­ more intense feeling of reality. Moreover,
mension of objects arranged in space. This we must find a means to reduce its exag­
is proved when, for a particular effect, I gerated effect-caused by the fact that, in
freeze-frame the same image, the same the cinema, the binocular impression is sup­
frame, for a few seconds: the image is flat, plementary to psychological relief, whereas
without relief. Despite the perspective, it in reality they are both mutually corrective
does not stand out against the background; and compensatory. Except when this exag­
it is stuck to the screen. It is no more than geration is used to create a particular ex­
a photograph. pression or special effect. In which case, the
However, when suddenly objects start to image accentuates-mechanically or n o t -
move, characters move about, everything the strangeness of the expression and is no
quickly changes. We immediately feel the more than the exact image of reality as we
depth of the space. It is movement which know it, devoid of that sensation.
determines the feeling of space - in fact, it ef­ Before proceeding any further (and since
fectively creates it. And the image immedi­ we are dealing with the "indefinite image,"
ately appears to stand out from its base (and i.e., any image), it would be well to say a
actually does so): I am no longer perceiving few words about the mental image to
a photograph projected onto a flat surface which (or to the production of which) we
but a "space." The film image is presented must refer sooner or later.
to my eyes as a "spatial image," in exactly
the same way as the real space before my The Mental Image
eyes.
Obviously this is a feeling of depth Mental images are not, as was once be­
rather than relief, but the one is a function lieved, attenuated sensations. There is no
of the other. Beings, characters are in relief "content of consciousness" or retention of
because they are "spatialized": be it that mnesic images. Memory is not a receptacle
they move or that we move around them. for storing received impressions from
Particularly since, in the latter, the resulting where they can be conveniently with­
geometric transformation emphasizes still drawn, as they are (even more or less
further the feeling of space. erased by time, as is the case with the
Psychological relief, then, is an acquired faded, yellowed photos we sometimes dig
phenomenon. Now, this "feeling of relief" out of our family albums).
is most important. It is the vestige of bin­ In this respect, Husserl and the studies
ocular relief, particularly sensitive in near of the phenomenology and psychology of
objects by reason of the impression of "de­ form (Gestalt) have led to great advances,
tachment" it creates, but which adroit not only in the psychology of perception but
lighting can sometimes produce equally also in the effects of consciousness and even
successfully. in the notion of the mental image, by reject­
It is p ossible-even probable-that one ing completely the idea of a content of con­
of these days it will be achieved without sciousness and a more or less substantial
requiring the audience to wear special image, an image-object retained in the
spectacles or sit in the right place in front memory. It is obvious that if Buhler and the
of a polymorphous screen - as is the case Wfuzburg psychologists meant image in
nowadays; all these techniques will become this sense, i.e., like Taine, Ribot, and the As-
34 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

sociationists, then, indeed, the fact that this form in which thought appears to con­
sort of image is a myth means that thought sciousness, knowing itself as such. But it is
is better off without it. But a thought with­ not a psychic content, an inert reality, a
out "image-objects" is not, practically speak­ remnant of consciousness, something
ing, a thought without images, and to say which thought might use but existing be­
that we think in images, with images, does fore it. It is an activity of the mind, a vol­
not imply the existence of a collection of untary action. Intrinsically the image is
fixed, amorphous impressions but an nothing.
infinitely changeable creation of the im­ If I think of an o b ject-sa y a c h a ir -I do
agination -understood to be activity of the not see the image of a chair as though it
mind. Clearly this is the sense we impute to were a photograph I might project in front
these "constituents of thought" known as of me. "What I am seeing," as Sartre says,
"images." "is an existing chair, but I am seeing it
"An absolutely universal rule," Husserl 'absent'." The way an image is, he adds, is
writes, "is that, generally speaking, an ob­ exactly the way it seems. However, these
ject cannot be presented in any possible definitions (which have caused a lot of ink
perception, that is, any possible conscious­ to flow) demand further explanation and
ness, as an immanent reality" (fdeen). "All invite several reservations, particularly
consciousness is consciousness of." In other since many commentators have distorted
words, consciousness does not exist as an their meaning: implying, for instance, that
"in-itself"; it is not a substantial form of the "absence of a chair" can be visualized -
reality. The object o f which I am conscious a singular phenomenon, to say the least!
does not exist within my consciousness; it Indeed, it seems difficult for the absence of
is a datum of my consciousness-none an object to appear, for the existence of that
other than perception itself, complete and object to depend on its absence.
realized; a perception "knowing itself" We must understand the following: The
through what is perceived. Consciousness image does not appear as an "object" but
of the object becomes confused with the ob­ as the "absence of reality." It has no percep­
ject of which one is conscious. As far as I can tible content. It does not exist outside the
see, it can only exist in this sense and, more­ intentionality which causes and creates it.
over, can exist through it only as an object. Also, the terms presence and absence, gener­
The object is correlative with the perceived ally applied to concrete reality, are com­
reality and with perception. pletely without meaning in this context.
In any case, what we are conscious of in­ The image is unreal, insubstantial. It is not
evitably lies outside the realm of conscious­ the presence of an object but an "appear­
ness, without which we could never be ance," a fictio n -le t us say a "form."
conscious o f it. But perception and mental F o r m -it will be arg u ed -is always the
representation are two completely separate form of something. Consequently, form
realities. In perception, reality consists of without substance is nothing. But it is not
the objects presented to my consciousness. pure nothingness, since nothingness has no
In the mental image, reality is my thought appearance. Now, the mental image exists.
presenting an image to itself, which inten­ It is a mode of existing, not one of not exist­
tionally creates it and its structure along ing. It is anonbeing in the sense that it is not
with the insubstantial forms of the thought a received impression, a concrete reality.
object. Even so, it is a judgment. It is a potential
In other words, the image is the actual record, a hollow form but present as a form,
 THE FILM IMAGE 35

a form suggesting the object through every­ Thus the mental image implies an effect
thing it is not. It is a representation without of memory: a repeated memory, a "presen-
content and objective reality. tification," to use Husserl's terminology.
However, Sartre says further on: "When But it also implies that perception must be
I think of my friend Pierre, in the act of retained, more or less affected by a coeffi­
imagining, my consciousness relates di­ cient of the past. Now, the content of con­
rectly to Pierre and not via a likeness con­ sciousness does not exist. In which case,
tained within it." To which we might be ought we to speak of "content of memory,"
tempted to reply: yes, but how could my existing in the unconscious or subconscious
consciousness relate "directly" to Pierre where the images perceived are retained
who is no longer in the "here-and-now" outside consciousness which undertakes to
unless I have a memory of him and think "illuminate" them or "see" them in order
of him via that memory? to discover them as they are? However dif­
Consciousness can never visualize pure ferent the notion of the image might be, the
nothingness. Thus we can state, at least pro­ problem remains the same; it has merely
visionally, that when I think of a chair, I do been given another name. Therefore the ef­
not visualize an "image-chair," retained by fect of memory is necessarily of another
my memory, but the chair itself, the "real- order altogether.
ity-chair," via my memory o f it. I am not see­ Before we look at this question, let us
ing an image recognized as such any more quickly examine what this "intentionality"
than a reality recognized as such, but a re­ might be, introduced into the effects of con­
ality presented as an image, i.e., a real chair sciousness. Husserl says: "To the extent that
recognized as absent. Erlebnisse2 are consciousness of something,
What Sartre—following Husserl—calls we may say that they are related 'inten­
the hyle/ i.e., what we understand in order tionally' to this something" (Ideen). We can
to create the aesthetic appearance of a rep­ see right away that the term intentionality
resented object, such as a painting, is noth­ has been distorted from the meaning it
ing more than the image distinct from should have: consciousness "is related in­
perception. Distinct not as an "in-itself" but tentionally" but has no intention "to relate."
as a direct representation of perceived real­ It is only a word to indicate an obvious re­
ity, an "imaged" reality through which re­ lationship between consciousness and what
ality itself becomes visible as "form" one is conscious of. To ascribe an "inten­
released from its substance through which tion" to consciousness is to confuse the will
that substance becomes visible. It is like a with the way, the action with a knowledge
reaction we make against perceived reality, of the action. Consciousness does not need
considering only its image; in short, what I anything: it actualizes the action and
earlier termed a "real image." thought and presents them for what they
Just like the mental image, this hyle is are. It shows the effect of which they are the
separated from actual perception to be­ ca u se-th a t is all. Intention is a voluntary
come an effect of memory, a voluntary ac­ act directed toward whatever conscious­
tion, a sort of judgment of reality. With this ness is conscious of, and intentionality is
difference: that it is recognized as being the none other thanthe state of mind character­
image of a reality existing here and now, izing that intention, the consciousness of
while the mental image is known as an in­ that wish becoming "known" in the object
tention relating to something not existing of its volition.
(or not present). I cannot see the image of a chair except
36 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

by thinking o fth e chair, and I cannot think all passed down our esophagus." "Noth­
unless I choose to do so, unless there is ing," Leibniz might say, "but digestion it­
some wish on my part. Consequently, the self." Y e s -b u t what is digestion "in-itself,"
mental image is the product of a wish di­ and what else could it be, but what is di­
rected toward the object which we know to gested? Thus consciousness cannot exist
be absent. And it is because this image is beyond what one is conscious of any more
the wish and consciousness of wishing, the than digestion can exist beyond what is di­
thought and consciousness of thinking, gested. Consciousness exists only by virtue
that I am conscious of it as an image, know­ of a "reflected" datum -w hich is that con­
ing it does not exist except for my need of sciousness. One cannot be conscious of
it. It is not to be confused with what comes walking except by walking. I know that I
to be from outside, imposing itself on my think, but I cannot be conscious of thinking
consciousness. unless I think o f something. My conscious­
Moreover, perception is not a voluntary ness concentrates on what I am thinking
action, a choice made by consciousness, but about and recognizes it as the effect of my
evidence of meanings to which conscious­ thought: thus it is conscious of that
ness is witness. To touch a particular object, thought; thus it is consciousness: in other
I must stretch out my hand; to see it, I must words, thought can only become self-ap­
look at it. I may choose to do it or not to do parent via what is thought; to know that
it, but having done it, it does not depend one is thinking is the act of thinking turned
on my wish or any intentionality that I per­ in on its e lf- the original thought becoming
ceive the object as hot or cold, smooth or the object of thinking, the product of the act
rough, round or square, blue or red. I be­ itself, its mirror image.
come conscious. My consciousness merely To contradict once again the Wiirzburg
presents me with what it has "appre­ psychologists, who categorically state that
hended" through and according to what ^ ^ ^ n g and knowing that one is thinking
has come to it via the senses. it does are one and the sam e-th ese two things are
but without "choosing" to do so, either absolutely separate. To say they are identi­
through the senses or in a particular way. cal is to confuse thought and consciousness.
Thus to say that perception is a choice and Indeed, consciousness-although better
a judgment is to say that this choice and than a simple epiphenomenon - i s really
judgment preexist the thought process and nothing more than a reflection, a mirror. As
therefore preexist consciousness. We know a mirror of sensation, it becomes actualized
them only to the extent that they are pre­ in theobject. It is perception reflected back
sented to us, to the extent that we become on itself via the structured object. As a mir­
conscious of them. They are the product of ror of thought, it becomes a concept and is
a series of elementary actions and reactions actualized in the mental image. It is thought
in which our existence involves us, impos­ reflected back on itself, via what is thought.
ing them on us through the routine of It is not that the object is within conscious­
"being-in-the-world," i.e., through experi­ ness but that consciousness is or becomes the
ence or perceptible intuition, through an o b je c t-o r at least becomes materialized in
experience we can think about but which it. It is not that the image is within conscious­
is not the consequence of that reflection. ness but that consciousness is or becomes the
To paraphrase the famous controversy image.
between Locke and Leibniz: "There is noth­ Husserl writes: "Individual existence is
ing in our digestions which has not first of presented in perception; faces are presented
 T H E FILM IMAGE 37

in judgments of perception and memory." is the effect of a certain choice made in our
By the same token, we can say that the memories, the effect of a weU-directed in­
mental image is a fact. (An object is not a tention, a judgment. But what could this
fact. What is a fact is that the object exists.) memory faculty consist of except the "stor­
Neither is thought an "existential in-itself." ing up" of some image, some perception
It is a function of which consciousness is an preserved as such.
effect, just as it is an effect of perception. Earlier we quoted the example provided
This is why Descartes's cogito is inadequate by Sartre in L'lmaginaire: "How could my
in the form we know it. We should not say: consciousness relate 'directly' to Pierre? I
"I think, therefore I am "; rather: "I ^ con­ can visualize Pierre only through the mem­
scious of thinking" or, more precisely, ory I have of him." To which we can now
"someone is conscious of th in k in g -a s a add: unless my consciousness is the self­
consciousness that someone sets him self as same memory, i.e., unless my thought, di­
existing in the w o rld -a s a thought he is rected toward Pierre, becomes manifest in a
individualized—therefore an individual mental image of "something" my memory
exists-an d everything set and individual­ has stored but which is not that image. For­
ized in this way relates to m e-therefore, th my view —there is no more of an image
clearly, I exist." "stored up" inside our memory than there is
L etus dwell, for a moment, on the effect music "stored up" inside the magnetic tape
of memory. As Bergson says, "Memory is recording the score of a film. However, just
never formed after perception; they are as the tape retains the record of an agitation
both formed at the same time. At the same of the magnetic field through which it has
time as perception is created, its memory passed, so apparently does our memory re­
is formed alongside" (L'tnergie spirituelle). tain the record of an agitation caused by re­
This is doubtless true—perhaps even nec­ ceived impressions, each memory being
essarily true. But memory is separate from merely a recollection provoked by the orig­
perception. It becomes modified and dis­ inal images, "reconstituted" via this purely
torted and in any case is not a "stored-up physiological agitation.
image." A memory becomes a memory This is not a "content of consciousness"
only via the effect of an action on the mem­ nor the effect of some "localization of the
ory faculty. Sometimes it is an involuntary brain." As a "memory," this record is out­
action, caused by an external effect, by a side consciousness, even outside the sub­
shock, generally visual or auditory, by a conscious. It must become an "image"
kind of psychic automatism beyond the again (through the effect of a spontaneous
scope of this present study. But—voluntary action, voluntary or otherwise) for it to re­
or otherwise—memory is always provoked. appear in consciousness; but as an insub­
Whatever Husserl may claim, one can­ stantial image, as the image of a reality
not think in terms o f memories, only about recognized as "absent" because it is this
memories. In other words, an original per­ very absence (or consciousness of this ab­
ception is not repeated, "presented," i.e., sence) which induces and provokes it.
reproduced in some way, but "reconsti­ Also, this "recreated" image is always only
tuted" - o n e might almost say recon­ a past event, "transformed" and inter­
structed. Of an original perception, one can preted. Being neither reproduction nor
only reconstitute what one chooses, what presentification, memory is merely the re­
appears necessary, what attracts one's structuring of a past event mentally "rep­
thoughts so particularly. The mental image resented."
38 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

Clearly, memory involves a process it is normal for its primary signification to

infinitely more complex than the mere re­ be that of the objects represented.
cording of sounds. But there are no more This natural identification has been noted
relationships between the "effect of mem­ particularly by Maurice Caveing in one of
ory" and the mental image than there are the first issues of the Revue de Filmologie, as
between the phenomena of inductive elec­ follows: "In fact, the nature of 'language'
tricity and reproduced sound. Though hu­ is to instill signification into a being other
man memory and electronic memory are than the thing signified. Conversely, in the
not of the same nature, at least they appar­ cinema, signification and the thing signi­
ently share the same techniques. However, fied are one and the same thing: it signifies
it is the domain of physiology to prove this through itself (i.e., directly). Thus in the
right or wrong and, ideally, describe in de­ cinema we can speak only metaphorically
tail their respective operations. The subject of language, discourse and idea (Denken or
is not as revolutionary as it might first ap­ Sprache). It is knowledge in the same man­
pear, though. ner because, being direct (that is, signifying
Notwithstanding, the mental im a g e - through itself), it is only metaphorically
imagination, memory, or co n cep t-is not knowledge, since this would presuppose a
really different from hallucination or from distinction between discursive thought
dream images. Though they may have dif­ and its object" ("La Dialectique du Concept
ferent causes, they are effects of the same au Cinema").
kind. Their only difference, as effects, is one We can say without hesitation that no
of degree or intensity. We shall see that be­ one has ever claimed the cinema to be
tween the dream image and the film image knowledge exactly; rather it is a purer, more
(though there is considerable difference in complete "act of consciousness" associated
the sense that the film image is, apparently, with a signification or an aesthetic value.
an objective, concrete image, placed "some­ We are putting forward the notion that in
where," in some way spatialized) the only the cinema signification and signified are
difference, as regards "psychic participa­ the same in order to prove categorically
tion," is one of degree and intensity. that the cinema is not a language. Unfor­
tunately, the above notion is predicated on
a particular meaning of the verb to signify
The Image as Sign
used in psychology. Indeed, to say that an
image "signifies" to the extent that it rep­
THE IMAGE AS SYMBOL (IN THE
resents a significant-or signifying-object
LINGUISTIC SENSE)
is a strange misuse of words. It is to sub­
Let us establish rightaw aythe following: stitute the psychological for the linguistic
in any film, any image - even the least well meaning while claiming to argue from the
defined - is found to be loaded already with linguistic point of view. In fact, in psychol­
a certain meaning, even before the most ogy the term sign (of a thing) refers to a
basic of combinations comes along to create representation incorporating a body of
an eventual signification. By themselves, by stimuli perceived in a similar way to the
their very presence "in-the-world," all perception of the thing itself. In this sense,
things, all events, all individuals are pos­ obviously in the cinema "signification and
sessed of a certain signification. Since the signified are one and the same," since the
image presenting them to our eyes is com­ representation is absolutely identical to the
posed of everything of which it is the image, represented object.
 THE FILM IMAGE 39

Relying on this evidence, certain film- havior. It has become, as it were, indicative
ologists try to show that the image can of his whole personality. Moreover, we
never be a linguistic sign, that is (to use have just witnessed the revolt of the sailors
Husserl's terminology), "in the act of signi­ of the Potemkin during which the officers
fying, the signification is not presented to have been thrown into the sea, among them
the consciousness as an object." So, for a Dr. Srnimov. Dragged by his feet, punched,
start, let us see just how far the image can kicked, and hoisted in the air like a bundle,
be a sign in this sense. he has just been heaved overboard, despite
The image of an object is identical to the his shouts of protestation. We have seen
object, to the extent that it establishes the him struggling and, in the fight, losing his
existence of that object. The image thereby pince-nez in the rigging.
signifies what the object has power to sig­ Thus, directly, this image assumes a
nify. But as an image, that is, as a "repre­ meaning. The "pince-nez" represents Dr.
sentation" - b y its very nature as an image Smimov or, more exactly, signifies his "ab­
- i t signifies nothing. It reveals-that is all. sence." There is nothing left of this arrogant
Film signification, however, is different. and contemptible officer except his ridicu­
It never - or rarely - depends on an isolated lous pince-nez stupidly dangling at the end
image but on a relationship between im­ ofthe hawser. The part stands for the whole;
ages, i.e., an association in the widest sense but what is interesting is that it is the most
of the word. The image of the ashtray sig­ insignificant detail which evokes the char­
nifies nothing more than what the object it­ acter and transfers to him its characteristic
self signifies. But by association this ashtray ridicule. Even better: through his position
"in which cigarette ends are piled up" suc­ and rank, Dr. Smimov, specimen of the rul­
ceeds in suggesting the passage of time. In ing class and the protsarist aristocracy, ac­
another context, it mightwell suggest some­ tually "represents" that class. Thus the
thing entirely different: tiredness, waiting, pince-nez succeeds in signifying with one
perhaps boredom. As Wittgenstein points stroke the downfall of the bourgeoisie
out, "the sign is what is perceptible, through "thrown overboard." Symbolically, there is
the senses, in the symbol." Two signifieds nothing left of this class except a ridiculous
may therefore have in common the same sign. substitute implying the futility and stupid­
We have a striking example in the fa­ ity of what it represents.
mous pince-nez from The Battleship Potem­ Though this example is obviously the
kin. In closeup we see a pair of spectacles most convincing, there are over a hundred
of the pince-nez type dangling by its braid similar examples in Eisenstein's films.
at the end of a steel hawser. What might Through him, we are at last able to see that
this image mean taken out of context? the signifier and the signified are two com­
Nothing, other than the fact that a distinc­ pletely separate entities, whose natures are
tive pair of spectacles is dangling at the end as different as they could be, and that the
of a steel hawser. Which is precisely what image, when it does signify, signifies some­
we see, what is revealed to us. Now, it hap­ thing quite different from what it shows,
pens that this pince-nez belongs to Smir­ though it does so through what it shows. To
nov, the ship's doctor. We have seen him quote the words used by M Caveing, it is
fiddling with it throughout the preceding a question of "instilling signification into a
sequences - so often, in fact, that this object being other than the thing signified." The
has come to characterize the doctor, being image is indeed a function of the "sign"
one of his habits, his idiosyncracies, his be­ with all the demands which that function
40 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

entails, following the established defini­ itive symbolic thought which remains the
tions. basis for the processes of consciousness, the
It should be noted, however, that the reflection of a mental organization preced­
image, as opposed to the word, is not afixed ing logic (that is, preceding the logic of rea­
sign. A dangling pince-nez does not ex­ soning) relying heavily on intuitive logic
pressly mean “a man has been thrown into and identical to the processes of transfer­
the sea; the bourgeoisie has been thrown ence. As Eisenstein himself pointed out,
overboard"; an ashtray full of burning cig­ "Thus we make use of a sensual and emo­
arette ends does not mean "time has gone tional construction of thought. Instead of
by," etc. This is nowhere near what it the logico-informative effect, we obtain an
means. The cinema is not a conventional emotional effect, a thought based on emo­
language - t h e effect of conventional and tion and not on intellectual reasoning. We
abstract signs. The image, unlike the word, do not register the fact that the surgeon has
is not "intrinsically" a sign; neither is it the been thrown overboard; we react to the fact
sign of something else. As we have said, it through the particular composition in
shows but does not signify anything. It is which it is presented to us" (Film Form).
charged with a particular meaning, with a We might examine more closely the kind
"potential for signifying" only through its of mental process which creates this sym­
association with a series of effects in which bolic signification by comparing it with the
it is involved. This is how it achieves its structure of a syllogism.
particular meaning and, in return, invests We know that the first premise is a
with new meaning the context in which it "form " comparable with a perceptual struc­
appears. ture: "all men" constitute a body (a circle)
Hume divided understanding into mat­ represented as being grouped inside a
ters o f fact and relations o f ideas. In the cin­ larger circle representing the body of "mor­
ema, what happens is that the matters offact tals." The second premise operates in the
become or determine the relations of ideas. same way: "Socrates" is an individual
The consequence is that signification does grouped inside the circle of "men." The pro­
not belong or pertain to one image but to a cess which draws from these premises the
series of images acting and reacting on each conclusion that "therefore Socrates is mor­
other. We find, as we noted already, the "in­ tal" may be described as the removal of the
tentional" structure of ideographic writing intermediate circle (men) after Socrates has
- b u t an infinitely mobile structure in been placed with his fellows in the large cir­
which "representations" are not ideas but cle (mortals). The reasoning process is there­
effects or objects. fore a "regrouping": Socrates is, as it were,
Thus to say that "in the cinema, there is removed from the group classed as "men"
no process for the formation of ideas or to be regrouped in the class of mortals. Thus
concepts" is to deny the facts. It is these the syllogism merely derives from the gen­
"ideas" alone which create understanding eral organization of structures. Moreover,
in the cinema, ideas formed as they inform. the work of W. Kohler has shown that the
It is undeniable, for instance, that the image restructuring which characterizes intelli­
of the pince-nez has a certain expressive gence also operates in this way. Perceptual
intensity and an emotional power infinitely structures are "forms." The reasoning pro­
greater than those of the officer himself. cess or "acts" consist quite simply in allow­
Apparently we are seeing in this type of ing a reciprocal "transfer" to operate.
"appeal" and its effects a reflection of prim­ The shot of the pince-nez -a n d , conse­
 T HE FILM I MAGE 41

quently, any image charged with meaning as regards the sign. Indeed, what analogy
—presupposes a similar operation: the could there be between the pince-nez,
pince-nez takes the place of its owner, who Smirnov' s fall, and the downfall of the bour­
is considered as "part" of a larger group. But geoisie? What analogy could there be be­
the re-grouping here operates in the reverse tween an empty chair and a missing person
direction; the transfer is from the part to the who used to sit in it every day?
original group and thence to the group con­ "To signify crying," Barthes writes of the
taining this group. This mental process, re­ Chinese theater, "the actor wrings the cuff
lying on intuitive logic, is merely a kind of of his sleeve and raises it to his eyes by
"instantaneous judgment," extending and lowering his head; in our theater, to signify
justifying perception. crying, the actor must cry." Nonsense! If a
It is worth stating, however, that, in a woman is shown crying on stage, there is
film, though all images signify (through no attempt made to signify that she is cry­
their content), they do not have the value of ing; she is merely seen to be crying. To sig­
signs; when they do, it is only incidentally, nify that she is crying, the director must
through the associations with the action employ associated images to imply that the
which they describe. Moreover, in contem­ w o m a n -o ffsta g e -is crying. That is the
porary cinema the use of the closeup to iso­ difference.
late details and turn them into signs (in Contradicting himself (and rightly so,
inverted commas) seems to have been su­ one might add), Barthes writes elsewhere
perseded. Significant details are no longer in his study: "Though reality is preserved
isolated from the general scene to which during the course of a film, that is, invented
they belong but stand out by virtue of the and created by the film, it cannot become
special place which they occupy in the the object of a signification. For instance, if
framing of the image. The style used by a film narrates, with actions, a love scene
Eisenstein is amply justified in epic films, between two characters, that love scene is
but in psychological films the important actually experienced by the audience; it
feature is often signified by means of a does not have to be communicated (this is
whole series of relationships determined by expression not communication). If, how­
the combined movements of the camera and ever, the love scene happens offscreen, ei­
the characters in the midst of a constantly ther before or between two sequences, then
moving, constantly changing whole. None­ it can only be understood by the audience
theless, it is the expressive demands of the via a precise process of signification —
content which must determine the descrip­ which expressly defines the semiological
tive value of an image. part of the film content."
In this respect, in his study on the prob­ However, though it is correct to say that
lem of signification in the cinema, Roland "the signified is everything outside the film re­
Barthes, like many others, continually con­ quiring expression in the film," this definition
fuses the psychological and linguistic signs, is acceptable only if we specify what we
the analogon and the symbol. His argu­ mean by "outside the film." It is not just
ment, relying first on the one and then the what immediately pertains to the action
other, is, by this fact, packed with contradic­ and which must be understood by the audi­
tions. "The relationship between signifier ence (as in the above example) but all the
and signified," he says, "is essentially ana­ indications, all the "evocations," which po­
logical, not arbitrary but motivated." This is tentially justify or explain facts, actions, be­
true of the analogon but completely untrue havior. It may be something not pertaining
42 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE CI NE MA

to the moment being considered but is still express not just several but a quantity of
part of the film. One might imagine, for signifieds, since the image assumes its
instance, this love scene to be between a value as a sign only from the context and
woman and her lover; but the woman has the associations which that context implies.
another involvement, and we know that a The same image (or, more exactly, the rep­
ring she is wearing is a present from her resentation of the same thing, the same ob­
"other lover." The shot showing the wom­ ject, the same fact) may assume as many
an kissing her lover might draw attention different meanings as there are contexts
to the ring and to her glancing at it unin­ into which it can fit. Beyond what it reveals
tentionally. The "presence of the other (and even with what it reveals), an image
lover" registered both by the audience and says only what it is meant to say. This is
in the woman's consciousness (she visibly often apparent in films which use a mon­
reacts) justifies her behavior, etc. Thus it tage of newsreel footage: the same image,
might be more correct to say: the signified juxtaposed with some other image, may
is everything outside a moment in the film re­ succeed in conveying the exact opposite of
quiring expression in that moment. what it was supposed (or meant) to record
Elsewhere Barthes claim s-rather im­ objectively.
prudently to my mind - that the film image There is no symbolic codification in the
may be used synonymously. Clearly a cinema; otherwise the film loses its living
given signified may be expressed by means authenticity, the power given to it by con­
of a variety of signifiers. In Eisenstein's crete reality. From the moment that the sym­
film, for instance, the broken candles (light­ bol is "conventionalized," it becomes merely
ing the piano in the officers' wardroom) an abstract sign embedded in the continuity.
and the plate broken by the sailors in their It is more valid to say expressly in a subtitle
mess suggest, like the pince-nez, the down­ "some years later" than to show a dog-eared
fall of the ruling class. However, the very calendar to signify the passage of time. The
fact that this is suggested quite differently subtitle borrows its preciseness from lan­
in each case means that they are indicating guage, whereas the conventional image of
more than shades of meaning. The same the calendar, inaccurate in what it evokes,
idea is being expressed but through differ­ states beforehand (as a recognized symbol)
ent significations directed toward very dif­ what it intends to suggest. As Barthes so
ferent ends. Moreover, this (merely relative) rightly points out, "the aesthetic viability of
synonymy is purely accidental: it exists a film is due to the fact that the filmmaker
only in this particular film. Beyond The Bat­ is able to separate the form of the sign and
tleship Potemkin, there is no relationship, no its content without leaving the boundaries
significant analogy of any kind, between a of intelligibility."
dangling pince-nez, splintered candles, and Though limited and directed by its con­
a broken plate. Elsewhere Barthes admits text, ambiguity of signification is necessary
this implicitly when he states: "Synonymy to film clarity. Therein resides the essential
is not aesthetically viable except when it is, difference between the cinema and logical
so to speak, faked: the signified is ex­ (i.e., "rational") language in which the
pressed via a series of successive correc­ meaning is clearer the more it is limited,
tions and approximations and none of precise, circumscribed.
them really repeats the other." A conventional sign is viable in the cin­
As for what he says in respect of poly­ ema only to the extent it is misrepresented;
se m y - it is all self-evident. A signifier may in other words, to some extent ridiculed.
 T HE FILM I MAGE 43

We all know the classic example of Charlie how on earth could one be less interested
Chaplin, who, back to camera, staring at in the sign and more in the signification? A
the picture on his girlfriend's wall (she hav­ sign is valid only by virtue of what it signi­
ing just left), appears to be racked by terri­ fies. One could never be interested in a sign
ble grief to judge from the fact that his which signifies nothing . . . it would cease
shoulders are shaking as though he is sob­ being a sign! Moreover, signification is
bing. The sign could not be more conven- valid—indeed ex ists-o n ly insofar as it is
tio n a l-n o one could mistake it. No one! . . . signified, i.e., supported by the sign. I would
rather everyone: Charlie turns round and be glad to know what signification is if it is
there he is, mixing a cocktail and vigor­ not signified. The one exists only because
ously shaking the cocktail shaker. of the other. So this distinction is absurd.
Though obviously a symbol system ex­ One cannot be interested in a sign indepen­
ists, serving as a support for signification dently of what it signifies; nor can one be
in film, it is in no way conventional. It is an interested in signification without involv­
infinitely variable system, the one we use ing whatever makes it signify.
in everyday thinking. Consequently there To put it in a nutshell: in the example
is n o t-n o r could there ever b e - a syntax from Potemkin, the sign is the pince-nez (ob­
of signifiers (syntax meaning a body of ject) and the signified is the downfall of the
grammatical or linguistic rules). The only bourgeoisie (idea). The signification is a
syn tax-or, to be more accurate, the only mental “form "; it is the product of the as­
ru le-u sed in film signification is the syn­ sociation of the object in a given context
tax of logical association. We shall return to which makes the object signify this and not
this when we deal with the development of that. In fact, whether verbal or visual sign,
continuity, i.e., the relationship between signification can only exist when the sign is
form and content. In the meantime, we can capable of being understood. understand­
only echo Barthes' s quasi-definition, in ing, in the cinema, does not involve direct
summary of what has just been said: “signi­ translation into words. It stands by itself, to
fication is never central to a sequence: it is the extent that it is simply logical.
only marginal. The object of the sequence
is epic; it is what surrounds it which is the
THE IMAGE AS ANALOGON (IN THE
signifier; one can imagine sequences which
PSYCHOLOGICAL SENSE)
are purely epic, without signification; one
can hardly imagine sequences which are Now let us see in what way the image
purely signifiers." may be regarded as a “sign" in the psycho­
However, there have been so many ab­ logical sense of the word. By making a care­
surd statements concerning the “sign" in ful examination of objects we will see that
the cinema that it would be fitting to close the identification of signifier and signified
this section by quoting some remarks is altogether relative and that the image,
whieh might otherwise confuse the reader. though analogous with what it reveals, al­
For instance, the remark attributed to Chris ways adds something to what is revealed.
Marker, whom we credit with more sense Previously we mentioned that in the cin­
generally: “a certain editing art may disap­ ema represented objects had a dimension,
pear . . . as we become less interested in the a “solidity," that they were “involved" as
sign and more in signification" (Cinema 61, they are in reality. In fact, they are more so.
no. 57). Now, if he meant becoming more Indeed, in reality, objects are involved only
interested in “what is signified" . . . but by their presence; however, their involve­
44 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

ment is translated b y an obvious "accessi­ concrete reality, which participates in any

bility." I can make of these objects what I way in the action.
want, act on or with them as I wish. They In the cinema, composed entirely of the
are involved in all possible events, i.e., in concrete, everything relates to an idea. It
none; and whatever I might do, they are will be argued that the same thing happens
impartial. in reality. But in actuality the ready acces­
In the cinema, on the other hand, objects sibility of the object divests it of this refer­
are involved in a narrative reality which encing power. In the cinema, on the other
has a beginning and an end - a purpose. hand, the objects are present under the sig­
Their accessibility is compulsory. They can­ nifying pretext. As we have just said, they
not be other than the way they are presented, are involved in a directed reality. It is the
and they cannot help but take part in the "need to be there" of the specific table which
action which is foreign to them but which implies the "need to be there" of all possi­
involves them by the very fact that they ble tables and, thereby, of an "idea-table."
witness it. They are in the drama and are Or, if you prefer, the emphasis absent in
part of the drama. reality is manifest in the film image, partic­
The clock over the mantlepiece in the ularly since what is involved in the film is
room where a dramatic action happens is, not so much the object itself but an aspect
obviouslynot part of the drama. It cannot of the object, an image.
make an active contribution. However, it One can say then that the mental image
tells us the time and thereby informs us. In never exhausts what it represents. When I
any case, it is there. And it is the same for all think of the countryside, I may imagine a
objects-furniture or om am ents-w hieh tiny farm or a remote field but I cannotcon-
compose the setting, which, though extra­ jure up every possible feature of every pos­
neous to the drama, contain and, in some sible countryside, i.e., every image which
measure, reflect it. The action taking place that idea implies and which the word coun­
among these pieces of ^furniture, among tryside contains-potentially at least. This
these objects, forms, through them, an en­ inexhaustible meaning exists only in the
tity both heterogeneous and homogeneous: idea itself. It implies the "calculable i^In-
heterogeneous by virtue of the elements ac­ ity" known as countryside. The image I call
tually present, active or passive, partial or up is, for me, merely an adequate indica­
impartial (the characters, the objects); ho­ tion, a partial representation, temporary
mogeneous by virtue of the fact that this but necessary. It is the crystallization of the
entity forms a "totality" presented in one idea in my mind, its "actualization." The
image, one shot. Setting, characters, and ob­ word is a matrix to contain every possible
jects are involved in the same action. It is a image but containing none of them. Thus
single space subject to a single time se­ to say, as does A. Binet, that "the image is
quence. not adequate for rendering the whole
Besides the characters (and with them), meaning contained in words" is nonsense
a complete space, a world (or an aspect of because this meaning is no more or less
the world) is involved, forming the "narra­ than what I choose to attribute to the
tive reality" whose changing circumstances words. And it is the image alone which
we follow. However, each thing, each object gives it to them. It is the image which fo­
involved in this way, commits not only its cuses the meaning of the word, clarifies it,
existence but also its "essence." And the and somehow places it in my conscious­
same is true of any object, any setting and ness by providing it with a color, an ap­
 T HE FILM IMAGE 45

pearance, and a form. The image fixes the essence it conceives "beyond the objects
idea (provided it does not exhaust it). The themselves." In the cinema, the immanent
word exhausts neither idea nor image; it finds expression in a certain transcendence
reflects them. but not in the "transcendental."
Nor does the film image exhaust what it Which is why it seems wrong to say, as
shows. It shows only one aspect but always does Roger Munier, that the film image is
reflects a generality. Far from limiting what the "pre-face of the world, a world up to
is represented to its representation, it sug­ now debased as an object but appearing to
gests a vista beyond the representation but regain its status through the film image"
originating in it exclusively. (L'Image fascinante). This conception is the
The image of the chair is both perceived consequence of the fact that, like Bazin,
as an image, seen and understood as a real Munier regards the image an objective phe­
object; it is the chair presented as an image. nomenon independent of human vision. To
in other words, the film image finds its consider the film image as a "statement of
place less between reality and fiction than the real world," by virtue of its objectivity
between essence and existence. It invokes considered as absolute, to say that it is "cos-
an essence through a concrete existence, mophanic in its essence," is to posit the world
just as it invokes a presence through an ab­ as "in-itself" and to posit this "in-itself" as
sence: reality in the cinema is present be­ necessarily identical (and yet "purer") with
cause it is effectively represented but it is the object as we know it, without realizing
absent because it is only represented. (Thus that the object is the way it is only by virtue
the image of the chair confirms the absence of our perception. This is to dabble in "tran­
of the object though I see the chair through scendental realism" - a position condemned
its image.) Moreover, this image is only by the whole of modem physics. To use the
ever a chosen aspect, directly juxtaposed image of Francis Ponge: the "mimosa-with-
with another chosen aspect. One might say out-me" does not exist, at least insofar as the
that any object presented in moving images "mimosa-is-an-object. "3
gains a meaning (a collection of significa­ This might almost be conceivable were
tions) it does not have "in reality," that is, as the vision of the camera to transcend
a real presence. human vision. However, not only is this
We must emphasize that we mean "es­ vision "directed" but it is dependent on an
sence" here in its phenomenological sense, optical system designed by man so that its
i.e., as pure potentiality and not in the "reproduction" is effectively the same as
Kantian or Platonic sense. It is imperative human vision. If by chance this optical sys­
to stress this point so that errors of inter­ tem showed a vision revealing a "transcen­
pretation may be avoided. Moreover, it is dental reality," we would reject it as incon­
this way of regarding the "essence" as an gruous and call it "bad."
"in-itself" or as a transcendental "a priori" We are almost in agreement with Mun-
which gives Bazin (and a few others) the ier when he says, "The limits of paper or
idea of the camera discovering the world screen are enough to endow this fraction
"beyond the world," the world of essences, of reality . . . with a meaning it would not
pure spirits, beyond the human eye, a cam­ have in the material world in which it is
era, as it were, "discovering the divine," registered . . . . The true world only has po­
whereas it is our minds which find, tential meaning. Conversely, in photogra­
through the images of objects (and because phy, it defines itself as a world, delivering
the image "makes the object unreal"), the its many-faceted appearance at once. It is
46 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

true that it may be photographed from a for the purpose of the image (which would
great many angles. But from one single be the overall aim of a film) than from it and
angle, only one photograph is possible.4 because of it. The film image (though it may
Reality collecting all its potential meanings be mediation) is above all the element of a
in the one photograph, including and, language: logos and not the result or object
therefore, denying all possible interpreta­ of logos.
tions, thereby expresses itself in its entirety. The essential magic of the cinema is con­
The photograph is reality-turned-into- tained in the fact that the "content of real­
statement (something like a word of the ity" becomes an element in its own
world). In the photograph, the world, as narrative. "What is" becomes "what is not"
world, is named, even before any abstrac­ or "what could be" or "what could not be
tion or choice, in its undifferentiated being. otherwise": a transfigured "what is." Real­
It is pure revelation" (L'fmage Fascinante). ity becomes the statement of unreality or
Yet to say that reality is expressed "in its fiction, of verisimilitude or lack of verisi­
entirety" in the image seems to me to miss militude. We can see what someone's eye
the point. An image can show only one as­ has already seen, an image in which reality,
p ect- nothing more. Yet this aspect acts as supplied with a more or less noticeable aes­
substitute for all other possible aspects. It thetic coefficient, is shown to be more per­
becomes, as it were, the sign of everything fect than it is.
it is not, i.e., all the aspects which it implies To demonstrate this signification, we
and for which it acts as substitute. must lay heavy emphasis on difference and
Thus it may be safely said that the image analogy, which, in the cinema, indicate the
is a "revelation" - with the reservation, how­ relationship of what is represented with its
ever, that it is the revelation of a more in­ representation. We should start by specify-
tensely perceived and signified reality, not a in g - i n order to avoid any semantic confu­
"transcendental reality." What Munier calls sion - t h a t the word representation is taken
"photogenics" (revelation) is not, as he states, in the sense of "photographic" or film "rep­
the meaning objects "give themselves";5 nor resentation." We admit that the word pre­
is it a meaning which we might ascribe to sentation is probably more suitable, since
them but one which they acquire through the representation (in the sense of the German
effect of being represented on and also Vorstellung) generally indicates the direct or
one which we discover in them (which we inherent data of consciousness or else an
can only grasp through the effect of their image different from the object of which it
isolation). The meaning we attribute to them is the im age-different in its "substance"
can only ever be an aesthetic meaning de­ (mental image) or in its interpretative na­
pendent on the framing and organization of ture (painting). What we call a sign (in the
the field of vision. linguistic sense) is a representation re­
Indeed, to say that the film image is garded as a symbolic substitute or abstract
"alienation" because, unlike painting, it representative.
does not depend on a mediation or that, in it, We can immediately see that a film
the "mind as logos is rejected," is both to image - the "objective presentation" of a
speculate on its supposed "total objectiv­ given reality -m ay be understood in large
ity" and consider it as an end in itself. Any part as a "representation" (Vorstellung) de­
image which is the product of a certain spite the fact that, as an image, photography
choice has been mediated. However, if is not particularly interpretative. And this
there is mediation, it is less in the image or im age-w hich is Vorstellung as a content
 THE FILM IMAGE 47

present in the consciousness (the image o f of light reflected onto it and captured by
som ething)-m ay play the part of repre­ the lens. The object is transferred onto m
sentative (Repriisentant) as the sign of a sug­ as a completely faithful copy.
gested or symbolized reality of which it is Of course, if I consider the film image
clearly not the image. without projecting it, that is, if I look at each
Let us now consider for a moment a separate frame of the film, the "bunch-of-
painter painting a bunch of flowers on his flowers-on-film" constitutes "in itself" a
canvas (the choice of banal subject is delib­ new object. That it might be similar to the
erate). The artist is representing an object real object does not alter the fact that it is
which is indeed real. However, the reality fictional. It is merely a photograph repro­
he sees belongs to the object and not to the duced on a strip of celluloid. Yet it is suc­
representation he makes of the object. The ceeded by a number of other photographs
bunch of flowers painted on the canvas no which change according to the recorded
longer has a reality as an object-bunch o f movement. (We might imagine a bunch of
fowers. Having become an object-painting, flowers being shaken by a violent breeze -
it now has only a fictional reality. Now, always supposing there is no one acting on
clearly, the purpose of the painting is the it or around it.)
picture representing the bunch of flowers, If, now, I project this sequence of images,
not the bunch of flowers seen by the the "bunch-of-flowers-on-the-screen" takes
painter. The purpose is the representation shape. It becomes "spatialized" through
itself endowed with the appropriate aes­ the effect of movement and becomes identi­
thetic qualities. cal to the real bunch of flowers in the view­
Thus we m ay say that, in painting, the finder of the camera. Since the film
object represented disappears behind its own representation of an object is identical with
representation. Transformed into a painted the representation of the same object "reg­
work of art, it can exist only through that istered by a consciousness," I perceive it in
painting. Having become the "bunch-of- the same way as I perceive the real bunch
flowers-in-the-painting," it can wither and of flowers. In other words, in the cinema,
die as a real object; the representation will contrary to what happens in all the other
survive. Yet it will survive only as a new arts, the representation is identical to the object
object, an imitation of the original, both dif­ represented.
ferent and fictional. The "bunch-of-flowers- What I see, in fact, is no longer the bunch
in-the-painting" is a specific, independent of flowers but, through and by it, the bunch
creation. It takes a voluntary act of consent of flowers itself. It is the real bunch of
to make it the image of the real bunch of flowers my consciousness observes through
flowers. my perception of an image immediately for­
In the cinema, things are quite different. gotten as an image by reason that it is per­
Whereas the painter's bunch of flowers is ceived "as an object of which it is the
the effect of various colors applied by him image."
on a canvas following an intention, the Thus the real object, the real being, is
bunch of flowers recorded by me on film is dispensable. Not only does the representa­
devoid of all intentionality. The image is tion survive but also, through and by it, the
identical in all respects to the object in the object or being, endowed with all their ap­
viewfinder. It is not the effect of an artist parent qualities. Obviously they do not sur­
but (dare one say it) the effect of the object vive "for themselves" but for me, the
itself, reproducing itself on film by means spectator, who receives the image of them.
48 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

This becomes quite apparent when w e take that particular time and place. It becomes
another look at an old screen comedian. in some way self-transcendent, the existen­
Today Raimu in La Femme du boulanger is tial manifestation of an idea.
as lively and topical as he must have been Seen as a reality and assimilated as the
in the same film twenty years ago. Thus to organic element of a structure, the object
speak of a “new object" or a fictional reality seems thereby to be in some way both sub­
is not strictly accurate (at least for the ject and object, immanent and transcendent.
“spectator-in-front-of-the-screen"), particu­ Art consists in part in accenting either one
larly since film is only filmic by being pro­ or the other of these contradictory features.
jected, anim ated-otherw ise it is nothing Further on, we shall take a closer look at
more than a collection of still photographs. the considerable part the frame plays in this
Let us examine now another side of the process. For the time being: the image, as
question. If all he wishes to do is record an image and because it is an image, tran­
images, the filmmaker expresses himself by scends the reality of which it is the image;
creating intentional relationships between the representation becomes, in some mea­
beings, the world, and objects. Directing sure, the concrete sig n -th e signal - o f what
consists essentially in structuring a space it represents, an analogon crystallizing all
limited by a frame. The data in the image, the potentialities, all the “powers of exist­
th en -n ecessarily -ord ers itself in respect ing" of the represented reality.
of the frame which defines the living, active This dual involvement is not im­
geometry which it encloses. mediately apparent; it cannot be analyzed
Captured by the lens, objects are impli­ spontaneously; it is experienced intuitively,
cated by a formalizing intention whith gives even unconsciously. It is this seemingly ob­
them meaning. Thus representation consti­ scure and somewhat mysterious effect
tutes a form, an “organic" whole different which has given rise to the countless studies
from the spatial reality of which it is never­ on the “magic" of the moving picture. In­
theless the image. The effect of this is a sort deed, there is some kind of enchantment in
of duality or conflict between the repre­ this strange fascination. But magic is merely
sented object and its representation. a word describing a great many things but
When I see the “bunch-of-flowers-on- explaining none of them. The most prof­
the-screen," as we have said, I am seeing itable way to explain it is to return to its
the real object through the image of it pre­ sources, since this “involvement" depends
sented to me. This object is presented to my on a whole network of psychological com­
consciousness as an immanent reality, as an pulsions themselves based on mental reac­
object devoid of intentionality. Thus it tends tions affecting perception and judgment.
to break the confines of the frame. It is pre­ Suffice it to say that the “photogenics"
sented as though “seen through a win­ of Louis Delluc and the first theorists, Jean
dow," nothing more. Epstein's “animism," Henri Agel's “soul of
Yet, at the same time, consciously or oth­ the image," and Edgar Morin's “quality
erwise, I perceive an image, i.e., a struc­ which adds an extra dimension," though
tured reality, a/orm.6 The bunch of flowers they are personal definitions of the same
is presented to me as an element in a com­ phenomenon, are merely explanations of
positional whole which gives it a meaning. the “narcotic properties of the poppy"
The bunch of flowers becomes (almost in type.
spite of itself) a sort of archetype satisfying One of the least obvious features of the
the need for the object-bunch-of-flowers at film image is that it is a striking reflection
 THE FILM IMAGE 49

of the continual antagonism between the therefore, words lead me directly to that
unity of the object (perceived for what is signification. I perceive them as “signi-
unique and essentially topical in it) and the fieds," not as “signs." My progress through
innumerable possibilities which it presup­ the novel is not from one word to the next
poses and which analogon implies. No­ but from one idea to the next; and these
where else is it so obvious—this division ideas are presented to me less by the words
between reality and appearance, between than by their connections, i.e., in sentences
the concrete and abstract, between the im­ organized according to a predetermined
manent and transcendent-all comple­ signification. Now, though these ideas are
menting and justifying each other in a “suggested" to me, it is I who structures
formal unity, the image. them, who creates a personal picture, who
transforms them into “images." And it is
THE FILM IMAGE AND VERBAL these images, charged with meaning,
EXPRESSION which affect me emotionally-m eaning,
obviously, which is constantly subject to
Say I am reading War and Peace and am the reference and control of the author but
talking about it with a few friends. Each of which nevertheless remains relative to the
them, if he has read it, will recognize that meaning I ascribe to them.
we are talking about the same b o o k - In other words, I create a personal rep­
which we all know objectively as the work resentation of a certain world and certain
of Tolstoy. It is Tolstoy who presents the objects, to the extent that the emotion I ex­
setting, the atmosphere, and the society, perience becomes correlative with the work
who analyzes the characters and events ac­ of art and this personal representation -
cording to a conception of the world and a which may be altered on the way by new
style characteristic of him. Yet when I am references upsetting my original assump­
reading the book, the author is no longer tions but which helps me collaborate in the
Tolstoy; it is I, through him. novel I am reading and makes me half-re­
In fact, the author merely provides me sponsible for the pleasure it gives me.
with words, words charged with meaning Thus it may be that my personal repre­
and, as it were, transparent with their signi­ sentation of War and Peace has nothing in
fication - a s they must be, since any rhyth­ common with the representation made by
mically exaggerated prose or overelaborate a reader more versed than myself in the
form risks drawing attention to itself, thereby manner, customs, and social life in Russia
creating a screen instead of effacing itself at the time of Alexander I. But even with
before the idea it intends to suggest. (Lyri­ the help of the description, the analyses,
cal prose feeds on description. It exagger­ and indeed everything expressible through
ates whatever it describes but can never the words, how could a reader who knows
reach the level of analysis, which is ob­ nothing of tsarist Russia be expected to im­
scured by the opacity of the lyricism. The agine not only the battle of Borodino (pure
psychological novel must also have style, spectacle) but also the social milieu of the
but one which depends less on the rhythm Dolokhovs, the private life of the Rostov
and form of the words than on a way of family, Prince Andre, his relationship with
expressing, a means of expressing, a living Natasha, her attitude to ^ m , her spiritual
reality, directly experienced and recognized development, and even the character of
as such.) Pierre Bezoukhov?
Transparent with their signification, Suffice it to say that for the reader, the
50 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I NE MA

"intelligibility" of the work, its significa­ from his work, the author is always evident
tion, meaning, implication, and influence in his characters. However true and lifelike
(literary, moral, or social), in a word, ite their psychology, it is nevertheless a subjec­
"value," depend to a large extenton his (the tive creation, since analysis, in literature, is
reader's) cultural awareness, his knowl­ merely the author's opinion of his charac­
edge of the social milieu described, the con­ ters, his detachment as he considers them,
nections of that milieu with the world, and, judging them by absolute criteria which he
of course, his capacity for appreciating the himself establishes. It only becomes genuine
author's style. psychological analysis when the subject is
But valid or not, consistent or not with the author himself, observing himself,
the author's intentions (allowing for the studying himself, and telling his own story
margin of personal interpretation which - l i k e P ro u st-o r putting himself in the
every imagination presupposes), the "real­ place of the central character, ascribing to
ity" imagined by the reader is "experi­ it his thoughts and em otion s-like James
enced" by him in exactly the same way as Joyce. Thus the most usual ploy for the au­
perceived reality. The author creates the thor, at the same time as he describes to us
theme, but it is the reader who animates that the external features which he is duty
theme and "puts it into visual terms." Read­ bound to observe, is to share with us the
ing can be said to consist in the "actualiza­ innermost thoughts, impressions, and dif­
tion in the imagination" of the "theme" of ferent reactions of his heroes, placing him­
the novelist. Each of us creates his own ac­ s e lf - and, at the same time, us, his readers
tualization; each of us has his own Bovary, - inside their consciousness.
his own Pere Goriot, his own Raskolnikov, his The cinema, on the other hand, presente
own Rastignac, his own Rabouilleuse. And only actions. Though the characters are the
one might well wonder, in view of the lim­ creation of the filmmaker, at least they are
itations on the filmmaker and the priorities there, present and active and "in the flesh."
he is forced to consider, whether the disap­ Dissociated from creative imagination,
pointment we all experience with the adap­ they seem to have an independent, exclu­
tation of a masterpiece is not due merely to sive existence which is objective and no
the discrepancy between a particular repre­ longer merely conceptual. However basic
sentation of an object and the idea of it their psychology, it is always "located."
which each of us conjures up; for it is hardly The characters are drawn according to cir­
conceivable that every reader of Balzac or cumstance and their development always
Tolstoy should have such a highly devel­ depends on an effectively "experienced"
oped cultural background as to give him the reality. They are human beings "in the
capacity for performing an exhaustive crit­ world"; they act and are acted upon.
ical analysis pointing out the limitations or Which is why many characters and situa­
omissions of the adaptation or adaptor. tions valid in the novel do not "hold up"
Thus, relying upon and even exploiting on the screen. Often they are simple con­
the reader's powers of imagination and cepts granted an illusory and abstract ex­
comprehension, the novelist presents char­ istence. However convincing it may be in
acters with specific roles to play within the fiction, this existence is not as secure in a
body of the novel from which he is able to "true" reality where characters and situa­
draw conclusions about their lives and be­ tions must "retain their credibility" in the
havior, even their existence. But whatever context of a network of relationships and
he may do to try to lose his own personality circumstances which test their authenticity
 T H E FILM IMAGE 51

(which the novelist has the luxury of ab­ all for what it is but almost always indica­
stracting or omitting). Thus film presents tive of something else. In fact, we are in­
behavior and attitudes. It suggests and im­ formed o f something through something. It
plies but never (generally speaking) draws is through the pince-nez that we are in­
any conclusions, leaving this to the audi­ formed o f the absence of Dr. Smimov, i.e.,
ence presumed (often mistakenly) to be ed­ the result of an action which consists of
ucated. In this respect, it is more advanced throwing him overboard. It is through the
than the novel. In the novel, we become glass ball slipping from Kane's grasp that
aware of the inner consciousness through we are informed of his death. It is through
external phenomena and the analysis, al­ the glass and the spoon (in the very first
ways descriptive, is the product of associ­ wide angle) that we are informed o f Su­
ations determined by "observable" evi­ san's poisoning (Citizen Kane).
dence. It is in fact synthetic, since the Moreover, though film is not "thought,"
characters reveal themselves and psycho­ it must provide "material for thought," and
logically "construct themselves" through it is time perhaps to establish the following:
their actions. film absolves us of the need to imagine
In a film, the characters, world, and soci­ what it shows us, but it requires us to im­
ety visualized by the filmmaker are effec­ agine with what it shows us through the
tively present and their intrinsic significa­ associations which it determines. The im­
tion is clearly "contained" in the images age is not an end in itself; it is a start. Noth­
whichpresent them. This means that "what ing will ever be understood in the cinema as
is shown" and "what is signified" are per­ long as the represented data are regarded as its
ceived at the same moment in a sort of "act final thematic purpose.
of consciousness" involving perception and It is all too obvious, in mediocre films,
comprehension. The audience does not that the theme is contained in these data,
have to imagine what it is shown: all it has this "narrative" (but, equally, anecdote is
to do is surrender to the images and "live" the purpose of adventure novels and pulp
the represented reality. As Merleau-Ponty novelettes). It is a matter of knowing what
writes, "film is not thought out; it is per­ we are dealing with and on what level. We
ceived." But, as we have noted elsewhere, are speaking here of the specific qualities of
what we are referring to here as the film and not of a specific film (although a
"signified" is an immediate datum relating certain number of films have been able to
to the perceived reality. It is merely a quality, create something out of these fundamental
a feature of that reality. qualities).
Which is why we cannot help but think, To follow the analogy (or, rather, the an­
with M. Cohen-Seat, that in the cinema "the tithesis) between the visual and the verbal,
audience is never informed of something it should be noted that in a novel, the action
but through something." The two processes may be signified by an abstract idea. I can
happen simultaneously. Therein, he says, say: "Pierre walks along the road." In the
lies "the whole difference between a (sec­ cinema, I am unable to express this idea. I
ondary) transmitter and direct reality." must translate it, through a concrete repre­
Of course, we are not informed o f some­ sentation, as if to say: "Pierre is walking
thing through a transmitter (considered as along the road" (a use of the present con­
an abstract sign), since we are receiving a tinuous unknown in the French language
directly perceptible concrete reality. We are but common in English). Also, he is walk­
informed through a reality presented first of ing along a particular road: this one and
52 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

none other. Which comes down to saying there and for them also (dare we say it?)
that, in the cinema, all actions are actions their presence constitutes an absence. Nat­
as they happen. Everything is actual, overlap­ urally, everything is consequent on a previ­
ping well and truly in space and time. ous past, but that consequence is what is
Consequently, only one tense is possible: and what alone exists at that particular mo­
the present. in fact, there is only the present, ment. in other words, the present is the im­
just as in objective reality where the fact of manence of causes and effects, that is, the
existing is understood as such only in its state of existing perpetuating itself by
immediate manifestation: the action no changing; it is time passing, unconscious
longer exists once it has been accom­ that it is passing, but which is. And which
plished. It becomes part of what we call the is everything it could be at every moment
past but only by virtue of our memory re­ of itself. To use a figurative expression, it is
taining the impression of a momentary the "future" effectively experienced, i.e.,
stimulation. It is remembered but the past "as it happens," "as it is taking place."
exists only for us. It is a subjective reality, It will be argued that time and "objec­
but it is also a nonreality. Objectively, one tive" reality have meaning only for the con­
action succeeds another, one state succeeds sciousness perceiving them. M ean in g-yes.
another, and so on. Everything which may But by the very fact that being conscious
"exist potentially" (through our conscious­ presupposes being conscious of, there is
ness recognizing a future action as possible necessarily a "something," a physical real­
or considering it as probable) and which ity o f which we are conscious, the source of
has yet to be realized belongs to the future, that something we are conscious of. Now,
that is, to the nonexistent. There is only the this reality, whether or not it is perceived,
present. whether or not it can be perceived, only
The concepts past and future have no exists in the here and now, since the fact of
meaning at all for someone without the existing is only justified by and predicated
memory faculty, living a vegetative life. on "present existence"-otherw ise it does
Whatever consciousness one might sup­ not exist or exists no longer.
pose he possesses could only be the con­ Only we who are aware of the succes­
sciousness of existing. He could never know sive states of objects, who can divide time
that he is changing or that he continues to arbitrarily into past, present, and future,
exist, since this presupposes his remember­ can appreciate the movement directing these
ing that he has been existing. So all he can objects and "projecting" them into the fu­
know is a perpetually present "actuality." ture. in plain language, this movement is.
We remember objects to the extent that we It succeeds itself in a perpetual state of
are conscious of them and to the extent that "time-being" - t h e effect of ex istin g -an d
they have a "time and place" correspond­ does not project itself toward a future.
ing with our own; but the objects them­ is what we mean by consciousness of possi­
selves are what they are and then become bility or probability, the logical conse­
immediately different: another grouping, quence of a certain time-being, whose
another state, another phase. Without terms of existence are related to its being a
memory or consciousness, they are moved present "in the process of developing" and
rather than move of their own accord. They which exists only inasmuch as it is present.
react to impulse and their "indifference" is Dependent on all contingent previous and
merely the effect of their inertness. They are simultaneous states, each "state" is both
there without being conscious of being ephemeral and different, since everything is
 T HE FILM IMAGE 53

mutually dependent in a reality totally in­ ing-place." It all happens as though we feel
volved in each of its moments. There can we have been suddenly transported back
be no "precise" reproduction of a particu­ in time. Our attention is held by the action
lar state. Each one is unique. And this very happening in a directly perceptible con­
uniqueness is the result, the guarantee of its crete reality. The past, as such, does not
very existence. exist in the cinema. All past action is a
Not only is the cinema limited to present­ "present" transferred into the "life" of the
ing objects in the present tense but, always drama via a logical or psychological asso­
presenting circumstances in a constant state ciation; it is the present "in the past" - b u t
of action and reaction, it alone of all the arts always the present.
is able to signify the immanence of reality, Which is why some psychologists have
capturing the "here and now" in a narrative felt justified in saying that the "vision of the
"unity," i.e., within a space of time which is past in the cinema does not correspond
existence itself preserved and pursued in with an act of consciousness relating to re­
the continuous actuality of its development. membered objects." This is certainly true
To return to our analogy: in narrative, but a "backwards shift in time" when the
the narrator recounting a past event contin­ hero has been seen to lapse into a gloomy
ues to be present. When, for instance, he daydream does not presume to present the
tells us "I was very late for school that daydream "in its subjective state." What
morning and was scared I'd be told off, es­ the character is thinking is not revealed,
pecially since Monsieur Hamel had told us merely what he is thinking about. Once again
he'd be testing us on participles and I we enclose an "interiority" by taking it
hadn't a clue," he is looking at a past event "from the outside." The subjective image is
he can recall to share with us. He sees it quite different from this supposed repre­
through his memory; he reconstructs the sentation of memory.
scene and makes it recur before his eyes as But what essentially distinguishes vi­
a series of mental images. By recomposing sual from verbal expression is the fact that
it for ourselves, we understand perfectly the latter is made up of a series of distinct
the "distance" between the past event and terms which signify through their successive
the act of narration which the narrator per­ relationships, contributing, each in tum, an
forms in the present. It is, as it were, a look element of the overall structure. All verbal
at the past from the vantage point of the expressions are contingent to a greater or
present. lesser degree upon time passing (except,
There is nothing like this in the cinema. perhaps, interjections which stand by
When a character describes a memory, the themselves). Each word has a signification
transition from present to past is indicated predicated on its meaning within the
either by the evidence of the facts, by com­ phrase and each phrase has a signification
mentary, or by action with dialogue (subti­ relative to the collection of terms which it
tles in the case of silent films). Whatever the comprises. Every description, every analy­
technique used, we know where we are; the sis, is made up of a sequence of comple­
events we see taking place before our eyes mentary and mutually corrective phrases,
are located in time through their relation created by the gradual definition of the el­
with what we have already seen. But they ements of an entity synthetically con­
still take place in the "here and now." The structed by the thought. Verbal signification
past is "actualized." It is no longer mem­ appears to the consciousness in the same
ory; it is an action "in-the-process-of-tak- way as a photographic plate, whose shapes,
54 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

subtleties, and shading are gradually re­ to emphasize the concrete nature of the
vealed in the developing bath. moving image, but he chose a poor exam­
Film signification is also successive, but ple. In fact, though the cinema is sometimes
it is organized in terms of images. Now, an required to describe to us in precise detail
image is already a complete entity in itself. an action of this kind, it never does so ex­
It represents a space, a collection of objects plicitly—as does literature. Narrative, when
and relationships all simultaneously per­ it provides information of this kind, is
ceived. It would require several pages of obliged to say: "every eveningthe marquise
text to describe the content of a single shot: took her tea at five o'clock." Film simply
so many verbs to signify states, move­ shows us a comer of the setting: in her re­
ments, and actions; so many subjects, attri­ ceiving room, the marquise is taking tea
butes; so many direct, indirect, or adjectival with a few middle-aged friends. We see
complements! Thus a shot cannot be the what is happening, where it is happening;
equivalent of either a word or a phrase; we hear what is being said and, incidentally,
rather it is the equivalent of a whole series we notice, on the mantlepiece, the clock
of phrases. Several phrases are needed to showing that it is five o'clock. In this way
describe even the simplest closeup, and a we discover that the marquise, receiving a
great number are needed for a description few friends today, is taking tea at five
of a more complicated wide angle. o'clock. It is only through the conversation,
Which explains why the cinema, before i.e., indirectly, that we learn that she never
being a language, is a means of expression, departs from this daily routine. Reality is
like painting. The image "in itself" is not presented to us, vivid, intense, and inti­
the most basic unit of film expression. But mate; whereas the novel, when it has to
being a fundamental element, it becomes present characteristic information without
clear that before being narrative, before developing a redundant scene, is obliged to
being organized dramatically in time, be­ fall back on a signification both synthetic
fore being rhythm, the cinema is space, that and substantial, as abstract as it is ludicrous.
is, the representation of a certain area. It is On the other hand, the novelist always
associated in this sense with the principles holds one advantage over the fil^^aker,
of painting and the plastic arts. in that he can describe what he wants,
perception of a homogeneous whole what he thinks is essential, and can ignore
organically structured by means of a system the rest. I can only see what he wants me
of heterogeneous and separate elements to see. If he draws attention to the behavior
suggests a definition of the image as a syn­ of a particular character or insists on ana­
cretic expression (supposing it has none of lyzing him in detail, I have to disregard the
the pejorative connotations attributed to it setting (which is merely sketched in),
in philosophy). It might even be said (par­ whereas in the cinema, though the director
adoxically, it would seem) that the ^ m image might isolate his characters temporarily in
is both syncretic and eclectic, since this sys­ a closeup, the setting is still visible. Though
tem is the effect of a choice, the result, often, it is in the back-ground, it is still there, with
of compositional experimentation. them and at the same time as them, with
Which completely refutes Andre Bazin's its detail and characteristic features. The
claim that the cinema, in contrast with liter­ wide angle allows me to see it in its en­
ature, is obliged to signify more or less that tirety. I will see it again presently; it is
"every evening, the marquise took her tea never completely lost from sight. I never
at five o'clock." Doubtless Bazin intended forget that the characters are actually act­
 T HE FILM I MAGE 55

ing in the real world. As Rene Micha so films taken from contemporary American
rightly points out, "the cinema, despite its novels.
inflexibility, cannot prevent our attention We know that these novels exhibit an
or, at least, our eyes from being drawn to art tending toward the greatest possible
a specific part of the decor, to a secondary objectivity. By avoiding lengthy descrip­
character, maybe to the main character's tions, by merely "sketching in" the setting,
hand (where they were not meant to stray). by watching their characters living and act­
We may, within certain limits, read the ing, these novelists get right inside them -
signs differently from the way they are pre­ not through an analysis of their minds but
sented to us. For instance, we may shift our through a close observation of their behav­
attention temporarily from Tim ‘ Holt's ior. Associated into a series of successive
mouth, where cheekfuls of food and vio­ approximations, into a sequence of inter­
lent oaths are jumbled together, to concen­ connected deductions, their actions, re­
trate on the lady serving in the kitchen (The corded in a system of relationships and
Magnificent Ambersons), exactly as we do concrete interconnections, enable us to sur­
when we look at a painting by Vermeer or mise the characters' mentality and person­
Tintoretto; certain films invite this (at the ality (in the manner of "objective report­
same time giving us free rein), like Franz ing"). What could be more cinematic, more
Hals's Echt paar ten voeten uit, in which dif­ directly transposable (one might say word
ferent plants-thistles and iv y -a r e tan­ for word, attitude for attitude)? Yet this is
gled, perhaps symbolically, around the feet the exact opposite of what actually hap­
of the married couple. This slight ambigu­ pens.
ity, together with all the other ambiguities The method is the same, obviously, but
I have mentioned, is precisely what makes the means and form so totally different that
the cinema potentially so successful. A film the resulting structure bears no resem­
becomes a means of knowledge and a blance whatever to film expression.
work of art when its different elements The most obvious example of this is to
compete, playing against each other, to re­ be found in the film based on Steinbeck's
veal an existence through the concrete rel­ novel Of Mice and Men. It is not important
evant facts which first muddle it up and that it was poorly realized (or that it was
then fix it before our eyes: when it offers— adapted from the play taken from the
to use a phrase of Heidegger's "the expe­ novel rather than directly from the novel),
rience of unity in diffusion" (La Verite since Steinbeck considered his story an
cinematographique). "experiment, an attempt to create a novel
This difference, not only of means and capable of being transposed wholesale
form but also of signification and means of onto the stage, or a play capable of being
signifying, is evidence of the difficulties of read like a novel," if we are to take M.
adaptation and the near impossibility of Coindreau's word for it (Apergus de la
adapting a masterpiece with any fidelity, litterature americaine).
that is, without distorting the expression or The story of Lennie has all the qualities
content of the expression. It underlines of ancient Greek drama, interpreted in
again the futility of attempting to adapt cer­ terms of an everyday news item. What is
tain works whose form and means of sig­ important here, though, is that the charac-
nifying are as contrary to film expression ters-L en n ie, George, Curly, Mae, Candy—
as they resemble it or appear to resemble are not described and presented from the
it. To prove the point, I need only quote the very first chapters as if they were characters
56 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

from a classical novel. On the contrary, it is that is left for the film to do is develop the
only gradually that they take shape—both latent drama whose circumstances are es­
physically and morally—and the whole art tablished in the very first images. Tragedy
of the novelist consists in making them gives way to melodrama; the purpose of
come alive in our minds, allowing us to dis­ the novel is undermined.
cover them through their actions. We are The same might be said, with similar
made conscious of their whole being only justification, of such films as The Old Man
by the end of the novel. As Joseph Kessel and the Sea, The Snows o f Kilimanjaro, For
points out in his preface to the French trans­ Whom the Bell Tolls, Tobacco Road, God's Little
lation, "we must guess at what the author Acre, etc. If The Grapes of Wrath is a remark­
has chosen not to communicate." A unique able film, it is not because of the unique
art compels us to fill in the empty areas, the talent of John Ford but because of the fact
white spaces in the picture. We in fact com­ that this work stands somewhat apart from
plete the work of the novelist. We put the the experiments in form of the American
finishing touches to the canvas. We add the novel. Faulkner (with the exception, per­
last stitches to the fabric. Lennie's weight haps, of Sanctuary) does not work in the
and height register gradually in our minds cinema. I can think of only one author
as though wrapping a certain active men­ whose work is evidence of his experiments
tality inside a physical body and revealing in this direction and who might be adapted
attitudes, actions, and reactions presented successfully for the screen and that is John
to us always in a fragmentary and transi­ Dos Passos: perhaps because the structure
tory style. His hands, face, and eyes appear of his work, its composition, and even its
to us only as required by the context and expressive form are directly inspired by the
when they have a bearing on the action. cinema. Manhattan Transfer, which for me
The reverse, then, of what happens in remains one of the best and most original
the cinema. Though it does reveal the char­ novels of this century, is nothing more than
acters gradually, the cinema presents them a film (an extraordinary film) written, de­
to us in the totality of their physical pres­ veloped, and signified with words. The ex­
ence. Suppose we are shown, at the start of ception proves the rule.
a film, a pair of feet trampling through long I said a while back that since they are
grass and hands retrieving a hare caught in placed "in the world" in a manner both ob­
a noose; we must know immediately to jective and concrete, the characters of a film
whom the feet and hands belong. Physical cannot be separated from their setting. We
presence is mandatory in the cinema, saw how, if the action invites it, the audi­
whereas in the novel the idea is sufficient. ence can allow its attention to stray to a
Consequently, from the very first im­ secondary detail. It can even pass over the
ages of the film, we see Lennie. Through dramatic events and concentrate on the set­
his behavior, through his look of a hunted ting in which these take place.7 But the
animal, we become aware of his being; we presence of the setting does not mean that
piece him together almost completely. our attention is drawn to it to the exclusion
Though we have no idea what is going to of everything else. Quite the contrary: it re­
happen, we already know the conditions of inforces the action; it makes it specific. In
the drama. Everything is presented to our really good films, it more or less deter­
eyes, i.e., everything which the novel was mines, sometimes even signifies, the action
so careful to leave in shadow for as long and frequently even becomes a character in
as possible. One could almost say that all the drama.
 T HE FILM IMAGE 57

We have said again and again that the defines it. However, as we have seen, it is
film image is above all an image of a space, always fragmented, always incomplete.
a space in which an action takes place and The author does no more than describe
which involves us in that action. However, what has a bearing on the plot develop­
it is not a simple relationship of form and ment. The reader's imagination has to do
content as, for example, in the playing area the rest.
of a stage which "contains" the drama but Conversely, in the cinema the space is
remains outside it. When we go to the the­ presented—relative to the particular field
ater, we see a certain action occur within a of view —in its "existential" entirety. The
certain framework, a framework whose es­ setting is presented as a concrete reality
sential characteristics are determined by with all the elements comprising it. Every­
the playwright: "Monsieur Agazzi's study. thing is actually and objectively present.
Antique furniture; old masters on the walls. One could never say that between the ob­
A door at the back, hidden by a tapestry. A jective reality of the space and the no less
door up-stage left, opening into the objective reality of the events taking place
drawingroom, also hidden behind a tapes­ in it, there is always a connection between
try. There is a telephone on a desk. Divan, signifier and signified, since, though the set­
armchairs, chairs, etc." These are Piran­ ting may indeed contribute to the significa­
dello's stage directions for the second act of tion of the drama, it does not always do so
Right You Are I f You Think You Are. and it does not do so necessarily. It is a ques­
And, in fact, the act takes place in a set tion of genre and style (expressionism or
like this (according to the staging which what have you), not general aesthetics.
may alter, to a greater or lesser extent, the It is no less true that there is a/ways a
relative positions of the characters in a dec­ more or less determinative connection be­
orative ensemble conceived more or less tween the two, in the sense that space, con­
successfully). However, none of this alters trary to the way it is used in the theater or
the drama. After all, it might just as easily in literature, is always involved in the ac­
take place in another setting. The place is tion. Indeed, space can exist only by virtue
immaterial. It is a convenient place and the of and for the benefit of the action and is
set is nothing more than an indication. It is presented to us with and at the same time
a conventional space suggesting the "idea as the action. Not only are the drama and
of reality" (more concrete perhaps than the space of the drama inseparable, but they
placards of Elizabethan theater) but it in no are inconceivable the one without the other.
way provides a "feeling of reality." Besides, The space actually composes, through the
such a feeling is irrelevant, since the only shapes of the set, the plastic material help­
"true reality," i.e., the only interest, lies in ing to represent the action, to "construct it
the drama itself; and the drama, that is, the in images," at the same time as it estab­
moral crisis, tragic situation, psychology, lishes the framework within which the ac­
emotions, character development, are all tion is played out.
expressed, developed, and signified exclu­ Carried along by the same action, led by
sively by the dialogue. The space contributes the same rhythm, the setting, objects, and
nothing. It contains—that is all. characters form one narrative reality—the
In the novel, the space of the drama is "film space," that is, a space organized and
quite often a "signifier." It contributes in prescribed by the drama, structured and or­
some measure to the course of events, dered with a view to the expression and
makes the action clear and more or less signification of the drama. This space—let
58 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

us call it the "image of space" - i s a the other hand, the people to whom I pro­
"whole" resulting from all their intrinsic jected only the first three reels were not
and extrinsic interrelationships. obliged to concentrate in this way. The
The cinema, as we shall see, is a lan­ other pieces of furniture had not all com­
guage of objects. Now, the objects belong­ pletely assumed their value as signs grad­
ing to the universe of the drama are, in ually conferred by the action; they were
some way, involved by it. They all (or al­ still on the same mental level as the chest
most all) contribute to the action. In this of drawers and, therefore, though the latter
respect, the experiments with multiscreen had been visible for a period three times
projections conducted by Andre Bazin are shorter than if the whole film had been
significant. projected, there was no reason for it to be
"In Le Jour se leve," he reports, "Marcel overlooked (Connaissance du cinema).
Came makes the furniture in Gabin's bed­ As a general rule, what makes cinema
room play an important part. This furni­ and literature two apparently contradictory
ture is simple and sparse; it is what one means of expression is the fact that their
would expect to find in an impoverished basic structures contain functions and
worker's garret. Yet, when the film has significations which are never homologous
been projected and I ask people to tell me and never transposable. One cannot make
what the pieces of furniture actually are the meaning of a phrase or group of phrases
(there are only six pieces, including the correspond with the meaning of a shot; nor
bedside table), they normally do not re­ can one expect to obtain the same signifying
member the large Victorian chest of draw­ value in both. By the mere fact that a differ­
ers, which is plainly visible. I have con­ ent method is used to say the same thing, it
ducted the same experiment more than a says something completely different: an­
hundred times with more than ten thou­ other aspect is understood and another
sand audience members; it has failed only meaning is expressed.
on ce-w h ich greatly surprised m e -a n d The novel inevitably always moves from
then it was simply because I projected the the abstract to the concrete, since it gener­
first three reels, with the result that every­ ates in the mind of the reader a "represen­
one saw the chest of drawers. I think that tation" through a complex of conventional
the explanation (easy to deduce from an signs. The "message" of literature is never
analysis of the mise-en-scene) must lie in immediate but (invariably and uniformly)
the fact that the chest of drawers is over­ mediate.
looked because it is the only piece of fur­ The cinema, on the other hand, moves
niture which does not fulfill at any moment from the concrete to the abstract. It directly
in the film a psychological or dramatic role; presents its purpose, that is, the concrete
in short, it signifies nothing. It is such a representation of the world and its objects.
well-made film containing such a wealth Then it exploits these direct data as instru­
of detail that the audience's complete at­ ments o f mediation. Which is why we said
tention is necessary to appreciate the sym­ that though the cinema is primarily a lan­
bolism of the mise-en-scene and the ab­ guage (to give the adverb a sense of quali­
stract value it gives to the objects. With the tative priority), it is not so genetically.
effect that the audience, far from being dis­ If literature is indeed an art form whose
tracted by the chest of drawers (whose sole primary in g red ien t-lan g u ag e-is a previ­
justification is the realism of the setting) ous, independent reality, the cinema is not
finally comes to ignore it completely. On (and could not become) a language except
 THE FILM IMAGE 59

insofar as it is an art. Since it is primarily ily chosen by the filmmaker) itself creates a
a method of recording and reproduction, it complex of precise relationships between
is quite possibly neither art nor language the objects inferred by its very existence. In
and might have value only in what it re­ this way, it becomes a determining factor
produces. whose importance and significance we shall
The teaching film and didactic docu­ examine in the next section.
mentary (which have no other purpose
than to present a reality whose power de­
rives from itself, attempting meanwhile to Structures of the Image
present that reality as objectively as possi­
ble) cannot be described as language or Shots and Angles
work of a r t-e v e n though certain craft
skills are required to conceive and produce As we have said, the shot (comprising a se­
them. They signify and explain nothing in quence of snapshots of the same action or
themselves. When what is represented is in­ object from the same angle and in the same
capable by itself of conveying sufficient in­ field of view) can be considered the small­
formation, a commentary linked to the est unit of film. And so it is. However, this
images takes on the task of explaining notion of the shot is connected with the his­
them. If there is a "signifier" here, then, it tory of the cinema.
is the text, not the images. Conversely, When, after D. W. Griffith's first explor­
when documentary presents an original ations, the cinema began to become aware
and personal vision of the world and its of its resources, i.e., when the technique of
objects, that is, when it becomes an eye, it recording scenes from many different
also becomes a "poem ." And as a poem it points of view became commonplace, the
is organized, dialectically composed; in technicians were compelled to give names
other words, it becomes language. to the different shots in order to distinguish
This is what makes the cinema (geneti­ between them. To do this, they used the
cally speaking) primarily a means of expres­ position of the main characters as reference,
sion. Only because the expression is dividing the space up into planes perpen­
developed and organized in time does it dicular to the axis of the camera, describ­
become language. In the c in e m a -a s in ing, if you like, the distance from the
every other means of expression - o u r ac­ camera guaranteed to be in focus.
cess to ideas is through and because of Let us be clear about our terms: every­
emotion, whereas in the verbal language thing within the range of the lens is called
our access to emotion is through and by the "field of view": the closer the shot, the
means of ideas. narrower the field of view. Furthermore,
It is clear that the "indefinite" image before 1915 (with very rare exceptions)
whose effect and consequences we exam­ shots were static, since only 35-millimeter
ined a while back, that is, an image as inor­ and 5O-millimeter lenses were available.
ganic and impersonal as possible, does not Thus whenever a director wished to shoot
exist in fact. It is merely an abstraction. All a scene from closer in or farther away, he
film images necessarily contain the struc­ was forced to change the camera setup and
tures of the objects they reproduce. How­ move the camera closer to the actors or far­
ever, since these objects are organized within ther away from them. Each different shot
a frame, the film image can never be inor­ required a different setup.
ganic and impersonal. The frame (necessar­ If the shot is relative to the position of the
60 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

actors vis-a-vis the camera (and, by exten­ When two faces are contained in the same
sion, the audience), one can see that there frame, the term close two-shot is sometimes
would be as many possible positions as used.
points on the straight line of the optical axis. 10. Closeup—frames only a part of the
Nevertheless, to make their definition more face, the rest remaining out of shot.
convenient, the various shots are generally Clearly these terms may be used to refer
divided according to the following scale: to details or objects taken in medium shot,
1. Long shot—containing a general scene mid-shot, or closeup, when the director
far away from the camera. In Alexander wishes to isolate them for the purpose of
Nevsky, the German knights beginning emphasis.
their charge in the distance and galloping By angle of the shot, we mean the angle
toward the camera, are in long shot. from which the scene is recorded by the
2. General view-encompassing a general camera. The same scene may be shown
scene closer than a long shot but whose from face on, from the side, from above or
field stretches quite far into the back­ below, as well as from near or far; and the
ground. These sorts of shot can really be characters may be shot in profile, from the
used only in exterior work. back, or in three-quarters. Shots taken from
3. Establishing shot—the same as the pre­ below or above are called tilts, upward or
vious but whose space is limited by the set downward.
(interior of a train station, dancehall, or Obviously the angle of incidence is
huge room). wider the closer the object to the camera. A
4. Wide angle-sim ilar to (3), but with a downward tilt on a distant scene (such as
smaller field of view, where the characters the top of a hill looking down onto a battle
are both nearer and less numerous. raging in a distant valley) is wider than a
5. Long medium shot-fram ing the char­ downward tilt on a head-and-shoulders
acters from head to foot. With more than shot (framing, for instance, a dog sleeping
one character, some may be framed in the at his master's feet). However, as we shall
"American shot," while the others remain see, sharply angled tilts must be justified
in the background. The term refers only to by a dramatic or psychological element in
the main characters. the film.
6. Close medium shot-fram es the charac­ Up to 1923, close shots were always
ters from the knees up. made on the horizontal, "at eye level."
7. American shot -fra m e s the characters Downward and upward tilts were practi­
from the waist up. This shot description, cally unheard of except in wide angles. It
used exclusively by French directors, be­ was Jean Epstein who first "dared" to give
came current in 1911. It was first used in the camera relative independence. Liber­
an article by Victorin Jasset studying the ated from the need to be descriptive, shots
use of these shots in films from Vitagraph became language. In a way, they became
and claiming the superiority-already ob­ the filmmaker's "judgment" of his charac­
vious at the tim e -o f American cinema.8 In ters. Thus analysis stole a march on narra­
the United States, the term medium shot de­ tive while reinforcing the camera's "ability
scribes this kind of shot and not the long to be everywhere at once."
medium shot as is generally thought in After L'Auberge rouge and Le Coeur fidele,
France. the use of sharply angled tilts quickly be­
8. Mid-shot-frames the bust. came widespread; the "signifying" closeup
9. Head and shoulders—speaks for itself. also. With Mumau (The Last Laugh) and
 THE FILM IMAGE 61

E. A. Dupont (Variety), the subjective shot of them. It was used for the first time by
pioneered by Abel Gance in La Roue (1922) Murnau in The Last Laugh in 1925.
became an important component in the The hand-held camera was sometimes
drama, and the alternation of analytical used for this effect, notably by Abel Gance
and descriptive shots assumed a perma­ in Napoleon (1927), but it was soon aban­
nent value with Eisenstein and Pudovkin doned because the effect of walking was to
(The Battleship Potemkin and Mother, 1925­ produce an unpleasant jerky sort of shot.
26). Nowadays we find unwatchable any track­
Of all camera movements, the simplest ing shot where the frame is unsteady or
is obviously the pan, which is identical to shaky. The most important quality of the
the vision of a stationary man turning his shot is to maintain the frame in perfect axial
head to the right or left or letting his eyes stability, whatever the movement being re-
travel slowly upward or downward. The corded.9
camera remains in a fixed position and piv­ However, right up until 1930, whatever
ots on its axis. form of camera platform used, the camera
The traveling (or tracking) shot can mean could move only horizontally. In order to
several different things. It describes a follow more complicated movements (such
“moving" shot, i.e., one which records the as going up stairs, any movement up or
countryside from a moving train, car, down) and to achieve greater fluidity, the
skilift, whatever. The camera remains in a Americans invented and built, after the ad­
fixed position and moves with the vehicle vent of talking pictures, a piece of appara­
on which it is fixed. This type of tracking- tus called the “crane," which made
shot is as old as cinema itself (Alexander movement in all directions possible. A shot
Promio's The Grand Canal at Venice, for in­ is said to be “overhead" when the camera
stance). The term is used more generally, moves around the actors, follows one out
however, to describe the “dollying" move­ of the group, goes up stairs to follow an­
ment of the camera, mounted on a platform other, comes back down, and moves in
which moves on rails or rubber wheels. space as though it were flying. The crane is
This allows the camera, for instance, to a telescopic jib extending from twelve to
travel alongside two characters walking thirty feet and pivoting, both horizontally
down a road; the camera's movement, and vertically, on an axis mounted on a
however, is independent of the movement truck. At the end of the jib, an articulated
of the characters. In other words, it may platform supports the camera and the tech­
move either in front of them or let them nicians. Clearly the combined movements
catch up so they are more tightly framed of the camera, platform, crane, and truck
or, inversely, follow them and catch them allow for any number of possibilities. The
up. Or else it may follow them lateraUy. The crane was first used by Lewis Milestone in
first director to use this kind of tracking All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930. From
sh ot-m ovin g with the actors' movements then on its use became widespread and the
- w a s Griffith in 1909. “overhead" shots in The Cranes Are Flying
A more recent technique is the fixed-cir- (M. Kalatosov) and Orson Welles's Touch o f
cle tracking shot, moving among static char­ Evil (1959) are particularly striking.
acters (in a restaurant or the stalls of a theater, Today, because of the extensive use of
for instance), in which the camera captures moving shots, the camera is almost always
the behavior of some of the characters in the mounted on a d o lly -a sort of “minicrane."
drama or “picks out" the movements of one The maneuverability ofthe dolly-adapted
62 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

to the requirements o f small sets -a llo w s But if their conversation requires that they
for all the movement combinations of the be isolated from their background (for in­
crane, but on a smaller scale. stance, a restaurant), to show more clearly
However, moving shote have at the their respective reactions, one might use a
same time greatly altered the aesthetics of medium shot framing the woman in three-
the cinema, particularly with regard to sto­ quarter front profile on the left side o f the
ryboard and editing. We may say at this frame, with the man appearing in three-
point that while the shot and the setup are quarter rear profile on the right. The re­
identical in static shots, it is not so in track­ verse angle would show the man in a
ing shots, which, by the very fact that they three-quarter front profile medium shot,
move, contain successively different "fields but this time on the right side o f the frame,
of view." The characters and the setting, re­ with the woman's shoulders in the fore­
corded during the camera movement, are ground on the left. This alternation might
captured in long shot, in medium, then in be continued, if required, as follows: A-B,
head and shoulders - a s we see in Welles's A-B, A-B, etc.
films. And since by its very definition a shot It is obvious that the shot-reverse shot,
is of fixed spatial determination, it is ab­ which in the example shows an inverse
surd to speak in terms of a single shot when symmetry of 180 degrees, might easily have
dealing with a tracking shot. a less obtuse angle relationship - 120 or 130
It is quite wrong to say (as some critics degrees, for example. This is called the
have) that Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, shot en­ semi-reverse shot. However, at 90 degrees it
tirely with a moving camera in eight com­ is no longer a reverse shot: the two charac­
plicated setups, is composed of eight shots. ters are shown in profile. Of course, they
It is simply (to reuse an old formula) to can be completely isolated from each other
confuse the units of shot and setup! by being shot in closeup, but then the spa­
Generally speaking, one can say that the tial relationship is lost. For which reason,
tracking shot is a series of successive shots the technique is seldom used.
(with practically every frame correspond­ The shot-reverse shot technique lends it­
ing to a different point of view), in the same self to misuse for the fact that it provides
way as the circle is a succession of straight easy solutions. The ill-considered use
lines. which mediocre directors put it to, shooting
If the "field of view" is the space within interminable conversations in what ap­
the frame of the image, then the reverse of pears to be a dynamic way, has brought this
that is the reverse angle, in other words, a device into disrepute. However, for direc­
setup taken in the opposite direction but tors who use it with discretion, it remains
relating to the same shot. For instance, if a a valuable technique.
character seen face on is one angle, then the Moving shots have enabled the "new
same character seen from the back is the cinema" to use the whole field o f view, giving
reverse angle. back to space its objective reality more gen­
The alternation between one shot and its erally than the shot-reverse shot technique,
symmetrical antithesis is called the shot-re­ which condenses and fragments its object.
verse shot. Let us use, as an example, a man The "shot-in-depth" appeared for the first
and woman sitting facing each other. An time in Citizen Kane in 1942.
establishing shot might frame them in The use of depth-of-field is not all that
profile; another might frame the woman recent, but it was Welles who gave it new
from the front and the man from the back. significance.10 The oldest example, to our
 THE FILM IMAGE 63

knowledge, is found in Louis Feuillade's neously but also those two or three charac­
Fantomas (1913). In one of the episodes, we ters reacting differently to the same cause
see Lady Beltham sitting in her box in the which we know secretly connects them. In
theater; she fills the foreground as she looks this way, the simultaneity of the most di­
at the stage shown in the background, on verse patterns of behavior, while establish­
which an actor is playing a melodrama ing an obvious dramatic unity, points up
based on the adventures of Fantomas. It is the respective psychologies of each of the
this which gives the lady the idea of invit­ characters and does so, moreover, in a way
ing the actor to take the place of the real that is both objective and concrete.
Fantomas, who has been condemned to This innovation was made possible by
death. It should be added, however, that the use of short focal-length lenses (18.5
this complicated shot is only a "reminder." millimeters), lately developed, in which the
There have already been several more or perspective distortion emphasizes, as we
less connected shots, showing us, on the have said, the contrast between foreground
one hand, Lady Beltham in her box and, on magnified out of all proportion-and back­
the other, the action being played out on ground. The opposition of form thereby re­
the stage. inforces the opposition of action, and the
If a technique is to be judged from the respective position of the characters under­
standpoint of its dimensional complexity, lines the dramatic relationships in the film.
then the most extraordinary shot-in-depth Naturally this means of expression in no
was achieved by Griffith in the part of In­ way denies the relevance of using shots
tolerance which deals with the sack of Bab­ separately, whose meaning and purpose
ylon, at the moment when Cyrus's armies are quite different. Moreover, it must be ob­
are scaling the fortifications of the city. Dur­ vious that the simultaneity of scenes being
ing the first shot, on the palace steps, when played out in different locations (otherwise
the first attackers arrive from the left, we known as parallel action) can only be sug­
see, several hundred yards back into the gested by alternating events with succes­
frame, twenty or thirty groups of individ­ sive fragmentation.
uals acting and reacting in various w a y s - Nevertheless, the preference of directors
some preparing to defend themselves, others these days, with or without depth-of-field
panicking and running away, others still (the cinema tending to emphasize the am­
quite unaware of the drama, going about biguity of beings, the world and the objects
their business unconcerned. It is obvious, in it rather than carving them up as it did
however, that this can only ever be a de­ previously with a kind of primitive Mani-
scriptive simultaneity. While someone is chaeanism), is to capture the scenes, even
doing one thing, someone else is doing an­ dissected and fragmented, in all their ap­
other. Naturally these actions relate to the parent complexity. Which means that the
same general action, the same dramatic classical formula of well-defined and
scene, but they have no other connection. clearly delineated shots is not as important
In Jean Renoir's La Regle du jeu (1930), there as it was. We mentioned it only because the
is also a simultaneity of actions, but these "liturgy of the cinema" has ^turned into a
are already interacting dramatically. sort of transcendental canon to be obeyed
Citizen Kane (also William Wyler's Little as though it prescribed the fundamental
Foxes made around the same time) tries to prerequisite for the cinema to e x is t-
make us see not only two or three charac­ though all it has ever been is a mere prac­
ters following different actions simulta­ tical convenience.
64 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

In effect, when an image shows u sa face as he walks forward, though the field of
in closeup on the extreme right of the frame view remains the same.
and, in the rest, in mid-shot, two or three We are justified in saying that there are
people behaving in a particular way, others as many changes of shot as there are
in long shot and, in the background, someone changes in planes of focus in the course of
coming into the room, we are hard put to the same ta k e -th e shot being determined,
define the shot according to established ter­ to repeat, by the position of the character
minology. How might we describe i t - e s - or group of characters relative to the focal
tablishing shot, long shot, what? length of the lens.
It would seem correct to call it an estab­ It is still true to say that the organic unit
lishing shot, but (as we indicated with re­ of the "take" -d escribed by directors of si­
gard to the long medium shot) it becomes lent films as the "shot" -reta in s its unity,
necessary, in that case, to describe precisely whatever the camera movements or planes,
the relative positions of the characters, it angles, and fields of view included in that
being that they are all of equal importance "take." We are not objecting to the organic
and that the man entering from the back­ unit, merely to the term shot used to de­
ground causing such different reaction might scribe it. It is neither a shot nor a sequence
very well be the main character. but, quite simply, a number corresponding
The shot description informs the cam­ with a number in the shooting script.
eraman as to the importance of each pho­ However superficially tempting, the de­
tographic field of view, but it ceases to be scription "shot sequence" suggested by
an indication of the director's ideas. Since some of the younger critics is unsatisfac­
this is written "in depth," the whole field tory.11 For there are few (if any) shot se­
of view has to be described, not just one quences in which editing (or at least its
particular part of it. Classical terminology principles) has not played a part. In these
is therefore valueless (although the term supposed shot sequences, the camera is in
shot retains its meaning). Indeed, the shot continual motion (The Magnificent Amber-
can be said to show an action placed in a sons, Rope, etc.). It is a constant change of
frame and containing a single undifferenti­ angle and point of view. In fact, instead of
ated field of view. editing by joining end to end different shots
Generally speaking, a change of shot in­ taken at different times and different places, the
volves a change in the field of view and, editing takes place in the camera, produc­
inversely, a change in the field of view pro­ ing the same sequence of shots in one single
duces a change of shot (however gradual continuous movement, in the course of one
or continuous). Obviously this is not a gen­ single take. This method makes the se­
eral rule but a fact which certain exceptions quence more difficult to direct, to keep in
are obliged to prove. Say we see, in me­ focus, but the result often gains in fluidity,
dium shot, someone strolling in Paris; if the in formal unity and dramatic continuity.
background suddenly changes (using back However, though the execution may differ,
projection) and he continues to walk but the principles o f editing (to which we shall
this time in a forest, then the shot remains return later) remain the same.
the same though the field of view has We would describe as sequence a series
changed. Inversely, when in a fixed frame of images involving scenes happening in
(a huge set, for instance) a character walks one place or setting, whatever the changes
toward the camera from the background, in angle or field of view (i.e., shots) in­
that character is constantly altering the shot cluded during the course of the "take" rel­
 THE FILM I MAGE 65

ative to those images. Thus, just as a novel checkerboards, triangles, for in stan ce-but
is divided into parts, chapters, and para­ this method of moving from one sequence
graphs and a play is divided into acts and to another (so obvious and contrived)
scenes, so a film divides up into sequences broke rather than punctuated the continu­
and shots. A group of sequences may form ity of the action. Wipes are scarcely ever
a part, but except in certain cases (The used except in films with only this type of
Threepenny Opera, Wells Fargo, etc.), this di­ stylistic extremism to recommend them.
vision is avoided as much as possible and Though they are forms of punctuation,
the tendency is to unify the film into a ho­ wipes and dissolves also make it possible
mogeneous whole, whatever the intended to move from one sequence to the next
duration of the scenes and number of without making bad cuts (which become
places where they take place. So dividing unnoticeable) or jump cuts between badly
a film into parts is merely a technical con­ matched movements. But then they are
venience, grouping together sequences oc­ only being used for the sake of expedience.
curring at the same time. As we have said, what is important in a
The division of the film into shots and film (besides the aesthetic properties, which
sequences determines its overall structure. we shall study later on) is the feeling of con­
However, though this division must be tinuity, combining shots and sequences,
sensed, it must not be too overt. The art which is achieved by maintaining the unity
consists in creating a u nity -excep t when and coherence of movement. Logical or dra­
some form of punctuation becomes neces­ matic continuity is established in the script,
sary. The forms of punctuation most widely but there is also a dynamic continuity which
used are the fade, the wipe, and the dis­ can be considered here. This particular con­
solve. tinuity has always been most difficult to
The fade out, followed by a fade in to the achieve. Indeed, in the early days of cinema,
next sequence, indicates a long time lapse the very short-length films were only able
between two sequences: a "supplied" time to show a simple action carried from begin­
affecting the represented action (in contrast ning to end in the space of the single reel
with ellipsis which suggests the passage of (the Lumiere brothers' L'Arrivee d'un train
time without it being apparent). en gare de La Ciotat and La Sortie des usines
The dissolve (which joins the first andlast Lumiere). However, as soon as filmmakers
images of two successive sequences) gener­ tried to tell a story, in other words, as soon
ally indicates a fast time change, a time as they needed to introduce changes of
lapse not affecting the action, whereas the scene and time, they were obliged to use the
wipe (which makes the images disappear to narrative techniques of the theater, i.e., suc­
the right or left as though pushed out by cessive tableaux.
the following images) usually indicates a Each "tableau" represented a sort of
change of place. Of course, these defini­ miniature episode. The sole point of view
tions are arbitrary and there is nothing to was that of a spectator sitting behind the
stop a dissolve or wipe being used to what­ orchestra pit, and "jumps" were made
ever purpose one wishes. They may, how­ from scene to scene according to the im­
ever, vary in length (anything from eight to ages illustrating the various stages of the
forty-eight frames, i.e., from a third of a sec­ adventure, the only difference between it
ond up to two se co n d s-it is unusual for and the theater being the fact that there
them to be longer). Once it was fashionable was no need to lower the curtain to move
to give unusual shapes to wipes - circles, from one scene to the next, particularly
66 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E M A

since there was sometimes a subtitle in be­ showing an alarm bell - t h e mainspring of
tween the scenes to explain or comment on the dramatic action), but a large variety of
the action. Fragmented in way, the ac­ images showed the fire engine speeding
tion was developed discontinuously in sets through different locations with the effect of
made from painted flats in which trompe holding back the resolution of the drama,
l'oeil and false perspective depended on creating however crudely what was later to
the unity of the point of view. When the be called "suspense time." Also for the first
director wished to "follow" a scene, pass­ time, The Life o f an American Fireman showed
ing from one tableau to another, he had to an action longer in reality than the projec­
"retake" the action, with a very consider­ tion time of the film: an abbreviation, in the
able overlap. Thus in Georges Melies's Voy­ same sense as a play.
age a travers im possible (1904), the fourth Subsequently Porter believed that he
tableau shows a crash site. We see Profes­ would achieve a better result if he were to
sor Maboulof's car hurtling down a slope. film, from beginning to end, a story con­
It crashes through the wall of a house at ceived for the purpose, each shot being
the bottom. Tableau 5 presents the interior considered as a necessary element of the
of the house. The occupants are sitting at whole. A friend of his suggested that he
the table happily chatting away. Suddenly take as a theme the plot of a very successful
the car crashes through a wall, causing play of the time: The Great Train Robbery.
panic among the terrified guests, who Shot in less than a week in the autumn of
jump to safety. 1903, this film may be regarded as the first
The method of narrative was extensively narrative conceived in purely cinematic
used right up until 1908. However, the first terms. Its influence proved to be immense.
feeling of continuity was provided in 1902 It became a model for future directors of
by the man who must be regarded as the what film was and how it should be used.
originator of film narrative, the American It was and was to remain the paradigm, the
Edwin Stratton Porter. It was a file describ­ archetype, of film, right up until Griffith's
ing the different stages in a large fire which contribution, which refined and extended
inspired this innovator (who until then had the principles of editing first established by
been a cameraman with Edison) to tell a Porter.
story through the simple collation of scenes, It must be admitted that though there is
strung together in some sort of logical order. great variety, the "views" in Porter's film
There being no dramatic element in the are all long shots. Many of the scenes are
story, he invented a mother and her child still "face on" to the camera - a s in the the­
caught in a fire in their house and saved at ater - b u t several (the posse's pursuit, the
the last minute by firemen arriving in the forest fight, the attack on the engineer, the
nick of time. In fact, these were the only im­ robbery of the passengers), shot in actual
ages he invented for the purpose. Thus The exteriors, are developed in terms of depth
Life o f an American Fireman was the first film and exploit the respective distances of the
whose meaning depended on the combina­ characters from the camera. Though the
tion of a series of scenes. The images had a movement in The Great Train Robbery is cre­
dual purpose: to trace the action and, more ated more by the action it represents than
important, to transfer the action into the fol­ by the variety of scenes or shots, the cine­
lowing image, thereby creating the story ma's elementary possibilities discovered
through the succession. Of course, they their first formal demonstration in this film.
were all long shots (except for one closeup The experiments of Smith and William­
 THE FILM IMAGE 67

son carried o u t in E nglan d a t m u ch the im en t, how ever, and th is effect w as the u n ­

sam e tim e w e re to p ro d u ce sim ila r resu lts. expected result.
T h o u gh its in flu ence la sted fo r several A s A n d re M alrau x observed,
y ears, o n ly theatrical co n v e n tio n cou ld p ar­
alyze th e d ev elop m en t o f a n a rt w h ich had as long as the cinema remained merely a
alread y established its first p rin cip les a t the means for reproducing characters in
beginning o f the century. movement, it was no more of an art than
sound recording or photographic repro­
In 1908 the b est film s -b u r le s q u e s and
duction. Within a limited space-gener­
c h a s e s - m e r e ly p resen ted series o f w id e­
ally the stage in a theater, real or imaginary
angled shots w h o se sequ ence w as, a t least,
-a c to r s performed their parts in a play
defined b y th e m o bility o f th e action. T he or farce which the camera did no more
rest w ere m ad e up o f d iscon n ected and than reproduce. The birth of the cinema
static tableaux. A ctors p erfo rm ed as th o u g h as a means of expression (as opposed to
they w ere on stage an d u sed con v entio nal reproduction) can be said to date from the
m im e to con v ey w h a t they could n o t say breakdown of the limited space; from the
w ith w ords. period when the scriptwriter conceived
The fu n d am en tal con trib u tio n o f D. W. his narrative in terms of separate shots,
G riffith w as h is refu sal to accep t this sty lis­ when he began to think not of photo­
graphing a play but of recording a succes­
tic tyranny. B eliev in g th a t th e m an eu v er­
sion of moments, of bringing the camera
ab ility o f the cam era allow ed fo r m o v em en t
closer (thereby m a ^ ^ frn g the characters
tow ard or aw ay fro m th e ch aracters o r even
where necessary on the screen) or taking
aro u n d th em , h e had h is actors p erfo rm in it away but, most of all, of replacing the
a space unrestricted b y th e n arrow confines theatrical stage with the "field of view,"
of th e stage. T his space could b e as large or the space circumscribed by the screen -
sm all as circu m stance an d the d ram atic in­ the field into which the actor enters and
tensity required. from which he exits and which the direc­
Film ing his heroes in closeu p or lon g tor chooses instead of being imprisoned
shot, face o n o r in profile, fro m the back or in it. The means of reproduction in the
in three-quarters as fro m successive points cinema was the moving picture but its
means of expression the succession of
o f view , h e p u t th e audien ce rig h t in the
shots. . . . Thus it was in the separation
m id d le o f the action , a m o n g th e characters
into shots, in other words, in the freedom
o f the d ram a, within th e space o f the
of the cameraman and director within the
dram a. By seeing objects from successive setting, that the possibility of expression
points o f view, the audience in fa c t perceived in the cinema originated - that the cinema
them in the same way as i f it were able to move as an art was born. (Psychologie du cinema)
around them. T h e im p ression o f sp atial re­
ality conseq u ently b eca m e a n established It is an undeniable fact that th e cinem a
fact. N eed less to say, this im p ression w as as an art w as b orn in 1915, i.e., w ith Birth o f
in n o w ay intended or p lan n ed , sin ce, at a Nation, G riffith 's first su ccessfu l film , the
th e tim e, its p o ssibility h ad n o t even b een cinem a's first m a s te rp ie c e -in the sam e w ay
su sp ected b y th e m o st em in en t p sy ch o lo ­ that F ren ch literature can b e said to orig i­
gist. G riffith m e re ly intend ed to p rod u ce a nate in La Chanson de Roland and literatu re
greater im p ression o f reality b y fo llow in g itself fro m th e Vedas and the Puranas, or per­
b o th th e log ic o f the d ram a and th e log ic haps the Iliad and Odyssey.
of an o b serv er free fro m all restraint. H is T o retu rn to th e su b ject, how ever: shots
inspired in tu ition persu ad ed h im to exp er­ an d tableaux sh ot sep arately h ad to b e as­
68 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

sembled. And this sort ofassembly. consist­ For practical reasons, scenes set in the
ing of putting the shots and tableaux end same place are always shot at the same time,
to end in some sort of logical succession, is whatever their eventual position in the film.
found for the first time in films shot around Nowadays, however, the script supervisor,
1899. But then shots came to take the place sometimes using Polaroid photographs, is
of tableaux. Clumsy repeated actions had there to ensure thatthe actors' positions and
to be avoided; along came editing, which, at setting of the props are such that the transi­
its most basic, merely ensures a continuity tion from, for example, shot 235 to shot 236
of movement from one shot to the next. is perfectly continuous, though each might
When we see an official commemoration be shot separately several days a p a rt-es-
in a newsreel, it might be presented in the pecially since, after 1925, movement matching
following way: became general practice.
W hen shots are matched, not to exploit
A. The president arrives in a limou­ dead time, that is, the hiatuses in the suc­
sine (long shot). cessive phases of a movement, but to cut
B. He gets out of the limousine and into the action and continue it into the next
shakes hands with the local dignitar­ shot, this is called movement matching.
ies (medium shot). Discovered by German directors (Murnau
C. He walks with the dignitaries to­ and Dupont) and American directors (King
ward the war memorial (pan). Vidor, Howard Hawks), adopted by the So­
D. At which he lays a wreath (closeup). viets (Eisenstein and Pudovkin), move­
ment m atching-still called overlapping
These images, spliced together, reconsti­ movement—has made film continuity con­
tute the event as well as restoring its differ­ siderably more flexible. We shall consider
ent phases. The movement begun in A is this in greater detail when we come to the
followed through in B, then in C and then principles of editing.
in D, following the pattern of its develop­ In the above example, concerning the
ment in reality. It is a continuity rather than newsreel, it is clear that shots cemented end
a "discontinuity." to end do indeed restore the different
Previously-indeed, right up to 1 9 2 5 - phases of an event; none of them can give
filmmakers made sure that shot changes a specific meaning to what it reveals.
were covered by a change of angle. From a Aesthetically speaking, editing (or mon­
face-in long shot they would cut to a side-on tage) is not so much the effect of matching
medium shot or a three-quarters head and images according to a logical continuity as
shoulders, and so on. In this way, if the rel­ of giving the images a meaning beyond
ative positions of the characters were not that of the information presented in them,
exactly the same in cutting from long to me­ creating a new power deriving from the
dium shot, the change in viewpoint would juxtaposition of two or more shots which
disguise the variations. This made editing then assume a value they could never have out­
much easier, and poor films avoided the side that association. Through montage, shots
problem anyway by cutting subtitles in be­ in a sequence behave in the same way as words
tween the majority of shots. In fact, the in a sentence where subject, verb, and object
scenes were shot in an order not automati­ only begin to have meaning when they are re­
cally the same as the order of the action and, lated to each other.
as yet, the continuity girl (or script supervi­ This meaning can be obtained through
sor) did not exist. the juxtaposition of shock images which es­
 THE FILM IMAGE 69

tablish in the a u d ien ce's m ind an idea not tion o f sh ots d oes n o t hav e as its corollary
directly connected w ith th e ob jects rep re­ th e n eg a tio n o f th e sh o t or a p u rp ose in re­
sented (E isenstein) or th rou g h p u rely cu m ­ je ctin g it fo r h a v in g no intrinsic significa­
u la tiv e ju xtap o sitio n - t h e e ffe ct alw ay s tion. Q u ite th e contrary. Sig n ification
b e in g greater than the su m o f its com p onent achiev ed through th e relationsh ip o f tw o
parts (P ud ovkin). Two shots follow ing each shots con n ected to g eth er presupp oses a pri­
other d u rin g a p a n or a tra ck in g sh ot m ay m a ry signification, th a t o f the im ages them ­
produce a sim ilar effect. A esthetically, edit­ selves. S ig nification p rod u ced b y m ontage
ing and m o n tage are tw o entirely d ifferen t is differentiated (lin guistic). T hrough m o n ­
processes n ow ad ay s. A s w ith the op in ion tage, a n im age su g g ests, im plies, som ething
w h ich hold s th at the sh ot and th e tak e are oth er th a n w h at it reveals, b u t w h at it re­
id en tical (w hich, as w e saw , d oes n o t hold veals m u st already hav e a m eaning (a p sy ­
w ater), th e n o tio n th a t e d itin g an d m o n tag e ch olog ical or, q u ite sim ply, d escriptive
are one and th e sam e really ap p lied on ly in signification) w h ich contribu tes to the de­
th e silen t cinem a. A t th a t tim e, on ly associ- v elop m en t o f the actio n or ou r un derstand ­
a tio n sb etw ee n sta tic setu p s sh ot separately, in g o f th e dram a.
then m atch ed in e d itin g w e re con ceiv ab le - In m ontage, th e c lo s e u p -p a r tic u la r ly
th e use o f th e track in g s h o tb e in g the excep ­ th e closeu p o f a d etail - p l a y s a n esp ecially
tio n rath er th a n th e rule. B u t th o u g h n o t all effective role. H ow ever, it has n o t alw ays
e d itin g is necessarily m o n tag e, an y relatio n ­ p lay ed the role b y w h ich w e k n o w it today.
ship b etw een sh ots is au tom atically gov­ If w h at w e m ean b y close-up is the sim ple
erned b y m ontage. effect o f m agn ification , th en its use is as old
H ow ever, the im p ortan ce o f m ontage, as cin em a itself. T h e "b ig h e a d s" (grosses
th at is, the im p ortance o f sig n ification ob­ tetes), as they w ere then called, sud d en ly
tained b y ju xtap osing im ages, h a s b een ex­ a p p earin g in the m id st o f a u n ifo rm se­
aggerated ou t o f all proportion - s o m u ch q u en ce o f lo n g shots, h ad b een used by
so, in fact, th at this signification is held, in M elies in h is film s around 1901, and the
som e quarters, to b e the essence o f film sig ­ alarm -b ell in The Life o f an American Fireman
n ification, th e o n ly valid signification. is, w ith o u t d ou bt, the first closeu p o f an
D o w e n eed to m en tio n th a t excep t fo r o b ject recorded on ^ m . T h e b ig heads,
certain exp erim en ts in fo rm regard ed by how ever, w h o se su d d en ap p earance cre­
the exp erim en ters them selv es as m ere ated a n effect of su rp rise, w ere m ore asso­
shots in the d ark , n o seriou s theoretician ciated w ith th e "a n im a ted p o rtra it" than
has tried to base the exp ressiv ity o f film w ith film expression. O n ly w ith m ontage,
exclusively on m o n tag e? A lso, th e fact th at as w e hav e seen , d id shots assum e a m ean ­
this extrem e system ization (like its cou n ­ in g relative to each other. T h ese s h o t s -
terpart, m oreover, w h ich now ad ays seeks w h ic h w e re a lm o st all discovered , trie d out,
to d en y the role o f m ontage) has alw ays an d applied b y G riffith b etw een 1909 and
resulted fro m the prejudices o f certain crit­ 1910 in in n u m erab le sh ort f i lm s - o n l y be­
ics w h o set them selves up as cham p ion s of cam e con n ected , organized , and structured
an idea or d efen d ers o f a theory and, b y into a coh eren t w h ole fro m 1911 or 1912
th at fact, create a d ogm a as stu p id as it is onw ard . T h u s to s a y th at G riffith w a s the
inflexible. first to use closeu p s d oes n o t m ean that this
L et us s ta te c a te g o ric a lly a tth is p o in t (b e­ m ag n ification effect had n ot been u sed b e ­
fore w e com e b ack to it in g re a te r detail) that fo re h im , m erely th at h e w as th e first to tu m
signification achiev ed th rou g h th e associa­ th em into a m ean s o f expression , elev atin g
70 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

them to the level of signs. There is no evi­ from among various other elements, char­
dence in any film (even Griffith's) before acters, or objects around him. The face was
1911 of the use of the closeup for any pur­ isolated by a circle, the area around which
pose other than description. The closeup as remained black (sometimes w h ite-b u t
we know it was to make its debut as late only rarely); and this result was achieved by
as 1913, in Judith of Bethulia. photographing the iris enclosing the fa c e -
Yet when films (apart from Griffith's) or else through a mask. All of which makes
began to use the closeup more extensively, it easier for us to understand the meaning
they most frequently did so in a very odd of the word closeup, which, as we have seen,
way. Since, in those days, only the actor was refers literally to the framing of the si^gnifi-
capable of conveying nuances of meaning, cant detail: "enclosed and brought forward."
he had to exaggerate his acting as in the the­ Ince and Griffith were the first to incor­
ater, where he would have to " cross the foot­ porate the closeup into the dramatic action
lights" or distort his features to make visible of their films. They never used it as mere
his more subtle changes of expression. But repetition. Thenceforward, the dramatic ac­
there was no continuity between long shot and tion was developed, cutting from wide
closeup—only repetition. Thus in a trial- angle to medium shot or from medium shot
scene supposed to show the defendant in to closeup - and the whole scene was fol­
the dock listening to the verdict with his head lowed using shots as different as they could
bowed and his teeth clenched, the whole be, each contributing to the progression of
proceeding would be in long shot. Then, by the action.
means of a kind of dissolve achieved by BothInce and Griffith frequently used the
closing and opening the iris, the camera closeup to suggest cause through effect or
(from exactly the same angle) "went look­ to suggest a scene not shown in its entirety
ing" for the defendant and brought but whose most noticeable features became
back in closeup (an iris placed in front of the a kind of symbolic representation. In Aveng­
lens enclosed the image in a progressively ing Conscience (1914), inspired by some of
tighter circle and opened up again on the Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, Griffith,
next image becoming wider and wider). using closeups of details, suggested the
Thatmeant that the defendant could be seen thoughts, the internal conflict, the psychic
making the same gestures and playing the behavior of his characters: details such as
same scene: bowing his head, clenching his the handkerchief being twisted by a hand
teeth, etc. Then the whole action would be under the table while the young man, over­
repeated in wide angle, even in a medium come by emotion, falters in answering the
shot, in the continuity of the action. judge's questions; such as the pencil the
Thus the closeup was merely a way of judge taps on his desk signifying his impati­
showing the audience, from closer in, what ence; etc. In The Fugitive (Thomas Ince,
it had already seen and highlighting details 1914), there is a scene showing a group of
which might have escaped its attention. It Texas Rangers playing cards in a saloon some­
was merely an addendum with no place in where in the Far West. One of them is ac­
the overall movement of the film -w h ich cused of cheating. During the ensuing fight,
explains our constant irritation when we as the table is jostled, the cards are jumbled
look at old movies. up and a bottle of whiskey is overturned.
Moreover, the closeup was not a straight­ The men, as they carry on fighting, roll
forward image presenting an actor's face around on the ground and disappear out of
over the whole surface of the frame, chosen shot. Instead of following their movements
 T HE FILM I MAGE 71

in a pan, the camera remains stationary and ing it, face to face. There is truly no space
continues to film the empty table, the scat­ between us; I absorb it. It is within me
tered cards and the bottle draining away its even as the Holy Sacrament. My faculty
last dregs. of vision is at its keenest.
The closeup restricts and directs my
In contemporary films, these kinds of
attention. As an index of emotion, it com­
signification have become debased cur­
pels me. I lose the right and means to let
rency, and when they are used it is as
myself be distracted. Present imperative
cliches. However, at the time, they were in­ of the verb to understand. Just as oil is po­
spirational, contributing not only toward tentially present in land where there is
making the cinema an art but toward mak­ test drilling, so photogenics and a whole
ing the suggestive power of moving pic­ new rhetoric conceal themselves. I only
tures understood. have the right to think of this telephone.
Of all the theoreticians of the cinema, it It is a monster, a tower, and a character.
was without a doubt Jean Epstein and Louis The potential and range of its message.
Delluc who were the first to stress the im­ Around this pylon our individual desti­
nies revolve. They come and go like pi­
portance of the clo seu p -th e first theories
geons into an acoustic pigeon loft. Down
obviously being sketched out from the evi­
the wire passes the illusion of my will,
dence of the films they had seen. The fol­
tantalizing laughter, a number, a pause, a
lowing extract from Epstein's Bonjour, cinema, silence. It is a perceptible limit, a solid
published in 1920, brought home to a whole connection, a transmitter, a mysterious
generation the potential of the cinema: transformer from which all the good and
all the bad may spring. It has the appear­
The closeup must be included or else ance of an idea.
the genre becomes willfully limited. Just
as a stroller might stop to take a closer Beyond these definitions (to which there
look at a shrub, insect, or stone, the lens should be no need to return, which should
must include, in a view of fields, a closeup enable us from now on to use the terms
of a flower, a fruit, or an animal: some
shot, sequence, tracking shot, montage, etc.
detail of living nature. In truth, I never
without the risk of confusing the reader),
walk in the solemn, upright manner our
contemporary cameramen seem to adopt.
certain psychologists who have become in­
I examine in detail; I sniff; I touch. Close- terested in the cinema (late in the day, per-
up, closeup, closeup. Not the normal h ap s-th o u g h this does not invalidate their
views recommended in the tour guides observations and judgments) have seen the
but natural, indigenous, photogenic de­ need to extend the vocabulary of the cin­
tails. Shop windows, cafes, scruffy kids, ema (already quite rich in neologisms and
the tobacconists', everyday life conducted technical terms of all kinds) and have
completely unconsciously and therefore added some of the terminology used in
with the full range of their realization - a their own discipline.
fairground, engine exhausts, fog, e t c .. . .
Some of the definitions they suggest are
The closeup alters the drama through
useful, notably the necessary distinction
its impression of proximity. Pain is put
between the cinematic effect, concerned with
within reach. If I stretch out my hand, I
am in contact with the inner being. I can the recording and reproduction of reality
count the lashes of the suffering. I can through the use of moving pictures, and the
taste the salt of its tears. Never before has fi/m effect, which has to do with the aesthetic
a face been so close to mine. It follows me organization of these moving pictures to­
even closer and yet it is I who am follow­ ward a specific signification. On the other
72 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

hand, to use an expression such as film- exist phenomenologically except as part of

ophany to refer to the range of cinema's the window; the vista, in fact, stretches be­
means of expression, considering their aes­ yond it.
thetic qualities or the results achieved by The same is true when I see a film pro­
them, seems to me fruitless. M. Etienne jected. The impression I get, related to my
Souriau's use (in L'Univers filmique) of the previous experience, is reinforced by the
terms diegesis to refer to "all that is intelli­ fact that the image, revealing a vista
gible within the narrative, in the world im­ bounded by the screen, is succeeded by an­
plied or suggested in the fiction of a film" other image revealing yet another aspect
and diegetic to refer to "any event concern­ of the same vista and a new image is about
ing the characters of a story which involves to show me what, as yet, remains outside
them in a change of position within the the field of the frame. And sometimes a
space contained in the narrative" would tracking shot or a simple pan progressively
seem to be tautologous with the words reveals the continuity of the vista like a de­
drama and dramatic, which, etymologically scriptive survey reproducing the move­
speaking, are quite equal to the task of ful­ ment of my eyes. It is what is known as
filling M. Souriau's definitions—indeed, do the screen effect,13 a psychological mecha­
so in a way that is clearer, simpler, and nism studied in particular by M. Michotte
more easily comprehensible; not to men­ Van den Berck. He maintains that changes
tion the fact that diegesis and diegetic (to of setting in everyday life
pursue a dietary metaphor suggested by
the sound of these words) are, by reason of happen, either through the intervention
their muddled ponderousness, particularly of a visual obstacle (a curtain or door) or
indigestible.12 through a perspective change as we come
out of a room or when someone else en­
The Frame and Its Determining Factors ters it or else simply by shifting the direc­
tion of our eyes or opening our eyes as
Shots and angles, which are the product we wake up. In all these cases, there is
of a choice, a slice of the external world, displacement of a screen (curtain, door,
eyelids, etc.) or of an object previously
have a common denominator: the frame of
hidden or a combination of them both.
the image (or, alternatively, the screen,
There is a resulting blurring of the com­
which is merely the frame enlarged many mon line of demarcation separating their
times over). retinal images and the image of the re­
First it must be acknowledged that the vealed object sharpens progressively with
film image is essentially different from the the successive addition of new sections.
photograph or painting in that it never ap­ For which reason we might assume that
pears by itself and, generally speaking, its theobject begins to exist from the moment
qualities are those of the sequence to which it becomes visible and then becomes
it belongs. Only rarely does it signify by it­ stronger by a process of continuous cre­
self and therefore does not concentrate the ation; and, inversely, that it becomes pro­
gressively fainter as it is covered up
attention exclusively on its structures. It
again. It is manifestly not so; objects ap­
does not relate these back to the frame and
pear to us permanent; they preexist their
is not "centered" in the same way as a paint­ appearance and remain behind after their
ing. From this point of view, the screen ap­ disappearance; the action of the screen
pears like a window opening onto a view. merely renders them visible or invisible.
The boundary delimiting the vista does not . . . The screen effect in this way ensures
 T HE FILM I MAGE 73

objects of a continuity of existence, a phe­ O ne very simple test, used for many
nomenal permanence, and our acquired years now (reference to it can be found in
experience merely serves to confirm this a work of Von Recklinghausen dated
previous information. (Le Caractere de 1859), proves our point. The shadow of a
realite des projections cimmatographiques) solid object made of w ire-parallelepiped
or cube, for e x a m p le -is projected onto a
This proves M. Seve's point and allows us screen. Observed from close up, the
to state with him that "the shot delimits but shadow gives an impression similar to
does not define." Especially since the film that of a simple perspective drawing
traced onto the screen; but, for the object
image, as we have indicated, tends to be­
to become real, all that is required is to
come detached from the surface on which
spin it and, in certain viewing conditions,
it occurs. Whereas the image in a painting
it actually becomes impossible to distin­
or photograph (which suggests dimension guish the moving shadow from the metal
through the effect of perspective) gives the object itself.
impression of relief while remaining fixed to This experiment is important in that it
the surface, the film image, through the reproduces precisely what happens in the
movement it reproduces, accentuates this cinema, where the behavior of the charac­
impression turning it into a genuine sensa­ ters, their gestures and changes of facial
tion. Relief and depth, perceived as they are expression, even the simple transfer of in­
in reality, make the screen appear as though animate objects, must obviously eventu­
ate in a similar e ffe c t-b u t undoubtedly
it were an aperture opening onto a real
with even greater success because of the
space rather than a flat surface.
greater complexity of the images and
Here, M. Michotte's observations, the re­
complicated interaction of light and
sult of many years of research in the field shadow and, perhaps, due to a certain ex­
of experimental psychology, are proof of a tent to the effect of past experience. Once
notion which up to now has been mere con­ again, here is an unusual phenomenon as­
jecture. As he says, sociated on the one hand, as we have
seen, with the peculiar structure of per­
as soon as a technique can be successfully spective images and, on the other, with
applied to separate the constituent fea­ the rules of organization which ensure
tures of an object from the surface which that the object remains distinct from the
acts as its support, the notion of dimen­ projection surface. (Le Caractere de realite
sionality immediately assumes the obvi­ des projections cinematographiques)
ous and sometimes even unexpected fea­
tures of reality. This result may be
achieved by several different methods, Confirming, moreover, our observations
among which there is one (particularly in­ concerning the freeze-frame, M. Michotte
teresting from our point of view) which adds that "one can prove the point by stop­
consists in setting up an interaction be­ ping the film suddenly during projection.
tween the constituent features of the Immediately, the impression of relief, its re­
object. The antithesis between the move­
ality is lost and is replaced by the unreal
ment of the shape and the immobility of
dimensionality of a simple, flat perspective
the screen acts as an agent of separation
image" (ibid.).
which frees the object from the surface in
which it was included. It is, to some ex­ It does seem, however, that it is not just
tent, "materialized" and assumes an inde­ the represented movement, i.e., the move­
pendent existence; it becomes a "corpo­ ment of the characters - o r the objects
real object." themselves during a tracking sh ot-w h ich
74 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

lends the impression of relief and "materi­ tude of images, all of which depend on the
ality" but just as much the movement of position of my eyes relative to its surface.
images in succession. Indeed, the image of a The images are not part of the mirror in any
static o b je c t-a detail closeup-provides phenomenological sense and are merely
the same impression of relief. It is only relative to the observer. In other words, the
when the same photograph is repeated with­ mirror presupposes all images but does not
out alteration that the sensation of collapse dispose of any in particular.
and flattening occurs. It seems, therefore, There is no such thing in the cinema.
that compensation plays a considerable Whatever the image projected, I see it and
part in this effect, creating, as it were, a con­ only it. It would be of no use to me to sit
sistency in terms of the movement of im­ on the extreme right or left of the screen;
ages in succession (different from each all I would see is the image composed
other in some particular), whatever the within and in terms of the frame. My only
movement or lack of movement in the ob­ gain would be that I would see the image
ject represented. distorted.
Whatever the cause and although in the Thus the film image is phenomenologically
cinema material objects are presented to the associated with its frame. It is all too obvious
eye as though contained in a space seen that the reality it seems to record is independent
through a window frame, once those ob­ o f the fram e; not so the representation o f that
jects become an im a g e -a n image composed reality, however. Since the represented objects
within a fram e—th ey relate to the frame and are produced by virtue o f that representation, as
are associated with it phenomenologically. It is image data, they become by that fact subordi­
easy to prove. nate to the image-making data, i.e., the dimen­
When I look at a view through a win­ sions o f the frame.
dow, I see a space limited by the aperture We have seen that at the level of per­
of the window, but if I wish to extend my ceived reality, there is no essential differ­
field of vision all I need to do is to stand ence between a chair and the image of the
closer to the window. If I want, I can move chair, so much so that in the cinema I am
to the right or left and in this way discover, actually seeing the real chair through the
by looking through the median, the space image presented to me of it. Nevertheless,
hidden from me when I was directly in it is still an image I am seeing. As represented
front of the window. The window serves data, film images prove to be similar to the
as a screen and conceals the view, but its "direct images" of consciousness but, as
borderlines are only those of the window representations, they are aesthetically struc­
frame. tured forms. It follows that though the lim­
The same is true when I look at an image its of the screen are no more than a
reflected in a mirror. The image I see face repository for represented reality, they be­
on to the mirror is not the same as the one come a fram e for the representation. With
reflected back to me when I stand to one the result that when we look at a film image
side. These two images, however, are coex­ projected onto a screen, we find ourselves:
istent. An observer standing face on to the A - i n front of an image projected onto
mirror will see the image I was seeing when a flat surface organized within a frame or
I was in the same place, whereas the image being organized relative to it.
I am seeing now is the one seen by an ob­ B - i n front of an image perceived as a
server standing to one side. The mirror real space as though through a window
does not reflect a single image but a multi­ frame.
 T HE FILM I MAGE 75

A—a directly perceptual level which It has been our contention that shots and
presents the image to us as it is, enabling angles are defined by the frame. This leads
us to perceive the structured content. Since us on to other considerations. If, for in­
we are perceiving a "complete entity" or­ stance, I look up at my bedroom ceiling, at
dered within a frame, we cannot help but the comer between the ceiling and the
associate instinctively the shapes thus rep­ walls, I am not seeing it in terms of an up­
resented with the limits of the frame. ward tilt, as I might in the cinema. This is
B - a perceptual level concerned with due to the fact that I am in a fixed position
cognition, associated with logic, experi­ in space and lines forming the setting are
ence, and judgment. We are aware of the carried through beyond my field of vision.
represented content knowing that the set­ It is also due to some innate regulating
ting stretches beyond the limits of the mechanism which manages to preserve the
screen. We know that the space seen balance of my perception, ensuring that the
through the frame and limited by it is in no position and direction of the objects I per­
way delimited by it. ceive remain constant. This mechanism has
In other words, the frame is no more been the object of study, particularly of ge­
part of the image than it is of the repre­ stalt psychology. It is connected with the
sented reality. Rather it is the other way Brunswick constant, which argues that the
around: the image is the product of the apparent dimensions of objects do not di­
fra m e -a t least as far as its compositional minish in inverse proportion to their dis­
structure is concerned. tance from the observer in the same way as
Where many theorists and critics of the the laws of perspective (which, inciden­
cinema and indeed many psychologists tally, are quite arbitrary) would suggest.
have erred has been in considering only Thus if the angle of tilt of a look toward
one of these contradictory aspects, one or a ceiling is more clearly noticeable in the
the other but always one without the other. cinema, it is only because the image pro­
Now, the logic of contradiction suggests vided by such a look is registered within
that they are interconnected and mutually the frame of the screen, because the image
complementary, that they create, by their is composed relative to the frame.
very opposition, film reality, an indepen­ The frame - of a more or less rectangular
dent reality involving many other contra­ shape (Academy, Vistavision, Cinema­
dictions. From which we may deduce, pro­ scope) - is a quadrilateral whose actual di­
visionally at least, that the structure of film mensions depend on the size of the
necessarily involves and presupposes two auditorium but whose forms are invariable.
levels of composition: dramatic composition All the lines of composition in the image
(or "represented reality") organized in are thus related to the vertical and horizon­
space (and also, of course, in time) and aes­ tal axes of this quadrilateral which serves
thetic or plastic composition, which organizes as the absolute standard of reference.14 Conse­
this space within the limits of the frame, quently, the lines marking the junction of
regardless of the field of vision. (The orga­ the ceiling and the walls included within
nization of time, which involves rhythm, is the viewfinder no longer relate, as they did
related to another level of composition before, to the space I occupy, i.e., my field
which we shall examine further on.) It is of view, but to the quadrilateral whose in­
understood that the organization of space variable dimensions indicate the angles
(or plastic structures) is always subordi­ formed by lines relating to it. In this way, I
nate to the expressive requirements. have the distinct impression, from the sim­
76 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

ple play of angle relationships between the (like a screen). In other words, we are al­
lines of the represented content and the ways in the third dimension relative to the
horizontal-vertical axes of the frame in objects we see. We are "outside" them even
which the content is presented, that my though we are inside their space. Perception
view is being directed in a specific way. of the third dimension derives from the ac­
The angles (downward and upward commodation and convergence of binocu­
tilts) become apparent, therefore, only by lar vision in a state of constant interaction,
virtue of the axes of the frame. The same is allowing, of course, for our experience of
true of shots. However, before we examine the space in which we move and are con­
this even more remarkable differentiation, stantly reexperiencing.
it would perhaps be useful at this point to in the cinema, however, we see an image
say a few words about the aesthetic re­ which has been seen by a single eye: the
quirements of the frame, passing over the lens of the camera. We know that the im­
cardinal importance it has from the pression of reality is produced by the
cinematic point of view. movement of the characters within the rep­
Modem mathematics teaches us that an resented space. Yet if we wish to see this
observer must necessarily stand in the space as a "whole," we must stand outside
n+ 1st dimension if he wishes to take in all it and feel as though we are "above it," al­
the elements which make up a being or an lowing us to dominate it in the same way
object with n dimensions. Thus it would be as we dominate the circle drawn on a flat
impossible for infinitely flat beings moving surface. However, it is beyond our power
over a surface to pass inside a circle, where­ to move into the fourth dimension -w h ich ,
as a being which develops three-dimen­ in any case, is beyond our perception.16 But
sionally would have no trouble in reaching we have the option of going to the opposite
the inside without having to cross the line extreme: transferring space into a different
which makes the circle.15 spatial field. And this is possible only by
An observer in the fourth dimension virtue of the frame which limits and defines
would see solid bodies simultaneously its own content, which dissociates the con­
from all points of view. He would see all tent from our immediate space and trans­
the images reflected by the mirror, all the fers "its" space into an imaginary area "on
aspects of the ch air-w h ich allows us to the other side of the screen," which allows
hypothesize that solid bodies, in the so- us to register the content, to "transcend" it
called fourth dimension, are "open" in the by situating it in a space which we accept
same way as the circle is open in the third as not contiguous with our own.
dimension. Moreover, camera movements are above
However, when we consider objects in all perceptible by reason of their associa­
space, we see them in their three-dimen­ tion with the fixed limits of the frame and
sionality, even though we ourselves are in the image itself is plastically arranged ac­
that same space and not in the fourth di­ cording to the quadrilateral which has the
mension from which we might consider the function of a compositional parameter. Ob­
other three dimensions. However, as we in­ viously these movements are also percep­
dicated, objects are displayed to our eyes tible vis-a-vis the static elements of the
as though part of a two-dimensional image, image, set, or location. In the case of
insofar as our visual impressions derive Cinerama, where the image "surrounds"
from an image which forms at the back our the audience and overlaps its field of vi­
retina, i.e., on what is virtually a surface sion, these camera movements become the
 T HE FILM I MAGE 77

onlypossible reference, but in that case any easel down before a particular view must
comparison with noncontiguous space be­ also "objectify" that view in order to repre­
comes impossible and any effects relating sent it realistically. Let us suppose that in
to the frame are preempted, since the frame an effort to create the ultimate in realism,
can no longer be perceived. Of course, it is our painter tries to reproduce everything
perceptible to an audience sitting far included within his field of vision. He must
enough away from the screen, but there realize that in the foreground in front of
again the effect of Cinerama is complete him, his canvas is standing on its easel.
only when one is near enough to the screen Logically he is forced to include them in his
to be surrounded. Then the movement of painting; also his arm holding the brush
the camera gives the impression of real and the brush applying the paint. However,
movement and the audience really believes in the scene represented within the canvas,
that it is inside the represented space. How­ he must reproduce again the canvas which
ever, as we have said, in real space we are he represents himself as painting and, nat­
incapable of choosing or isolating a specific urally, the hand of the painter holding the
part; the field of vision is presented to us brush. And in the scene represented in the
in its entirety. Thus in Cinerama the dy­ painting, another scene representing the
namic impression is more striking, but no painter painting. And so on, in a recession
more can be signified than by the compo­ to infinity, like those advertisements in
sitional resources of the image, by the in­ which a black man is shown holding a tin
teraction of angles and shots. The aesthetic of cocoa on which there is an advertisement
qualities of the cinema are abandoned in of a black man holding a tin of cocoa, etc.
favor of pure "sensation." We stated that the frame of the image is
The presence of the frame is essential not the absolute standard of reference for the
only in composing the image but also in whole of cinematic representation. Indeed,
"moulding" the space according to various the horizontal and vertical axes - which are
points of view, in "objectifying" the space fixed -con stitu te the directional axes of the
and creating the notion of transcendence, image in the sense of height and width.
which must be present if it is to be per­ However the axis of d ep th -w h ich is the
ceived. In Cinerama I am in the represented axis of the camera le n s -is constantly mo­
space; the impression of movement means bile. One of the essential properties of the
that I experience the space but I can move film image is this constant mobility of one
only within its area, in a single direction, of the three variables relative to the two
never relative to it, i.e., in all directions, on others, something which never occurs in
all levels, from all angles, for then I would real space, where all the variables are al­
feel as though I were inside the space, as it tered relative to each other.
were, taking part and, at the same time, out­ Of course, this is also true of represented
side it, as an observer. Ubiquity is denied space, but in the representation the vari­
me. And this is one of the most important ables of space relate back to the invariabil­
assets of the cinema, its expression and its ity of the frame. Let us suppose, for
power. instance, a long shot showing a village with
We shall not make too much of the fact a clock tower in the middle. If we track for­
that in painting there must always be a ward, the village appears to move progres­
frame. Without it, the picture is inconceiv­ sively nearer to us. It is obvious that within
able, regardless of the compositional coor­ this space the three coordinates are being al­
dinate. The landscape painter who sets his tered simultaneously. As we get closer, the
78 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

clock tower gets bigger. However, this en­ microscope," Blaise Cendrars was writing
largement of dimensions experienced by us in 1919.
the audience as a movement forward is It is also one of the reasons why the
translated on the screen as a linear dis­ closeup is so particularly significant. The
placement, i.e., by the "enlargement" of the chosen object, taken out of the context of
clock tower. We are moved forward accord­ many associations, has no direct relation
ing to the axis of depth, and the objects except with the frame, which limits its
grow in size proportionately as we are space, and with the internal elements with
moved toward them; yet relative to the in­ which it is composed. In isolation it be­
variable frame, these objects quite simply comes an "entity" perceived relative to its
occupy a wider area. The overall impres­ constituent elements, whereas, as part of a
sion is that the space is being extended in sequence, it was swamped by the endless
order to occupy the invariable position re­ associations between the sequence and its
served for it. It follows therefore that the constituent elements.
film image has two distinct referents: a spa­ It is obvious that plastic values are only
tial referent-the represented reality, whieh perceptible in fixed shots where the perma­
establishes the horizon or special axis along nence of the setting confirms and justifies
which the location, set and movements of the compositional structures. In moving
the characters are arranged; and a represen­ shots, the continual alteration of the image
tation referen t-th e frame, which is the ab­ has the effect of disguising the presence of
solute referent. the frame. However, since this alteration is
Whatever the variable or invariable po­ apparent only through its relationship with
sitions of the represented elements whose the frame, the geometric and plastic associ­
dimensions vary according to the axis of ations deriving from it are perceptible to
depth, these elements relate to the invari­ the audience. They influence its emotions
able coordinates of the frame which are the and are part, for better or worse, of the ex­
main factors of composition in the image. If pressive and signifying qualities of the
a long shot ofa cavalry charge and a closeup moving image.
ofa face are juxtaposed, the rule of common It is axiomatic that be it in painting or
proportionality obviously no longer ap­ film, the specific effect of the frame is due
plies. In the latter, the field of view extends to the fact that it constitutes a "formal
to 50 centimeters, in the former to a kilome­ unity" with the objects it contains. It re­
ter, and yet they both relate to the same di­ duces to a common denominator objects
mensional u n ity -w h ich means that not which, .in reality, have no direct connection
only does a sensation of enlargement or with it.
diminution follow but, alternatively, a con­ To sum up: A shot is a complicated re­
traction or extension of the space, according source. It is a group of actions and move­
to and proportionate to the changes of shot. ments chosen from among other related
Each has a different spatial coefficient, cor­ actions and movements. The association of
relative with the field of view and the in­ one shot with others (before or after) es­
variable frame, which produces a confusion tablishes new relationships. By introduc­
of sorts (not the least of the resources of film: ing a fragment of reality among other
a huge rock shown in long shot can be con­ fragments of reality, the resulting continu­
fused with a pebble in closeup). "I can no ity creates a unit of units. The shot thereby
longer tell whether I am looking at the forms a new reality by creating an associ­
Milky Way or a drop of water through a ation of intention.
 T HE FILM IMAGE 79

By the simple effect of the frame and the direct communication as if perceiving it as
choice it implies, the most basic cinematic we might the objects of which it is the
recording allows for the interpretation of image.
reality and the simultaneous presentation Thus represented reality is both the same
of a state which, normally, we are unable as and different from actual reality: the
to appreciate because it is confused with same, as "represented content," since the
the mobility of the world and material ob­ image datum is the image of reality; differ­
jects. And this fragment is quite unique in ent, as "representation," because of the
that it has its own time and space unrelated image-making properties which structure
to the time and space which governed it in the image datum and refer it to a noncon­
reality. tiguous space with different dimensional
The film image captures intrinsically a associations.
unique movement which relates to all other Thus the film image is the same as real­
similar moments, i.e., to all the "possibili­ ity and is yet different from it, in the same
ties" of the same kind. Through and by the way as the image reflected by a mirror. in
film image, the representation of a single fact, the mirror image is the antithesis of
aspect, a single moment, reveals the "es­ reality, because it too seems to occur within
sence," the eidetic en-soi (in-itself) of the ob­ a world "on the other side." And it seems
jects represented. in the cinema, as we have this way because it does not reflect reality
said, present time involves all time; the par­ but a "duplicate" of reality. When we look
ticular involves the general and the con­ at ourselves in the mirror, we do not see
crete involves the abstract. ourselves as we a re -w e see ourselves in
in the theater, the stage presents a three­ reverse: left becomes right and vice versa;
dimensional space. The difference between the fellow looking at me looking at a self
its two levels (behind and in front of the who is me is not me but someone else in­
proscenium arch) separates two distinct versely symmetrical.
worlds: on the one hand, a real world and, The film image, on the other hand, is not
behind the proscenium, a represented world; a symmetrical inverse. It is a likeness. But
a true reality and an imaginary reality. Yet a likeness structured in a space with which
the stage and the auditorium are part of the I can only communicate with my eyes and
same physical space. The proscenium arch which is not just the "image of space" but
is only a conventional boundary line and "another space" altogether: imposed space.
the actors, living out fictitious lives, in a Moreover, insofar as it is an analogon,
world made up of painted flats, neverthe­ the image makes reality unreal by consid­
less act in the same space (if not the same ering it aesthetically, by "nullifying" the ob­
frame) as that in which the audience sits. jects of which it is the image in order to
in the cinema, we are seeing a moving present the image as an image. To be more
image projected onto a flat surface which accurate: as a concrete object, it reinforces
becomes "separated" from that surface and reality, since it is the image of that reality,
is presented in a spatial replica, i.e., in a but it nullifies it as objective reality by giv­
place detached from our own by a frame ing it a structured form to distinguish it
which defines and composes it. However, from what it is in actuality.
the represented content is not a "repre­ Now, in the cinema, though "reality is
sented" reality. It is a reality (conventional removed" from reality, though it is placed
or not) captured in its concrete existence, within "another space," we are part of that
an image with which we feel some sort of reality; we associate ourselves with that
80 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

space, whereas it is only convention or our which I experience "physically" by identi­

own willing suspension of disbelief which fying with one or other of the characters of
allows us to participate in the "represented" the drama - w ith all of them in turn. That
reality of the stage whose action unfolds in is the same as saying that in the cinema I
the same physical world as our own. am both inside and outside the action, inside
This participation is due to several fac­ the space and outside it. With the power of
tors, specifically camera movement and ubiquity, I am everywhere and nowhere.
changes of shot. Since everything happens Yet there has to be a balance between
as though we were moving in the repre­ these contradictory effects. It is clear from
sented space, we accord to it an identifiable this that film perfection - o r , at least, effec­
"reality" and we "include ourselves" in it. tiveness —rests on a knife edge, the more so
The frame presents reality objectively for the fact the receptivity of the audience
and makes each of us, the audience, atten­ is a long way from being the same in all
tive observers "outside" the drama. It es­ cases. It depends on the taste, sensitivity,
tablishes a sort of alienation between the education, cultural knowledge, and mood
characters and us, an alienation accentu­ of each individual. Needless to say, this
ated by the impossibility of contact or com­ perfect balance is achieved only very rarely.
munication. Aman walks to the foreground Alienation, the impression of nonreality.
from the back of the set. He comes toward even of artifice, becomes more pronounced
m e - s o it ap p ears-b u t just as he is about as the image becomes more complicated, as
to stretch out his hand, he disappears out­ the effects of the framing become more con­
side my field of vision, out of shot. He will voluted, the more the aesthetic qualities
never be able to touch me. He cannot step take precedence over the immediate con­
outside "his" space, a space with which he tent. By the same token, directing and ed­
is aligned, on which he depends and with­ iting which are overelaborate or broken up,
out which he is nothing. There is a world a kaleidoscopic vision of the world and its
between us. objects, also destroy the perceptual reality
I am everywhere at once, thanks to the of the content. Unless, of course, these ef­
mobility of the camera and the multiplicity fects have some other justification. And, in
of the shots. All I have to do is take part my opinion, it is this justification which is
in the game and let myself go. I am "swept the key to the problem of an aesthetic of the
along." Not just captivated but literally cinema, the condition of compositional
"captured," absorbed into the strange and qualities and stylistic system, of whatever
fascinating space which the screen reveals. kind. We shall need to take a long hard look
The hero of a film is suddenly closer to me at this when we come to consider the prob­
than the fellow in the next s e a t- so much lems of film construction.
so that he nearly touches me. I closely fol­ Besides, all the audience has to do for
low the movements and changes of posi­ the image to appear to him as an indepen­
tion of this character or that; I move, see, dent representation, external to him, is de-
act with them, like them and at the same tath himself from the action, abandon his
time as them; I take part in their drama interest: he sees the film but no longer feels
(which temporarily becomes my own). I anything; he no longer participates.
am no longer an audience member but well
and truly an "actor." I know that I am in Participation and Identification
the cinema but I feel myself to be in a world
presented to me through my eyes, a world These participation phenomena are also
 T H E FILM IMAGE 81

quite subtle. Beyond the effects we have distance between it and the audience. The
considered, it is obvious that audience par­ feeling of satisfaction and reality would
ticipation is more active and immediate the seem to depend on the impression of size
closer the position of the audience to the provided by the apparent dimensions of
the screen. ("Perception visuelle des vis­
screen -w ith in certain limits, of course,
ages animees," in Revue de Filmologie, nos.
and provided the image, while exerting
3 and 4)
maximum influence on the field of vision,
does not extend beyond it and is capable of All this (apart from the conclusions he
being recorded within its frame. In izat case, draws) is true en ou g h -b u t only at the
mobility and intensity of content become level of pure perception. Indeed, it would
more important izan the compositional seem that many psychologists fall into the
values (though dependent on them). The trap of considering perception as an iso­
impression of reality becomes very clear.17 lated phenomenon containing all its own
Ш the other hand, sitting at the back of the solutions, like a fact involving conscious­
auditorium means that the image is further ness only in its structures and not at ize
away not only geometrically but psycho­ level of comprehension. Now, there no
logically as well. The image is perceived at perception which does not involve the ef­
that distance almost always as an external fects of memory or habit and does not de­
reality set into a world which it cannot en­ pend on individual memories relating to
tirely replace, though the auditorium might actual experien ce-at least so far as ize
be kept in complete darkness. In addition, adult individual is concerned -w h ic h
the feeling as "representation" is made the case for the question which interests us.
even clearer, more conscious. The content It is clear that the constants of size con­
is dominated by the container.18 tribute a great deal to this effect. However,
From which it is but a short step to R. C. it is equally obvious that an audience mem­
Oldfield's observations concerning the rel­ ber seeing a film (even from the back of ize
ative size of the screen in its relations with auditorium) is not visiting the cinema for
the psychological constants we mentioned the first time. He knows from experience that
previously: the screen is much larger than the audience.
Thus a closeup covering the whole surface
It is an extraordinary experience to sit
at the back of a cinema and hold up a
of ize screen containable in a matchbox
matchbox in front of one eye (closing the not only perceived but also recognized as
other) so that it blocks out the screen com­ infinitely larger than the people sitting in
pletely (this can be done by holding the the first few rows of ize stalls, fifty of whom
matchbox at arm's length). If it is held a might be fitted into the same matchbox. The
little to one side, it is extraordinary to re­ feeling of size suggested by the shots is
alize that everything within the limits of therefore relative to the clear idea of the rel­
the screen appears in the same dimension, ative dimensions of screen and auditorium
as though included in the contours of the
in relation to the position of the audience.
matchbox. The shapes on the screen seem
Though it is a function of similar psy­
to have the dimensions of reality (even
chological notions, the Brunswick constant
larger) when seen from the back of the
auditorium. The matchbox has the di­
is less responsible for this feeling than sim­
mensions of an amateur snapshot. The ple judgment relating to experience. Com­
mechanism of constancy ensures that the prehension is not alien to perception; it is
apparent size of the screen and the shapes its con su m ption .
on the screen is maintained, despite the The same is true in everyday life. When
82 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE CI NE MA

I see the Eiffel Tower from Montmartre, it at all with direct physical reality. There is
is no bigger than my pencil stub but it ap­ no point of reference to act as reassurance
pears in its relative size; and this impression that the film is merely a sequence of im­
is associated with my experience of space ages, in other words, a nonreality.
more than with a phenomenon of pure per­ We only appreciate the image content
ception. At least the idea is complementary relative to what it presents to our eyes. It
to the perception and is part of the process becomes both something to be compared
of being aware of the object in view.19 and a term of that comparison, taking the
Nor has this dimensional relationship place of a reality which we have ceased
between screen and audience much to do perceiving. Naturally we are conscious of
with the impression of reality provided by sitting in a seat because we never lose con­
film images. This is more a matter of dis­ sciousness of our self, any more than of our
tance, i.e., the position of the images in the body (and any notion of weight which the
field of vision (not dimension in the strict screen is incapable of providing merely re­
sense) and the resulting alienation. inforces that consciousness); but, though
As far as participation, even identification, we know ourselves to be in a cinema, we
of the audience with the tharacters on the perceive an image which becomes a sub­
^ ^ e n is concerned—identification which oc­ stitute for all other perceptions and gives
curs only with characters of one's own sex (to us the almost total illusion of real percep­
describe the reasons for this would involve tion. In this way, we are confronted with a
our considering irrelevant psychological quasi-reality whose very mobility involves
questions)-this has been explained in us and seems to stand as proof of the au­
terms of hypnosis or hypnotic phenomena. thenticity of that reality. Our consciousness
Now, ignoring for a moment an obvious is demanded by this "action," whereas our
analogy, it seems to me that the problem is physical being is demanded by the "space"
both simpler and more complicated. affecting our faculty of vision. Thus we are
One thing is certain: the brilliance of the dealing with an effect somewhat similar to
screen against almost totally black sur­ hypnosis in its "captivation" of our con­
roundings produces a sort of preoccupying sciousness but also and more specifically
fascination which confines the impressions with a state analogous with dreaming
of consciousness within a frame which is (midway between actual dreaming and
clearly circumscribed. During the projec­ daydreaming) by virtue of this "perceptual
tion of a film, nothing is (or can be) per­ transfer" in which the imaginary takes the
ceived except what is presented on the place of reality.
screen. Certain parts of the auditorium are We have seen that the mental image pre­
sometimes not completely blacked out sents a reality both visualized and recog­
(light is let in through the exit doors, etc.) nized as absent. If, as I write these lines, I
but any extraneous light is overwhelmed think of my car in the garage, I can see it
by the luminosity of the screen and, be­ perfectly well, mentally—or, at least, I can
cause it does not attract any attention, once see a certain aspect of it—but I am seeing it
noticed it is forgotten, somehow expelled as not present. It appears to my conscious­
from our consciousness, which is concen­ ness as an image certifying the absence of
trating on the development of the film. what I am thinking about—more especially
Thus it is not possible, during the pro­ since, in so doing, I do not stop perceiving
jection of a film, to preserve any connection the world impinging on me from all sides.
 T HE FILM IMAGE 83

The mental image is therefore a product same as the mental image as conceived by
of the will standing in opposition to our Taine and the Associationists: an image
normal perception of the world and its ob­ fixed for all time inside our memories, capa­
jects and which, though coexisting with it, ble at all times of being recalled and recon­
becomes more isolated the more directly in stituted as it is by our consciousness-with
opposition it stands. the one difference that memory in this case
Now, when we dream, the fact that we is a strip of celluloid.
are asleep means that we stop perceiving Finally, for us the audience, the film
consciously. The images forming in my image serves as a substitute for reality in
mind through an extremely complex mech­ exactly the same way as the mental image
anism of "relaxation" or "release" are of the when we dream. That the images are less
same order as mental images. Inasmuch as vivid in the cinema, where we never lose
they are effects of consciousness, they are the idea of being present, does not mean
produced in much the same way. Yet they that the phenomena of participation are
do not stand in opposition to the percep­ any the less pronounced-w ith this obvi­
tion of direct reality: they act as substitute ous distinction, however, that in the dream
for it, becoming thereby a pseudo-reality in state the imaginary is created by me,
which I become caught up and involved, whereas in the cinema it is extemaUy in­
believing in it implicitly. Everything hap­ duced and imposed on my consciousness.
pens in my consciousness as though I were As a kind of perceived reality, it is pre­
really living out the imaginary action, so sented to me as an objective reality; but
much so that if an outside perception since I know this reality to be imaginary, I
reaches me, I integrate it into the dream: the can always choose not to accept it or asso­
drums of a boys' brigade band beat out the ciate myself with it. In a certain sense, I
tattoo at an execution and a banging door enjoy greater freedom with it. My partici­
becomes the sound of the falling guillotine pation is always the result of an act of will,
blade. a voluntary submission on my part.
In contrast with the mental image, the In any case, audience identification
^ m image is objectively present; but, like (which is merely an excessive belief in the
the mental image, it is the image of an ab­ film reality) implies a kind of self-renunci­
sent reality, a past reality of which it is ation - i f only for the duration of a film - i n
merely the image. Its concrete reality is that order to identify with the "other person."
it isfixed to a support and is thus objectively This transfer process, in practical terms ca­
present and analyzable. The reality record­ tharsis, presupposes a religious frame of
ed on the celluloid strip is at all times ca­ m ind-religious in the deepest and most
pable of being projected. In this sense, universal sense of the word.
projection is a kind of " actualization," in Of course, the cinema is not a religion
the same way as the mental image. and has nothing by which it can lay claim
For the filmmaker, inasmuch as his work to being a religion. For that matter, catharsis
is the manifest expression of his thoughts, in the cinema is only a more complete form
his subjectivity, his way of seeing or feeling, of the ecstasy we described at the beginning
the film becomes a means of perpetuating of this treatise, an ecstasy which might be
(or at least of fixing for his own conscious­ described as active, in the sense that it in­
ness) a unique moment of his self. volves the identification of the being with
Thus the film image purports to be the ite object, a "double" taking the place of the
84 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

ideal Self. This religious frame of mind, not be forgotten that, throughout, film re­
forecast by Eisenstein (on which the bases quires the audience to "structure" ideas
of his aesthetic were founded), is beginning and follow relationships from shot to shot
to be studied by psychologists from the and sequence to sequence. Thus logical re­
phenomenological point of view. lationships are what govern audience antic­
As well as the phenomena we have just ipation. They change the audience member
examined which enable audience participa­ from being passive to become active. Reason
tion to take place, let us take a look at the is constantly a ctiv e-b u t on data which is
mental activity which leads the audience to experienced rather than received, accepted
identify with a particular character on the rather than discovered.
screen or scene in the film. It is our belief We must now take a closer look at the
that this activity is not just "willed" but that nature of this participation. Audience par­
it is separated in intention from a kind of ticipation suggests the development of a
primary passivity which actually allows it similar process, whereas "identification" is
to exist. limited to what might be called a "projected
When the film image is perceived as an association." in fact, when we see a film, we
analogon or, failing that, a sign, it is per­ never allow ourselves to be transported by
ceived, in the strictly sensorial sense, as a external impressions which otherwise we
signal, i.e., a series of stimuli provoking pre­ might tend to imitate; we do not "internal­
determined responses. This signal rouses ize" the actions of the actor. On the contrary,
our consciousness and keeps it at the alert. these arepersonal tendencies which are "ex­
It informs us that "something" is about to ternalized" and related to the actor. It is not
happen even before the why and wherefore so much a matter of the individual's "assim­
can be specified. in this context, each shot is ilation" of the character of his counterpart
a surprise effect, a pure emotional shock on the screen but a "projection" made pos­
sparking off a number of elementary reac­ sible by film perception.
tions. With the shots changing from minute The potential for mimesis acts here as a
to minute, the film is a continual "catalyst," catalyst: we discover in the deeds of a hero
beyond the emotional value of its content. the fulfilment of an otherwise inhibited
Since the meaning of the image only be­ "desire" and we "graft" onto them motiva­
comes apparent through the continuity, the tions not fully realized in actual reality. It
film appears as a series of unpredictable is as though it were a kind of motive pro­
"future events." Even when we guess the jection of an unrealized action onto the ac­
ending, we can never predict the successive tion realized in the film: our "intention" is
stages of its development. liberated by becoming totally subservient.
Whereas perception of reality always Gliding through a world which offers
orients itself toward a future which it tries him no resistance other than that required
to predict, the sole aim of film perception by the dramatic action, the hero "embodies
is to understand a particular scene as it and consolidates a power built from dis­
takes place. Not needing to anticipate an content and dreams." He therefore be­
unforeseeable reality or to protect itself comes a kind of substitute whose trans­
against a harmless future, it is passive but ferred responsibility is the fulfillment of
also devoid o f any anxiety. It appeals only to our Self; he assumes the Self I was not ca­
immediate memory. pable of being.
However, though the perceptual frame It is not the situation lived outby the hero
of mind may exclude the imaginary, it must which is experienced by me; it is "part of my
 THE FILM IMAGE 85

subjective self" which is actualized by him; presumes he would see them. In which
through him I am able to fulfill a desire. I case, he must disappear in order that we
perform his exploits (that is, my exploits) in might believe we are "in his place"; but
my mind; I live them in him, through him, we shall see in greater detail when we come
without ever losing sight of the fact that he to consider the conditions of the subjective
is he, different from me, similar only in what camera) he must already have a place in the
I would like to be and am not. action so that we can ascribe to him a vision
Whereas a confusion between "self" and which, for us, appears no less objective
"other" might be inevitable in the case of than all the others. We are always aware
audience identification, in the cinema all that this vision is "his," though we experi­
that happens is a simple correlation of be­ ence it as our own.
havior in a given general situation: the In fact, the audience member is unaware
beating a hero gives the villain is the one I of attitudes adopted spontaneously—or,
would like to give a certain enemy of mine more precisely, he is unaware of his act of
except that my sense of p rop riety -or adoption: he feels its effects and attributes
weakness-prevents me. them to film's "hypnotic powers"; and in­
The audience acts and reacts with the deed to some extent this is true (with this
actor, but the less this projective association proviso, though, that film "releases" effects
applies to one particular character in the it does not "produce"). Though the depic­
drama and more to all of them - o r almost tion of any accompanying movement helps
all of th e m - the less the audience will iden­ create an understanding of the actions we
tify with the actor. perceive and though the audience must
When I become involved in the action of have - or have had - the appropriate inten­
a film, I associate myself with the behavior tion, it is easy to see that an understanding
of each character in tum. I share temporar­ of film data (a deep understanding gained
ily their point of view and their motivation; by being involved) is merely a way of rec­
I graft onto their actions the motivating im­ ognizing the data or recognizing oneself in
pulses of actions I might take or wish to them. Since we only recognize what we al­
take in similar circumstances which they ready know, it is dear that a total associa­
perform/or me. It is only when they behave tion of the mind with the action and
differently from the way I would behave in motives of the film is the result not only of
the circumstances that I am able to dissoci­ the cultural level of the audience (con­
ate myself from them. In this instance, my cerned entirely with intellectual compre­
willingness to be involved in the action of hension) but also and more especially of its
the film acts against them —which does not intentional capacities, i.e., its interior world.
mean that it is any the less considerable. Someone who has never had a dream can
In any case, it is not I, as an individual, never appreciate the significance of a
who identifies with the hero; it is an un­ dream, and we never project our own mo­
fulfilled wish, an ideal Self which I recog­ tives onto the actions of "someone else" ex­
nize in him. cept when these happen to coincide. They
It is all "as though" the actor were our must have been experienced - if only in the
double, the embodiment of our intentional imagination. A film is a mirror in which we
Self. We never act or feel as though we were recognize only what we present to it
he. We never stop seeing as someone through what it reflects back to us: all it
"else," unless, of course, the camera—used ever reflects is our image.
"subjectively"—shows us objects as one Might this be the reason why the man-
86 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE CI NE MA

in-the-street prefers pure action or spectac­ provoking responses similar to those we

ular films? Just as in sports events, the re­ would have in real life.
quired intentionality is essentially at the I saw Nanook o f the North for the first time
physical level: the hero is not the "represen­ (at least as far as I can remember) in Sep­
tation," the "projection," of the various tember 1922. It was reasonably warm in the
complexes recognizable in him; he merely cinema that was showing the film; and yet
presents what he is, in other words, what I was surprised to notice that once or twice
the audience is and, in re^turn, all the audi­ during the film I was turning up the collar
ence has to do is respond in a most basic of my coat; I might even have blown on my
manner. fingers. Obviously I was not cold; I was
Which might also explain why it was merely thinking in the same way as a man
the poets who first discovered, lauded, and in the cold: the blizzard howling over the
praised the aesthetic potential of film and icy wastes, the images of snow and high
went on to endow the simplest images winds had caused my defense reactions to
with the richness and magic of their respond as though I were cold.
dreams. Canudo, Delluc, L'Herbier, Ep- This sort of reaction is described in the
ste in -a n d Cendrars, Aragon, Cocteau, problems raised by Albert Michotte: audi­
and C olette-h ad enough poetic vision to ence participation in a f ilm -if it is to be
see beyond poetry. regarded as a mimetic phenomenon - can­
This identification, involving me in an not be explained in normal psychological
adventure experienced by someone else - terms. On the contrary, understood as a pro­
so much so that I feel as though I am ac­ jective association, it is merely a phenome­
tually experiencing it m y self-lets me do so non similar to recollection when stimulated
risk-free. It lets me be committed to situa­ by an external factor. The film image merely
tions from which I can voluntarily with­ takes the place of the mental image with all
draw, thereby "experiencing" several ad­ the force of its credible reality.
ventures at once without ever being tied to Thus, via different routes, we reach sim­
one exclusively. ilar conclusions to those proposed by Mikel
In real life, any one of these actions Dufrenne: "The work of art is in no way
would involve me in a series of consequences within us; we are within it." If film reflects
from which I could never hope to escape, what we present to it through what it offers
since I could never hope to delete experi­ us, by revealing an action onto which we
enced time. On the other hand, the possibil­ can project ourselves, it shows us what we
ity of going back in time is constantly on offer are, since we "fulfill ourselves" in it. In M.
in the cinema, where the length of time of Dufrenne's words, "the presence of the aes­
an imaginary event is canceled out by the thetic object, just like the event, allows me
duration of the film -d u rin g which I have to come to terms with the first principles
managed, even so, to become involved in whith I carry within me." We might add: it
all the narrative variations of any potential allows me to understand the intentionality
situation, having "quasi-experienced" it which I hold in reserve and which charac­
without having to suffer the consequences. terizes me, the tendencies of which I was
We should add that it is not just with only dimly aware.
actions and behavior that we are involved Andre Malraux contends that arts which
like this. Evocative effects also invite our act merely as a catharsis for the author or
involvement; some quite extraordinary ef­ au dien ce-arts of "sublimation" - a r e re­
fects are produced in this w a y -th e image- ally "anti-arts." If this is so, the cinema is an
 THE FILM IMAGE 87

excellent example of an "anti-art." Yet the ization such that the content, formalized by
value of a film is always relative to its aes­ the representation, becomes, so to speak, the
thetic purpose - which is to provoke this ca­ product of the representation in respect of
tharsis, not only by means of a moving or its genuine signifying or emotional proper­
gripping content but in the way it is pro­ ties. And if it is frequently difficult to disso­
duced. Since emotion is the prime mover of ciate the ugliness of a content from the
all works of art, art is achieved when the originality of the form which presents the
emotion is the product o f an intention success­ content to our eyes (as sometimes happens
fully (i.e., convincingly) executed and not just in painting), it is because the purpose of
a reality incidentally impressive in itself. painting lies exclusively in its formal values
What matters (which is the reality of the requiring it to reject unsuitable data,
work of art) is not the represented reality but whereas in the cinema the image-making
the signified reality, not what is revealed or properties which validate the image data
narrated but what is expressed. A film mem­ never stop them from keeping (even at its
orable only for its story or its (social or most banal) the obvious power of an intrin­
moral) message independently of the form sically moving reality. There can only be
in which its whole meaning ought to be com­ contradiction-in other words, "formal­
municated cannot be a work of art. What­ ism" -w h e n the content is lifeless, without
ever the validity of the message, art is its emotion of its own, i.e., when the form has
own servant: in other words, art can only nothing to recommend it but itself.
serve its own means of signification. To In the end, though film presents us with
quote M. Dufrenne once again, "the work an interpretation of reality (not an inter­
of art is not illuminated by an external light preted reality), above all it provides us with
through which a world appears: it generates the means to interpret that reality-w ith the
its own light, which is expression." effect that the process is dependent on the
M. Lucien Seve has the following to add: means (wherein lies the art of film, varying
"the cinema is different from all other arts according to the work, genre, or creator
which seek to reconstruct (even photogra­ under consideration).
phy which creates an image) in that it gives It is easy to see, even from this general
us, as Dziga-Vertov explains, a 'documen­ conspectus, that the cinema provides the so­
tary interpretation of reality' rather than an cial scientist with an amazingly useful re­
'interpreted reality.' Which is why it man­ search tool. What is more, several contem­
ages to bypass the classical paradoxes of porary psychologists have been working in
aesthetics, in particular, the Gordian knot of this direction (Rene Zazzo, for one), aban­
realism." However, to consider only the ob­ doning research which might have resulted
ject of the process is to deny the value of in the discovery of "an aesthetic essence
everything but the reality one is trying to during the phenomenological description
interpret. True, our primary interest is in of a concrete process dialectically ob­
whatever it contains that is authentic or served." It is true that they had absolutely
moving. It is of no consequence that it is no idea of the possibilities of this kind of
beautiful or ugly, unusual or commonplace: aesthetic.
what is important is that it be real and mov­ One might also deduce that in certain
ing. Yet it is always presented in terms of respects the cinema might become a mar­
values which structure it in a particular way velous analytical and psychotherapeutic
and which may discover, even in banality, tool. Dangerous in the wrong hands but
an opportunity for composition or visual­ nevertheless very appealing! Ignoring the
88 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE CI NE MA

fact that a vast majority of films produced themselves reproduce, the images become
by genuinely creative artists (Chaplin, Stro­ "detached" from the surface onto which
heim, Mumau, Welles, etc.) reveal, far more they are projected. The represented objects
than any poem or novel could, the inner then appear to assume a "materiality" in a
selves of their creators-th eir neuroses and space enclosed by the frame and situated
obsessions-m ost frequently without their beyond the screen. Presented according to
being in the least aware of it. dimensional relationships which are both
in conclusion, since the film image is invariable (the frame) and constantly dif­
both represented data and a specific form o f ferentiated (the shots), reality is literally
representation, we might make the follow­ "transposed."
ing claims -w h ic h would justify as well as 5. The frame, angles, shots, and resulting
refute several apparently contradictory compositional forms constitute the represen­
definitions. tational resources, in other words, the "image-
1. Reduced to represented reality, the making data" through which the represented
image means nothing. It reveals. "Content" reality becomes the "image data."
is presented for what it is. It is self-signify- 6. A "represented object" can only ap­
in g -th a t is all. pear in the guise of a representational form.
2. Nevertheless, as an image it symbol­ Now, the representation has a particular
izes, generalizes, and refers all concrete re­ meaning, through what it represents and
ality to the abstract. It becomes "transcen­ through the way it represents it. It signifies.
dent" by being the analogon of a reality Through it the signifier (image of the pince-
with which it stops having any phenome­ nez) becomes a signified (downfall of the
nological association. Consequently it be­ ruling class).
comes the sign of what it reveals - and thus, Thus the image signifies symbolically
it might be argued, in its way the sign and plastically, through the organization of
(image of the pince-nez) and the signified its own structures, which are defined by the
(pince-nez) are one and the same, with the forms of the "content" placed within a
rider that the term sign is used here in its frame; dialectically, through association
psychological sense—separatefrom the mean­ and implication, becoming a sign (in the lin­
ing generally attributed to it. guistic sense) in the development of narra­
3. Through the effect of the frame, every tive; and, ultimately, through rhythm,
shot is a slice of objective reality, a choice which is subordinate in this narrative to re­
necessarily organized within the frame and lationships of time, length, tonality, etc. and
ordered relative to it. Structured in this w hichw e shall consider further on. Conse­
way, represented reality becomes a compo­ quently the film image presents an image
sitional form -w h ic h may or may not be of reality which, though similar to the real­
complicated. This "formalization" is the ity it records, is nevertheless different from
equivalent of transformation. Reality is it. It is a mental transposition through which
transformed. reality is transformed while preserving all its
4. Through the effect of movement im­ formal aspects. One might say, to be more
posed on them and movement which they precise, that it is transfigured.
 111
■■
■■

Rhythm and Montage

The Beginnings of Montage . object becomes obvious when the object is

in motion. But when it is seen on a screen,
Origins and Discovery that object does not exist objectively in any
of the individual frames.
Since the nature of the film image is that it Jean Epstein has written: "The screen is
moves, there can never be "still life" in the where the actor's thoughts and the audi­
cin em a-on ly static objects whose lack of ence's thoughts come together to assume
movement depends, even so, on a succes­ the material appearance of an action." But
sion of images which present them to our we would be mistaken in believing that this
vision. Naturally this mobility can never be is specific to the cinema. A novel exists only
perceived as such, only experienced in its inasmuch as it is read. While it is merely a
effects. collection of printed words, it is nothing, at
Take, for instance, an extreme closeup of least no more than a series of images repro­
a static object. If we look closely at each of duced on a roH of film would be. The novel
the frames of this shot, we see that none of only "exists" in the consciousness of the
them (though representing the same object reader; painting must be seen and music
lit by the same lighting) is exactly the same must be heard.
as the others. However consistent the pho­ Art - as we have said - can only be effec­
tography and uniform the printing, we tive as a relation between the mind which
may notice a tiny white spot on one or a conceives it and the mind which "receives"
black spot on another; we may see that one it and which, prompted by a form deter­
of the frames is a little grayer than the oth­ mined by the artist, adapts its emotions and
ers or slightly less gray, etc. And this effect its "imagination" accordingly. The same,
is so universal that we may confidently moreover, is true of perceptible reality. Any
state that the object we see does not really "object" assumes as necessary the associa­
exist in any of the frames of the film. The tion between the perceptible data and the
product of an interchange between them, it subject perceiving them.
is different from both the real object we see There is no need to stress this point fur­
through these images and the many still ther, since no knowledge, no judgment, and
photographs which reproduce it. It is consequently no aesthetic principle could
movement alone which presents it as we be founded on any other tenets. Thus to
see it and produces not its image but one claim, as have certain commentators, that
"average" image which has no reality other the wonder of cinema "cannot be explained
than a photographic reality, an image in terms of the integration of meaning and
which does not exist as a photograph but form but ts the product of the relationship
as an "essence" both concrete and objective. formed by this form-signification system
Of course, what is perceptible in a static with the public" ts merely to find a means
90 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

ofestablishing common ground. The won­ to this problem later on, but for the moment
der of cinema, as of any other art form, can­ let us say that in one way or another the
not be explained except in terms of the audience must constantly be ^ ^ ^ n g or, if
integration of meaning and form, suppos­ you like, totally perceiving (in other words,
ing a priori that there exists a subject sen­ experiencing, judging, and recognizing) ifit
sitive and willing to perceive it. wishes to grasp the meaning of the impli­
If there must be an artist for there to be a cations and suggestions continually being
work of art, there must also be a public for offered to it. Its attention, as we have said,
it to exist. It goes without saying that in the is constantly on the alert. It draws on previ­
main argument of this study and in all the ous experience, previous knowledge of the
ramifications which it has prompted, we world and material objects and, in many
have presented this relationship not merely cases, its culture. The audience "sees" only
as necessary but as an established fact. what it understands-consequently the
What is clear is that since the form of film film which it imagines (or infers) from the
makes its appeal through its most signify­ evidence in front of it. Though the audience
ing aspects, it acts according to processes can have no say in the images imposed on
involving the mechanisms of perception. it, it alone interprets and makes sense ofthem.
But this is quite another problem. It is obvi­ But if film expresses itself in terms of
ous that in the film-audience relationship, it movement, i.e., in terms of actions and a
is not a question merely of seeing and react­ logic constantly projected into the future (a
ing emotionally as one does before a paint­ "future" which is present all the time since
ing or during the performance of a sym­ we follow it in its development), it must
phony but of understanding, i.e., structuring necessarily imply a sequence of time and
and piecing together ideas from the per­ therefore an organization of time, i.e., a
ceived objects, as one does in reading from rhythm which becomes apparent only at the
the words. Film cannot exist without there moment the film begins to fulfill its aes­
being a certain succession of images, but thetic function.
neither can it exist without an internal logic Whereas harmonious organization of
which, in the same way movement estab­ proportion and plastic composition were
lishes links between frames, establishes part of the cinema from its earliest days - in
links between shots. In other words, cinema the first Italian spectaculars and the "films
cannot exist without dialectic. d'art," i.e., around 1 9 0 8 -th e notions of
In a film, the meaning of the world and rhythm were introduced,nuch later on.
material objects is subject to an intentional Though Griffith achieved a great deal with
meaning involving the reality in a more or his experimentation during the period be­
less unforeseeable train of events. Objects tween 1910 and 1914, employed in such
are caught up in a sequence of time which films as The Birth o f a Nation and Intolerance
may, at any moment, be altered from its (1915-16), as did Thomas Ince in his first
course or even halted in midcourse. They great films (The Aryan, Battle o f Gettysberg,
are no longer "themselves," free and inde­ The Evil Star, etc.) and, of course, Mack
pendent; they become elements ofdiscourse. Sennett with his burlesque comedies, they
And the point at issue is knowing whether were all only intuitively aware of the pos­
they are merely elements of discourse or be­ sibilities of rhythm. It was only in the 1920s
come elements of discourse by virtue of a that these possibilities became recognized
narrative based on their concrete reality. and studied seriously.
We shall have the opportunity to return Though overdue, this was quite a natu­
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 91

ral development, since if film is movement, cinema; it does not inflict on the film the
it is bound to be movement o f something. weaknesses we recognize as peculiar to
And expression in terms of the transforma­ expressionist works. So long as the subject
tion of a "space" would not be possible is capt^ed in the natural spontaneity of
life, we will believe in the image because we
unless the transformation had been pre­
will see it as a particular point of view of
viously planned. So it was natural for
a reality existing independently of the
filmmakers to feel the need to master com­ viewpoint which the presents. More­
pletely the architectural forms before over, the conventional choice of a point of
chancing their arms with the organization view of the subject to be represented does
of time. in fact, this "rhythm " is established not mean that our attention has to be inter­
in the cinema through the arrangement of rupted as with expressionist conventions.
the various elements included in the frame On the other hand, observing a scene
according to precise, predetermined inten­ from a particular angle suggests that the
tions, in other words, through the "fram­ same scene might be observed from a dif­
ing" more than through a setting arranged ferent angle. Lastly, the viewpoint which
each shot suggests is only valid relative
ahead of this process, as in Expressionist
to the viewpoint chosen for the preceding
cinema.
shot and the shot to follow. (Art et realite
The plastic structures determined by the au cinema)
framing exert an influence on the audience's
emotions. They draw its attention to a par­
ticular component of the image or a charac­ The film movement which will occupy
ter or object with a specific position within our attention from now on appears in many
the frame; they establish relative propor­ guises. One such guise is the movement of
tions between different characters and be­ represented objects. This is nothing more
tween characters and objects, thereby than recorded movement, mechanically re­
pointing up the dramatic or psychological produced. Yet it must, nevertheless, possess
meaning of the action, creating circumstan­ a certain rhythm; it must be altered or ex­
tial relationships. And by determining an tended according to the requirements of the
overall impression, they allow the audience moment. Since it depends on the acting and
-w ith ou t its being conscious of i t - t o re­ dynamics of the action, i.e., on the mise-en-
late to the represented action the emotions scene, it will be studied in greater detail
which the representations generate within later on, together with the "internal" move­
it. To organize an image, to compose it aes­ ment governed by the dramatic structure of
thetically, is to emphasize what is to be sig­ the film.
nified and to contribute to the signification. Another guise is the rhythmic move­
The "imagistic" qualities-how ever picto­ ment determined by the type of sh o t-p an ,
rial theym ightbe-becom e cinematic in the track, etc. -a n d , even more especially, the
sense that they are signifiers in their own dynamic relationships which each shot
right (though in virtue of the action). maintains with the preceding and succeed­
As Jean-Pierre Chartier points out, ing shot. For instance, there are relation­
ships of scale (long shot to closeup, closeup
to medium shot, etc.), relationships of in­
The choice of point of view in a 'real­
istic' film is a convention every bit as im­ tensity (amount of movement included in
portant as the expressionistic use of a set, an establishing shot relative to the amount
a mise-en-scene, or a lighting plot. But of movement included in a close shot, etc.),
this convention is perfectly suited to the plastic relationships (structure of an image
92 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

relative to the structures of the adjoining be exact, that montage was discovered, ap­
images, etc.), and relationships of angles pearing around 1901 in the films of two
and framing, which generally govern the former seaside photographers turned film­
plastic relationships. makers, G. A. Smith and Williamson. Other
The association o f two im ages-ev en historians, myself included, have it that it
static ones -alread y determines a certain is to the American Edwin S. Porter that the
movement, albeit through the opposition of cinema is beholden for this innovation. But
their structures. The transition from one to since the majority of films of this time no
another causes a dynamogenic relationship longer exist, one can only make judgments
involving a certain rhythm which, natu­ from the scripts which these filmmakers
rally, becomes associated with relationships used, and this task is rendered all the more
of movement when the images are them­ difficult by the fact that the scripts are
selves dynamic. The interplay of structures rather crude and elementary. Whatever
and their formal relationships in the narra­ conclusions one may draw, it is an indis­
tive of the film is a quality intrinsically ca­ putable fact that these three filmmakers are
pable of signifying by itself with greater or responsible for the advent of montage.
lesser effect. In 1900, Smith produced a series of short
We shall come back to this question, but films unique in being composed of nothing
first we must trace the historical develop­ but closeups. Moreover, these were col­
ment of montage in order to be able to place lated and catalogued under the collective
the problem of rudimentary visual rhythm title of Humorous Facial Expressions. Having
under the general heading of rhythm. begun with "animated portraits,” Smith
Editing (montage)-which, technically was to realize quite quickly the advantages
speaking, is nothing more than the laying of alternating long shots with closeups of
end to end of different shots (or different a particular significant detail. "Smith's de­
"scenes,” to use the terminology current in velopment followed such a logical course,”
1 9 1 0 )-is as old as cinema itself. Yet in Sadoul writes, "that it is not beyond the
Melies's films, for instance, the purpose of bounds of reason to presume that he was
piecing together one scene with another the first inventor of montage.”
was to create a succession of discontinuous The first of these films was The Little Doc­
and independent "tableaux," to replace tor (1900), in which two children are seen
what in the theater are called "transforma­ administering medicine to a cat, who we as­
tion scenes.” sume is ill. A closeup shows the cat's head
As Georges Sadoul points out, "The dra­ as it swallows a spoonful of milk. Subse­
matic value of montage is contained in es­ quently Smith justifies these closeups by
sence in the fact that it makes it possible making them seem optically inspired. In At
to achieve the three effects which are the Last, That Awfal Tooth, he justifies the
very essence of the cinema: (1) the use of closeup of a decayed tooth by first showing
the camera as an eye, observing objects the patient scrutinizing his tooth through a
from close to or far away, alternating close- magnifying glass. This technique was to be
ups with long shots; (2) following a char­ copied in many other films, such as
acter's movements from one location to Grandma's Reading-Glass, What We See
another; (3) alternating episodes occurring through a Telescope, etc. Zecca copied it in
in different locations but contributing to France the following year, producing films
the same overall effect.” According to such as La Loupe de grand'mere, Ce que l'on
Sadoul, it was in England, in Brighton to voit de mon sixieme, Par le trou d'un serrure,
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 93

etc. And, after Zecca, Nonguet in 1905 (Ce curring in different locations but contribut­
que je vois de la Bastille, L'amour a tous les ing to the same overall action. In one scene
etages, etc.) we see the mission surrounded by the Box­
In Mary Jane's Mishap (1901), Smith ers and the missionary's family hiding in
finally shows, in a rapid succession of the house. In the next scene we see the sail­
shots, a dramatic scene developing in sev­ ors commanded by an officer on horseback
eral locations: an explosion in the kitchen setting out to rescue them. Then we see the
propels Mary Jane's body up through the mission again, this time burned down, then
chimney and back down to earth. We see the sailors arriving in the nick of time to
in succession: save the missionary and his family.
By shooting on location in natural set­
1 Long shot. Mary Jane in her kitchen. tings unhindered by the restrictions of the
2. Closeup. Mary Jane polishing shoes. stage and the attendant scenic limitations,
3. Closeup. Mary Jane tries to light her Williamson was able to move his actors
fire. wherever he pleased. Indeed, the actors
4. Long shot. Mary Jane takes a can of were able to move not only from side to
kerosene and empties it over the fire side but also backward and forward. In The
-explosion. Attack on a China Mission the officer who
5. Long shot. Mary Jane pops out of first appears at the bottom of the garden
the chimney onto the roof. lifts the young girl up onto his horse and
6. Long shot. Mary Jane's body, tat­ gallops directly toward the camera. We
tered and tom, falls to the ground. mentioned that this same effect was used
7. Long shot. Final scene in the ceme­ by Lumiere in L'Arrivee d'un train en gare de
tery. La Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train in the Sta­
tion), but there it was used in a documen­
Following the action at its various stages tary-type film, a real movement filmed by
and showing it in various different shots, the cameraman and not a movement spe­
the idea of montage and continuity were pre­ cially composed for the camera.
sented for the first time. In his later films, Williamson (like Smith
Yet, however considerable the discovery before him) generalized the technique and
of these techniques (and accepting that tried to use it systematically, sometimes
Smith was the first to make use of them), even with the aim of creating surprise ef­
it must be acknowledged that though the fects. That explains a film such as The Big
closeup was no longer a "trick effect," it Swallow (1901), which shows a character be­
was still only a method of enlargement, the coming angry at the fact that he is being
possible means of showing a passing detail photographed and marching right up to the
from closer to. There was as yet no real camera so that his mouth covers almost the
signification nor any marked increase in in­ entirety of the screen. The character then
tensity in what the closeups revealed. They opens his mouth and appears to swallow
merely emphasized a particular effect. the photographer and his camera.
The Attack on a China Mission, a kind of Generally speaking, Williamson athieved
reconstructed newsreel of the Boxer Rebel­ his shot changes not by editing but by mov­
lion (1900), contributed the first use of ing his actors from the background to the
"crosscutting." Instead of juxtaposing long foreground (from which we can see that the
shots with closeups, as Smith had, William­ use of the shot-in-depth, like editing, is as
son juxtaposed, for the first time, scenes oc­ old as cinema itself).
94 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

Also in 1901, Williamson produced Stop Alice Guy, Lucien Nonguet, Hatot, and
Thief! a short comic film which really rep­ many others from Pathe or Gaumont. Dix
resents the first "chase film." In showing femmes pour un mari (Ten wives for one hus­
the hero being pursued, he, like Smith in band), shot in 1905 by Georges Hatot from
Mary Jane's Mishap, gave a certain continu­ a script by Andre Heuze (and which was
ity to his film using the same characters in the first French chase ^ m ) was a precedent
different locations. At this stage, editing is for a whole series of comic films featuring
still merely the joining together of different actors such as Andre (Gribouille),
scenes, but now the duration of each scene Georges Bataille (Zigoto), Clement Mige
is determined by the duration of the move­ (Catino), Onesime Bourbon (Onesime),
ment represented in them -w h ic h consti­ Prince (Rigadin), and many others besides,
tutes a considerable step forward from con­ including Grehan and, of course, Max Linder.
struction in terms of "tableaux." It is not impossible that Edwin Porter,
Later on, companies such as Sheffield at that time the chief producer for Edison,
and Gaumont took up the techniques of might have known Smith's and William­
these pioneers and universalized them (par­ son's films. But, though the Brighton pio­
ticularly the chase films), adding a dramatic neers were the first to establish the elemen­
element. Thus we have films such as A Dar­ tary principles of editing, it was Porter
ing Burglary in Broad Daylight (1902) and es­ with The Life of an American Fireman who
pecially The Attack on a Stagecoach (1903), first used those principles to create mean­
which appeared a few months earlier than ing. And this was a most significant ad­
Edwin Porter's Attack on Grand Rapids. vance. For the first time, a closeup (show­
By reason of the shot thanges brought ing the alarm bell in a fire station) assumed
about by the mobility of a thrilling action dramatic significance. It was no longer the
full of incident, it is highly probable that simple enlargement of a detail but the dra­
these first chase films are the real source of matic emphasis of an object which was the
the cinema as an art. Sadoul is mistaken in key to the resolution of the drama. Admit­
attributing the origins of comic chases to tedly, the other shots were all long shots.
the English cinema. With the exception of But the recent discovery of a print of this
the short film by Williamson (which, in any film (which we had the opportunity to
case, is a reworking of a theme used over view a few years ago at the Cinematheque)
and over again by cameramen working for provides us with the proof which Sadoul
the Lumiere brothers), comic films were had been contesting up until then, namely,
few and far between in the English cinema that though Porter's film does not show a
before 1904. The chase (which was to serve variety of shots, it does include a variety
as a model for a whole batch of films pro­ of "points of view." In fact, several images
duced during the period 1904-7, particu­ taken from different viewpoints show the
larly in France) was first used by Wallace fire engine careering through the town. The
MacCutcheon, a producer with Biograph in overall impression is one of amazing au­
New York, in a film called Personal (1904). thenticity (for the time) and almost rhythm.
The film was distributed (though not pro­ A further effect of these various images is
duced) in England by Gaumont Ltd. Dis­ that they increased the anxiety of the au­
tributed in France by Gaumont (the parent dience, holding back the resolution of the
company) under the tile Rendez-vous par an- drama and thereby creating, in a very
nonce, it gave rise to an extraordinary num­ primitive fashion, what was later to be
ber of similar films produced by Zecca, called "suspense."
 RHYTHM A N D MONTAGE 95

We have also spoken of The Attack on on the other, the miserable hovel of the ex­
Grand Rapids, which might be regarded as convict. This use of editing in a sequence
the first cinematic film (though it too com­ of comparison where the dramatic devel­
prises almost all long shots). The action opment depends on alternating scenes
here is taken right to the limits of the field brought the technique one step closer to the
of vision (as though on a wide stage) and art it was to become some years later.
each shot becomes part of a sequence. After The Ex-Convict, Porter shot another
Many of the scenes are still played face on film which also made use of contrast cut­
to the camera, as in the theater, but there ting. The Kleptomaniac is the story of two
are a few (the chase, the fight in the forest, women, one of them poor and the other
the attack on the engineer, and the robbing rich, caught in the act of shoplifting. The
of the passengers) which are developed in rich lady is set free and the poor woman
terms of depth and which rely for their ef­ thrown in jail. In this way the dramatic pro­
fect on the relative distances of the charac­ gression depended on parallel narration of
ters from the camera. Porter used the the circum stances-their causes and ef­
panning shot for the first time, imbuing it fects. The Kleptomaniac is perhaps the most
with dramatic significance. interesting and accomplished of Porter's
In the last sequence, the posse is out of films; it was certainly the most advanced
sight. Have the bandits, shown as they di­ film of its time.
vide up the booty deep inside a forest, man­ Such schematic story lines appear infan­
aged to give it the slip? All at once, as tile and elementary to us in the context of
though in answer to this question, the cam­ complex modern films. However, we must
era pans imperceptibly to the left and re­ remember that the practitioners of this new
veals, in close shot, concealed behind a art had no tradition to draw on. They had
large clump of trees, the posse, which has to begin by expressing such simple themes
just arrived on the scene and is dismount­ as these as clearly as they could, by visual
ing. The final reverse angle shows the ban­ means rather than by illustrating the "great
dits in close shot. The posse rushes in from themes of literature." In many cases, Porter
the background and, after a short struggle, was not without a certain wry humor; the
takes the baddies prisoner. scales in the hand of Justice over the court­
In 1905, Porter added to these first prin­ house are very definitely tilted to one side.
ciples the extension of contrast and parallel We must, however, stress that these films
action. The plot of Williamson's Attack on a proved the exception rather than the rule.
China Mission consists of two simultaneous Theirnovelty was misunderstood and their
actions contributing to the same overall ef­ influence did not become apparent until the
fect rather than actual parallel action films of Griffith. Only from 1910 did their
(which consists of two actions developing innovation pass into common currency;
simultaneously, influencing each other dra­ only then did a few directors (particularly
matically or symbolically). In The Ex-Con­ those working for Vitagraph) begin to de­
vict, Porter opted for what we know velop beyond the realistic and social ten­
nowadays as contrast cutting. In this dency which they had introduced.
drama, which shows the problems of an
ex-convict being refused work by a wealthy Griffith and the Soviet Schools
industrialist, the American director con­
trasts scenes showing, on the one hand, the To catalogue Griffith's contribution to
luxurious interior of a bourgeois home and, the cinema would involve writing up the
96 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

history of four or five years ofproduction in the lee of a hill and in front of a tumble­
and analyzing in depth a good thirty films down shanty, a family huddled around a
at least. Though he cannot be credited with few hastily tied bundles; the camera pans
the invention of either editing or the away from them and reveals a vista of ar­
closeup (or certain other techniques per­ mies on the march across the prairie, while
fected by him), at least he was the first to here and there we see wisps of smoke from
use them with some sort of coherence and the shells of burned-out houses. The Yan­
tum them into a means o f expression. The kee colonel, with drawn sword, leads his
meaning of space, the variety of points of troops into battle (long shot); he arrives at
view (shots and angles), first saw the light the front line (medium shot) and plants the
of day in his films, and we can see the kind Yankee flag in the muzzle of an enemy can­
of control in editing which he had already non (rnidshot). A Confederate dashes out of
achieved by 1914 when we look closely at the trenches (medium shot followed by a
the famous interrogation scene in A Rich pan) in order to rescue a wounded Yankee
Revenge. It is enough to remember that the soldier (close shot). With his bayonet, a sol­
basic syntax of film language was almost dier finishes off an adversary lying on the
exclusively mapped out by him and that ground (midshot). Another soldier finds a
visual rhythm is the result of his experi­ familiar face (that of a former friend) lying
mentation and inspired intuition. among the enemy dead (medium long
It belongs to the historian to trace, shot). A hand (closeup) shares out coffee
through the short films made by this ge­ grounds (medium shot) to the men while
nius, the continuity of an effort which was the battle rages around them (long shot and
to culminate in his first masterpieces and wide angle). Soldiers unceremoniously
put into perspective the often inspired dis­ bundle dead bodies picked up from the bat­
coveries of his predecessors. But whatever tlefield (long shot) into a cart already piled
tribute one may pay to the very first pio­ high with corpses (medium shot); etc.
neers, it is no less true that the cinema as In a series of faster and faster crosscuts,
we know it-fin a lly aware of its artistic we pass from sequences showing the town
possibilities-cam e into existence in 1915. of Atlanta in flames to scenes of terror in
It came into the world with The Birth of a the Cameron farm, returning to the battle
Nation. For the first time, rhythm was used scenes and scenes of brother killing brother.
methodically (though completely intu­ And so on.
itively) by an artist who saw it as the nec­ In the final sequence, at the end of which
essary foundation for the emotive expres­ the Camerons, holed up in a tiny hut, are
sion of things and not by a theorist trying saved in the nick of time by the Ku Klux
to elaborate a set of rules. The theorists Klan, the parallel editing is made to fit a
(Europeans for the most part) did not take clever quasi-musical rhythm based on the
account of this development until the 1920s associations of time between the constitu­
because The Birth o f a Nation, Intolerance, ent parts of the narrative. For instance, we
and Broken Blossoms were not seen in Eu­ cut from a wide angle showing the be­
rope until after the First World W a r -in sieged hut to shots becoming ever closer
1919 and 1920, to be precise. revealing the Camerons preparing for the
In The Birth o f a Nation, the contrast of fight. We see the face of one of them, the
long shots and close shots provides the ac­ actions of another, etc. From the Camerons,
tion with its characteristic tone and color. we cut to the ride of the Klansmen: wide
Take, for instance, the close shot revealing, angles, medium long shots and tracking
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 97

shots with the horsemen riding toward the to jump continually from one to the other
camera or away from it. A series of closeups and follow, through time and space, the
and extreme closeups picks up the gallop­ course of four tragedies whose events, re­
ing horses' hooves, the flying mane of one, lated thematically to one another, contrib­
the neck of another; and once again we see uted cumulatively to the overall theme. The
the whole cavalcade crossing the prairie, a stories described the struggle between the
stream, and then a road. We return to the high priests of Baal and Ishtar which (ac­
hut: the shots revealing the Camerons and cording to legend) brought about civil strife
the battle become shorter and shorter, among the people of Babylon and the de­
sharper and sharper, jerkier and jerkier. position of Balthazar by Cyrus; the struggle
Back to the ride: the movement becomes in Judea against Christ and the Crucifixion;
quicker and quicker, and the tempo of the the struggle between the Catholics and
succeeding shots becomes more and more Protestants under Catherine de Medicis
staccato, almost imitating the beat of the culminating in the St. Bartholomew massa­
horses' hooves at full stretch. And the cre; and the struggle between bosses and
crosscutting is kept up until the final cre­ workers in 1912, the armed repression of
scendo with which the film is resolved. strikes and the accusation of murder made
In this way Griffith proved that, in the against a striker incapable of proving his
cinema, images signify less by what they innocence. These four stories were treated
show (whatever the quality and dramatic in such a way that the transition from one
significance of the objects represented) than to another was made without disturbing
by their organization and arrangement and the development of each. In other words,
less by their arrangement even than by the each story was taken up not where the ac­
associations of time between individual tion of the previous story had left it but
shots and between the shots and the overall where the dramatic consequence of the fol­
theme. lowing story led it.
Toward the end of 1915, Griffith started The film begins with the modem story.
work on a film whose subject was based on Reaching a certain point in its narrative, it
the report of the Federal Industrial Com­ is abandoned and the parallel action in
mission, set up to look into the 1912 strikes Babylon is taken u p - a t the point it would
and the Stielow affair (a striker was ac­ have reached had it begun at the same time.
cused of the murder of his boss). However, After a few epic scenes, the action is con­
almost as soon as he had finished the proj­ tinued with a similar transition to the Naz­
ect, he decided he wanted to open out the areth episode, from where we return to
debate into a wider field of reference, into modern times to find Catherine de Medicis,
a huge fresco whose action, covering four then back to Babylon and so on throughout
epochs, would show the effects of intoler­ the rest of the film. As each episode is re­
ance -s o c ia l and religious -th ro u g h the sumed, it is continued for a shorter and
ages. And this was Intolerance, completed shorter time, with the effect that the trage­
in July 1916. The first (unedited) version of dies appear almost to be taking place si­
this film was eight hours long. It was cut multaneously. We witness Cyrus's assault
down by Griffith to three hours and forty on the walls of Babylon, Christ carrying the
minutes. cross to Calvary, the fierce fighting on the
Enlarging upon the technique of cross­ tragic night of St. Bartholomew, and the
cutting and parallel action, Griffith, with young girl's desperate drive to delay the
four separate story lines to maintain, was execution of her fiance. Chariot wheels are
98 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

intercut with car wheels; the crucifixion ts ing to an appropriate rhythm. Symbolism
intercut with the building of the scaffold; appears only by virtue of the narrative.
the storming of Babylon by the Persians is Griffith's primary concern was to tell a
intercut with the corpses of St. Bartholo­ story in the best way possible and conse­
mew in a kind of deliberate whirling con­ quently to introduce the audience "into"
fusion -som ew hat crude perhaps in its the drama, turning them into actors in
thinking but spellbinding and inspired order to appeal to their emotions, making
from the lyrical point of view. them participate in the action as though ac­
The strike scenes, the barricades and the tually experiencing it themselves. At this
squads of soldiers, swept along by a rhythm point the cinema was still preoccupied with
and an inspiration strongly reminiscent of narration and description rather than with
Victor Hugo, had a considerable influence signification. The aim was to make the au­
on Soviet ^mmakers. The grandiose as­ dience feel rather than understand. The
pects of the spectacle are overwhelmed by parallel with Hugo and Romantic poetry
the rhythm and control of a language becomes all the more apt when one consid­
matched only by that in The Battleship ers that even where the problems of moral
Potemkin. We also think of the enormous or social order are concerned, ideas are
tracking shot with which the Babylon epi­ treated in such a way that they appeal to
sode opens, where the camera (secured in a the emotions rather than the intellect.
moored balloon) gradually descends, tak­ Abel Gance, having had the opportunity
ing in a wide panorama, then tracks for­ to see Griffith's films during a trip he made
ward to the steps of the palace, slowly to New York in 1919 to promote his film
travels up them, discovering, as it advances, J'Accuse, was able, before any of the other
the vast dimensions of the set and the huge European directors, to apply the lessons of
crowd, ending up at the feet of Balthazar the master and also achieve a certain com­
surrounded by his concubines. One is forci­ petence of his own, turning the time value
bly reminded of the first sentence in of images into a type of coherent system,
Salammbo. And the siege ofBabylon, the bat­ the actual basis for all film expression. La
tle and Cyrus's armies with their hundreds Roue, produced between 1921 and 1922,
of chariots deployed over the plain as far as was significant in this respect. It might even
the eye can see, remain among the most be said that this film was the springboard
beautiful images of the cinema. for the avant-garde movement in 1924 and
Though it took some five or six years for the enthusiastic experiments into the na­
it to become apparent, the influence of this ture of rhythm.
film was considerable-not just on the cin­ Before we come to the theories, we must
ema but also on literature. The Anglo-Saxon first retrace the steps which the editing
novel with its achronological constructions principle took in Soviet Russia, also follow­
and variations in time and space (which ing the precepts established by Griffith's
made the reputations of writers like Dos films. While Gance and the French avant-
Passos, Faulkner, Aldous Huxley, Virginia garde were basically committed to the type
Woolf, and many others besides) owes more ofrhythmic expression which led to the ex­
to Intolerance than to anything else. tremism of montage court and the preten­
Nevertheless, at its most general, the sions of "pure" rhythm, the Russians,
editing technique employed by Griffith pursuing a more intellectual line, became
(though complicated for its time) was con­ stuck in the groove of "cinedialectics."
cerned merely with relating shots accord­ The first Russian theorist was the direc­
 RHYTHM AND MONTAGE 99

tor Geo Bauer, whose researches, similar to analysis, nothing more than an illusion, a
those of German Expressionism, were aimed myth.
exclusively at the sets, lighting, and picto­ This systematized effort was doomed to
rial qualities of the motion picture. Editing failure because of the obvious impossibility
(of which he was always aware) was for of composing after the fact. Countless per­
him merely a convenient method of linking mutations were available to the editor, but
information concerning the setting and of all of them were missing elements which
developing a plastic rhythm within a rela­ had not been foreseen at the outset. Never­
tive time sequence. theless, the explorations of Dziga-Vertov
The theories of montage were embodied had a considerable influence in the USSR
in the films of Dziga-Vertov, a former cam­ and indeed the whole world. They empha­
eraman, at that time in charge of the pro­ sized (perhaps in a rather extreme way) the
paganda and newsreel films of the newly importance of editing and stimulated So­
constituted Soviet regime. Rejecting every­ viet filmmakers to place man in his social
thing which for him was theatrical artifi­ environment, to explore and insist on the
ciality (studios, actors, staging) and scorn­ role and influence of the environment and
ing composition in front o f the camera, to create "truth." Moreover, they gave birth
Dziga-Vertov, along with his friends to the newsreel and played a major part in
Kopalin and Belakov and his brother Mi­ the development of the documentary.
chael Kaufman,1 documentary filmmakers ParaUelling the work of Dziga-Vertov, a
like himself, established the Kino-Glaz (the body of young theater directors - Gregory
Kino-Eye) on May 21, 1922. Kozintzev, a set designer at the Moscow
The declared intention of this school Opera, the playwright Leonid Trauberg,
was to capture reality in the raw, to take im­ the art critic Sergei Krizhitsky, and the
ages of life itself, thereby reverting appar­ stage director Foregger, a disciple of
ently to the principles of the Lumiere Meyerhold - got together to form a school
brothers-passing over the twenty-five concerned as much with the cinema as
years or so of aesthetic research. The direc­ with the theater: FEKS (the Factory of the
tor, concealed by the (would-be) complete Eccentric Actor), founded on July 9, 1922.
objectivity of the camera, recorded a series The intentions of this group could not have
of documents around a vague theme which been further removed from those of Dziga-
served as a general guide. Any art con­ Vertov. They were more interested in reaf­
sisted quite simply in "framing" the shots, firming the role of the actor and the set
putting them into some sort of order and design and in absorbing all the techniques
joining them together. Any signification re­ of set design, taking artificiality to its ex­
sulted from the meaning which the facts treme of abstract caricature closely con­
assumed when associated with each other nected with Caligarism, but Caligarism bi­
in this way. Recorded as they happened, ased in favor of the comic and the
they were "directed" and transformed burlesque. The depersonalized and dehu­
through the part they were made to play manized actor became a mere puppet, a
within the continuity. It was merely an art kind of symbolic automaton expressing
of structure. Perceptible reality, however through his mechanical gestures and
real and objective (even chosen with a par­ attitudes a profound sense of parody di­
ticular purpose), became a mere power of rected against particular kinds of social
abstraction dressed up as concrete reality. mores or particular psychological "types."
The intended objectivity was, in the final It was the art of Pierrot, Harlequin, Panta-
100 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

lone, even Punch and Judy and the bur­ nals of the cinema. From an old piece of
lesque characters of the music hall, trans­ film shot by Bauer he took a closeup of the
posed with greater flexibility and diversity actor Ivan Mozhukhin, deliberately show­
into the cinema, and more particularly, the ing his face at its most inexpressive and
theories on the theater propounded by vague, and had three prints made of it. He
Krizhitsky and Foregger based on an aes­ then joined the first print to a shot of a plate
thetic of the cinem a-theories which were of soup standing on a tabletop. The second
really nothing more than the rehashing and he joined to a shot of a man's corpse lying
systematization of the caricature produc­ face down on the ground and the third to
tions put on by Meyerhold between 1914 one of a half-naked woman, stretched out
and 1915 at his "experimental theater" and luxuriously and invitingly on a couch.
by Nikolai Yevreinov at the Crooked Mir­ Then, joining all the "object-subject" pieces
ror; theories which had already been ap­ end to end, he projected the whole thing to
plied in the cinema by Hansen, Zozlov, and an unprepared audience. Every one of
the other directors who from 1916 were them declared his admiration for Mozhu-
designated under the collective title of the khin's talent for "expressing so marvel­
Crooked Lens. Editing was nothing more ously, one after another, the feelings of
than a convenient technique allowing con­ hunger, pain, and desire." Since Mozhu-
tradictory attitudes or contrasting bur­ khin had in fact expressed nothing of the
lesque details to stand in direct opposition kind, Kuleshov had proved that the audi­
to each other; but it was also a means of ence was seeing things which did not really
cutting ellipticatiy into the logical continu­ exist. In other words, by linking their suc­
ity of an action, condensing and schema­ cessive perceptions and relating each detail
tizing it. to an organic whole, the audience was con­
Steering a course between the two ex­ structing logically the necessary relation­
tremist groups (still represented even now­ ships and crediting Mozhukhin with the
adays: for instance, Soviet burlesque films, expression which, in the normal course of
not usually seen in the West, are almost all events, he might have expressed. They
directed according to the precepts of FEKS) were transferring to the actor the responsi­
which because of their excessive categoriza­ bility or equivalence of their own feelings.
tions did not really survive was the school Thus by following in the normal way the
which proved the most productive, most se­ continuity of a movement or an action, it
rious and influential: the Experimental Lab­ became possible for every audience mem­
oratory founded and directed by Lev ber to construct "ideas" from one or two
Kuleshov. Surrounded by his pupils Vseve- primary elements. Anyone could develop
lod Pudovkin, Boris Barnett, Vladimir the thematic continuity of a structure using
Vogel, Sergei Komarov, Anna Khokhlova, the shots as a series of reference points and
Doronin, etc., Kuleshov, previously an as­ could deduce the logical relationships. A
sistant to Bauer, began with the idea of state of mind or a particular feeling could
teaching acting and directing. However, the be conditioned by a rudimentary stimulus
study of the means by which film is con­ of the emotions. The film -a t least its affec­
structed (namely editing) led him to dis- tive or dialectical developm ent-could be
co v e r-o r more accurately to demonstrate constructed within the audience's mind
experim entally-the potential of image re­ from the formal organization of the images.
lationships. The linking of shots in the continuity of
His first experiment is famous in the an­ an action thus proved to be similar, in re­
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 101

spect of the mechanism of consciousness, position using, of course, a basic precon­

to the succession of static images in respect ceived theme and images capable of com­
of the visual perception of movement. Each municating the governing generative ideas
shot became expanded by an idea or mean­ of the work in question. Editing, in the tech­
ing not contained in it but implied by its nical sense of the word, was merely the ex­
association with other shots. Consequently ecution and application of a detailed
the same image within a different continu­ blueprint: the shooting script. The shot types
ity (or different place within the same con­ and camera directions were described with
tinuity) could (potentially) assume a com­ certain effects in mind. Kuleshov's films
pletely different signification. were constructed on paper before he shot
No one of course disputed the fact that them, and the "breakdown" of the shooting
the images of a film could have meaning script merely represented a kind of initial
only by virtue of their relation with the editing process. The only difference be­
mind of the audience. However, what was tween the two stages was the material one
unknown was what might be called the determined by the transition from blue­
"psychological capacities" of these rela­ print to film reality-together with the al­
tions. However, from the moment it be­ terations and pruning which such a
came established and analyzed, it proved transition necessarily entails.
to be controllable. And since the audience Montage (editing) as it was understood
member was automatically experiencing in the United States was merely a means of
this mental process, it became possible to telling a story. Regardless of the rhythm or
anticipate, plan, and direct it: in a word, to signification they might produce, images
appeal directly to his mind and mentality were assembled in the same way as bricks
by prompting ideas generated by a series one on top of the other to construct a wall.
of affective stimuli organized into some Kuleshov, in his attempt to codify rhythm,
kind of pattern. succeeded in creating a time sequence relat­
Thus the cinema showed itself above all ing the images to the dynamic of the action
to be an art of association and suggestion. - only a metric system as yet but one al­
It became possible to invest a concrete ready carefully calculated and worked out.
image with a temporary symbolic charac­ In both cases, the Russian directors con­
teristic. As much as and perhaps more than tributed the potential of montage as a cre­
in isolation, the meaning of the image-con­ ative force to the capacity for arousing
tent depended on the image-making con­ emotions explored by Griffith, Gance, and
tent. Form was able to alter content. one or two others. And the experiments
Vertov was the theoretician of "inte­ conducted by Kuleshov paved the way for
grated montage." With him, the film was the first theories of the cinema based not
worked out in the cutting room, from among on vague theatrical or literary speculation
a quantity of documents chosen "after the but on an analysis of the functional capac­
fact." He did not use what we know now­ ities of a specifically filrnic means of ex­
adays as a shooting script, merely a few pression.
general ideas hastily jotted down on paper.
Editing was, as far as he was concerned, the The Consequences o f the Kuleshov Effect
"organization of chance," a means of con­
structing with the unexpected. On the other It would be wrong to assume, however,
hand, with Kuleshov it became an aesthetic that images are capable of creating ideas
principle, a technique of writing and com­ deriving from them exclusively or from
102 AE S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

their unusual associations. What in fact tion. It is purely and simply the man look-
happens is that an association of ideas is ing-woman looked at relationship which
generated by the juxtaposition through evokes and signifies the idea of desire. I feel
which and by means of which the audience an emotional response because this idea
is able to recognize or relive an experience (presented to me so forcefully) releases in
from his past-n oth in g more. A child as yet me the emotional reactions associated with
unaware of any sexual drives will be un­ it, which I then project onto the man, who
able to understand the meaning of the I p resu m e necessarily desires the woman he
"Mozhukhin-woman on the couch" associ­ is looking at. In other words, the associa­
ation. The structure of the film cannot give tion defined above is an id ea in im ages, im­
him that understanding; it cannot generate ages similar to those which might some­
it in his mind; the very most it can do is how have represented the idea in my
create anxiety in him. Only adults will be mind. The idea has already been structured
able to understand, immediately connect­ and it ts merely brought to the surface with
ing this association with what they know the effect that, through the medium of film,
of the subject of physical love. When an I perceive a concept; I react emotionally to
au d ien ce-b y reason of an unusual s h o t- the idea, not to the reality. In the same way
is confronted by an image it does not rec­ as with words, the process is from the ab­
ognize or an unfamiliar association, its stract to the concrete, except that, unlike
consciousness suddenly tries to associate this words, it is not possible to conceive of "an
unknown entity with some^thg known or imaginary picture," since the film provides
similar, in order to make a mental classifi­ all the necessary images. Though visual,
cation: which ts, after all, merely the equiv­ the process ts anticinematic in the sense
alent of normal perception. (As we have that it works from the idea to the emotion
already indicated, to see is to recognize; dis­ instead of the other way around.
covery is only relevant for something un­ The Kuleshov effect (the basis of film lan­
known which must then be immediately guage) really becomes filmic only when the
put to the test-w h ich occurs less and less onlooker-looked-upon association (subject-
frequently as one gets older.) object in its wider implications) ts con­
Once again, film images are merely a ducted at the level of a concrete emotional
complex of stimuli "actualizing" ideas or relationship. It then becomes emotion sug­
emotions by relating to our consciousness gesting idea and not idea provoking emo­
effects associated with some previous ex­ tion leading us back to the pince-nez in
perience. Moreover, if we look more closely P otem kin , where the emotional effect be­
at the Kuleshov effect-sim ilar in many comes the idea, whereas here it is the idea
ways to perceptual structuring-w e see becoming the image.
that the process involving the audience's If images do not create new ideas, then
consciousness ts less cinematic than first neither must they illustrate concepts. They
appears. In the Mozhukhin-naked woman must suggest ideas which are accessible but
association, for instance, the association ts which have yet to be structured in the
perceived, generally speaking, as it ap­ audience's mind: however unusual the idea
pears. The two characters express abso­ which the images present to me, it is im­
lutely nothing; there is nothing to tell me mediately recognized and discovered from
that the man loves or simply desires the among m y past experiences.
woman and nothing to say whether the In spite of this, in their speculation on
woman is upset or flattered by his atten­ the Kuleshov effect, the Soviet filmmakers
 RHYT HM AN D MONTAGE 103

cam e to con sid er im ag e-id eas as th o u g h schem a: a m an is clim bin g ov er a parap et

th ey w ere signs. " B y assem bling these - a m a n is f a l l i n g - a m a n is drow nin g.
im age-id eas, it sh ou ld b e p o ssible to de­ I m ig h t easily continu e in th is vein and
velop id eas dialecticaIfy and create a kind d ev elop all m y id eas u sin g m ere im ag e-
o f d iscou rse w h ere the im ages, concerned sym bols. H ow ever, there is a d ang er w h ich
o n ly w ith com m u n icatin g ideas in d ep en ­ lies in the fact that th o u g h the lin k ag e m ight
d en tly o f their im m ed iate content, m ig h t be b e g u aran teed as far as th e id eas are con ­
m ad e to co n fo rm w ith th e lo g ic o f th e dis­ cerned , passing fro m one im ag e-sig n to an­
c o u rse ." Su ch sp ecu latio n - f o u n d e d , one other, the a sso ciatio n o f the represented ob­
m ig h t add, on a sp ecifically cin em atic ef- jects m aking u p these im ag es w ill cease to
f e c t - c o u l d o n ly result in th e negation of h a v e a n y m eaning. T here w ill b e n o positive
cinem a itself. d ev elop m en t o f lo g ic o f rep resen tation or
If, fo r in stance, I tak e a sh ot fro m a sin gle else th e rep resen tatio n itse lf w ill be contin-
setup o f a m a n th row in g h im self in d esp air uaUy liable to d istortion. T h e developm en t
from th e p arap et o f th e P o n t de l'A lm a into o f ideas ca n o n ly tak e p lace a t the risk of
the river Seine, I a m cov erin g a n all-em b rac­ d am ag in g the im age-data d ep rived o f their
in g reality, a concrete unity. H ow ev er, I have liv in g co n ten t and d issociated fro m percep­
the op tion o f frag m en tin g th is unity, shoot­ tible reality and th eir ow n potentialities.
in g (in closeu p) the m a n clim b in g o v er the Im b u e d fro m th e o u tset w ith an obvious
p arap et, then a fallin g bod y (in m ed iu m em otion al con ten t, these im ages becom e
shot), and lastly the m a n stru g g lin g in the n o th in g m ore th a n conv en tio n al signs; each
w ater as h e d row ns (closeup). It is not that 11cell" becom es a m ere h ierog ly p h and the
I have lost sig h t o f the concrete reality in this film a h u g e jig sa w pu zzle. In th eir m o re ex ­
sort o f fragm entation. I h a v e m erely chosen tre m e fo rm , th ey d o n o t need to b e projected
the analytical m eth o d instead o f th e sin gle­ on to a screen; a b etter effect is achieved b y
sh ot m ethod. sim p lify in g th e m an d co d ify in g th em on
If, o n th e other h a n d , I ch o o se to show paper. T hey are tu rn ed quite sim p ly in to the
only th e d etails, I ca n film a m a n (or even id eog ram s o f p rim itive w riting.
p art o f his b od y) clim b in g ov er th e parap et T his is h ow P u d ov k in , w ish in g to sig ­
(not n e cessa rily th e P o n t d e l'A lm a ), then n ify in The End o f St. Petersburg the sud d en
a b o d y fallin g fro m a w a ll (p o ssib ly the tu rm oil and ch aos o f w ar, op ens the se­
b attlem en ts o f th e C h ateau d e Pierrefond), q uence w ith th e explosion o f a shell, scat­
and fin ally a d row n in g m an stru g g lin g in terin g earth all over th e screen. It is a m ar­
the w aves o f a river in flood (p o ssib ly the velou s sym bol. Y et m u ch further o n he
R hone). I th u s r e c r e a t e - o r c r e a t e - a fact signifies th e O ctober R evolution in the
and express an idea: a m a n is com m ittin g sam e fashion. It w ould b e acceptable (at a
suicide b y throw ing h im self in to the river. p in ch ) w e re th e sam e idea to h a v e been
W hatever the idea, I a m creating a lin k b e­ represented by another image, b u t un fortu­
tw een these three differen t im ag es, a lin k n a tely h e uses the same im age representing
tran slated in the a u d ien ce's m in d b y a th e same shell burst - w h i c h it clea rly is n ot
"u n ity " constru cted fro m their lo g ical as­ a n y longer. T h e im age m erely b ecom es an
sociations. Y et th e "r e a lity " re m a in s p u rely ab stract sig n used in a context outside the
conceptual. T h e concrete fa ct is o f less im ­ liv ing reality. It d istorts that reality b y the
p ortance than th e idea. It serves m e re ly to in tro d u ctio n o f a n e le m e n t com p letely
signify the idea and is m erely represented. alien to it.
E ach of its im ag es is a m ere sig n ify in g W e in ten d to com e b a ck to these details
104 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

w h en w e h av e stu d ied rh y th m i n it s w id est can b e seen in the Timaeus," w e m ay alter

sen se in o rd er to d iscov er h o w fa r w e are E. d 'E ich ta l's d efin itio n and say t h a t -
ju stifie d in sp eakin g o f rh y th m w ith regard w ith in certain lim itation s -c o -m o d u la tio n
to th e cinem a. is in space w h at rh y th m is in time.
W h atev er it m a y be, rhythm , as H erbert
S p en cer p u ts it, "o ccu rs w h erev er th ere is a
con flict o f irrecon cilab le fo rces." T h is being
Cinematic Rhythm
so, if, as G aston B achelard assures us, "th ere
is a fu n ctio n a l need fo r th e con trad icto ry in­
A Look at Rhythm
terp lay of fu n ctio n s," then rhyth m is a kind
o f d ialectic o f tim e rath er th an a continu ity
F or L ith e , m u sical rh ythm is a "reg u la r se­ w h o se interm ittent variations distort fo r us
q u ence o f stro ng and w e a k so u n d s," a pre­ the norm al flow o f time. In fact, it develops
su m p tio n u n ju stified fo r tw o reasons: th a t accord ing to a pattern o f altern atin g tension
relatio n sh ip s o f tim e are a t least as im p or­ an d r e s t - t h e exp ressio n m erely o f a con­
tan t as relatio n sh ip s o f vo lu m e and th a t, if stantly ren ew ab le conflict.
these relationsh ip s are regular, th en there M oreover, if rh y th m is rh y th m o n ly in ­
m ay b e cadence b u t n o t rhythm . sofar as it is p erceiv ed , its fram ew ork is in­
In th e words of A. Sonnenschein, "rh y th m ev itably th e lim its o f ou r sensory capacities.
is the feature in a sequence o f events in tim e In o th er w ord s, th e com p lex o f relation­
w h ich pro d u ces in th e m ind w h ich p er­ ship s constitu ting rh y th m m u st b e per­
ceiv es it an im p ressio n o f p ro p ortio n b e­ ceived as a w hole to w h ich each o f its parts
tw een the d u ratio ns o f th e ev en ts or groups can b e directly related. A nd this is possible
o f events w h ich com p rise th e seq u en ce ." To on ly in asm u ch as ou r m em ory is capable
this d efinition m ig h t b e ad ded that o f F ran ­ o f d oin g th is, b y in v o lv in g a process o f
cis W arrain: " a sequ ence o fe v e n ts occu rring "p ersisten ce o f im a g e" (au d itory and v i­
at intervals o f duration variable or other­ su al), sim ilar, as an effect o f consciou sness,
w ise b u t governed b y ru les is w h at con sti­ to retin al persistence a t the p h y siolog ical
tu tes rh y th m ." H ow ever, it w as E. d 'E ich ta l level.
w h o form u lated th e sim p le st and m o st T h u s rh y th m can b e perceived o n ly in­
b ro ad ly b ased definition: "rh y th m is in tim e sofar as it is gov ern ed b y our con sciou s­
w h a t sy m m etry is in sp a ce ." A lso V incent ness. O n ly relatio n sh ip s o f tim e o f the order
d 'Ind y (w hose d efin ition is really on ly an o f seco n d s o r fractio n s o f seco n d s relating
echo o f d 'E ich ta l's ad m irably clear and p re­ to a w h ole lasting as m u ch as thirty seconds
cise form u lation): "rh y th m is ord er and p ro ­ can be p erceiv ed as rhythm . O bviously,
p o rtio n in space and tim e ." ea ch rhythmic period m ay also be rhythm i­
Yet w e m u st agree w ith P iu s S erv ien in cally related to su b seq u en t p eriod s in the
p o in tin g ou t that rhythm is perceived period­ film , p o em , or m elody, b u t the actual
icity and in using the term symmetry in the rh y th m o f th e w h ole w o r k - t h e sum -total
sense o f "co -m o d u la tio n " or h arm on ic p ro ­ o f all th ese relationships - can n ev er be per­
portion. W ith th e e ffe ct th a t th o u g h , in the ceived as such. It can on ly b e understood as
w ords o f M atila G h y k a in h is Essai sur le a rhythmic lapse o f time, i.e., as th e overall
rythme, "th e V itruvian th eory o f proportion cu rve o f a m odu lation gradually follow ed
and eurhythm ics is n o w no m ore th an a th ro u g h its vario u s p ercep tu al effects ac­
tran scription into sp ace o f the P ythagorean cepted as rhythmic. For, th o u g h ou r percep­
theory o f h arm on y or m u sical intervals as tion m a y "re ta in " a d u ratio n o f less th a n a
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 105

m in u te a n d grasp th e relationsh ip o f these pose in ou r m ind s beforehand as a pattern to

interrelated parts, it is u tterly incapable of b e p rojected on to the sounds and w e red is­
p erfo rm in g th e sam e ta sk fo r the w o rk as a cov er ou r p u rp o se th ro u g h th e sounds b y
w hole. T h u s th e n otio n o f rhyth m cannot arran g in g th em in to th e p recon ceived p at­
b e accepted as an y th in g b u t a n in tellectu al tern. T h u s, in th is case, rhythm ic fo rm does
p ro cess w h ich recon stru cts m e n ta lly the n o t reveal to u s the purpose o f w h ich it is
perceived relation sh ip s in order to abstract th e exp ression; on th e contrary, it is a p o­
an ap p roxim ate gen eral "id e a ." tential or im ag in ary p u rpose castin g in to
B y the sam e token, w e ca n sp eak on ly rh y th m a fo rm d evoid o f expression.
m etap h o rically of, fo r instance, the "rh y th m T h ese relatio n sh ip s o f tim e r e s e m b le -
o f th e sea so n s." T h e season s d o indeed or so it w o u ld seem - t h e sp atial structures
m an ifest a rh y th m from th e in tellectu al o f gestalt. T his arran g em en t is the product
p o in t o f view and "rela tiv e to th e co sm o s," o f a n ecessary choice and a form al organi­
b u t it is a rhythm in w h ich w e are also in­ zation dictated b y a series o f analogies or
volved, d om in atin g us - th e e ffe ct o f w h ich rela tio n sh ip s w h ich to g eth e r fo rm a w h ole.
being th at w e are in cap ab le o f recog nizin g T h u s feelin g and fo rm ap p ear to com p le­
it as such excep t in term s of an abstract con ­ m e n t each o t h e r - b o t h created intuitively
cept (one, m oreover, w h ich is en tirely an- b y ou r m in d s an d in a m an n er th a t is
thropocentric). pu rely arb itrary fo r th e reason th a t th ey do
The ancient G reeks P y th og o ras and n o t re a lly exist.
P lato proposed th e h u m a n bod y as the Lastly, w h e n th e b ea ts are too slo w or
id eal m od el fo r eurhythm ics. A n d it is true, too fast and w e a re n o lo n g e r ab le to ar­
as M atila G h yka indicates, th a t the "tw o ran g e th em , the reverse effe ct occurs. Be­
p sychop hy siolog ical cad en ces o f life tw een each o f th e m (if th e y are to o slow )
(heartbeat and breathing) d o provide us or b etw een sm all grou p s o f th em (if they
w ith, o n th e on e h an d , th e b a sic n o tio n of are too fast) w e in trod u ce a rhythm , w ith
'm easure' (th e norm al pulse rate o f the th e result th a t th e beats th en serve as a m ea­
hum an heart, eig h ty b ea ts per m in u te), of sure pu nctuating th e suggested rhythm ,
order and the relativ e n o tio n s o f 'fa st' and p refera b ly w ith stro n g stresses.
'slo w ' and, o n the other, through the In th e co m p a riso n G h y k a draw s w ith o r­
rhythm o f b reath in g (a p erfect rhythm ic g a n ic rh ythm s (heartbeat and b reathing ), he
p h enom eno n w ith its tension, release, and sum s up as fo llow s: "th e s e tw o currents,
rest), the reflection and accom p an im en t of b o th pu n ctu ated w ith a period ic signpost, a
th e w aves o f em otion o f w h ich the rh ythm s d iscon tin u ou s sequ ence, illu strate e a th in
o f verse and m usic are the sou nd -exp res- tu rn th e tw o k in d s o f p o ssib le rhythm : h o­
s io n " (Essai sur le rythme). m o g en eou s rhythm , w h ich is static and
R hythm ic fo rm is b y and larg e created com pletely reg u lar (cadence in the strict
in ou r m in d s b y virtu e of th e p u rp ose sen se o f th e w ord , or meter), and d ynam ic,
w h ich g iv e s it d irection. W e recog n ize this asym m etrical rhythm w ith an unexpected
purpose in m usic, since it is com p osed for ground sw ell, a reflection of the b reath o f life
th at express pu rpose. B ut a p u rp ose o f this itself, or rhythm in the strict s e n se ." All the
kind does n o t exist in the rhyth m ic w h ole sam e, I fe ar th a t ou r learned w riter, though
w h ich w e o rg an ize in ou r m in d s fro m iso ­ he correctly d istingu ishes betw een rhythm
chronou s beats. T h e w h ole can o n ly exist an d m eter, falls into the trap (doubtless be­
b y v irtu e o f a cau sativ e intention. W h a t cau se m eter an d rh y th m in m usic are pretty
happens, th en , is th a t w e e sta b lish th e p u r­ m u ch one and th e same) o f con fu sin g meter
106 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

(or measure of time) with m etrics (or mea­ verse, where the rhythm had to be confined
sure of rhythmic cadence). In our view, to the verse line and could not carry over.
therefore, it is essential to be clear about the It was only with the introduction of en-
meaning of these two terms. jambement that the rhythm of verse was
As Ludwig Klages has said, "rhythm is able to break the bonds of this poetic strait-
a commonplace phenomenon of life, to jacket.
which every living creature, including Vincent d'Indy complained that "the
man, subscribes. Measure is a human fab­ identification of rhythm with measure had
rication. Rhythm can appear in its most a deplorable effect on music. It was one of
perfect form in the complete absence of our most unfortunate inheritances from the
m easu re-on the other hand, measure can seventeenth century, a century which pro­
only exist relative to rhythm" (Vom W essen duced so many mistaken theories. In this
d es R hythm us). M easu re is nothing more than way, rhythm, subject to the restrictive de­
a practical convenience. It is the process of mands of measure, very quickly became im­
ordering rhythm intellectually, a means of poverished to the point of the most
observing it, of giving it a fixed framework hackneyed cliche" (Cours d e com position m u-
within which and by reference to which it sicale ) . Besides, melody had to be composed
may promote its expressive mobility. Thus of equal themes subdivided into phrases
measure regulates rhythm without how­ which were also equal, thereby forming the
ever submitting it to an autocratic rule for g rid in which the recurring patterns of stress
fear of harming its spontaneity. Indeed, could coincide with the accents of the mea­
rhythm is by no means subject to measure; sures. This "mechanical" rhythm was per­
rather the reverse is true, rhythm using fectly suited to dance tunes, where stress
measure as a point of reference in its free patterns are necessary, but employed in the
development. Thus it is wrong to say, as symphonic form it led to mind-numbing
does Henri Delacroix, that measure "aUows monotony. We ought to add, however, that
rhythm to be formulated and constructed" this technical skill (at which Bach and Han­
(though admittedly it does make it easier del were past masters) allowed rhythm to
for our consciousness to perceive it). How­ become more flexible by overcoming its re­
ever, since measures - relative to each other strictions.
- a r e perfectly isochronous, we are of C aden ce is nothing more than the "index"
Etienne Souriau's opinion that each mea­ of rhythm, that is, of recurrent patterns or
sure is a unity "within which adjustments stresses. Of course, cadence is not rhythm,
to the time sequence may occur." but it supports rhythm in that its equal
Be this as it may, measure, originally beats must be regulated according to certain
used to regulate rhythmic flow without cir­ relationships and certain laws. A total irreg­
cumscribing it within a narrow framework, ularity of cadence would mean that there
allowing the stresses to fall on a particular would be no rhythm strictly speaking.
measured phrase, finally came to control Moreover, the repetition of uniform beats
rhythm itself. The divisions of rhythm had (but with variable tonality and pitch) is a
to coincide with the divisions of measure sure means of inducing hypnosis or hallu­
and the stresses had to fall on the down­ cination (Oriental music, voodoo, etc.).
beats (or strong beats). In this way, rhythm M etrics is the notation of the natural
became su bordinate to m e a s u r e - w h i c h ex­ measures of rhythm, as distinct from the
plains the pervasive confusion of the two. proportional measure of time. It is the arith­
This was also a characteristic of classical metic expression of periodicity. Notation of
 RHYTHM A N D MONTAGE 107

this kind does n o t cla im to record th e w h ole fo rm progression and uninterrupted conti­
exp ressiv ity o f rh y th m (fo r in stan ce, it can ­ n u ity transcend th e frag m entation and d is­
n o t take accou nt o f the relationsh ip s of con tin u ity o f th e shots, w h ile a t the sam e
sound quality, pitch, and to n ality ); it tran­ tim e d ep en d en t o n them . A s w e shall see
scribes its basic fe a tu r e -m e a s u r e d p eriod ­ fu rth er on, all w e can ev er really perceive
icity. It m easu res cad en ces, i.e., proportions are relation sh ip s, differences and d isconti­
in tim e. nuity. Th u s pu re con tin u ity cou ld n ev er
M athis L u ssy h a s said: "rem o v e th e in ­ constitu te rhythm . Rhythm is a development
to natio n, i.e., the different p itch es o f the wlwse continuity is guaranteed and defined by
sou nd s, fro m a p ag e o f m u sic, w rite d ow n the discontinuity which makes it apparent. It is
all the n otes and rests on a sin gle lin e o f the the harm on iou s d ev elop m en t o f a series of
score, and w hat y ou have is th e rh y th m ic self-g en eratin g b eats w h ose v e ry q u ality as
d esign, the skeleton o f th e m u sic, its bon e b ea ts is b ased o n a difference o f tim e.
stru ctu re." T h is d esig n, th is n otatio n , is It is n ev erth eless d ifficu lt to understand
w h at I call m etrics, a notation w h ich ca n be M atila G h y k a 's d istin ction b etw een discon­
expressed in second s o r fraction s o f sec­ tinu ou s series (w hole n u m bers), character­
ond s relating eith er to the m easu red bars istic o f relationships perceived in tim e and
or to th e b asic phrase. In terp reted in continu ou s series (irrational num bers)
sense, m etrics is o f n o p ractical u se in m u sic w h ich ch aracterize sp atial relationships. In
- a n d th is is w h y it is confused w ith the fact, to claim th a t "th erefo re th ere are pro­
m etronom ic un its g o v ern in g th e bar. This portions o f contin u ity in tim e" is to state
is how it has b een interpreted in this stu d y m erely th a t these proportions can b e tran ­
- o u r in terp retatio n b ein g d irectly ad apt­ scribed in to arithm etical o r algorhyth m ic
able to film rh y th m in the sam e w a y as to term s. O bviously, M atila G h y k a can see
verse rhythm . W e sh ou ld b ea r in m in d that p ro p ortio n in m u sic o n ly in term s o f in te r­
w e are n o t referrin g to lin ea r representa- v al relatio n sh ip s, in relatio n sh ip s o f pitch
t i o n s - g r a p h or s in e -c u r v e -lik e those in the n o tes w h ich m ak e up the m elod ic
dream t up b y E tien n e Sou riau, w h ich are a line. D ou b tless h e is correct if h e is m ean in g
kind o f grap hic tran scrip tion o f th e q u ali­ "p ro p o rtio n " in the sen se o f a com m od ula-
ties o f a p iece o f m u sic, an "a p p ro x im a tio n " tion w h ich can n o t b e exp ressed excep t b y
ra th er th an a m etric system .2 con tin u ou s series. B u t there is ju st as m u ch
T o su m u p , w e are o f M atila G h y k a 's p ro p ortio n in recurren t p a t t e r w h en
op inion that “rhythm derives from the action these occur in asy m m etrical beats, in other
o f proportion on cadence." Yet it is n o t equ al words, w h en rhythm is rhythm n o t measure
to the su m o f its parte. It is n o t th e sim ple - a n y relatio n sh ip s o f tim e o r d issim ilar
ad d ition o f related tim es o r related p itch es; leng ths b ein g tran scrib ed in term s o f a pro­
it is the effect o f such an ad d ition, a sy n th e­ p o rtion al relatio n sh ip in the b road est sen se
sis n ot an aggregate. A n d b y th e sam e to k en , o f th e word.
m etrical an aly sis can tak e accou n t o n ly of In m y view , proportion can n o t b e applied
the rhythm ic d iag ram n o t rh y th m itself. to w h at in the rh y th m ic arts is un d erstood
Ju st as th e crite rio n o f goo d m u sical as rhythm - o n ly to harmony. W h a t m a y pos­
rhythm is th at it sh ou ld flo w con tin u ou sly sib ly b e com pared w ith rh y th m is V itru vian
(albeit interm ittently), d ev elop in g b ey on d analogia, h arm on ic proportion, in other
th e d iscon tinu ity o f th e m easu re yet d ep en ­ w ord s, rep etitio n , th e cyclical d ev elop m en t
d en t on it, the criterio n of good film r h y ^ m o f certain th em es an d p ro p ortio n s (w hich is
is th at it should b e a m o d u lation w h o se u n i­ w h a t m ak es u s th in k o f architecture as a
108 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

sym p h o n y o f relation sh ip s, a d ynam ic the same way as p ro p ortio n in space, w e

unity) rath er th a n th e p rop ortions them ­ m u st agree w ith d 'E ich ta l th a t "rh y th m is
selves. O n the oth er h an d , the recu rring p a t­ in tim e w h a t sy m m etry is in space" (w ith
terns o f rh y th m are co m p a ra b le to an alogia all th e m ore reason that, in this definition,
even th o u g h they do n o t requ ire, as does the w ord rhythm is used in its m ost general
analogia, a "p ro p o rtio n a l" relationsh ip in sense) and d en y v eh em en tly th a t m u sic is
th e m ath em atical sense. to tim e w h a t architecture is to s p a c e - a c ­
G h y k a reco g n iz es m o reo v e r th a t "ju s t as cepting that th e ir resp ectiv e form s w ill in ­
w e can m ove fro m d iscontinu ou s rhy thm s ev itab ly p rod u ce different results.
to proportion, w e can m o ve from the latter In fact, ju s t as sy m m etry is essentially
to rhythm , sin ce the recu rren ce o f th e sam e related to space, so rh y th m is associated
p rop ortions b rin g s us b ack quite natu rally w ith tim e. T o speak o f sy m m etry in tim e is,
to 'perceived period icity,' in trod u cin g a as M e u m a n n say s, "to co n fu se the visual
n e w d iscon tinu ou s id entity ." O n th e one d iag ram o f tran scrib ed rh y th m w ith liv ing
hand, h e is correct in stressin g th at the r h y t h m -w h ic h , as it d ev elops in tim e, is
rh yth m o f sp ace is reversible w hereas the in essence th e v e ry a n tith esis o f sym m etry."
rh yth m o f tim e is not: " a b u ild in g is seen In d eed , be it a relation sh ip o f tim e o r pitch
d ifferently from left to rig h t o r from rig h t w ith in a g iv en period o r a p ro p ortio n al re­
to left. In th e arts o f tim e, o n the oth er latio n sh ip w ith in a g iven space, rhythm is
h and , the aesthetic effects are irreversible; essentially dynamic. M u sical harm onies,
like life and its m o st ou tstan d in g m an ifes­ con sid ered as su ch (i.e., as vertical struc­
tations -p s y c h o lo g ic a l tim e an d organic tures: chords) and architectonic propor­
g r o w t h - t h e y hav e a pred eterm ined d irec­ tions are doubtless sim ilar in ty p e to
tio n " (Essai sur le rythme). W e sh o u ld add rhythm , but th e y are not rhythm . Being
as a corollary th a t in th e sp a tia l a rts w e static, th e y cou ld n e v e r b e a n y th in g but
m o v e from a direct p ercep tion o f th e w h ole "fix e d " - t o b orro w an im age o f Schelling
to an analy sis o f the ind ivid u al parts, (w ho d escribed architectu re as "p etrified
w h ereas in th e arts o f tim e the w h o le is m u sic").
constru cted as th e p arts develop. This is T h ro u g h all its different form s and us­
w h y a com p ariso n o f rh y th m and sy m m e­ ages, rh y th m rem ains a unity. A s D om
try can b e valid o n ly in th e ab stract sense M ocqu ereau in dicates in h is fam ous w ork
of p rop ortion and w h y w e could n ev er o n G regorian chant, "th ere is on ly on e over­
su bscribe to Francis W arrain's view that all rh y th m w h ose law s based on h u m an n a ­
"m u sic is to tim e w h a t g eom etry is to ture are alw ay s to b e fo u n d in a n y artistic
sp ace ." Ind eed , th o u g h m u sic d oes stru c­ creation , m u sical o r literary, o f a n y race, at
tu re p eriod icities relating to an objective an y tim e ." If th ere is one featu re com m on
m easu re o f tim e (cad ence, m eter, m easure) to all th e different form s o f expression, it
it creates, th rou gh its rhy thm , an impression m u st b e rhythm . O n ly th rou g h rh y th m can
o f time (experienced tim e w ith all its p sy chic there b e a n y cro ss-fertilizatio n o f the arts.
effects) independent of the real time o f the phe­ " In th e b eg in n in g w as R h y th m ," as the
nomenon which produces it, w h ereas g eo m e­ con d u ctor H an s Von B u low said, p ara­
try is in cap able o f creating d im ension in­ p h rasin g th e Bible. A n d in th e lig h t o f this
d ep end ent o f the area it is m easu ring. N or q u otatio n , R en e D um esnil recalls that, ac­
can architecture create a "sp a ce " d ifferent cording to R enan , th e G reek w ord logos,
fro m that to w h ich its proportions relate. w h ich the V ulgate tran slated as verbum, also
T h u s, th o u g h rh y th m d ev elop s in tim e in m ean t "re la tio n sh ip " and "p ro p o rtio n ."
 RHYT HM A N D MONTAGE 109

M oreover, th e w ord s rhythmos (n u m erically F o r M arcel Jo u sse, it is all to do w ith the

m easu rab le len g th o f tim e) and arithmos lary n g o-b u ccal action governing vocal ut­
(nu m erical relation sh ip , h e n ce ou r term terances, w h ich is w h at produces speech.
arithmetic) m e an t b o th "n u m b e r" and "ca ­
d en ce." Lastly, universe o r cosmos im plied The Avant-G arde and Pure Cinema
rhythm and p ro p ortio n , th e h a rm o n y of
nu m bers in th e P y th ag orean sense: "W ise- D u rin g o u r exam in ation o f w a y s in
m en , 0 K allikles, sa y th a t friend sh ip , order, w hich th e idea o f rhythm d eveloped , w e
reason, and ju stic e are w h at keep th e sky m en tion ed that th e m ain b o d y o f experi­
and th e earth, th e gods and m en together; m en ta tio n w a s u n d ertak en b y tw o sch ools
this is w h y w e call this u n ity th e C osm os, o f cinem a: the Sov iet school, w h ich , w ith
in o th e r w ord s, o rd e r" (Plato, Gorgias). K u lesh ov as th e g u id in g lig ht, attem pted to
W hich gives us groun d s to su p p o se that p ro m ote sym bols and im ag e-id eas, and the
th e first verse o f Jo h n 's G osp el does not F rench schoo l, w h ich, w ith C an ce as the
m ean, "In th e b eg in n in g w as the W ord (of g u id in g light, b eca m e com m itted to th e no­
G o d )," as the th eo lo g ia n s h a v e alw ays tion o f pure visu al rhythm and signification
held , b u t "In th e b eg in n in g w a s ord er and relative to th e tim e value o f the im ages.
h arm o n y " (i.e., equilibrium in th e static and In th is resp ect, G a n ce's La Roue m a rk s a
ab so lu te sen se o f the w ord or, if you prefer, d ecisiv e tu rn in g p o in t in the d ev elopm en t
th e Absolute) w h ic h a n y reason ed read in g o f th e cinem a. T aking G riffith 's d iscoveries
of th e text w ou ld supp ort. H ow ever, w ith ­ and m etric m o n ta g e o n e sta g e further, th is
ou t g oin g into purely verbal m etap h y sical film introd u ced in certain seq u en ces (the
d etails and retu rn in g th e arg u m en t to ru n a w a y train and th e death o f N orm a-
hu m an proportions, w e m ight say, a lo n g C om pound, etc.) an accelerated rhythm ic
w ith M arcel Jo u sse: " In th e b eg in n in g w as fo rm produ ced b y a m o n ta g e o f sh ots b e­
rhythm ic actio n ." W h ich is all w e need to com in g p ro g ressively sh o rter and shorter.
know fo r th e purpose o f th is p resen t study. T h e brevity o f th e sh ots and th e pace o f th e
A ll action, all w ork, in fact, is au tom ati­ tem p o brou gh t o u t fu rth er th e rhythm ic
cally organized an d record ed in a rh y th m - p o ssibilities o f film and, fro m then on, the
the fa rm er's rhythm , th e b lack sm ith 's n u m b er o f theories and hypotheses prolif­
rhythm - n o t co u n tin g collectiv e action s erated and b rou g h t in to being a m ovem ent
coo rd inated in th e sa m e w ay , red u cin g the later d escribed as th e avan t-gard e sim ply
individ ual effort. T his w as h ow th e row ers b eca u se its sole p u rp o se w as that o f exper­
on th e R om an galleys w o r k e d - in tim e im entation.
w ith a rh yth m laid d ow n b y a drum m er, o r A s Je a n E p stein recalls,
e v e n a m u sician or poet. A n d it is w ell
know n th a t th e o n ly p u rp o se serv ed b y it was the most significant period in the
m ilitary b an d s is to k eep th e m a rch in g sol­ general development of the French cin­
ema and the most productive in terms of
d iers in step w ith an a p p ro p ria te rhythm ,
new techniques added to this new means
thereby cutting d ow n th eir fatigue. Since
of expression, the most fruitful in terms
all rhythm ic efforts aim tow ard g ettin g into
of technical and theoretical discoveries
step (execu tin g equ al m ovem ents in an which to this day remain a source of in­
equal tim e), th e y obey th e law o f least ef­ struction and which were to plot the
fort, and all organic rhy thm s aim to b e in­ course of the evolution of the ta lk ie -th e
tegrated in a m o re general rhy thm , to first golden age of cinema in France, dur­
su b m it to an ad ju stin g system . ing which it suddenly became aware of
110 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E MA

its own resources, conscious of its own within the camera itself, the subjective
character, its own will, and its capacity for language of the machine. Abel Gance is
becoming an independent art form. (Es­ one of the greatest (if not the greatest)
prit du cinima) name in the whole of French cinema, to
whom we owe many other discoveries,
If th e tru th b e k n o w n , th is ty p e o f aes­ none of which has ever surpassed the
thetic and technical exp erim en tation had above in importance. For within the short
b egu n som e years earlier. T h e p ion eers had space of this one-reeler which otherwise
n o t w aited fo r rh y th m to b e d iscovered b e ­ might seem mere trivial and contrived
comic effect, Gance established one of the
fore exp erim en tin g w ith si^gnification
most fundamental conditions of the lan­
through th e im ag e, b u t th e y h ad d one so
guage of movies, to be explored later by
in a com p letely different sen se. Je a n E p ­
the French, Scandinavian, and G e ^ ^ n
stein, w h o h ad h im self liv e d th rou g h this cinemas: to endow the lens w ith living,
period, rem ind s us: biased, active qualities (in the modem
idiom "committed").3
We were struck by the great similarity In chronological order (and in order of
between dreams and film: the power importance), the second great name to
which they shared [however unequally] add to the list of founders of language
for representing an imaginary, fantasy and visual style peculiar to the cinema is
world. Yet this primitive cinematic unre­ undoubtedly that of Marcel L'Herbier.
ality was generated almost entirely by Right from his earliest efforts, L'Herbier
factors beyond the actual tools of the cin­ also tried to force the lens to represent
ema, by a fantasy world of sets and oper­ objects not as they normally appeared but
atic artifices. Now, what these first film­ in the light of a personal, psychological,
makers had to understand and realize and poetic interpretation. Herein, without
was that the capacity at their disposal for a shadow of doubt, lies the essential char­
transforming and sublimating reality acteristic of the young French cinema, dis­
could be included within the mechanism tinguishing it from the American cinema
and optics of the camera. The camera, en­ (from which, it must be admitted, it bor­
dowed henceforth with intrinsic magical rowed a great many techniques).. . .
powers, therefore became not just an One scene in L'Herbier's El Dorado
artificial eye adding to the limited powers gives us a marvelous example of the sub­
of our natural vision but also an eye asso­ tlety of expression which one or two film­
ciated with a mechanical imagination and makers had achieved by 1921. The se­
as it were imbued with an automatic sub­ quence in question (which holds up even
jectivity. Melies himself had taken the first nowadays) is of a dance in a Spanish
halting step toward this discovery when nightclub. focus becomes pri^^lmvely
he replaced, with the dissolve-in-the-cam- softer, gradually the dancers lose
era, the cumbersome trapdoor he had their differentiating characteristics, with the
used to make the devil appear and disap­ effect that they stop being recognizable as
pear in his sets. distinct individuals and become fused into
However, one of Abel Gance's first the overall visual thematic: the d a n ce r-a n
films (Le Professeur Tube) is a great deal element of the film anonymous from then
more significant in this development. on and impossible to distinguish from the
With an apology for a script (upon which twenty or even fifty identical elements
we must refrain from passing judgment which, taken as a whole, form another
since it does not really concern us at this generality, another abstraction. Not spe­
point), this film added to the range of cific fandangos but fandango in general, in
cinematic techniques the personal vision other words, the structure in visual terms
of the lens, the fantasy world created of the musical rhythm of all fandangos.
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 111

Here the filmmaker succeeded in giving, clusively but generally speaking) upon
with the minimum of concretization and movement: either of the object photo­
particuliarization, a plastic form of num­ graphed or of the play of light and
bers in action, of music which, through shadow with which the object might be
the schematic transcription of a dance presented or, then again, of the lens itself.
onto film, became transferred from the Thus photogenics appeared above all to
realm of hearing to that of sight. This be a function of mobility. . . . (Le Cinema
symbolization of the image remains one du diable)
of the purest examples of pure cinema. In
addition, El Dorado in its overall quality
was one of the first films of the new ma­
In th e final an aly sis, the q u ality that the
ture period of the silent cinema in France. cinem a b esto w ed o n w h at it r e p r e s e n te d -
(Esprit du cinima) a n d w h ich w as called p h o tog en ics - w as in­
trin sically pred icated (or so it seem ed to be)
What is this cinematic purity? As often o n th e b a sic stru ctures o f rhythm . For this
happens with innovations which have in reason , th e problem had to b e approached
some measure been predetermined, peo­ and stud ied on its ow n term s. T h e relation­
ple knew what it was not going to be be­ ship b etw een sh o rt scen es and larger g e n ­
fore they knew what it was. It was eral scen es m o st clearly ap p aren t in term s
defined as antitheatrical and beyond lit­
o f the an d antes and crescen d os o f G riffith's
erature. It was hoped that, released from
film s and p articu larly w ell illu strated in
the yoke of the theater and the novel, pure
G a n ce 's La Roue, reveals affinities b etw een
cinema would blossom forth of its own
accord. Meanwhile any possible confu­ the cinem a and m u sic. T h e an alog y is w ell
sion was avoided by another definition d ocu m en ted . E m ile V uillerm oz, the m u sic
which, though he did not coin it, at least critic, w rote as e a rly as 1919: "co m p o sitio n
gained some reputation for Louis Delluc. in th e cin em a is w ith o u t a d ou bt su b ject to
The idea was that any cinema worthy of th e con fin ed law s o f m u sica l com position.
the name would be within certain limits A film is w ritten and o rch estrated lik e a
the geometric location for anything "pho­ sym phony. T h e 'p h ra ses' o f lig h t h a v e a
togenic." Though the intention was to un­ rh y th m o f th e ir o w n ."4
derline the aesthetic characteristics, the
T h e "w o rd h a d b e e n m a d e fle sh ." W hile
problem was not even touched upon. Ob­
D elluc, w h o w as to som e exten t the leader
viously the word photogenic was being
o f th e F ren ch m o vem en t to renovate th e art
used to describe features of people or ob­
jects which cinematic reproduction was o f th e cinem a, w a s d eclarin g th at "w e m u st
able to transfigure and enhance. Yet ^ ts create a cin em a w h ich ow es n o th in g to the
enhancement was being made at a purely theater, or to literatu re, b u t depends exclu­
empirical level. Filmmakers were search­ sively o n th e quality o f its m o v in g p ic­
ing for it haphazardly through their tu re s," critics an d film m akers, look ing to
lenses, angling as it were for miracles. m u sic as the sou rce o f visu al rhythm , w ere
What was involved? How did the process d eclarin g fo r th eir part:
occur? Did it conform to any rules and, if L eo n M oussinac: " I f w e attem p t to stu d y
so, which ones? The quest of the filmma­
cin eg rap h ic rhythm , w e can see th a t it h a s
ker had encountered the first of the great
an obviou s cou n terp art in m u sica l rhythm .
mysteries of the cinema: photogenics.
. . . It is also w h y th e cinegraph ic poem as
Mysteries are here today, gone tomor­
row, replaced by others. Soon the direc­ I see it w ill b e closely related to the sy m ­
tors and cameramen who were vitally p h on ic poem , th e im ages b ein g to the eye
interested in their profession realized that w h a t th e m u sical sounds are to the ear . . .
photogenics depended (perhaps not ex­ th e su b ject m atter w ill n o longer b e the
 112 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

m ain featu re o f the film ; i t w ill b e th e g en ­ in g things w h ich have n ev er b een seen or
eral them e or even b etter the visu al them e. felt."5
. . . A n d w e shall say: it is from rh y th m that To d ispense w ith the s c r i p t - i n other
the cinegraphic w o rk o f art d eriv es its w ords, story and a n e c d o te -a n d tu m the
order - w it h o u t w h ich it cou ld never hop e cin em a in to v isu al m u sic (self-expression in
to b e a w o rk o f a rt" (Naissance du cinema). term s of a self-sig nifican t rhythm ) was the
A bel G ance: "th ere are tw o k in d s of aim o f a w h ole generation o f artists and
m u s ic - t h e m u sic o f sou nd and th e m usic exp erim en ters in th e period b etw een 1920
o f lig h t (I m e an the cinem a); and the latter and 1925. Yet this sea rch fo r p u re rhythm ,
is h ig h er up the scale o f vibratio n th an the fo r an exp ressio n w h ich would be for the
form er. D oes this n o t m ean th at it ca n act eye w hat m usic w as for the ear, w as n o t ju st
on ou r sen ses w ith the sam e p ow er and th e effect o f G a n ce's film or E m ile Vuiller-
su b tlety ?" (Le Temps de /'image est venu). m o z 's ideas, n or o f aesthetes d esperate to
G erm ain e D ulac: "o n ly m u sic is cap ab le free the cinem a from its th eatrical yoke. T h e
o f stim u latin g the sam e sort o f im pression m o v em en t, d eveloping all ov er Europe,
as the cinem a and w e are able, in the lig ht w as urged o n in p articu lar b y p a in t e r s -
o f the sen sation s w h ich it offers us, to u n ­ n o tab ly V icking E ggelin g, W alter R uttm an
derstand those w h ich the cin em a o f th e fu ­ an d H an s Richter in G erm any and F em an d
ture w ill offer us. T he cinem a does n o t have L eger, M arcel D u ch am p , M an Ray, and Pic-
any clearly defined b ou n d aries; w h ich abia in France. H ow ever, the first o f these
m ig h t lead us to conclu de, in th e lig h t of w as u n d o u b ted ly L eopold Survage.6 G uil­
kn o w n facts, th at the visual idea, a th em e lau m e A pollinaire, w h o staged an exhibi­
d ear to all film m akers, is inspired b y m u si­ tion of this p a in te r's w ork in 1917, w en t so
cal tech n iqu e far m o re th an an y o th er tech­ far as to sa y th a t Su rvage had "in ven ted the
n iq u e or ideal. n e w art of p ain tin g in m o v e m e n t." Colored
"M u sic w h ich p ro vid es us w ith that rhythm, as h e called it, "w a s o n the p o in t of
sp ecial transcendence o f h u m an em otion, b ein g sh o w n to the p u blic via the cinem a -
w h ich records th e m anifold states o f ou r th a t trem end ou s p rop agand a w e a p o n -
so u ls, is pred icated o n th e m o v em en t of w h e n w a r interrup ted h is p la n s." Survage
sou nd s, just as ou r a rt is pred icated o n the had published in A p ollin aire's review
m o vem en t o f im ages. W h ich help s us u n ­ Soirees de Paris, in th e Ju ly -A u g u st 1914
derstand w h at th e visual idea is, the artistic issu e, a statem en t w h ich d efines the origi­
d ev elop m en t o f a n e w fo rm o f sensitivity. n ality o f h is d iscov eries. It is fittin g that w e
"T h e 'p u re' film w e all dream o f m ak ing sh ou ld quote from it a t length b ecau se ou r
is a v isu al sy m p h o n y o f rhy thm ic im ag es e n d ea v o rs in th is stud y are directly derived
w h ich the fe e lin g o f the a rtist a lon e coord i­ fro m it. Su rv ag e w rites:
n ate s and p ro jects o n to th e screen ."
F em an d L eger: "T h e fu ture o f th e cin ­ colored rhythm is not an illustration or an
em a, like th a t o f p a in tin g , lies in th e interest interpretation of a piece of music. It is an
independent art form (though based on
w ith w h ich it can end ow objects, frag m en ts
the same psychological premises as
o f objects or totally im aginary fantasies.
music).
"W h ere p a in tin g g o e s w rong is in the
Its similarity to music. What determines
subject m atter. the affinity between music, sound-
"W here cinem a goes w rong is in th e script. rhythm and colored rhythm (which in my
"F reed fro m this dead w eig h t, the cin­ opinion is best illustrated in the cinema)
em a can beco m e a h u g e m icroscope reveal­ is the way in which the component parts
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 113

fit together in a time sequence. Sound is resentation. Only by moving, changing,

the basic ingredient of music. or coming into contact with other forms
The combination of musical sounds, can it be inbred with the power of rousing
obeying the law of the simple relationship emotion. It is in terms of its role and pur­
b e t w ^ vibrations of simultaneous sounds, pose that it becomes abstract. By chang­
forms musical chords. These become com­ ing itself in time it sweeps away space; it
bined into musical phrases, etc. Yet music comes into contact with other forms as it
is always a means of making different changes; they combine together and de­
sound vibrations fit together in time. velop side by side or in opposition, fol­
A piece of music is a kind of subtle lowing the rhythm imposed by the
language with which the composer ex­ particular cadence which is the expression
presses his state of mind or, to use a con­ of the author's soul (sometimes happy,
venient expression, his internal dynamic. sometimes sad, sometimes dreamy and
The performance of a piece of music pensive) bringing them into balance. Yet
causes us to experience something similar the balance is temporary and the process
to the composer's dynamic, and the more of change starts all over again! And this
sensitive the listener (as would be a lis­ is the reason why visual rhythm is similar
tening device) the greater the intimacy be­ to the sound rhythms of music.
tween him and the musician. Rhythm fulfills the same function in
The basis of my dynamic art is colored both art forms. Consequently, in the plas­
visual form (serving a similar function to tic world the visual form of solid objects
that of sound in music). is of value to us only as a source or means
It is composed of three factors: (1) gen­ of expressing and stimulating our inner
uine visual (abstract) form; (2) rhythm, dynamism, not as a representation of the
i.e., movement and change of form; (3) significance or importance which the ob­
color. jects in fact assume in our lives. From the
Form and rhythm. By abstract visual viewpoint of this dynamic art, visual form
form, I mean any generalization or geo- becomes the expression and product of a
metrization of a form, an object, or our manifestation of form-energy, in its own
environment. In fact, the form of these ob­ context. And the same is true of form and
jects is complicated and at the same time rhythm—which are inseparable.
very simple and com m onplace-for in­ Color. For our eyes (the apparatus by
stance, a tree, a piece of furniture, or even which we perceive light waves) color is
a man. . . . The more these objects are the cosmos and at the same time the en­
studied in detail, the more they defy sim­ ergy context produced in terms of colored
ple representation. The method we sug­ matter, through either natural or pro­
gest for representing the irregular form of jected light.
a real body in an abstraction is to relate it Psychologically, what affects and influ­
to a simple or complex geometrical form ences us is not color or sound in their ab­
and these transformed representations solute, isolated states but the a lte ^ te d
are, relative to the forms of objects in the sequences of colors and sounds, which
external world, what musical sound is rel­ means that because of its ability to move,
ative to sound in general. Yet this is not the art of colored rhythm increases the
enough to represent a state of mind or power of this alternation, already influ­
stimulate an emotion. encing ordinary painting, but only as a
A static abstract form communicates group of colors simultaneously fixed on a
relatively little. Rounded or pointed, elon­ static surface with no change of relation­
gated or square, simple or complex, it ship. Through movement the nature of
produces nothing more than a very con­ these colors gains a power higher than
fused sensation: mere simple graphic rep­ static harmonies. In respect also, color
114 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E MA

is associated with rhythm. It stops being tionships between two or more intensities
a mere accessory of the objects and be­ of vibration and m ovem ent.. . . Once we
comes their content, the very essence of have collected all the relevant informa­
abstract form. The technical difficulties in tion, we shall be in a position to move
producing cinematic films are contained beyond empiricism toward the strictly ac­
in the projection of colored rhythms. curate selection of harmonies and devel-
We must remember that for a short opments.9
three-minute film, between one and two
thousand images must be recorded. And In Fran ce, F e m a n d L eger an d D udley
that is a great deal! However, I do not M u rphy w ith their Ballet mecanique (1924)
claim to compose them all myself. A l I do and H en ri C h om ette (R ene C la ir's elder
is show the essential stages. Clever drafts­ b rother) w ith h is Jeux et reflets de la lumiere
men will be able to guess the intermediate
et de la vitesse (1926) w ere fo llow in g m u ch
images whose number and therefore ca­
the sam e d irection b u t in a m ore con crete
dence I indicate. Once the plates are com­
m anner. L eg er w as u sin g geom etrical
pleted, they will be projected tr o u g h a
triple-color projection lens.7 sh ap es, fo u n d objects (kitch en u ten sils), and
p eop le, m aking them all con form to a kind
Su rv ag e's p lan n ev er cam e to fru ition o f clo ck w o rk rhythm w ith th e e ffe ct o f m ak ­
(th ou gh a series o f p lates h ad b ee n p re­ in g th eir m ovem ents ap p ear m echanical
pared to th is en d d u ring the first fe w an d to rep etitio n s b ringing ou t th e ob ses­
m o n th s o f 1914). H ow ever, the id ea d id sional quality o f th e objects an d the silliness
gradually gain ground . In 1922, the Sw ed ­ of people's m ovem ents. A nd C h om ette w as
ish p ain ter V ick ing E ggeling8 w en t in to exp lo itin g the actual m o vem en t o f objects
produ ction w ith h is Symphonie diagonale, (the m etro, b u ses, pleasu re b oats, etc.), cre­
w hich had been in th e p lan n in g stage from atin g th e m o st extraordinary effects ou t of
1917. The p rin cip les w ere the sam e a s those th eir relativ e speeds.
ex p o u n d ed b y Survage, excep t th a t E g g el- To p u t these efforts an d ad vances in to
in g used lines an d geom etrical d esig n s in p ersp ectiv e, w e m u st n o t forget th a t the pe­
b lack ag ain st a gray o r w h ite backgrou nd. riod itse lf w a s a h ig h p o in t o f artistic e n ­
A fter E g g elin g cam e H an s R ich ter w ith d eavor. C u b ism w a s in th e ascendant.
Rhythmus 21 (1924) an d W alter R u ttm an K andinsky, Braque, an d P icasso w ere being
w ith his Opus (film s 1, 2 , 3 , an d 4 , 1 9 2 3-25). d iscovered . Strav in sk y w a s astou n d in g the
T hese w ere ab stract film s u tiliz in g visual m u sical w orld w ith the h arm on ies o f The
rh y th m through the m o v em en t n o t o f Rite o f Spring, a n d M allet Stevens and Le
grap hic signs b u t o f on e-d im en sion al g eo­ C o rb u sier w ere rev italizin g architecture. In
m etric shapes, o f w h ite, gray, o r b la c k su r­ an oth er con n ection , th e crazy w orld o f
faces m oving an d ch an g in g and in teractin g D ad a w a s p av in g th e w ay from Surrealism ,
to a m etronom ic cad en ce an d beat. In this w h ile P iran d ello an d Lenorm and w ere in-
anim ated geom etry, b ased b oth o n m usic tellectu alizin g the theater w hich Jacques
and abstract painting, squares, rectangles, C o p eau and oth er o f S ta n isla v sk y 's d isci­
trian gles, d iam on d s, circles, an d spirals p les h ad rehabilitated . In the background,
w ove com p licated b alletic pattern s. B ergson, Freud , and th e doctrine o f relativ­
A s G erm aine D u lac w rote w ith ty p ical ity w ere changing ou r view o f th e w orld,
enthu siasm , w h ile M arcel P rou st and P aul Valery be­
cam e th e d em ig o d s they have rem ained
we think we are moving ever closer to a ev er since. A w h o le m ovem ent, b eg u n b e ­
practical knowledge of the precise rela­ fore 1914 b u t stifled b y the w ar, to ok root
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 115

and g ained th e seal o f ap p rov al o f a cu lti­ strictly similar. We should not be too sur­
v ated au d ien ce w h ich h ith e rto h ad b ee n prised that they should both depend on
hostile to m o d ern art. In this lig h t, Debussy, the same theoretical postulates and on the
Renoir, and C e za n n e ca m e to b e regard ed same physiological reactions of our or­
gans to the phenomena of movement. As
as classical.
a matter of fact, the optic and auditory
A ttracted sp on tan eo u sly to th e cin em a,
nerves have the same capacities for re­
w riters, painters, an d m en o f th e th e a te r b e­
cording wave patterns.
lieved th at visual rh y th m s w ere th e v e ry es­ Thus in the composition of a film we
sence and expressiv e purpose o f the cinem a. can find the same laws as those governing
T h eir m istake w a s in w ish in g im m ed iately the composition of a symphony. . . . Only
to create "p u re " art, "p u re " rh y th m , g raft­ a few artists are capable of appreciating
in g the innovations o f C u bism , Surrealism , the pathos of a complex of lines and vol­
and all the o th er ism s o f the tim e on to the umes and hypnotically tu n in g as though
m otion picture; fo r in d oin g so th e y created intoxicated by the magic potion of light.
It is impossible to describe, but at least we
an art w h ich w as the exact an tith esis o f cin­
are able to imagine these interchanges of
em a. T h ey w ere m erely d isin terrin g the
surface and relief and the pizzicati of daz­
corpse o f th e "film d 'a rt" o f 1908 contained
zling light patterns which a musician of
in a different co ffin w h ich , u n d er th e ju sti­
silence might make sing out tri^ p h a n tly
fication o f art, tried to fo rce the cin em a in to on the screen.12
th e straitjacket o f th eatrical staging. H o w ­
ever, th e p olem ics m u ltip lied , d iv id in g the W e m u st establish com m on ground b e ­
su p p orters o f "a b s o lu te " cin em a o r "c o m ­ tw e e n these eq u a lly valid b u t con trad icto ry
p le te " cin em a (w hich , stra n g e ly en ou g h, view p oin ts. It is a b u n d an tly clear th at there
w as im itative o f m u sic) fro m the others. is a close association b etw een film and m u ­
"T h e cin em a is th e a rt o f m elo d y and h a r­ sical rhy thm , th a t th e sam e law s governin g
m o n y o f plastic m o v e m e n t," as Pierre Porte the com position o f a sy m p h o n y also apply
stated in th e re a r guard o f th e m a in th eore­ in th e com position o f a film . H o w ev er this
tician s, "a n art w h ich p ro claim s m o vem en t takes acco u n t o f o n ly the rh y th m ic stru c­
in space and tim e, fin d in g it even in liv ing tures, th a t is, a n y relatio n sh ip s m easu rab le
creatu res w h ere it m ig h t least b e expected , w ith a ch ro n o m eter or "u n ita ry m easure­
distorting o r co n v ertin g it b u t alw ay s m a g ­ m e n t" o f film (a second, o r tw en ty -fou r
n ify in g it." 10 To w h ich H en ri F esco u rt (one fram es, o r 0.45 m ), n o t th o se relationships
o f the fe w to see th in g s in th eir proper p er­ w h ich are felt o r perceived as rhythm .
spective) replied: "V isu a l m u sic is a p o ssi­ V uillerm oz says: "A s a m a tter o f fact, the
b ility w h ich th e c in em a o f to m orrow m ig h t optic and au d itory nerves hav e th e sam e ca­
explore, n ot som eth in g w h ich h a s alread y p a cities fo r record ing w av e p a ttern s." His
b een achieved . In n o n e o f its p resen t form s error, shared b y a great m an y film m akers,
could the cinem a b e lik en ed to m u sic before is th e source o f the enorm ous confusion
an y oth er art fo rm ."n w h ich exists w ith regard to th e rhy thm ic ca­
E m ile V uillerm oz contributed th e follow ­ p ab ilities o f film from w h ich the theories o f
ing in 1927: the avan t-g ard e and th e experim ents d e­
scribed ab ove derive.
There are basic, exceptionally close re­ N evertheless, M ou ssinac w a s alread y
lationships between the art of assembling ob servin g th a t "th o u g h ou r eyes ca n ap­
sounds and the art of assembling mea­ preciate the d ifference b etw een colors and
sures of light. The two techniques are b etw een shap es and b etw een relativ e dis­
116 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

tances in perspective, they cannot appreci­ is the organ of rhythm par excellence. It is
ate rhythmic developments in the move­ designed to perceive not only relationships
ments they perceive - t h e y cannot see of sound but also relationships of time.
movement in movement. . . . If musical ad­ And though it cannot perceive space, it is
aptation currently seems to us necessary at least able to perceive spatial "dimen­
most of the time, it is because we do not sion" through relationships of pitch and,
perceive rhythm in film or (when it does particularly sound direction.
exist) do not perceive it very well and be­ The eye, on the other hand, is designed
cause (an effect of the movement in the im­ to perceive space and spatial relationships.
ages creating rhythm) in order to please It is the organ of proportion par excellence.
ourselves we try to find it in music." But If it perceives relationships in time, these
he adds: "Why are our eyes always less are always subject to the requirements of a
sensitive to rhythm in the cinema than our certain framing. In other words, it is by re­
ears? One supposes that it is mainly a ferring to spatial data that the eye is able to
question of education" (Naissance du evaluate the relative duration of objects. It
cinema). cannot confer any meaning on these time
O f course it is a question o f education. relationships, though because of their
Yet there is a threshold of perception which structure, movement, or intensity, the rep­
our eyes cannot cross, which means that resented objects already have a certain
subtle relationships of time are totally alien. meaning conferred on them a priori by the
Whereas our ears can pick up differences space in which they are found.
of time of as little as a tenth of a second and To return to Ruttmann's or Vicking
wave patterns of pitch and tonality of as Eggeling's experiments, it is clear that the
little as a coma (81/80), our eyes cannot eye is able to perceive relative durations
perceive relationships of any less than a from shot to shot because the relevant geo­
fifth of the duration of a relatively short metrical shapes become altered within
shot. And though our minds are able to dis­ these durations and because the relation­
cern a certain difference in time between ships of time are always clearly marked. Yet
relatively long shots or between successive what is most significant is that these rela­
sequences, they remain incapable of evalu­ tionships in themselves convey absolutely
ating it in any precise sense - unless the dif­ nothing. They do not provoke any feelings
ference is very marked as, for example, or any specific states of mind. For instance,
when the time of a shot is doubled or tri­ if we stretch a spiral for two seconds and
pled, in other words clumsily. And where distort a cube or diamond for three sec­
our ears are able to perceive effortlessly as onds, this relationship has no external justi­
many as twenty different notes or beats every fication. There might just as easily be three
second, our eyes can tolerate only with diffi­ seconds of spiral and two seconds of cube
culty and for a short period image se­ or they might follow each other in reverse
quences of a sixth of a second. order. I have performed the experiment
As Ernest Meumann points out, "in ex­ many times with my students at the Institut
periments conducted to measure the rela­ des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques
tive sensitivity of the senses in estimating (IDHEC) and before audiences at cinema
time, sight proved to be the most obtuse." clubs. A film is projected right side up, then
And David Katz is able to state that "in no backward, in other words, putting the last
area of the senses is there such acuity as in image at the beginning of the sequence: the
the area of acoustic" only because the ear result is exactly the same. These pure
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 117

m ovem ents are n o t w ith o u t a. certain deco­ p u re r h y ^ m exist and there it is the m u sic
rative value, b u t in w h atever order th e y fo l­ itself.
low o n e another, th e relatio n sh ip s w h ich T h u s it is a trap fo r th e u n w ary (albeit
b in d th e m together are sh o w n to b e ab so­ a n attractiv e one) to co n sid er ou r v isu al
lutely gratuitous. W e can p erceiv e a certain p e rce p tio n o f film in th e sam e te rm s as ou r
rhythm ; in other w ord s, w e are p erfectly au d itory p ercep tio n o f m u s ic - f o r th e tw o
aw are o f a relatio n sh ip o f p ro p ortio n b e ­ reason s w e hav e ju st d escribed: th e inabil­
tw ee n su ccessiv e shots, b etw ee n relative ity o f ou r ey es to appreciate even m oder­
d urations o f m o v in g shap es, b u t this rela­ ately su b tle relationships b etw een shots
tio n sh ip in no w ay gives rise to any p artic­ an d the lack o f expressivity o f these rela­
ular em o tio n , sin ce sim p le v isu al pleasu re tion sh ip s consid ered for w h at they are.13
clearly can n o t b e d escribed as em o tio n P ro v id e d th e y serv e m erely to indicate
(and, besid es, it is a pleasu re w h ich is the these lim itations, the efforts o f the avant-
sam e w h atev er order th e shots fo llow one garde will n o t hav e b ee n in vain. H ow ever,
another). The reversib ility o f this "rh y th m " w e m u st point ou t in cid en tally th at though
is proof o f its lack o f sig n ification , its em p­ th eories w h ich prove valid d o so through
tiness: the ab sen ce o f potentiality and non­ their ap p licatio n, i.e., through m o re or less
determinism. It is in con ceiv able th a t an y intu itive exp erim entation, precon ceived
feelin g o f actu al duration (or indeed an y id eas and theories w orked o u t in abstract
m easure o f tim e) should b e com m u nicated m o st o ften fou nd er on th e rock of their
via these ab stract d u ration s, d evoid o f an y rigid dogm atism .
deep em otional qualities. T h re e aesthetic m ovem ents w h ose aim
A lthou gh tw o chord s p laced in a p artic­ w a s to tu rn the cinem a in to a n art, carefully
ular relatio n sh ip o f tim e alread y con tain an reasoned and elab orated , cam e in to b ein g
em otional con ten t b y virtue o f the sim ple b etw ee n 1908 and 1924. B etw e en 1908 an d
relationsh ip of p itch and to n e (since all 1912 there w a s th e film d 'art. W ith th e cin­
sou nd m atter has in trin sic sig nification as em a consid ered as th e natu ral h eir to the
w ell as signification in term s o f its rhythm ), theater, it w a s felt that its form shou ld con­
th e relationsh ip o f ab stract fo rm s or fo rm w ith th e rules o f classical dram a and
sketches still ap p ears aim less. th eatrical presentation. B etw een 1914 and
Thu s it is establish ed th a t v isu al rhythm 1924 th ere w a s E xpression ism . R elated to
b ecom es d ep rived o f the p o w er to m ove the ru les o f p ain tin g and the plastic arts,
and signify from the m o m en t the form s fo r th e criteria o f e xcellen ce fo r film expression
w h ich it provides th e rh y th m b eco m e de­ w ere th e balance o f line and volu m e and
p rived o f objective sig n ification and p ri­ the arch itectonic com position o f a given
m ary em o tio n al force. T h e m o b ility o f an space. W h ich is the reason fo r the exagger­
abstract sketch is an in tellectu al em otion ated im portance o f set design and lighting.
devoid o f direction and effective pow er. It B etw een 1920 and 1927, the F ren ch avant-
is a "c a ta ly s t" in cap able (even "p o te n ­ garde, w h ich consid ered the cinem a as an
tially ") o f creating em otion , since th e p o­ asp ect o f m u sic, w as to elevate it th e level
tential o f th e m o vem en t is co n ta in e d in the o f th e v isu al sym phony.
gratu itousness o f its d esign. In b rief, visual T h o u g h they w ere on the rig h t track,
rhythm contributes nothing in itself. It creates these exp erim enters w ere too hid ebou n d in
nothing. In other w ord s, "p u r e " rh y th m their thin king, seeing only one sid e o f the
does n ot exist in th e cinem a any m ore than question an d m ain tain in g precon ception s
it d oes in literature. O n ly in m u sic does based exclu sively o n th e aesthetics o f p re­
118 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

viou s art form s (aesthetics w h ich , p red ict­ b u t does n o t m ak e it up (w e hav e already
ably, w ere com p letely alien to th e im m ed i­ seen that it is in ca p a b le o f d oin g so).
ate requ irem ents o f film ). H ow ever, a t the N atu rally, film d ev elop m en t is sim ilar to
sam e tim e, th e A m erican s G riffith , Ince, the m elo d ic d ev elop m en t o f a p iece o f
and Sen n ett and the Sw edes Sjo strom and m u sic. Yet, th o u g h th e structure o f film m ay
Stiller m anaged to p ro tect th e cinem a fro m reveal certain relationships o f tim e, gener­
the g old en ru les o f A rt (w ith capital letter) ally sp eak in g it is devoid o f recurring p at­
and la y d ow n th e real fo u n d ation s fo r the terns. O n ly occasionally, w h en a p articu lar
art o f cinem a. con d ition w arran ts p attern s o f this k in d , is
W e sh all see th a tE ise n ste in 's and P ud ov- there actu al perception o f rhythm . O n the
k in 's theories w ere valid o n ly w h en they w h ole, film d ev elop m en t is o n e o f rhythmic
took into accou n t the n a tu re o f film , its spe­ flow w ith in w h ich th e irreg u lar sequence
cific conditions and requirem ents. W h e n they relationships can n o t b e effectively perceived
tried, con sciou sly or otherw ise, to fo llo w b ecau se o f length o f the in tervals and the
d ifferent d irections, th e y failed m iserably. visu al lim itation s w e h av e d escribed.
It is obviou s that if film p rovid es n o th in g O n ly in relatio n sh ip s fro m s h o t to shot
m ore th an th e faith fu l record in g o f a d ance, (because o f the relative b rev ity o f th e im ­
th e n here th e o n ly possible rh y th m is that ages) can there b e actual rhythm . W h en it
o f th e d ance itself. Y et th e relatio n sh ip s o f com es to relationsh ips from on e sequ ence
th e v ario u s d u ratio ns and sh ot in ten sities to another, w e c a n exp erien ce rhythm on ly
h elp in g to m ak e th e d ance intelligible inev­ as a series o f harm on iou sly balanced pro­
ita b ly create a rhythm in d ep en d en t o f the portions. In this resp ect w e m ig h t com pare
rh y th m o f th e d an ce - to su stain, am plify, or visu al rh y th m w ith th e op en rh y th m o f
e v e n counterpoint the choreographic rh y ^ m p la in so n g or, m ore precisely, w ith the flow ­
w hich is th e subject o f th e v isu al rhythm . We in g rh y th m o f serial m u sic. W h atever the
have o n ly to th in k o f "m u s ic a ls " (th e film s case, it is still th e rhythm o f a given significa­
o f G en e Kelly, S ta n le y D o n e n , an d V incente tion and n o t rhythm providing its own
M innelli) to see h ow tru e th is is. signification th ro u g h u n in tellectu alized
T h e o n ly con clu sion w e c a n d ra w from m aterial. Thu s w e w o u ld d o w ell to avoid
th is is th at there is a b so lu tely n o con n ection com parisons w ith m u sical rh y th m , sin ce it
betw een the rh y th m s o f film and m u sic. In is based o n recurren t p attern s and tonal re­
m u sic the sam e n otes recur o v er and ov er latio n sh ip s w ith a b so lu tely n o m eaning in
in d ifferen t form s (th ere are o n ly ever the cinem a.
tw elv e notes in a scale). T h e k ey s, m ad e u p F ilm rh y th m is fa r m o re con n ected w ith
o f variou sly arran ged groups o f notes, p ro ­ the rh y th m o f verse, in w h ich pattern s o f
duce o b v iou s em otion al effects. Sig n ifica­ stress are produ ced in m ore or less regular
tio n in m u sic is created u sin g th e in finite altern atio n s w ith w ord s w h ose m eaning
v a rie ty o f th ese sou nd p attern s w h ich on ly ch an g es fro m o n e m inu te to th e next. F ilm
have m eaning in them selv es and through articu lation , w h ic h is b y natu re asym m et­
their association. "R e p re sen ta tio n a lly " th ey rical and has nothin g (except in exception­
m e an nothing. O n th e o th er h a n d , in the ally rare cases) to d o w ith the m etric beats
cinem a, the m ean in g is provided b y the im ­ o f classical v e rse , is rath er a ssociated w ith
ages, i.e., b y the m ean in g o f th e represen­ th e free rh y th m o f p o etic prose.
tation; or rath er (to p u t it m ore sim ply) b y T h o u g h film is presen ted p rim arily as an
concrete objects. T h e rh y th m is an adjunct ob jective reality organized w ith in a certain
of this signification; it alters o r tran sform s sp ace, it is in tim e th a t it a ch iev es its m ost
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 119

direct expression, its most obvious signi­ have said, it is the free and "continuous"
fication. "Time" in the cinema is not pro­ rhythm of rhythmic prose, never imposing
duced, as in music, by rhythmic form but a metric system on its cyclical forms but
by events being followed through in se­ rather aliowing its own requirements to
quence. It is a time experienced by charac­ dictate its terms of reference. The infinitely
ters objectively presented to us, not a variable terms of these forms render visual
sequence of time formulated and condi­ rhythm virtually indefinable.
tioned by pure rhythm. However, though Whereas music deals with the same qual­
this sequence of time may not be produced ities reinterpreted in different forms, the cin­
by the rhythm, at least it develops within a ema is exclusively concerned with similar
rhythmic form conditioned and justified by qualities recognized in dissimilar forms.
the dramatic reality whose constant devel­ And for this reason we cannot speak of the
opment it is continually altering. cinema in terms of good or bad rhythm (if
Endowed with a materiality, a weight, a rhythm is to be understood as conforming
density which ensures the concrete exis­ or otherwise to certain rules or fixed forms).
tence of figures and objects, their static (or The principles of visual rhythm do not tran­
spatial) quality is in inevitable conflict with scend (even potentially) all their applica­
their accompanying movement. Thus to all tions but are inherent within each of them.
intents and appearances, film rhythm is not Rhythm exists by reason of what has to be put
free, whereas musical rhythm (the rhythm into rhythm. It can therefore be judged only
of sounds with no concrete reality to pro­ in its applications, not as a body of so-called
mote and therefore no static qualities) has absolute standards. Yet, at the same time,
no other referent than its formal needs. And one or two genres quite consciously involve
yet (to state it more clearly), this referent has the use of a specific rhythm. Clearly a psy­
itself to be referred to an established body chological film does not have the same
of physical laws: interval relationships, cor­ rhythm as, say, an epic; it would be foolish
rect or incorrect harmonies, tonal require­ to think otherwise.
ments, and many others b esid es-w ith the Be this as it may, rhythm is good or bad
effect that the "free" rhythm of music is in only by virtue of its content. We sometimes
fact constrained. On the other hand, film draw certain conclusions from a film we
rhythm, subject to the constrictive weight of judge to be outstanding, a perfect harmony
spatiality, to everything which rhythm en­ of form and content, which are then ex­
tails, is not su b ject-a s far as the objective panded into generalizations. This enables
description of material objects is concerned us to apply the good/bad schema to all
- t o any formal law or externally imposed films, to pronounce a particular film "good"
rules. for having carefully implemented the rules
Film rhythm is linear. It is the rhythm of which have, in fact, ruined the film, being
narrative, whose continuous flow never re­ inappropriate to its co n ten t-a futile exer­
peats itself. Since its content is continually cise. We have said it once but it cannot be
moving and changing, its patterns take as too often repeated: systematization is the
reference a certain representational form death of art; it merely produces arid aca­
rather than the represented data. The same demism. Aesthetics (which must always be
movement intensity is produced by differ­ on its guard against legislating in abstract)
ent movements, the same time sequence by becomes replaced by simpleminded and
different actions, the same framing by con­ pretentious aestheticism.
tents without direct associations. As we A work of art is good (within certain lim­
120 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

itations) if it achieves its aim following a cause it is unique in the fact that its devel­
harmoniously balanced development. In opment happens sim u ltan eou sly in space
this way it at least satisfies the basic needs, and time. And also because (and we must
the fundamental aesthetic requirements. All never forget it), though the verbal code is
the critic needs to know is the w herefore of ordered for the purpose of intelligibility and
this harmoniously balanced development. the musical code for a sensory response, the
At this juncture we shall not be dealing with film code is ordered for the purpose of in-
this particular problem. However, we must teUigibility through a sensory response. And
point out that when images are absolved of for this reason film rhythm must appeal
the need to narrate, film time, now liberated both to our reason and our emotions and
from the limitations of concrete time, can must allow a certain content reach that
become the same as the "experienced time" "emotional intellection"—which, after all,
of music and visual impressions can be­ is its final purpose.
come pure emotion.
Rhythm can then be similar to that of a R h y th m an d M o n ta g e
fugue or a particular symphonic move­
ment. It can be used recapitulatively, con­ Before we come to editing and its prin­
trapuntally as a refrain, making the images ciples, it is well to remember certain basic
appear as though they belong to a lyric ode facts, in particular that all we actu ally per­
or choreographed dance. Which is precisely ceive are relationships, differences—gener­
what happens in certain short films, poetic ally speaking, discontinuity. "We can only
documentaries and others, whose aim is not know what is in the process of taking place
narration but description (which they and continually v ary in g -n ot what is in a
achieve most artistically). Most of Robert J. state of constancy" as Ebbinghaus ob­
Flaherty's films (N an ook o f the N orth, M oan a, served at the beginning of the twentieth
M an o f A ran , Lou isian a Story) include se­ century. "If physical contact, gestures, tem­
quences of this type, and we can imagine peratures (provided they are not extreme),
long passages (evocations, dreams, memo­ smells, noises are repeated or continued
ries) in rather more dramatic films handled indefinitely we stop perceiving them. Con­
in the same way. Therefore the nonmusical- versely, whatever causes a ch a n g e -a nov­
ity of film rhythm is not the consequence of elty —almost always reaches our con­
a particular limitation (except of course in sciousness with a particular intensity"
cases where the rhythm is the agent creatin g (Precis d e psychologie).
the emotion) but of the most general char­ Rhythm can really exist only within and
acteristic of films dealing with a narrative in terms of d iscon tin u ity, though the feeling
subject rather than subjective impressions we experience is one of continuous devel­
(though rhythm in this case, before it be­ opment as, for instance, in the cinema
comes perceived periodicity, involves rela­ where the continuity of movement is
tively short periods and clearly differenti­ achieved through a discontinuous se­
ated relationships). quence of static images. Cicero wrote two
Whatever the case may be, we shall see thousand years ago: "We observe a rhythm
that film rhythm, though it never exists as in falling raindrops, because of the gaps be­
pure rhythm (as in music), is nevertheless tween them; we cannot do this in a river.
the most flexible and complex of all the There is no rhythm in what is continuous."
rhythms. The most flexible by virtue of its Besides, rhythm is a relationship not so
extreme freedom; the most complex be­ much of quantities as of qualities. We said
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 121

that in essence it is d ynam ic. I n fact, rela­ w h en this h as tak en place can it beco m e
tion sh ip s of tim e or in ten sity g en erate a w h a t it really is. T h e im plied idea is d ep en ­
'lm o v e m e n t " -a n id ea o f m o v e m e n t-b e - d en t on a process o f co n sciou sn ess, a n in­
tw een their com p on ents, th eir intervals or tellectu al act w h ich , though it is n ever
their actu al proportion s. W h ich is w h y w e "th in k in g " in th e strict sen se, analytical rea­
can sp eak o f "sp a tia l rh y th m " - sin ce static soning, is a kind o f synthesis, d iscovering
fo rm s, th ro u g h th eir in terrelationsh ip s, cre­ if n o t p reestablished con cep ts, th e n at least
ate a kind o f m o vem en t in th e m in d o f the exp erien ced em otion s, acquired k now l­
observer. edge generated b y perception and mem ory,
M oreover, rh y th m is form , in the gestalt i.e., "d e v e lo p e d " p erception , lik e the pro­
sense, u n iq u e b y virtu e o f th e special ar­ cess o f m en tal tran sferen ce and its related
rangem ent o f its com pon ents and , in the structures. W h ich is w h y th is type o f th in k ­
final analysis, n o th in g m ore than the exten­ ing h a s com e to b e considered inferior,
sion in tim e o f p ercep tu al "fo rm s " (except thinking "b e fo re th e fa c t" o f w ords; b u t, as
th a t rhythm ic fo rm is the e x p ressio n o f a R aym on d B a y er h a s p o in te d o u t, "m ag n ifi­
w ill, a purpose), a m ed iu m w h ere percep­ cen tly supp orting th e m ost cerebral of
tion, u n exp ected ly an d in sp ite o f itself, fo l­ th in k in g w ith its associatio n s, th e sequ ence
low s its n atu ral preferences. is n o t . . . an associatio n o f im ages; n o r is it
F ro m a m o re g eneral aesth etic p o in t of p u re ly and sim p ly a seq u en ce o f im ages
view, w e sh ou ld n o te th e follow ing: film directed tow ard a specific m eaning. It turns
cannot b e regarded sep arately from its form each o f us in to diviners o f meaning; it is our
as, fo r exam ple, in m usic, w h ere (w ith in cer­ w h ole th o u g h t process and m ind b en eath
tain lim itations) a sy m p h o n y can b e said to ea ch im age. . . . It requires us to b e alert so
b e an ideal d istin ct fro m the interpretations th a t ou r interpretative th o u g h t p ro cess ca n
w h ich it p resupp oses. A ll the m ore so in b e in a sta te o f continu ou s crea tio n " (Le
v ie w o f the fa c t th a t th e film ob ject ca n exist Cinema et les etudes humaines).
o n ly in term s o f a g iv en fo rm - i t s exp res­ So th ere is n o le ss creative activity in the
sion and the film 's w a y o f being "id e a l" is aud ience tow ard the im ag es it perceives
contained in its p erceiv ed reality. th an in the read er tow ard the w o rd s h e has
In the sam e w ay as w ith w ords, ideas to decipher. In sim ple term s, m ental cre­
su ggested b y a film are e x trin sic to it; they ation is n o t imaginative, as in read in g (we
d o n o t fo rm p art o f its being. N o r do they d o n o t hav e to "im a g in e " the facts imposed
constitute an id eal b ein g , sin ce th e y are d e­ o n ou r con sciou sn ess): it is ideative and for
pen d en t o n this same f o r m - t h e film . th a t reason m o re consistent.
T h o u g h th e y are extrin sic to it, th ey are p re ­ W e m ig h t (alm ost) agree w ith Ingarden
sented within the film . T h e y are o n ly active th a t "th e layer o f the w ork form ed b y th e
insofar as the sign, w ith o u t bein g a co n v en ­ sig n ification s, w ith o u t b e in g necessarily
tion al substitute (far from it, in fact) is a identified w ith a n actu al p sy cholog ical co n ­
concrete reality m o re or less in volved in the ten t, is n o t forced to b e an independ ent
train o f events. T h e m ea n in g "tra n sc e n d s" ideal b u t is relative to the su bjective pro­
w h at is p erceiv ed b u t is in h eren t and im ­ cesses o f co n scio u sn ess" (Das Literarische
plied in it. A n d th e au d ien ce g a in s access Kunstwerk). E xcep t th a t in the cinem a, since
to th e m e a n in g b y recog n izin g in a p artic­ film p resen ts itself as actu al reality, the
u la r object an ep h em era l sign an d therefore lay er fo rm ed by the significations m u st
a signification. T h u s the film im age de­ m ain tain a con stan t relationsh ip w ith a liv ­
m and s a certain m en tal activity, and only in g co n ten t w ith w h ich - o b viou sly en o u g h
122 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I NE MA

- i t is n o t n ecessarily id en tical b u t w ith f i n d e r - e v e n th o u g h it is "so m e th in g else"

w h ich it m u st rem ain in d irect contact. Film b y v irtu e o f th e rep resen tatio n (fram ing,
can n o t sig n ify som ething outside its con ­ com p ositio n , etc.).
tent o f reality (alth ou gh it ca n su g g est it In th e first place, w e are talk in g about
quite pow erfu lly). Film m ean in g is rooted film creation; w e are "ta k in g the p lace" of
in p erception; it is th e exp ressio n o f a n "in ­ the film m aker. C onversely, in the second,
ten tio n al" existen ce, con stitu tin g th e im ­ w e are consid ering on ly w h at w e see on the
m ediate reality o f the film and th rusting us, screen ; w e are "ta k in g th e p la c e " o f the au­
through th e em otion s it d eterm ines, into a dience. A n d it is vital to determ in e the
w o rld p o ten tially con tained in th e film . point o f view a d o p te d - th a t o f the creator
A s w e hav e said , all p o ten tiality in the or th a t o f the aud ience.
cinem a is referred b a ck to a sp ecific tran­ In th is resp ect, w e m u st p o in t ou t th a t as
scen d ent form , a fo rm d ep loyed within this far as w e ca n tell, it is o n ly fo r th e audience
potentiality, as th o u g h con tain ed within it th a t "sig n ific a tio n s" are related to the sub­
and exten d in g bey on d it, an ideal exten­ jectiv e m echanism o f consciou sness. F or the
sion. M oreover, u n lik e in painting, th e an - creator, th e y have an id eal, in d ep en d en t ex­
alog on presents rath er th an ev o k es the istence - literally h is "p u rp o se ."
represented quality. It is th e p resen ce o f the W e m u st n ow review one o r tw o obser­
reality in the view fin d er w ithout actu ally vation s m ade in earlier chapters and elu ci­
b ein g th e reality. It ca n b e d etached fro m it d ate certain points to en able us b etter to
w ithout rem ain in g apart other th an as an u n d erstan d the various im plications of
im age; in oth er w ord s, it is b o th repre­ editing.
sen ted and rep resen ta tio n (and y e t is n o th ­ A s w e said , n o p ercep tion is cap ab le of
in g m ore th a n the latter). It is as th o u g h it g rasp in g th e w h ole o f an object, since our
w ere th e "d u p lic a te " o f th e reality in the po sition (w hatever it m ig h t be) ca n on ly
view finder. g iv e u s access to o n e specific aspect and,
If, as w e say, represen ted objects can n o t ho w ev er h ard w e m ay try, w e cannot per­
exist w ith o u t som e fo rm o f representation, ceiv e it excep t "fro m the ou tsid e," sin ce its
w e m u st clarify ou r p o sition (som ething w e natu re as an ob ject is to b e outside u s.14
sh ou ld hav e d on e som ew h at earlier) and A s M ik e l D ufren ne so rig h tly points ou t
avoid an y p o ssible confu sion. T h ere are, in in h is Phenomenologie de l'experience esthe-
fact, tw o w ays (com p letely contrad ictory) tique,
of interpretin g "rep resen tatio n co n ten t."
O n the o n e hand , it is th e subject o f the rep­ "as long as we are content to experience
resentation, i.e., th e reality in the view ­ the presence of the object, any perception
find er w h ich , in so far as it is reality, is which provides sufficient evidence of that
previou s and extrinsic to an y representa­ presence is adequate; and, conversely, as
tion (this is w h y w e m ad e th e d istin ction long as we wish to know the object in its
truth, no perception is adequate to grasp
b etw een represented an d representation in
it in its totality and explain it, to set it,
ou r rem arks con cern in g th e fram e and its
through its necessary relationships, in its
im plications). O n th e o th e r h a n d , th e "r e p ­
context. Thus there are two lev els-o n e
resen ted " can m ean th e product o f the rep­ where perception is always valid without
resentation. O b v io u sly it is in this sen se the imposition of a norm; and the other
that w e are u sin g it w h en w e refer to th e where it is always ineffective. There is no
represented, th ro u g h its rep resentation, as level of fulfillment in perception because,
th e "d u p lica te " o f th e reality in th e v iew ­ as soon as our perception makes us aware
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 123

o f the presence of an object (and unless o f aesthetics. A n y conclu sions o n e reaches

we adopt the aesthetic attitude) it is over­ leading to the establishm ent o f rules or
taken either in the direction of action or p rin cip les m a y v a ry according to o n e 's pre­
intellection. Now, the aesthetic object ap­
d ilectio n for, o n th e o n e h and , realism and,
peals onlyto our perception; it has no util­
o n th e other, a certain idealism . W e shall see
itarian or knowledge value and, for that
t h a t - a t least to ou r e y e s - t h e perceived
reason, must have one or more special
perceptions reserved for it. However, this o b ject is n o t in d ep en d en t o f p ercep tion and
means that perception does not merely th a t its m ean in g is lim ited to the one it has
provide us with its presence but also its fo r us; th e ob ject as su ch is strictly relative
truth and this truth is the truth of a per­ - correlative, to b e strictly accu rate. M ore
ceived object. Consequently, ideals do not th an ever, aesth etics refers b ack to m eta­
imply ideas: the nature o f an aesthetic object physics.
is not that o f an abstract signification but that H ow ever, fo r th e tim e b ein g let us
o f a perceptible object which can only be pro­ confine ou rselv es to th e fact th a t sin ce film
duced in our perception. /Л5
is an invariable form (in con trast w ith the­
ater and m u sic), it is obviou s that it is in the
We h a v e seen th a t the cinem a allow s one p ercep tion o f this form that its aesthetic re­
or m ore o f these sp ecial perceptions. A se­ ality tran scen d s w h a t is p erceived . Yet the
quence o f closeu p s sh ow in g a n object (or p u rp ose o f film is n ot, as in p ain tin g , to be
action) from several con secu tiv e angles a n a rt o b ject revealin g its d eep est m ean in g
m eans that the object (or action) can be th ro u g h a specific fo rm in w h ich each object
show n alm ost sim u ltan eou sly in its m ost is captu red in its m o st sig n ifican t asp ect and
significant aspects. In som e w a y it presen ts w h ere w h at is p erceiv ed , excused from the
u s w ith the tru th in h eren t in th e ob ject and need to b eco m e eith er action or intellection ,
b ecom es, as it w ere, a n exploration o f ou r achieves th e ecstasy w h ich is the aesthetic
consciou sness - i f n o t total, th e n a t least attitu de itself. T h e purpose o f film is to b e a
m o re com plete. Finally, b ey on d th e im ­ p e rp e tu a l "d e v e lo p in g tim e "; a p resen t " in
m ed iate tru th, it g u id es us tow ard the "e s ­ th e p ro cess o f h a p p e n in g ." T h u s it is n o t a
se n tia l" tru th o f the ob ject tran scen d in g q u estio n of cap tu rin g th e ob ject in an aspect
and eclip sing w h at is perceived. w h ich enables it to attain fo r itself th e m ax­
"T o tu m th e aesthetic ob ject in to the im u m p o ssible sig nification b u t o f in volv­
id eal lim it o f p e rce p tio n ," D u fren n e goes in g it in a narrative reality through w h ich it
on, "is n o t to exclu d e it from w h at is p er­ assu m es, b y virtu e o f its relationsh ips, a
ceived b u t to state that it is a n orm b y sp e cific m e a n i n g - i t s temporary truth.
w h ich percep tion can operate. A n d d ou bt­ Sin ce th e w orld on film is a represented
less this can o n ly b e so becau se it h a s an a ctio n an d sin ce film p ercep tion is on e ex­
'e n -so i'; as M . de S chloezer so rig h tly says, tended n o t ju s t b y contem plation b u t also
if m u sic can b e red uced to w h a t is p er­ b y in tellection , o n e m ig h t sa y (in a very
ceived , 'a ll in terp retation s are eq u ally g en eral sense, o f cou rse) th a t in th e cinem a
valid '; b u t if m u sic can n o t b e red u ced to a n y p ercep tion w h ich provides sufficient
w h at is perceived, in cases w h ere it tran ­ evidence o f the presen ce o f th e ob ject ful-
scends w h at is perceived, it is alw ays in fiUs its fu nction . S ince th e object ca n find
term s o f w h at is p erceiv ed ." its tru e m ean in g o n ly in its relationship
W h ich leads us b a ck to the p h en om en o n w ith the w orld, th e aesthetic attitude re­
o f p erception, on e o f th e u tm ost im p or­ lates n o t to th e object b u t to its relation­
tance since it is the sole basis fo r th e stu d y ships. A esthetic perception refers less to the
124 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

intrinsic truth of the object than to its ex­ the object through the optics o f the film , i.e.,
trinsic determinants. It has less to do with significations which the object assumes rel­
what it signifies in itself than what is signi­ ative to the scenes in which it is involved
fied through it, less to do with what it is than and significations which the scenes assume
what it becomes, less to do with what it relative to the object.
represents than what it suggests. in any case, the aesthetic attitude in the
"When an audience sees the opening cinema has nothing to do with "contempla­
shot of a sequence," Cohen-Seat observes, tion" (though sometimes it may have) but
"it does not necessarily experience the feel­ rather "participation" or, perhaps, active
ing of incompleteness making it want to see contemplation.
the front of a situation presented entirely It is comforting to see the similarity be­
from the rear in order to understand it bet­ tween the conclusions reached by an aes­
ter. The presentation of the object in succes­ thetic theoretician of Mikel Dufrenne's
sive slices adds nothing to each immediate acumen as he analyzes the nature of the
datum; nor does it subtract anything; it aesthetic object in its most general sense
contributes something else. . . . It is not, as (with no reference to film) and those we
in the perception of reality, an incomplete have reached in our study of this effect. He
a sp e c t-a s it were, on e o f the m an y d ata con­ says quite specifically:
tained by the o b ject offered in each aspect,
each profile: from the expressive viewpoint The perceived object is transcendence
of its total essence, it is a complete object" contained in potentiality, not just in the
(P roblem es du cinem a). sense that consciousness is transcended
Even so, when it is no longer a question toward it but also - and it is possible that
merely of seeing the world and its objects M. Merleau-Ponty has not drawn suffi­
in their narrative reality where only dra­ cient attention to the f a c t - that it embod­
matic continuity and relationships of facts ies a truth always hidden from perception
are important but of recording specific de­ (even though perception remains dimly
aware of it): direct comprehension of the
tails, observing them more profoundly
object always involves the explanation of
since they are perhaps the decisive factors,
its objective nature. And if the perceived
no one will gainsay the filmmaker endow­
object is not only real but true with a truth
ing them with a meaning produced entirely which perception announces but is unable
by his personal vision, his discovery in to grasp, then it involves it as a concept.
them of a p oten tial signification. In this Thus the perceived object has an am­
sense, the object must be filmed from sev­ biguous status: it is the object I perceive
eral aspects but on condition that it be w ith because it is present in my sphere of ref­
a view to certain relationships and not a erence but at the same time it is some­
meaning which can only come from it or thing else; it is the alien reality my
the images presented of it. In this case, aes­ perception is unable to grasp appealing to
thetic perception exists in the signifying a knowledge with no apparent connection
with perception-w hich in any case
truth of the represented content as well as
obliges me to doubt pure fact, to throw
in what is signified in the relationships of
my knowledge off-center in order to de-
the images presenting that content, since in subjectify it. Which is to say that percep­
this in stan ce-to return to C ohen-5eat- tion has in it an obligation toward truth
"the chosen details accumulate, like half­ and must be cognizant of its own limita­
truths, whose aggregate alone presents the tions. A theory of perception must take
whole truth." It is a question of exploring into account these limitations and follow
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 125

a path to a thought process which tests or p sy ch olog ical) contained in it and o n the
the truth of the object whose presence is length o f tim e it lasts. Ind eed , tw o shots of
experienced by perception; it must give the sam e length, th at is, the sam e actual du­
priority to the en-soi [in-itself] at the ex­
ration , m ay p ro vid e a greater or lesser im ­
pense of the pour-nous [for-us] (meaning
p ressio n o f duration depending on the
the en-soi not necessarily in the Kantian
d y nam ics o f their content and their aesthetic
sense) to prevent its esse being reduced to
a percipi without letting it slip beyond the characteristics (fram ing, com position).
bounds of knowledge. For th e sa m e a c tio n (a battle, fo r in­
stan ce, such as the B attle on th e Ice in Al­
I w ish m e re ly to p o in t o u t th a t as far as exander Nevsky), a lo n g sh ot con tains m ore
I can see, th e esse o f an object can n o t be m o v em en t th a n a close shot. Yet th is m ove­
confined to a percipi. Its sole raison d 'etre is m e n t m ay b e m ore intensely com m uni­
a correlation b e tw e e n a p h en om en o n cated th rou g h a m ed iu m shot. C onse­
w h ich transcends it and a percipi w h ich quently, th o u g h a long sh o t m ig h t b e the
turns it into an object. H ow ever, w e w ill sam e length, it w ill give th e im p ression of
com e b a ck to th is problem . bein g lon g er because it is less intense.
L et us tu rn ou r atten tion to actu al editing H ow ever, if, b y reason o f th e n u m ber of
teth n iq u e and b eg in w ith a m o st im p ortant varied m o vem en ts it contains, it dem ands
point. Because film rh y th m is experienced a greater d egree o f attention and therefore
p rim arily b y virtue o f th e effect o f editing, a lon ger p ercep tion tim e, then it w ill ap­
it is easy to conclu de th a t it is its natu ral pear shorter.
consequence, w h ich is ju stified in a certain Sin ce th e im p ortan t factor in rh y th m is
sense b u t com p letely m istak en if b y th is w e n o t actual d u ratio n itself bu t th e impression
m ean creation in its entirety. T h is m isinter­ o f duration, it is th is q u a lity and it a lo n e, not
pretation gave rise to a n u m ber o f film s b e­ a p red eterm ined m etric length , w hich
tw een 1922 and 1926 w h ich claim ed to be serves as a referent. G en era lly sp eaking
rhythm ic because th e y presen ted an action (bu t w ith o u t lay in g d ow n h ard and fast
b ro k e n d ow n into an in fin ite n u m b e r o f silly ru les b ecau se o f th e in fin ite n u m b e r o f v ari­
little b its - c o n f u s in g rh y th m w ith speed ables involved ), w e m ay sa y th at fo r a given
and assu m in g rhyth m to b e a sim p le m a tter length o f film, a d ynam ic lon g sh ot appears
o f m etrics. shorter th a n a d ynam ic close shot; b u t a
In fact, ed iting (besid es the fa c t th a t it d y n am ic clo se s h o t a p p e a rs sh orter th an a
allow s th e film to b e stru ctu red ) g ives the sta tic lo n g sh o t w h ic h also appears sh orter
film m aker th e op p ortu n ity to d efin e the than a static clo se shot. In oth er w ords, the
proportions in term s o f tim e of sh ots and m ore d y n am ic th e con ten t and the w id er
sequences, i.e., their relativ e len g th s. But th e fra m in g , the sh o rter th e sh o t appears;
rhythm is n o t m ad e up o f sim p le relation­ th e m o re static th e co n ten t and narrow er
ships o f d uration. A film is n o t r h y ^ m ic the fram ing, th e lo n g er the sh o t appears.
becau se som eon e has decided arb itrarily to If w e w ish e d to create the im pression of
edit a series o f sh ots accordin g to a prede­ equ ivalent d u ration w ith these shots, w e
term ined m etric pattern. R h y th m h a s m ore w ould h av e to g iv e, fo r instan ce, tw enty
to d o w ith relationships o f intensity—b u t re­ seco n d s to the dynam ic long shot, fourteen
lationships o f in ten sity contained within re­ to the d y n am ic close sh ot, ten to the static
lationships o f duration. lon g sh ot, and six to th e static close shot.
T h e intensity o f a s h o t d ep end s o n the W e w ould n o t o f cou rse b e creating equ al
am ount o f m o vem en t (p h y sical, d ram atic, d u ratio n s b u t rath er d u ratio n s proportional
126 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

to the interest and signification of the con­ sequence flowing sufficiently fast appears
tent. It is this interest and it alone which to possess an added intensity; a single in­
can and must determine the shot relation­ tense sound, when it becomes part of a
ships, calculated in terms o f the impression o f series of weaker sound impressions, al­
ways tends to present the appearance of
duration which they produce and not by virtue
a time change: generally speaking the time
o f their metric length.
which follows it appears to be extended.
Since we cannot be absolutely sureof the A period of time filled w ith a sufficient
impression we are likely to obtain (because number of simple sound impressions ap­
of the many constantly variable factors in­ pears much longer than an equally long
volved) it is only a posteriori, i.e., at the "void" when it comes firs t-a n d less
editing stage with the image on the movi­ when it comes after. If the impression
ola, that we can judge it at all accurately, with which it is filled naturally attracts
from which we might deduce that it is in our attention, it seems shorter. (Aesthetik
fact at the editing stage that the rhythm of des Rhythmus)
the film is laid down (even though, strictly
speaking, it is not creation but adjustment). Of course, the cinema is in no way con­
in other words, film rhythm is never an ab­ cerned with measure. Shot changes are not
stract structure controlled by formal laws regulated by isochronous beats, though
or principles applicable to all kinds of film unity of time is ensured by the constant
but, on the contrary, a structure rigorously speed of the projector, a rate of twenty-four
determined by the content. It is solely frames per second. It is a uniform cadence
through the action, through its epic, dramatic, which governs the continuity of the move­
or psychological movement, that its supporting ment at the same time as the rhythmic
rhythm may be perceived as rhythm. Other­ unity of the film. Clearly this is mechanical
wise it is unjustifiable, ineffectual form sp eed -lik e musical m easure-but a tempo
without content. guaranteed by the individual film within
From which proceeds a whole series of this fixed structure. Thus the term meter in
relationships which signify less by being the cinema might refer to that quantity
proportional than are proportional by virtue translated into metric units: one second =
of an internal signification. Relationships of twenty-four frames = thirty-six inches (in
time reinforce relationships of meaning or 35 millimeter). And yet, as we know, this
value but they never determine them. And speed has existed only since the advent
this is where film rhythm differs essentially of the talkie. in the days of the silent cin­
from musical rhythm where duration and ema, it w as sixteen frames per second. It
relationships of duration are self-signifying became extended to twenty-four frames
contents - their one and only referent being per second solely for reasons of sound re­
the sound fabric which produces them. For cording, to make sure there was sufficient
the rest, there are many analogies to be con­ film to take high-frequency sounds with­
sidered, such as the following observation out there being superimposition or satura­
by Meumann: tion, so that a silent film projected in
cinemas equipped with sound projectors is
A sufficiently large number of sound completely distorted. There is distortion in
impressions seems to flow much faster the rhythm and the movement, as though
than two or three sounds of the same in­ a 45 rpm disk were to be played at 33 rpm,
tensity and quality; following each other or vice versa. Thus silent films should be
with an objectively equal speed: a sound projected at their normal speed. All that is
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 127

need ed is to ch an g e th e g ea rin g o f the p ro ­ space, it is m o st certain ly ju xtaposition in

je c to r s -s o m e th in g m a n y cin em a m a n a g ­ t i m e - w e m ig h t say, sim ilarly, th a t the
ers are loath e to do. tw e lv e c h im e s o f a clock are ju xtap osed ,
since th ey are n o t superim posed . If this
Forms and Theories o f Editing w ere so, w e w ould n o t b e able to tell them
apart.
E d itin g consists, as w e h a v e seen, in as­ W e h a v e a lrea d y stressed th is p o in t:
sem bling various scen es end to end , cu tting m o n tag e (w h ich is th e b asis fo r film lan­
them w h ere necessary an d g iving to each guage) is noth in g m o re than another fo rm
its appropriate tim e sequ ence. T his pu rely o f lan g u ag e m o rp h o lo g y w h ere subject,
technical stage in th e film m ak in g process verb, and co m p lem en t hav e m ean in g o n ly
is o f the u tm ost im p ortan ce. T h e w h ole b y virtu e o f th eir interrelationship. Verbal
rhythm and b alance o f the film d ep end on exp ressio n is m erely the "e d itin g o f w o rd s"
the e d ito r's d o in g h is jo b properly.16 A nd (and th e re are m o re or less able w o rd edi­
y et it is noth in g m ore th an fin ick y and diffi­ tors: com p are, fo r in stan ce, C orneille and
cu lt h a ck w o r k - a jo b p o ten tially creative C am p istron). W ith th is v e ry im p ortan t dis­
b u t never really creative (except in very tinction: w ord s are clo sely co n n ecte d w ith
rare cases), since it is n o t at th e editing sp eech ; th e y hav e to b e uttered. Im ages, on
ben ch th at the film is m ad e. the oth er h and , hav e to be created. A lso,
W h at then is the sou rce o f the n otio n that w ord s relate o n ly to concep ts, w hereas im ­
editing p lay s a d eterm in ativ e role in film ages relate to con crete facts, w h ich explains
language? Q uite s i m p l y - a s is alw ays the th eir d irect em otion al p o w er and their
c a s e - a verb al m isu n d erstan d in g . I f an y p ro blem s in existing.
editing tech n iqu e m a y b e con sid ered cre­ T h o u g h to a certain e x te n t editing can
ative, it is m o n tag e (as u sed b y th e R u ssian b e said to b e th e a rt o f exp ressio n and sig n i­
Form alist sch oo l), i.e., w h a t is p rod u ced b y fication th ro u g h th e association o f shots,
th e association, a rb itra ry or o th erw ise , o f such th a t this associatio n stim u lates an idea
tw o im ag es A and B w h ic h , b y th e ir ju x ta ­ or feelin g , it cou ld n ev er b e said th a t all
p o sitio n , d eterm ine in th e m in d o f th e a u ­ s h o t chang es and im a g e associatio ns pro­
d ien ce an id ea, a n em otion , a feeling n o t duce th e sam e effect. A s B arthes w as so
contained in eith er in d e p e n d en tly o f the careful to point ou t, "o n e can im agine
other. Yet, th o u g h th e resu lts are n o t n eces­ purely ep ic seq u ences w ith o u t signification
sarily th e sam e, th e e ffe c t m a y b e achiev ed b u t n o t purely sig n ify in g seq u en ces."
through the m o v em en t o f a track in g sh ot or M oreover, e d itin g first and foremost guar­
e v en th ro u g h the p o sition in g in the same antees th e con tin u ity o f the film . B y organ­
frame o f tw o interrelated action s tak in g izing the su ccessio n o f shots, it provides
place at th e sam e tim e. In each case, th e tech ­ each seq u en ce w ith a m ean in g it w ou ld n ot
niqu e sim ply relates tw o im ages A and B ­ hav e w ere it organized differently. H ow ­
or, m ore precisely, ju xta p o ses th e facts, ever, this is d ram atic or p sy ch olog ical
objects, or events contained in A and B. m ean in g grafted onto th e linear d ev elop ­
C ertain p u rists o f film lan g u ag e w ill m e n t o f th e n arrativ e and n o t sy m b olic or
argu e that w ith th e excep tion o f th e last allu sive m ean in g - w h i c h , a lth ou g h it o c­
exam p le, it is n o t juxtaposition a t all (since cu rs quite fr e q u e n tly is n ev erth eless e n ­
th e im ag es fo llo w one an other in sequ ence) tire ly accidental.
b u t superimposition. In m y v iew th e y are B e that as it may, E isenstein and P udov-
m istak en . T h o u g h n ot ju x ta p o sitio n in k in (sh o w in g the w ay to alm ost all th e So­
128 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

v ie t film m akers) attem pted , as th e silent o f th e action) w ith the p u rp ose o f d eterm in­
cinem a b eg an to d ecline, to t^ r c this sy m ­ in g an idea and , subsequently, a series o f
b olic expression in to the absolute form o f id eas in th e m ind o f the a u d ie n c e -w h ic h
film langu age. T h e lo g ical d ev elop m en t o f ultim ately allow th e film to b e brou ght to
th e actio n w as, m ore often th a n n o t, m erely its em otional or d ialectical conclusion.
a linkage, a them atic basis o n w h ich to U n lik e h o rizo n tal m ontage, here the
build m o n tag e effects. E ven so, th e y b o th sy m b ol is not an im age within the contin u­
p u t m o n tag e to q u ite different uses. ity w hose p u rp o se is to illu m inate or alter
If, fo r in stan ce, I say, "L e jo u r n 'e s t pas the m ean in g o f th e action; it is quite sim ply
plu s p u r que le fo n d de m o n co e u r" ["T h e the aftereffect o f the shock em otion, crys­
d ayligh t is no p u re r th an the d ep th s o f m y tallized on to th e "im ag e-co n ten t" and be­
h e a rt," from R acin e's Phedre], it is obviou s co m in g tem porarily a sy m b ol o f the idea
that I am exp ressin g an idea, a fe e lin g p re­ stim ulated. T h e ch osen im ag e is not
sen ted an d signified o n ly b y the p h rase as charged w ith m ean in g th rou g h an associa­
a w h ole, b y th e in terrelation sh ip o f the tion w ith the texture o f the d ram a; it stand s
w ords, their m u tu al association w ith in th e in a n tith esis to it, cau sin g a collision from
organization o f a narrativ e an d com parative w h ich an idea o rig in ates, the resu lt o f the
verbal d e v e lo p m e n t-a d ev elop m en t com ­ lo g ical associatio n o f oth erw ise unrelated
parab le w ith "h o riz o n ta l m o n ta g e ." T h e facts. W e can see rig h t aw ay th at instead of
term o f com p ariso n e n rich in g th e phrase being involved in th e actual narrativ e and
m ig h t be com p ared w ith th e v isu al sym bol b eco m in g su bord inate to the continuity, it
produced b y th e ju xtap ositio n o f im ages. uses th em fo r its o w n end. In d eed , w ithout
H ere m etap hor b eco m es added to d escrip ­ being exactly su b ord inate to the sym bol,
tio n , incorporated w ith in its lin ear d ev elo p ­ narrative an d continu ity m erely serve as a
m ent, su b lim atin g it b y p ro v id in g it w ith a fram ew o rk w ithin w h ich it can operate.
specific m eaning . It is in w a y th at T he dialectic does n o t exist in th e p sy ch o­
P u d ov kin uses the im age-sym bol. H e intro­ logical or dram atic d ev elop m en t o f th e ac­
duces it into the lo g ical co n tin u ity o f the ac­ tion; it exists in the seq u en cin g o f th e ideas
tio n and m akes it con form to th e n arrativ e arisin g fro m th e action. In E isen stein 's
requ irem ents (though it alm ost alw ays w ord s, it is th e "p a th o f kn ow led g e traced
m ain tain s its p rim a cy in th e signification o f b y the d y n am ic cla sh o f p assio n s and ap ­
the narrative). In fact, it is this fo rm o f m o n­ p lied to th e sp ecific techniqu es o f film ."
tage w h ich h as p red om in ated and w ill al­ It is these concep ts w h ich p rovoked the
w ays p red om inate in a n y film w h ose nu m erou s th eories b ased on m ontage, held
pu rp ose is to d ev elop a d ram atic o r p sy ch o ­ to b e th e k e y to th e w h ole o f film exp ressio n
logical th em e or, m ore generally, a narrativ e (ju stifiably o r n o t accord ing to o n e 's inter­
reality w h ose m odalities requ ire progres­ pretation o f th e e f f e c t - b u t certainly unjus­
sive and continu ou s d evelopm ent. tifiably in the extrem e fo rm described
C onversely, in E isen stein 's case, th ou g h a b o v e -e x t r e m e in th e sen se th a t one
the im age-sym bol is en cou rag ed to follow w o u ld h a v e p referred E isen stein to have es­
the developm ent o f an idea from a specific tab lish ed the b ases o f a gen eral aesthetic
d escription, it d oes so in a co n tin u a l d ev ia­ sy stem instead o f categorizin g a v e ry p er­
tion ou tsid e or along sid e th e description. son al sy stem o f stylistics). H ow ever,
Editing, fo r Eisenstein, con sists in creating, th o u g h th e m ean in g o f a con tin u ity d e ­
b y ju xtaposing tw o im ages, a sh ock em o­ pen d s on th e ord ering and arran gem ent o f
tion (consistent, o f cou rse, w ith the m eaning shots, the m ean in g , signification, order o f
 RH YTHM A N D MONTAGE 129

the editing are established in the breakdow n and editing are merely complementary as­
(shooting script). Construction, action de­ pects of the same thing. The one is intention,
velopment, even rhythm are elements de­ the other application; and the one cannot be
termined at the theoretical stage of the found without the other. The only differ­
film's conception. ence lies in the fact that as well as being
Though created after the fact, editing is previous to editing and direction, the break­
the result of certain guidelines deliberately down describes character and situation de­
and intentionally chosen beforehand. If the velopment; it organizes the structure of the
director has to shoot scenes which are not narrative.
in the script (thereby changing his shooting Naturally, structures may change with
script) he always plans shots from which techniques - a s well as with current styles.
he can expect a specific signification. Thus Forms used now have little in common
it is not the editing which is important as with those used previously. As the cinema
much as the gu id elin es f o r the editin g. And becomes the expression of an increasingly
these guidelines are included under the evident psychological development, it
heading of "editing" for the reason that tends toward a greater narrative fluidity.
they really apply only at the editing stage. The more extensive use of tracking shots,
To put it more exactly, th ey are the fo r m a l depth-of-field, and a less fragmented style
structures w hose selection an d organ ization are have changed the rules of editing in a
the basis fo r the w hole film dialectic. marked way. Yet it is no less true that the
Obviously the margin of evaluation general principles still hold good and,
should be sufficiently wide to allow for any though the forms we examined initially, es­
last-minute alterations, but the "dialectic of tablished toward the end of the silent era,
editing" exists, in in ten tion , at the break­ relate in particular to sequences of static
down stage (as indeed does the direction shots, they are still valid in cases which jus­
itself). Both exist prior to their execution, in tify the use of such techniques.
the same way as the score of a symphony Among these forms there are four which
preexists any future performance of the provide the basis for all others-them -
symphony.17 Direction and editing are only selves merely the combination of basic
secondary creative acts, that is (within forms whose purity in any case was quite
more or less rigid but necessary limits), de­ unique. First there is n arrative montage,
termined by the requirements of the script. whose only purpose is to ensure the conti­
Whatever anyone might claim to the nuity of the action -w h atever the ideas ex­
contrary, there never was (nor ever could pressed or suggested by the scenes
be) a creation after the fact, except in certain described. This is the type of editing gen­
extreme cases whose exception, in fact, erally used in films which "tell a story."
goes to prove the rule. in other words, as Then there is lyrical montage, which, while
long as it responds to the intentions of the ensuring the narrative or descriptive conti­
filmmaker, good editing exists a priori. nuity, exploits the continuity in order to ex­
The long laborious disputes between the press ideas or sentiments which transcend
"theorists of editing" and the "theorists of the drama - the kind of editing used by
the breakdown," which started as a conse­ Pudovkin. Then there is montage of ideas,
quence of Eisenstein's and Pudovkin's or "constructional" montage (which Vertov
ideas and resumed recently over Orson made his own), the only form in which a
Welles's films, are (in the main) as futile as whole film can be worked out in terms of
they are laughable, since the breakdown editing, i.e., a posteriori - b u t winch can
130 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

o n ly really b e ap p lied in new sreels. A n d less in th e aesthetic pleasure o f a particu lar

la stly th ere is intellectual m o ntag e, as used m o m en t th an in th e m o m en t itself, in the
b y E isenstein - l e s s concerned w ith en su r­ d y n am ics of the flow in g n arratio n o f an ac­
ing th e con tin u ity o f th e n arrativ e than tion w h ich th e n b eco m es rhythm . T he n ar­
w ith constructing it and less w ith exp ress­ rative rh y th m and the rh y th m o f the actions
ing id eas th ro u g h th is n arrativ e th a n w ith are sw ept alon g b y th e sam e im p etu s; and
determining th e m dialectically. N eed less to th ou g h the shots m ay n o t b e particu larly
say, w e m ean ideas here in th e p sy ch olog ical fa st in th em selv es, the n arrativ e rhythm is
s e n s e -c o n c e p ts w h ic h m ay p erh ap s c o n ­ alm ost alw ay s lively, w ith n oth in g im ped­
tain ju d g m en ts in th e ev en t o f stim ulated in g its progress.
e m o tio n s b u t are n ev er op in ion s m erely In ly rical form s, it is a d ifferent situation
com m u n icated or su g g ested b y th e im ages altogether. T h o u g h m o n tag e contrib u tes to
(since th e p u rp o se o f art is n o t to fo rm alize th e d ev elop m en t o f th e narrativ e, its fo rm
th o u g h ts b u t to p rom ote an a ct o f co n ­ is analytical rath er th an descriptive. Its p u r­
sciousness and stim u late thinking). p ose is to in fo rm b u t also and m ore esp e­
W e intend to com e b ack to narrative m on­ cially to su b lim ate an d m agnify. T h e m ost
tage, since this kind o f ed itin g is em p loyed sig n ifican t scen es are b rok en d ow n in to a
in alm ost all film s. H o w ev er v alid as sign s serie s of extrem e clo seu p s, in su ch a w ay
th e im ages in th is ty p e o f m o n tag e, as a te ch ­ th a t th e ed itin g ca n p resen t th e scen es from
niqu e it can b e said to be in v isib le fo r the every angle. H ow ever, it is n ot so m u ch a
reason th at it n ev er violates th e logic o f the kaleid o scop ic analy sis w ith n oth in g to add
concrete. A s A ndre B azin ob serves, "th e to ou r u n d erstan d in g o f the d ra m a as a par­
w h ole aim o f sh ot frag m en tatio n is to an a­ ticu lar m eth o d o f film ing th e objects, turn­
lyze th e scen e acco rd in g to its m a teria l or in g around th em in ord er n ot to lose an y of
d ram atic logic. It is log ic w h ich m akes this the in form ation w h ich th ey m ig h t p oten­
analysis im percep tible: th e a u d ien ce's m ind tially reveal, in th e service o f a develop­
quite naturally accepts the view points show n m e n t w h ich follow s th eir m o vem en ts in all
by the d irecto r becau se the geog rap h y of the th e ir p h a se s and p resen ts all th eir aspects
action o r the m o v em en ts o f th e d ram atic in- alm ost sim ultaneously. T h e selected fea­
terestju stify th e m " (Qu'est-ce que le cinema?). tu res, assem b led into a com p lete unity, con ­
In this kin d o f m o n tag e, w e m ig h t say stitute a g en u in e exploration in w h ich there
th a t" a p ercep tio n w h ich p ro vid es su fficient is less concern fo r specifying the quality as
evidence o f the p resen ce o f the ob ject fulfills a sign a p a rticu la r object m ig h t assum e than
its fu n ctio n ." W h eth er it is ellip tical, allu­ fo r su b lim atin g its actu al signifying power.
sive, suggestive, o r d escrip tive does n ot A s w e hav e in d icated elsew h ere, the
alter th e fact that its sole p u rp o se as a form closeu p provid es a tactile, sen su ou s im pres­
is to inform . It attracts ou r atten tion in ord er sio n o f objects. H ow ever, in isolating them ,
to fo cu s it m ore precisely o n to facts in w h ich to som e extent it tu rns th em into sym bols:
each ob ject in volved is a "co m p lete ob ject" th e ob ject b eco m es th e liv in g representation
in its need to b e th ere, even th o u g h it m ig h t o f th e con cep t w h ich it evokes, a n analogon
reveal a sin gle fleetin g asp ect fad in g aw ay in its pu re state. T h e closeu p m ay b e said to
as it fulfills its pu rpose. In p o in t o f fact, the b e m ore abstract a t th e intellectual level the
objects are there solely in order to contrib u te m ore its content is p erceiv ed by the senses.
to the progress o f th e action. T h ey becom e N o th in g is m ore concrete th a n w h at it
sym bols only so th a t th e action ca n becom e shows, b u t n o th in g is m ore abstract than
m ore easily un d erstood . Sig n ification exists w hat it implies.
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 131

If it is true that we are conscious of the - C l o s e shot (another angle): the old
object only through its relationship with the man's boots. He climbs onto tiptoe.
external world and if the object is relative to — C loseup: the man's face reaches to­
our perception of it, the object may be said ward the clock face. He stretches out
to be fundamentally subjective. Now, the his hands and prepares to unhook the
object in closeup is filmed relative to its own weights.
component parts and to the frame limiting — C loseup: with a cry the mother
the field of view. Required only to structure rushes out of the field of view.
a series of relationships within the same ob­ — E xtrem e closeu p: the old man's
jective unity, perception becomes more im­ hands try to unhook the weights.
portant than intellection. The object (which — M idshot: the mother moves toward
becomes to some extent "interiorized") is her husband and tries to stop by pull­
experien ced and fe lt ; there is no requirement ing at his coattail.
for it to be understood. Intellection belongs — C lose sh ot (tilted slightly upward):
only to the concept which it represents. the mother, pulling with all her
Moreover, emphasis on a particular de­ strength at the old man's coattail. The
tail is always the consequence of a personal old man responds by kicking her.
vision. The filmmaker translates his emo­ —E xtrem e closeu p (another angle): the
tion by communicating it through a "magic hands clenched on the coattail pull
formula" - a sort of greater awareness of the him in all directions at once and make
world and its objects. In such a way that, as him lose his balance.
the audience experiences the object, it also — C lose shot: the man's hand manages
experiences at an intimate level the vision to unhook one of the weights. At the
ofthe filmmaker. Subjective identification is same time, his torso is swaying.
more complete than in all other film forms. — C lose shot (slight downward tilt):
When Pudovkin shows us in M oth er the the old man's legs on the chair. The
half-sozzled husband returning home, re­ chair slides out from under ^ m .
solved to pawn the clock for a glass of —C loseu p : he holds onto one of the
vodka, the scene breaks down as follows: clock weights with one of his hands
while his head disappears from shot.
—in the first place a d escriptive se m i- — C lose shot (tilt downward): the old
establishin g shot shows the location of man, having fallen, is stretched out
the action: we see the father stagger­ on the floor (we have not seen him
ing up to the clock while the mother, fa ll-th e cut between shots has re­
following him with her eyes, shows moved the time it has taken to fall.
that she understands what he intends We see, by his side, a chair and the bro­
to do. Then we have: ken clock, its face and its weights.
- M id s h o t : the father standing in — E xtrem e closeu p (from floor level):
front of the clock, looking at it. part of the clockwork rolls across the
—M idshot: the mother looking anx­ floor spinning to a stop.
iously at her husband.
- C l o s e shot (tilted steeply down): the Needless to say, all these shots are cut on
old man's hand picks up a chair and action. Their sequence reconstitutes the
carries it over to the clock. He climbs whole event in a continuous development.
up onto the chair (we only see his However, from the point of view of infor­
boots). mation alone, this action breakdown is en­
 132 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

tirely ineffective; it te//s us n o th in g m ore. To thing, we always begin with an overall

describe an action as sh o rt as th is, a single look and then, through the most intensive
shot w ould hav e b ee n sufficient, tw o or examination, increase our understanding
three at th e ou tsid e - i n order to sep arate
with an increasing number of details. The
particular, the detail, always brings added
ob ject and su b ject, cau se and effect. T h u s it
intensity. And this is what determines the
is clear th at the in ten tio n w a s n o t so m u ch
form of a film, its peculiar ability to pre­
to an alyze th e scen e as to tran sp ose it, to sent a particularly vivid representation,
presen t an "id e a l" tran slation , to in voke it correct in every detail. The power of film
th ro u g h a reconstru ction o f its m o st signifi­ representation is allied to the fact that,
cant features. with the camera, it attempts to delve as
T his is n o t at a ll the langu age o f a n ov elist deeply as it can into the heart of each
aim in g at m axim u m econ om y and rem o v ­ image. The camera r^^rnages, as far as it
in g any red u n d an cy fro m th e exp ressio n of can, into the innermost recesses of life; it
h is content. O n the contrary, the creator is attempts to penetrate where the average
lin gerin g o v er e a ch p h a se in tu m , glorifyin g observer casually looking about him
never goes. The camera goes further; it
and extolling it in su ch a w a y th a t despite
seizes and ete^lizes on celluloid every­
the nu m erou s sh ot chan g es an d therefore an
thing it sees. When we linger over a real
obviou s cad en ce, the rh y th m is extrem ely image in life, we have to make an effort
slow. T h e cam era m o ves lovingly around and spend some time, moving from the
the ob jects, exploiting th em to the fu ll b u t general to the particular, concentrating
n ev er g oin g an y further. T h e action is in ci­ more and more until we begin to notice
dental. It is an art rely in g o n the m o st in ­ and appreciate the details. Film saves us
significant even t to create a "th e m e ." In ­ this effort through editing. The film audi­
stead o f b ein g fo llow ed in its lin ear ence is the ideal observer. And it is the
d ev elo p m en t, th e d ram a m erely strin g s to ­ filmmaker who enables this to happen. In
g eth er th e special acts or m om en ts. T h e dra­ the revelation of a hidden detail, there is
an element of perception, the creative el­
m atic con stru ction is lack ing , y et th e film is
ement which turns man's work into art,
n o t constructed lik e a nov el: it is a series o f
the only element capable of giving the
"p a e a n s " accu m u latin g on e on top o f the
spectacle its ultimate value.
other - in the sam e w a y a s in a n epic poem . Showing an object as everyone sees it
W h a t is m ore, P u d ov k in q u ite clea rly re­ achieves nothing. We should not look for
veals to us his in ten tio n s in h is b o o k Film subjects taken in with a general and
Technique: superficial glance but something which
gradually reveals itself to those more in­
Filming may be no more than the fix­ quisitive and attentive who see things in
ing of an event occurring in front of the greater depth. This is why the greatest art­
lens; it may also be a specific representa­ ists, technicians who have the deepest
tional form of that event. There is quite a feeling for the film medium, give depth
considerable difference between the event through detail to their films.
itself and its appearance on the screen. It
is precisely this difference which makes cin­
C ertain critics (n o tab ly th e editorial staff
ema an art. Guided by the director, the
camera sets out to eliminate what is o f Cahiers du Cinema) h av e tak en a stand
superfluous and direct the attention of the against this intensive fragm entation, con ­
audience in such a way that it will see d em n in g it in principle and by definition -
what is important and characteristic . . . . w h ic h is q u ite ab su rd . In fact, it is up to
When we wish to understand some­ th e film m ak er to k n ow w h a t h e w an ts to
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 133

do a n d u p to th e critic to d is c o v e r th e rea­ it is som ew h at d ifferen t w h e n it com es to

sons why. It is certain th a t in film s w h ich n ew sreels, sin ce th e creative process itself
exploit a dram atic o r p sy ch o lo g ica l narra­ is reversed. In stead o f b eg in n in g w ith an
tive, frag m entatio n o f this k ind is totally idea an d assem bling the necessary m ateri­
ou t o f place. In th ese con d ition s - b u t on ly als to exp ress it, th e new sreel ed ito r starts
in th e se co n d itio n s—th e sarcasm s o f ou r w ith a m ass o f m aterial fro m w h ich h e
critic frie n d s are ju stified . H ow ever, the m akes certain selectio ns, w ith only a very
con d em n ation o f a fo rm inappropriate to a vague intention a t th e back o f his m ind.
p articu lar gen re sh o u ld n o t in v olv e the T h en , w ith this ra w m aterial a n d through
w h olesale co n d em n ation o f th e fo rm itself. the p o ssib ilities it su g g ests, certain ideas re­
T h is sty le is ap p ro p ria te o n ly to a lim ited latin g to this in ten tio n can b e expressed,
n u m b e r o f film s, p oetic film s b ein g b y defi­ som eth in g lik e a p o et w h o, instead o f cre­
nitio n far less freq u en t th a n stra ig h t n a rra ­ atin g his rhym es and v erse w ith a view to
tiv e film s, b u t n o o n e w o u ld th in k o f con ­ a pred eterm ined them e, expresses his ideas
d em ning Claudel o r P eg u y on th e basis o r em otions th rou g h th e rhym es w h ich pop
that it is w ron g to w rite as th ey do. in to his head . A s w e know , th is is a frequent
A p art fro m ed itin g tech niqu es w h ich occu rren ce in poetry. U nfortunately, im ­
p rodu ce rath er d ifferen t effects, w e m ight ages cannot b e used in th e sam e w ay as
inclu d e in th ese ly rical stru ctures th e film s w ord s, for w h ile w o rd s com e v e ry readily
o f Eisenstein and Flaherty. T h e succession to m in d , im ag es c a n n o t—un less th ey are so
o f sep arate "th e m e s " in M an of Aran, fo r w illed . F or this reason, th e m argin o f p o­
in stan ce (th e b ro k e n b oat, th e sh ark hu nt, ten tial crea tio n is n o t as great.
the storm ) and in Louisiana Story, (th e lan d ­ T o su m up, u sin g d ocu m en ts tak en from
scap e, th e crocod ile, th e oil derrick) form s n ew s fo otag e, th e ed ito r ju xtap oses facts
the actual stu ff o f th e film. A n d if The Bat­ w h ich are clearly au th en tic b u t hav e no
tleship Potemkin seem s to b e m a d e up o f a sig n ification oth er th a n th a t w h ich th ey
series o f su ccessiv e p a e a n s, it is b eca u se its verify. A n idea is th u s e x p r e s s e d - b u t one
action is d isp ersed o v er tim e and space. In w h ich ob v iou sly d oes not exist except
a n y case, th e con tin u ity in b o th o f them is th ro u g h this relationship.
n o t directed ju st b y a dram atic action bu t S u p p ose I w ish to m a k e a film w h ich has
also b y th e d ram atization o f a seq u en ce of as its them e th e 19 3 9 -4 5 war. From the new s
significant m om en ts. fo o ta g e available, I sele ct an im age o f H itler
D ziga-V ertov's precious m o n tag e of p o stu rin g in fro n t o f an eag er rally so m e­
ideas op erates in a com pletely d ifferent w h ere in N u rem b erg in 1936. T h e n I ch oo se
fashion. W e m en tion ed that in the b eg in ­ a n o th er im ag e o f B erlin in flam es and the
n in g Vertov set h im self th e ta sk o f capturing allied arm ies m arch in g into th e capital in
reality in the raw, u sin g h is art ab ove all to 1945. T h e m ere ju xtaposition o f these tw o
order selected d ocu m en ts and assem ble real facts will im m ed iately prom ote n ot the
th e m in su ch a w ay th a t a n ew idea sh ou ld sim p listic idea o f cau se and effect but the
sp rin g u p fro m sev eral objective and inde­ feelin g of a trag ic relationsh ip and cau sal
pendently in terrelated facts. A s fa r as its seq u en ce. B y con tinu in g to u se th is editing
general p rin cip les go, this ty p e o f m o n tag e tech n iqu e w ith im ages n o t directly related
is identical w ith E isen stein 's; it is d ifferent, b u t linked n on eth eless in so m e logical as­
how ever, in its aim s an d ap p lications. sociation o r other, I w ill b e sig n ify in g ideas
T h o u gh it is im p ossible to con stru ct a w ith im ag es w h ic h I m y self h a v e n o t cre ­
film a p osteriori (w ith obviou s excep tions), ated b u t th ro u g h w h ic h I can exp ress m y
134 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

intentions (w ith in th e lim itations o f the m atio n devoid o f an y em otional qualities

e d ito r's skills). T hough th e y retain a value other th an its content. M oreover, new sreels
o f th eir o w n , real facts ca n b e consid ered in are in larg e p a rt film ed in lo n g shot; and
this respect on ly as p rim ary m aterial fo r a w e k n o w th a t th e special attributes o f the
d ialectic supp orted en tirely b y a con stan tly w id e angle are quite d ifferent from those of
distorted authenticity. the closeu p. In d eed , b eca u se it has n othin g
O bv io u sly w e are n ot in clu d in g in this in it oth er than lo g ical inform ation, the
category n ew sreel e d itin g w hose sole p u r­ w ide angle tu rns us into pu re observers of
p ose is to reco n stru ct the atm o sp h ere o f a the objects it pu ts in front o f ou r eyes and
p articu lar p erio d , con sid erin g th e facts d istan ces u s fro m the dram a it presen ts, b y
com pletely objectively, i.e., rely in g on the in terp osin g an actual d istance b etw een us
purely d ocu m en tary v a lu e o f th e scenes an d it. W e p articip ate on a p u re ly intellec­
film ed and n o t using th em to "co n stru ct" tu al lev el. W e are m o v ed b y the action and
ideas. E xam p les o f this type o f film w ould b y the resu ltin g facts, ideas o r feelings and
b e Nuit et brouillard (Night andFog) and Ceux h a rd ly a t all b y th e objects as "o b jects," n or
du guetto (Down in the Guetto). Y et film s like b y the w a y th e y are presen ted (unless the
th e fam ou s Why W e Are Fighting series p lastic q u alities o f the im age provoke an
(1943-44) are in direct lin e w ith D ziga- ap p rop riate e m o tio n - c le a r ly n o t the case
V ertov's principles. in th is instance).
T h e inev itab le con seq u en ce o f these In the lo n g sh ot, the in d iv id u al com po­
p rin cip les is to create an "id e a l" sp ace and n e n t parts are eclip sed b y th e vast n u m ber
tim e. T h e N u rem berg 1 9 3 6 -B e rlin 1945 re­ o f in terrelationship s b etw een them . A nd
lationship u n ites com p letely sep arate there are so m an y o f th ese that for each
spaces and tim es. H ow ever, the art lies in point o f each "o b je c t," all th e relationships
m ak in g the d ife re n c e in tim e and space so of th a t p o in t w ith all th e p o in ts of each of
im percep tible th a t the impression is created, th e d ifferen t parts o f the w h ole m u st be
b y cu ttin g fro m o n e im ag e to the n ext, of con sid ered ; it is th is issu e w h ich , in ou r
m o vin g from one place to an oth er w ith in a v iew , g estalt p sy ch o lo g y h a s n o t suffi­
short sp ace o f tim e. It look s as though the ciently e x a m in e d -a n d w h ich m eans that
A llied a rm ie s are m arch in g in to B erlin im ­ the relatio n sh ip s betw een objects are defi­
m ed iately after and as a d irect re su lt of n ite ly m ore im p ortan t th an the objects
H itle r's p o stu ring s. T h e effect is still crude, them selves. A w h ole is n e cessa rily superior
b u t the fe e lin g created is o f a h om og eneou s to th e su m o f its parts; and it is obviou s
and co n tin u ou s space an d tim e. In other th a t id en tical elem en ts m a y hav e as m any
w ord s, through th e p o w er of ed iting , w efor- d ifferen t sig n ification s as w ays o f being or­
get the historical and g eog rap h ical situation g an ized , sin ce the associations are differen­
o f the actual facte and con cen trate en tirely tiated in each different in stan ce.18
on a signification b oth arb itrary and log ical T hu s in the w id e-an g le shot, since rela­
im p osed b y th e d irect association o f th e ac­ tion sh ip s o f m o vem en t tak e precedence,
tual facts. p ercep tion is directed tow ard comprehension
O f all th e fo rm s o f editing, th is is fa r and ra th er than co n scio u sn ess released fro m in­
aw ay th e m o st abstract. N ot o n ly is it c o n ­ tellectio n ; w ith the effect th at though in the
cern ed solely w ith p u ttin g to g eth e r id eas closeu p , co m p reh en sion m ust first o f all p ass
or em otions produ ced intellectu ally, b u t b e ­ th rough em otion, h ere e m o tio n is th e result
cau se its referen ces are actu al n e w s events, o f com prehen sion . T h e intellectu al ideas
it can only op erate in resp ect of pure in for­ tak e priority. In the case o f closeu p s, w here
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 135

each brin g s its ow n p ercep tible quality, ou r valu es w ill b e transform ed , altered , in­
u n d erstan d in g d oes n o t d ep end on th e o b ­ v e rte d b y the d ifferen tiated qualities.
jects perceived b u t on th eir successive re la ­ T h ese q u estio n s are of th e u tm ost im ­
tionship s; they are alw ay s d ifferen t form s p o rtan ce w ith reg ard to th e com p ositio n of
set in op p osition and ju x ta p o sitio n accord ­ the sh ot and th e org anization o f its relatio n ­
in g to a su itab le rhythm ; th e in tellectu al ship s to a p reestablish ed effect. W e h ave no
p rocess is one of analysis. In the w id e-an g le n eed to m en tion that m ost film m akers are
sh ot, the in tellectu al p ro cess is one o f syncre­ com p letely u n aw are o f them , though one
tism. T h e sh ot h as d u ratio n o n ly to allow the or tw o ap p ly th e p rin cip les quite intu­
audience tim e to study it m ore closely, as itively. A t the sam e tim e, it is ou r view th at
w ell as an y tran sform atio n s ca u se d b y the th is k in d o f k n ow led g e w o u ld g reatly in­
m ovem ent. T h e rh y th m is as m uch p a rt of crease th e tech n ical resources at film ­
the con ten t (acting an d direction) as the ed ­ m akers' d isp o sal and save th em from
iting, w h ere a s in th e case o f closeu p s, it is a com m ittin g m istakes. G en iu s is n o t usually
fu nction o f th e e d itin g alone. fo u n d a m o n g sleepw alkers; quite the oppo­
O b v io u sly th e above ap p lies o n ly in the site: in th e greatest artists (the R am eaus, the
case of static shots. Later on w e shall see L eonard o d a V incis, the E isensteins) the
th at in m o v in g sh ots a n d shots u sin g p ractice o f art is insep arable fro m theory
d ep th-of-field , th e sen so ry qualities o f the a n d aesth etic research.
clo seu p a n d th e in tellectu al q u a litie s o f the L et us n ow con sid er "in tellectu a l m on­
lon g shot can easily be co m b in ed —al­ ta g e ," w hich is rela ted to th e princip les of
though to different ends. D ziga-V ertov in the sen se th at it is also con­
T o sum up: w h ere a s th e closeu p is m ore cerned w ith exp ressin g and sig nify ing
con crete in p ercep tion an d m o re ab stra ct in th rou g h im ag e relationsh ips rath er than
in tellection , th e w id e a n g le is em in en tly th rough a purely cu m ulative continuity. It
concrete at the lev el o f logical u n d erstan d ­ is d ifferent, how ever, in that, thou g h th e y
ing, p articu larly sin ce it en com p asses a are part o f an actu al reality, facts related in
m ore h om og eneou s sectio n o f tim e an d this w ay are alw ay s seen subjectively. T hey
space, a m o re "o b je c tiv e " reality. W h ich are recon stitu ted a n d d ev elop ed in epic
m eans th at in th e fra m in g there is n o t a term s.
d ifference o f scale b etw een th e lo n g sh ot N ow th a t th is essential difference has
a n d the closeu p (as is g en erally believed ) b een established o n ce an d fo r all, w e should
a n y m ore than a w id er o r n a rro w er field of point ou t th a t E isen stein d id n o t form ulate
view. Since each creates its ow n appropri­ one th eo ry o f m ontage bu t several, w hose
ate form u sin g th e represented con ten t, each different ap p licatio n s often produced con­
acts d ifferen tly o n ou r percep tion s an d th u s trad ictory results. In this light, w e m ight di­
on ou r consciou sn ess, em otion s, a n d u n ­ vide h is th eories in to categories according
derstanding. A subject sh o t first in a style to th eir m o st sig n ifican t aspects: montage o f
m ainly m ad e up o f lo n g sh ots a n d th en in attraction, ab so lu te or cinedialectic montage,
a sty le m ad e up p rin c ip a lly o f clo se shots an d th e m o st u su a l E isen steinian form
w ill produce tw o com pletely d ifferen t film s w h ich I shall call reflex montage (for w an t of
—alth o u g h th e y m ig h t b o th follow the a b etter term ).
sam e d ram atic p lo t a n d the sam e ed iting W h a t th en is "m o n ta g e o f attractio n ,"
sequ ence. T h e sto ry w ill b e th e sam e, bu t w h ich , th o u g h it m ay b e m erely an accid en­
the im p ressions, em otion s, id eas, a n d fe e l­ tal m u tan t o f E isensteinian m ontage, m ig h t
in g s exp ressed w ill b e u tterly different. T h e give us the k ey to E isen stein 's theories? To
136 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

find o u tw e m u s t exam ine E isen stein 's w o rk n izatio n . H ow ever, d u rin g th e b ou t, a

in th e theater and sa y a fe w w ord s about y o u n g fellow a ctu a lly b ea ts th e cham p ion
Jap an ese theater, w h ose fo rm s w ere to lead an d w in s the v ic to r's purse.
h im to d iscover th e p o ssibilities o f m ontage O u t o f this little s h o rt story, B o ris A rb a­
lon g b efo re h e ev er d iscovered an a p p lica­ tov w a s ab le to m ak e a p iece o f propa­
tio n fo r th e m in film . A s h e p o in ts ou t, gand a. Sm ish lay ev u n d erto o k to direct,
and E isen stein w a s ch osen to d esign the
In Kabuki, the Japanese are showing sets an d costu m es. H ow ever, d u rin g re­
us an extremely interesting type of en­ h earsals, rem em b ering w h a t h e h ad read of
semble - t h e monistic ensemble. Sound, K ab u k i theater, h e conceived the idea o f an
movement, space, and voice do not accom­ "a c tiv e " p ro d u ction d ep arting com pletely
pany the Japanese actors and do not even
fro m tradition. T h e center o f interest, the
parallel each other but are treated as ele­
pivot o f the d ram a, w as th e b o xin g m atch.
ments o f equal significance. One cannot
N orm ally, scen es o f th is kind take place "in
speak of accompaniment w ith regard to
Kabuki theater, just as one could not say th e w in g s ." (The au d ien ce d oes n o t see the
that, in walking, the right leg /1accompa­ bullfight in C arm en.) A n d in this context
nies" the left leg, or that both of them are Sm ish lay ev w an ted th e m atch to tak e place
accompanied by the diaphragm. The pat­ offstage, sh ow in g it m erely th rou g h th e vis­
ter of Ostuzhev is no more important than ib le reactions o f the actors. H ow ever,
the color of the prima donna's tights; the E ise n ste in 's idea w as n o t ju s t to sh ow the
clash of cymbals is equal to Romeo's so­ m a tch but to p u t the actu al b o xin g ring in
liloquy; the cricket on the hearth is no less the m id d le o f the au d itoriu m in order, as
important than the cannon fired over the
h e said, to m a k e th e audience part o f the
seats of the auditorium. By appealing to
action, m ak in g it experience all the em o­
our senses, Japanese actors stimulated
tions o f a real b oxin g m atch , m ak ing it con ­
every sensation of which we are con­
scious. Instead of accompaniment, Kabuki cern ed as to the ou tcom e o f the fig h t as
reveals the process of transfer between m u ch as w ith the characters.
one material and another, between one It w a s an o rig in al idea. Sm ish layev
category of stimulation and another. (Film agreed and delegated to E isen stein, alm ost
Form) entirely, the resp on sibility fo r this particu­
lar scene. T h e circu lar sh ape o f the audito­
L et us n o w exam in e the tech n iq u es used riu m - a fo rm er circus - m a d e it possible to
b y E isen stein in th e theater. H is ow n first set u p a rin g in the m id dle. H ow ever, the
sh o w at th e P eo p le's T h e a te r (proletkult), m ain in terest w as n o t th at th e y replaced
w h ere h e started as a scen e p a in ter an d set "p roscen iu m th eater" w ith "th eater-in -th e-
designer, w as th e p ro d u ction o f T he M ex i­ ro u n d " (not really a n o v el idea anyw ay);
can, a play tak en from a sh o rt story b y Jack the rin g w a s n o t to ta k e th e place o f the
Lond on. The story is as follow s: Som e stage (w h ich , th rou g h th e proscen ium , w as
you ng M exicans are try ing to secure con n ected to on e sid e o f th e ring). There
enou gh m o n e y fo r th e ir g ro u p to ca rry o n w ere tw o centers o f interest and tw o p lay ­
their revo lu tio n ary activities. O n e o f them in g areas: th e stage, w h ere th e action in the
arranges a boxing m atch to raise the n e ces­ p sy ch olog ical sen se to o k p lace, and the
sary funds. T h ey a sk th e local ch am p ion to rin g , w h ere the m atch , w hich had such a
offer h is services for a sm all p ercen tag e o f b e a rin g o n th e d ram atic action, w a s fought.
the take. The revolu tionaries are to p o ck et It w as a k in d o f m ontage b efo re the fact,
th e rest to cov er th e exp enses o f th eir org a­ w ith each o f the tw o actions achieving its
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 137

full significance o n ly relative to th e other the p la y as a play. H ow ever spectacular

and the tension thus created becom ing the E ise n ste in 's w ork , it in ev itab ly led to a
real p ro d u ction o f the d ram a. "d eth e a trica liz a tio n " o f the theater. The
We m u st acce p t th a t if th e a te r d o es n o t real exp erim en talists - w h o brought the­
represent fa cts , if it d oes n o m o re than fol­ ater into a n e w a g e - w e r e , o f course,
low and d escribe the p sy ch o lo g ical conse­ S tan islav sk y and , apart fro m his eccentric­
q u en ces o f certain facts, it is o n ly b ecau se ities, M eyerhold .
o f a p ractical lim itation - sin ce all represen­ In The Sage, E isen stein tried to "crea te a
tations are bound, w ith in th e rig id fram e­ n e w sp a tia l relationsh ip b etw een th e aud i­
w o rk and narrow confin es o f the stage, to ence and th e a cto rs." In h is ad ap tation o f an
b e fabrications. A n d w e m u st agree th at a O strov sk y p la y A Sage Is Always Wiser than
b oxin g m atch , in h eren tly stageable (involv­ Himself, all h e retained o f the original w as
ing on ly the tw o fig h ters and the referee) the su b ject m atter. C h an g in g this com ed y of
w as easier to stag e th an , s a y Le C id 's great m an n ers in to a so cia l satire and an antireli­
b attle again st th e M o ors. giou s polem ic, rem odeling the stru cture of
N onetheless, th e aesth etics o f th e theater th e p la y o n the C om m ed ia d ell'A rte, he
are b ased on this lim itation. M oreover, the m ade h is characters into clow n s and acro­
art o f theater is p red icated on u n ity and con­ b a ts and stag ed th e w h ole th in g as a circus
centration. T h o u g h it "involv ed the au d i­ show . T h e origin al com ed y d isap p eared be­
en ce in the actio n ," in th e fin al an aly sis this h in d a kind o f absu rd sp ectacle w ith uncles
double staging did no m ore th a n d issip ate an d nephew s, aun ts an d th eir l o v e r s - b u t
the d ram atic interest. It is n o t p o ssible to th e characters were revealed in a constan t
follow tw o actions h ap p en in g in tw o d iffer­ an tith esis b etw een w ords and deeds. In this
ent places in tw o different fields o f view. w a y the character o f G lu m ov (a kind o f Tar-
O ne m u st keep ch an g in g fo cu s from one to tuffe figure) - b eh in d the m ask of caricature
the other, w ith th e resu lt that o n e is b ou n d - w a s in cred ib ly com plex. O n e o f the m ost
to lose s o m e th in g -t h e ov erall them e, the significant p assag es in th e sh o w w as the
idea, th e p la y 's m essag e, th e M ex ica n s' re v ­ scen e w h ere G lu m ov m ad e love to his aunt
olution ary s t r u g g le - b y co n c en tra tin g o n M am ayeva, d eclarin g h is "irresistible pas­
the b o xin g m atch , w h ich , fo r all its contrib ­ s io n " in ord er to steal h er fortune. H e bal­
u tory im p ortance, is o f seco n d ary interest. anced o n a tig h tro p e fo r th e w h ole scene,
N ot m erely is it placed on th e sam e lev el as an d his ph ysical p osition w as supposed to
the dram a; it end s up tak in g its place. A n d indicate th e m o ra l situ ation h e w as tread-
th is w as n o t E isen stein 's intention. i n g - a v ery precarious one, a tightrope.
A nd if, as Eisenstein w ished , th e aud i­ Som etim es, on the other h and , fortuitous
ence w as in the sa m e sta te o f m ind as the "h a p p en in g s" replaced interior m ono­
characters in th e d ram a, it b eca m e su p e r­ logue, sh o w in g w h at th e characters m ight
fluous fo r th e actors to com m u n icate em o­ hav e w ished to con ceal. T h e dialogue w as
tio n s w h ich w ere alread y b ein g felt. T h e n o t ju st b etw een characters b u t b etw een
d ram atic interest thereby lo st all its rele­ m o ral and p h y sical actions; and, w h ere n ec­
vance. In the effort to "o b jectify " feelings essary, it ju m b led up th e plots like a k ind of
b y m ak in g them accessible to everyone, ju g g lin g trick , ad d in g to the satire b y p aro­
th ey succeeded m erely in m ak in g them d y in g itself. U n d er the guise o f burlesque,
even m ore in ten sely su b jective in th e m in d s it w as a series o f them es "p lay ing o ff each
o f th e au d ien ce. It w a s a b rav e exp erim en t oth er," w h ose m ean in g explod ed fro m
in theater, b u t fo r that v ery reason it ruined th ese reactions. T h e idea d id n o t exist in the
138 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

facts n o r in the d ram atic exp ressio n b u t in Applied methodically, it makes it pos­
the relationsh ip o f them es. T h is a lso w a s sible to use "active" staging. In place of
m o n tag e b efore the fact. It w as th eater su p ­ the static reflection of an e v e n t-in which
all the expressive possibilities are kept
plem ented b y circus, m u sic-h a ll a n d baUet
within the limits of the logical develop­
techniqu es. E ven the cin em a w a s pressed
ment of the a c tio n -w e are suggesting a
in to service, E isenstein h a v in g decid ed to
new form: th efree montage of attractions,
p resen t a sh o rt film sh ow in g G lu m o v 's ac­ arbitrarily selected, independent of the
tions and th o u g h ts ov er th e p erio d o f a actual action (yet selected in view of the
w e e k ,w h ic h w as su p p o sed to con trast w ith meaning of the action), every element
the situ ation o f th e ch aracter actin g on the striving to establish an ultimate thematic
stage. effect. This is the montage of attractions.
It is th is w a y o f re la tin g elem en ts w h ich
E isenstein calls "m o n ta g e o f a ttra ctio n " — W e h a v e ju s t se e n , in respect o f th e the­
w h ich (p rize fights or tightrope w alking) ater, the d ang ers in h eren t in this solution.
are seco n d ary action s cap ab le o f sig n ify in g T h e m a in o b jectio n as far as th e cin em a is
certain ideas th ro u g h th eir association w ith co n c ern e d is th a t su ch a techn iqu e is valid
th e m ain action. H erald ed as in nov ativ e o n ly in a sm u ch as it exp loits liv in g (in the
(w hich th ey certa in ly w ere), these exp eri­ d ram atic sen se) elem en ts from w h ich it can
m e n ts cou ld n o t con ceiv ab ly h av e led a n y ­ d raw a n em otional p o w er as w ell as a con ­
w h ere else. T h e lim itations o f th e theater crete sym bolic signification. It becom es in­
proved th ey could n o t con tain th e am bi­ v alid as soon as it starts using sym bols ar­
tions o f th e y o u n g director. So h e h ad to bitrarily selected and applied to reality instead
look fo r a m ore suitable m eans an d expres­ o f b ein g im plied w ithin th e reality. E isenstein
sion and h e fo u n d the cinem a. w a s freq u ently to fall into the sam e trap,
In M ay 1923 (th e m o m en t E isen stein excessively sy stem atizin g h is discovery,
sw itch ed h is a tte n tio n fro m the th e a te r to u sin g it som etim es to "d e-a n im a te the ani­
th e cinem a), h e p u blish ed in th e avant- m a te ," thereby resu ltin g in a k in d o f ab­
gard e review LE F (Levy F ront Iskou sstva, or stract form alism m a k in g the selected ele­
Social front o f art), edited b y M ayakovsky, m en ts fit the P rocru stean b ed o f his
a m anifesto of his theories. In ten d in g to arbitrary fram ew ork.
ap p ly th em in the cinem a, h e w rote: In his first film , S trike, w h ich d escribes a
strik e in a m e ta l factory and its repression
In our conception of the theater, attrac­ b y th e soldiers o f the tsar, h e con trasts shots
tion is the specific moment during which sh ow in g w orkers being m achine-gun ned
all elements strive together to determine and shots o f a b u llock b ein g slau ghtered in
in the mind of the audience the idea one an abattoir. T h e effect is stunning. Yet,
wishes to communicate, by putting it in a th o u g h the idea is signified, the d ram atic
state of mind or a psychological situation tru th is can celed and the au then ticity
which actually provokes the idea. The b etray ed . In fact, the w h ole action takes
moment can be planned and calculated so place in th e factory and the streets, n o t in
as to produce a shock emotion.
abattoirs arb itrarily an d illog ically intro­
Attraction has nothing to do with ac­
duced into a scen e eq u ally alien to them.
robatic or comic turns, which are self-con­
Th u s it is on ly a trick o f the d irector im ­
tained, nor with conjuring tricks, whose
sole purpose is contained in the correct p o sed on th e film for the sole p u rp ose of
presentation of the trick. On the contrary, p ro v o k in g an idea to su p p ort the dram a.
attraction is based on audience reaction. In 1924, th is ty p e o f e d itin g had nov elty
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 139

value. T h e au d ien ce, ov erw helm ed b y the fe w w o rd s, w alk s around a b it, w av es h is

intensity o f the m o vem en t, lost sight o f the arm s, and lo o k s at h im self in v a rio u s m ir­
d ram atic logic and could grasp o n ly the di­ rors. O n e o f the sh ots revealing the tin y m an
alectical logic. But an au d ien ce w o u ld not lost in th e vast proportions o f the ro om adds
react like that n ow ad ay s b ecau se it w o u ld to th e im pression o f ov erw helm ing solitude
im m ediately see th rou g h th e artificiality o f and n eg lect aro u n d him . H ow ever, o n one
th is k in d o f ju x ta p o sitio n . E xclu siv ely ob ­ o f the ch im n e y b reasts in the room , th ere is
sessed b y the "id e a ," E isen stein w as to act a statu e, a bust o f N apoleon. A nd p red ict­
quite freq u en tly in this w ay, d isregard in g ably, E isen stein is q u ick to contrast it w ith
the au th en ticity o f th e n a r r a t iv e - if n ot th e d ifferen t shots o f K e re n sk y p o sin g arro­
a u th en ticity o f his facts. gantly in fro n t o f th e m irrors. This associa­
T h o u g h , strictly sp eak in g , th ere is n o tion is p o ssible b eca u se the statue form s
m ontage o f attraction in October, the odd p a rt o f th e settin g. It is inclu d ed in the space
d ev iation tow ard this fo rm is noticeable, o f th e d ram a, involved , as it w ere, in the
w ith E isenstein tracing o u t w h a t h e w as action - p a r tic u la r ly sin ce K eren sk y passes
later to call "cin e d ia lectics," an e v en m ore b ackw ard and fo rw ard in fro n t o f it, looking
intellectu al and a rb itrary aspect o f editing. a t it. Suddenly, how ever, the doors open
For exam ple: at th e S econ d Sov iet C o n­ w ith a loud crash. T h e W inter Palace has
gress, d u ring the attack on th e W inter Pal­ b een taken and th e R ed G u ard s are breaking
ace, the sp eeches o f d isapproval fro m the into th e room s. K eren sk y has n o tim e to es­
M ensheviks are in tercu t w ith shots o f cape. N ow , a t th e v ery instant th e doors
hand s playing the harp . T h e idea (literary b urst op en and th e revolu tion aries in , a
in th e extrem e) is to g iv e the M en sh ev ik sin g le sh o t sh o w s N a p o le o n 's b u st lying
sp eeches th e tone and ap p earan ce o f lyrical shattered in frag m en ts o n th e floor. W ho
w h ining, m in d -n u m b in g b lab berin g . H ow ­ d ropp ed it? N o o n e - e x c e p t E isen stein
ever, th o u g h the idea is valid (if perhap s a h im self. Yet it w ou ld h a v e b e e n ea sy enou gh
trifle forced ), w e are le ft w o n d erin g w hat to incorporate the sy m b ol in to the concrete
the harp s and harpists are doing in the ob­ reality: K eren sk y m ight h av e accid entally
jective, concrete reality o f the m eeting. k n ock ed it off its pedestal as h e ru shed past
In th e sam e film , ju st as K o m ilo v pre­ the ch im n e y b reast, w av in g his arm s. T h en
pares to m a rch o n P etro g ra d at the h ead o f th e seq u en ce w o u ld hav e b ee n as follow s:
th e W hite Arm y, a n im age sh ow s th e g en ­ th e b u st is k n o ck ed off; the d oors bu rst
eral sitting arro g an tly an d fo rcefu lly (one op en; K eren sk y m ak es h is escap e; N ap o­
m ight say N ap oleon ically ) o n h is horse. leo n lies shattered o n th e floor. So sim ple
T h e im p ression is rein forced b y th e angle th a t E isen stein , m esm erized solely b y the
o f the s h o t - a n u p w ard tilt. Y et E isen stein id ea, n ev er th o u g h t o f it or did n ot care
d oes n o t stop at this; h e ju xtap oses an ab ou t it (or h ad n o t fo reseen the effect in the
im age revealing, from the sam e angle, an script and h ad to create it after the event).
equ estrian statue w h ich con firm s and rein­ S h o rtly b efo re this scene, w e h a v e seen
forces th e lud icrousness o f the posture. A ll K eren sk y en ter th e W inter P alace sur­
w e ll a n d good. B ut w h a t is th is statue rou nd ed b y his m inisters. A s h e clim bs the
d oing in the logical co n tin u ity o f the action h u g e staircase lead ing to th e im perial
and, m ore particularly, o n the R u ssian ap artm en ts, w e are sh o w n a series o f shots
steppes? intercu t w ith subtitles in d icatin g M in ister
E lsew here w e see K eren sk y in on e o f the o f War, M inister o f N a v y and A ir Force,
hu ge room s in the W inter Palace. H e sa y s a M in ister fo r Foreig n A ffairs, M in ister o f the
140 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

Interior, M ajor-G en eral, D icta to r—p o in tin g F or instance, in the last part o f Mother, the
out, n o t w ith o u t irony, th a t h e h a s g iv en ever-sw ellin g tide o f strikers and protest­
h im self m o st o f th e portfolios. B u t the stair­ ers, after freein g the prisoners, surges o n ­
case has only thirty steps to it; h e only w ard , bursting th rou g h all the b arriers in
reaches the first floor. T h u s w e are s e e i n g - its p ath . A n d P u d ov k in intercuts these
from different a n g le s -K e r e n s k y repeat­ shots w ith a series o f im ages sh ow in g the
ed ly clim b in g the same stairs. T h e id ea is to R iv er N eva ca rry in g p ack -ice breaking up
signify the fu tility o f h is action, h is van ity as th o u g h the river itself is b u rstin g trium ­
and absurdity: h e is clim b in g b u t getting no p h an tly from its frozen bon d s. B u t w e are
fu rther up the stairs. A n d y e t th e reality is in St. P etersburg an d th e R iv er N eva is part
fabricated . O ne m ig h t say that it d oes n ot o f th e lo ca tio n . E ven b etter: the strikers
m atter, since on e stair look s lik e an y other stream d ow n th e prom enade and cross the
and th e constan t ch an g e o f sh ot cancels out river ov er th e iron bridge over w h ich the
the m o st ob viou s reference poin ts. Further C o ssack sold iers charge to cu t d ow n the
on, w h en K erensky reaches th e first floor, s t r i k e r s - a n iro n b rid g e w hose angu larity
an u p w ard tilt show s h im in su ch a w ay and rigidity are synonym ou s w ith the
th a t o n e of th e statues a b o v e h im o n the b lin d , p itiless m ilitary force o f the arm ed
b alu strad e ap p ea rs to b e cro w n in g h im cavalry.
w ith l a u r e l - a d ictator in th e fu llness o f h is O n e lesso n to be learn ed from the fore­
pow er. In this case, th e irony is all th e m ore going exam p les is th at one can not use
effective th at the im age is no t ou t of p lace - "s im ile " in the cin em a unless th e term of
b eca u se E isen stein w a s u s in g a statue com p ariso n is p art o f th e space in w h ich
w h ich w as actually p a rt o f the settin g , an th e original scen e takes place (th it is not
ob ject w ith a real p la ce in the real sp a ce o f involved in the dram a in som e other w ay).
th e d ram a. H e w a s using reality, interpreting T h e im ag e o f th e s ta tu e alon g sid e G en­
it instead o f falsifying and invalidating it. eral K o m ilov is rath er as if E isenstein w ere
T h e sh o t is n o t - t o u se a m ed ical m etap h o r saying: "A rro g a n t, am b itiou s, self-inter­
- a fo reig n bod y introd u ced into th e ob jec­ ested, K o m ilo v sat his h orse like N apoleon
tive, factu al reality, w h ereas in th e exam ­ h im self and already considered h im self an
ples previously cited the con trast is m ade e m p ero r." B ut in th is verbal sen ten ce the
alw ays to the detriment o f reality. im ag e is entirely con ceptual. It is an appeal
O n several occasion s, P u d ov k in tried to th e co n sciou sn ess, or m em ory, o f the
sim ilar effects. In The End o f St. Petersburg, reader. It is n o t on th e sam e level as d escrip ­
he show s a b o ss shouting orders d ow n a tion . O n th e oth er h a n d , in th e cin em a the
telephone an d , b e tw e e n tw o sh o ts o f the im age is on th e sam e level as th e im age of
b oss, h e interp olates a sh o t o f th e statu e of r e a l i t y - b y reason o f its bein g a n im age it­
P eter the G reat in an assertive and ty ra n n i­ self and, as su ch, every b it as objective and
cal posture. B u t the statu e is actually in a con crete as the first. B u t it is th e im age of
square in St. P etersb u rg and w e h a v e a l­ an oth er reality set in an oth er tim e and an ­
re ad y see n it in context e a rlie r in th e film . oth er place. T h e tw o im ag es can n o t coin­
T h o u g h th e com p ariso n is n o less arbitrary cid e. T h o u g h there m a y b e identification or
th a n fo r K om ilov, a t least th e p o sitio n of associatio n b etw ee n the tw o on the intellec­
th e statu e m akes the association n o t b e­ tu al level, there is con flict b etw een them at
y ond the b ou n d s o f possibility. O n occasion the level o f ob jective reality. N ot becau se
(rarely, it m u st be said), P u d o v k in "d o e s an on e is the im ag e o f a real action and the
E isen stein " b etter th an E isenstein him self. other o f a n unreal statu e bu t purely and
 RHYTHM AND MONTAGE 141

sim p ly b ecau se the statu e is n o t inclu ded th e general idea D ov sh enk o w as attem ptin g
in the fram ew o rk o f th e action , b ecau se it to com m unicate.
is n o t involved in th e d ram a. S in ce it is alien It w ill b e a rg u ed th a t D ov sh en k o 's
to the concrete fact, it ca n n o t be m ad e to m e th o d o f p resen tin g scen es ob jectively
con form to it. It is, q u ite sim ply, d ifferent.19 g ives the au d ien ce m ore freedom . It is fr e e
W e all kn ow the film clich e o f sh ow in g to see th e sy m b o l (or n o t and, if not, ite ap­
a gaggle o f cack lin g geese in a seq u en ce of p reciatio n o f th e p rim a ry factu al lev el of the
tw o or three old cro n es gossiping on their film will n o t b e affected). A n d yet,
d oorsteps. Suppose the action h ap p en s in D ov sh en k o m ig h t have used an even sub­
a large tow n: then th e im ag e o f th e geese is tler com p ositio n and ju xtap o sed w ithin the
arbitrary fo r th e re a so n th a t g e ese are n o t sam e fr a m e th e p reg n an t w om an (show n in
n orm ally se e n w a d d lin g aroun d tow n foregroun d) and th e funeral p rocession (in
streets. Su p p ose, on th e other hand , the ac­ th e b ack g rou n d ). T h e m o n tag e effect w ould
tion hap p en s in th e country: th e n the com ­ th en h a v e b ee n con tain ed w ithin th e shot,
p arison is p erfectly p o ssible, even if the and th rou g h her privileged p o sition in the
geese are in a com p letely d ifferent place. fram e, the w om an w ould h av e had th e sam e
S u p p o se, how ever, th e old w o m e n are to sym bolic sign ification (w h ich is n o t th e sam e
gossip o n the edge o f a farm y ard an d the as th e im ag e o f th e gossip s an d th e geese
geese are sh o w n in th e b ack g rou n d , then seen in th e sam e fram e, w h ere the gossips
the relationsh ip is d irect, realistic, and sym ­ w ould b e the sy m b ol w ere it n o t fo r the fact
b o l i c - a l l at the sam e tim e. E very th in g be­ th a t the p a n "is o la tin g " the geese in the
com es true. b ack g rou n d creates the op posite effect).
W e sh ou ld p o in t ou t ev en so th a t if the A s E isen stein sa y s, "O n e c a n n o t express
intention is to em p h asize th e m etap h o rical h e a t b y sh ow in g a therm om eter, tim e b y
nature o f a com p ariso n , th e n th e tw o ele- leafin g through a calendar, or fallin g b y
m ente m u st b e p resen ted separately. A p a n ­ p resen tin g th e fo rm u la e o f the accelerated
n in g shot, m o v in g in on e m o v em en t fro m speed o f a fa llin g b o d y ; one m u st presen t
the old gossip s to the geese, w o u ld be the im pression, th e physical sen sation pro­
equ ally effective. To u se a n exam p le quoted d uced b y these p h e n o m en a ." N ow , a single
b y E isenstein, w h en in E arth D ov sh en k o im ag e w ill n ev er b e capable o f creating
show s us a w o m a n in la b o r ju st as the fu ­ su ch a sen sation , m e re ly a relationsh ip o f
n eral o f the yo u n g K o lk o sian is taking im ag es, an associatio n, a sh ock em otion. O r
p lace, w e accept th e ev en t as p u re co in ci­ else (and then o n ly in certain instances) an
d ence. W h at w e see, as a n au d ien ce, is the iso lated d etail su g g estin g th e sen sation b e­
w om an lying in bed in h er izba. W e m ight cau se it con tain s it im plicitly, becau se it is
read a sym bolic sig n ificatio n in to th is asso­ its sign — its affective, em otional sign, h ow ­
ciatio n b u t th ere is n o th in g to su p p o rt it. It ever, rather th a n its theoretical or conven­
is n o t exp ressly in th e film (th ou gh o f cou rse tional sign.
it m ight b e im plied). C onversely, had B u t m etap h o r can b e u sed on ly w h e n it
D ov sh enko sh o w n th e w o m an isolated in the is p a rt o f th e concrete reality w h ich it is
cou ntryside and in te rcu t th is sh ot w ith the able to tran scend th rou g h a special m o ­
burial scenes, then and on ly th en w o u ld the m en t. T h is tran sferen ce th en becom es tran ­
im age, m ad e a b stra c tb y ite p resen tation, b e scen d ence. It tran sform s reality, enlarges it
associated w ith the id e a o f fertility, b eco m ­ an d exten d s it. Yet if w e d isregard the
ing its em otion al equ iv alen t in ou r m ind s, sig n ification o f th e con ten t in favor o f the
thereby u n d erlinin g th e p an th eistic them e, a b stra ctio n and th e ideas it evokes, th en
142 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

w e move into the realm of fantasy and tions of the filmmaker: one cannot play a
artifice. symphony on the piano.
i t the images of October, which by and However, for Eisenstein the interest of
large derive from montage of attraction, montage was not as a means of producing
that is, from metaphors arbitrarily selected specific effects but as a means of self-ex­
and independent of the dramatic action, the pression, a way of communicating ideas:
logic of the film narrative is broken by the determining an idea by the collision of two
introduction of two qualitatively diferent images, stimulating in the audience's con­
shots into a continuity with a definite suc­ sciousness a series of ideas to create an af­
cession. It is almost as though a composer fective state, then producing, with these
tried to create harmony and counterpoint activated feelings, a state of mind, a partic­
in the very fabric of the melody and ipation of the audience in the thoughts
achieved merely the fusion of a second which the filmmaker tried to communi­
melody into the first, canceling each other cate - w it h the intended effect that, in­
out by continually clashing against each volved in the current of ideas, held by the
other. dynamic logic, the audience might feel as
If, however, instead of a single screen though it is freely subscribing to the resul­
we use several (Abel Gance's triple screen, tant general meaning, as though exercising
for instance), then we have several frames its own judgment and personality instead
and therefore several spaces at our dis­ of being swayed by the arguments being
posal, and also several possible melodic proposed. As we know, this was the guid­
lines and continuities. It is immediately ob­ ing principle of this great filmmaker, whose
vious that one screen can harmonize with work, according to Edgar Morin, forms a
or counterpoint the other. And it is then "coherent system in which the use and
conceivable for a particular action to hap­ study of the affective power of images at­
pen, with all the concrete dramatic content, tain the level of a logos."
on the middle screen (the most important) Eisenstein was himself the first to recog­
and, on the side screens, juxtaposed (in the nize this fault in himself as is evident from
spatial sense) ancillary images each sym­ the following remarks:
bolically reinforcing the action. Then
The basic fact was true (and remains
Komilov's equestrian statue, the harpists true to this day), that the juxtaposition of
in front of the Soviet Congress and two pieces of resembles not so much
Kerensky's bust of Napoleon all become their sum as their product.. . . What, then
possible. They no longer intrude into the was the "distortion" in our attitude at that
drama but appear alongside it and, what is time to this indisputable phenomenon?
more, simultaneously with it. The intellec­ The error lay in placing the main em­
tual effect intended by Eisenstein is in­ phasis on the possibilities of juxtaposition
stantly achieved without ever having to and in paying less attention than we
suspend the logic of the representation and should, as experimenters, to the elements of
the juxtaposition. . . . I really think that I
deny the factual authenticity. Thus it was
was primarily seduced by what was un-
not the principle which was at fault but its
relatable in the components of montage
application—which proved impossible in which, often in spite of themselves, forced
the context of normal cinema (which is me­ together by the will of the editor, generate
lodic purely and simply, involving and re­ a "third term" and become correlative.
quiring the laws of melodic continuity). Having essentially to deal with mate­
The tools were not adequate to the ambi­ rial and examples of this kind, it was nat-
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 143

ural that our thinking should have con­ W hen montage is considered from this
centrated on the possibilities of juxtaposi­ point of view, sequences as well as their
tion; consequently, we paid less attention juxtaposition fall into their correct recip­
to analyzing the actual nature of the juxta­ rocal relationship. In addition to which,
posed elements. Besides, on its own this the very nature of montage stops being
attention is not enough. Directed exclu­ divorced from the principles of cinematic
sively to the internal content of the se­ realism and serves as one of the most le­
quence, in practice it ended up weakening gitimate resources for the realistic narra­
the montage, with all its attendant conse­ tion of ^ m content. (Montage 38)20
quences.
Where should our interest have lain
then had we wished to return these two in con trast to th e m o n tag e o f attraction
extremes to normality? We should have and its u n fortu n ate conseq u ences, Eisen-
t^ n ed our attention to the fundamental stein w as to use, in B attleship Potem kin and
element which determines both the inter­ su b seq u en t film s, w h at h e called reflex m on­
nal content of each sequence and the jux­ tage, u sin g o n ly sy m b o ls d eterm in ed b y the
taposition of the material; in other words, content. in other w ord s, a m o n tag e of sig­
the content of the whole, the general unify­ n ifican t fa c ts m ain tain ed and included w ith
ing principles.
the lim its o f the logical d ev elop m en t of the
Thefirst extreme consisted in allowing
a ctio n and ap p earin g a t th e appropriate
ourselves to be distracted by the tech­
m o m en t in a particular s c e n e - e it h e r to
nique of assembly (the method of mon­
tage) and the other, by the elements to be co m m en t o n the scen e and m o d ify the w ay
assembled (the content of the sequence). it resolved or to d eterm in e a p articu lar re­
We should have concentrated more on the action b etw een th e interrelated facts or else
nature of the unifying principle itself, the recall, th ro u g h re flex association, a sim ilar
principle which, for each separate film, scen e inclu ded in th e p reced in g stage of
should determine the content of the se­ th e d ram a, th ereby actin g on the audi­
quence as much as the content which the e n ce's nervous sy stem an d consciou sness.
juxtaposition o f the sequence reveals. T hu s it is clear th a t th e su btler the rela­
But to achieve this the primary interest
tion sh ip the m o re p o w erfu l it is an d the
of the experimenters should not have been
d eep er its im p lications, as in poetry, w here
directed toward those paradoxical in­
the im age is p ro p o rtio n ately m ore poetic
stances where this whole, this final result,
has not been anticipated but emerges com­ th e fu rth er it is fro m th e object, tied b y a
pletely unexpectedly. We should have th read on ly as tan g ible as is necessary to
turned our attention to those instances ensu re th e link. It is tem p tin g to com pare
where the elements are not only correlated if n o t th e sty listics th e n at least the m eth­
but where the final result, the whole, has ods o f E isen stein and Valery. Indeed,
been anticipated and has even predeter­ w h ereas certain p oets express relatively
mined the individual elements and the cir­ precise ideas, pu tting in to verse w h at they
cumstances of their juxtaposition. These h ave alread y w o rk ed out in prose, d escrib­
are the normal, usual, most widespread in­
in g m u ch b u t revealin g little, V alery does
stances, where indeed the whole emerges
th e op posite and d escribes v ery little, ap­
absolutely as "a third term" and where the
p aren tly exp ressin g n o ideas. H e lim its
complete picture of the way the sequence,
the editing, and the content are deter­ h im self to tra n sp o sin g im pressions and
mined becomes even more conclusive and sensations, to stim u lating em otions. Yet,
obvious. And it is precisely these instances th ro u g h his b o ld m etaphors (w hich seem
which prove to be typical of the cinema. o n ly in cid en ta lly con n ected to th eir o b ­
144 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

jects), through a w h ole com p lex o f fleetin g m e n t o f an in d ivid u al n a rra tiv e or dram a)
im ages or m y stical evocation s, h e sketches is perfectly su itab le fo r th e collectiv e dram a
in relationsh ips w h ich grad u ally m aterial­ w h ich is th e ob ject o f all h is film s. W hether
ize in th e re a d er's m ind , th e re b y co m m u ­ in B row n ian m o tio n or quite sim p ly a m ass
n icatin g id eas th ro u g h w ord s w h ich d o n o t o f b o ilin g w ater, th e p articles (atom s or
exp ress them . m o lecu les) re ce iv in g an increase in energy
"T h e sh o t," as E isenstein says, transform th is en ergy in to m ovem en t and
therefore heat rad iation. A ll the particles
is by no means an element of montage. It m o ve in different d irections; their m o ve­
is a montage cell; just as the division of m en ts are disordered. B ut these different
cells produces a series of Afferent organ­ m o vem en ts, tak en as a w h ole, fo rm a col­
isms, so the division of shote-their colli­
lective un ity; th e w ater begins to boil.
sion, their conflict-generates concepts.
It is n o t h a rd to recogn ize th e im a g e of
Pudovkin defends his opinion of mon­
the collective d ram a, w h ose sin gle m o ve­
tage as a linkage of shots, a sequence of
fragments arranged into a series in order m e n t and p o w erfu l th ru st is m erely the sum
to expound a thesis. In my view, montage o f a series o f m ore or less d isordered m ove­
is a collision, and from the collision of two m en ts im p elled b y th e sam e force. W e m ight
given factors arises a concept. From my add th at the actu al "d ra m a " is n o m ore th an
point of view, linkage is merely one pos­ th e follow ing th rou g h o f the consequences
sibility, a special case. o f the collisio n of tw o or m ore p articles; and
Think of the infinite number of physi­ as far as th e n otio n goes, w e can see w hat
cal combinations produced by the simple E isen stein m ean t w h en h e attributed to it
impact (collision) of corpusdes-depend-
su ch rem ark ab le pow ers. Lastly, w e cannot
ing on their speed, their energy, and the
h elp b u t ad m it th a t h is ru les o f ed iting w ere
angle of their trajectory, etc. Among all
created in th e im ag e o f epic m ovem ent (for­
these combinations, there is one in which
the point of impact is so weak that the m ally sp eak ing , th e y are its equivalent).
collision is degraded to a single moment E isen stein ian con tin u ity is m ad e u p o f n oth ­
of both going in the same direction. This in g m ore th a n a series o f shots or groups of
is the one combination which would cor­ con trastin g , collid in g shots and sund ry
respond with Pudovkin's view. (Film Form) scattered an d d iscontinu ou s "co n flicts."
N eith er facts n o r characters are follow ed
We m ig h t re p ly th a t it is also the one th rou g h th eir d ev elop m en t in tim e b u t are
com bin ation w hich corresp ond s w ith the seized at a critical m o m en t w h ich reveals
principle o f d ram atic unity, w h ere cause is th e m and illu m in ates oth er critical m o­
follow ed th rou g h its effects w ith in a sin gle m en ts w h ich tak en together fo rm th e epic.
u n ity w h ich is its ow n d e v e lo p m e n t-w ith - In a film o f this kind, d u ratio n p lays a
out w h ich there w ould b e n o drama (in the v e ry seco nd ary role. B e in g con cern ed only
literary sen se o f th e w o rd ), m erely accident. w ith th e eruption o f a collectiv e effect, the
N o organized d ram a, n o d ev elo p m en t possi­ ep ic w orks w ith in stant tim e. T h e action of
ble b ecau se the tw o term s o f com p ariso n are Potemkin takes place over fo rty -eig h t hours,
to o w id ely sep arated. th a t o f October w ith in a span o f ten days. If
E isen stein 's co m p a riso n su g g ests (even E isenstein d ev elop s an action over several
in vites) on e or tw o "th erm o d y n a m ic" com ­ m o n th s (The General Line, Alexander Nevsky,
p arison s w h ich p ro vid e a n o p p ortu n ity to an d fvon the Terrible), the film then takes on
see how m o n tage o f con flicts or collisions the ap p earan ce o f a p o em d ivid ed in to
(not easily ad aptable to the lin ear d ev elop ­ stan zas, each stan za accou nting fo r only
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 145

o n e m om en t o n th e cu rv e. E ise n ste in 's d y ­ in th e O d essa S te p s sequ ence (end ing on

nam ics are n o t those o f ev olu tio n , o f g rad ­ th e sh o t o f th e C o ssa ck s lic in g th e w o m a n 's
ual tran sform ation, b u t rath er th o se o f face w ith his sabre), a p latoo n o f W h ite
explosion. It is p o ssible to fo llow th e cou rse G u ard s m a rch es d ow n the steps as a
of a stream or a river; it is n o t p o ssible to m other, h o ld in g th e b o d y o f h er dead child
follow b oilin g w ater. W h e n th is is co m ­ in h er arm s, clim bs back u p and stops; the
p ressed , it b u rsts its con tain er b u t it does officer raises h is sabre an d is about to give
n o t m ove. It is tem p tin g to sa y that E isen ­ the order to fire. Eisenstein cu ts to a short
stein 's d ynam ics are "in te rn a l," localized seq u en ce o f p arallel action; h e show s a
w ithin a static fram ew ork: the dyn am ics o f a g ro u p o f civilian s cro u ch in g in terror be­
definite space w ithin a lim ited time.' L eon hin d a b alu strad e. T h en h e cuts d irectly
M ou ssinac described it v e ry w ell: "A n back to the conclu sion . W e see the w om an
E isenstein film is lik e a sh ou t; a P u d ov k in ly in g sh o t w ith h e r ch ild in h er arm s. T he
film is like a s o n g " (L e C inem a sovietique). C o ssack s m arch ov er h er an d continue
M ovem ent itself is represented on ly in their cold -bloo d ed butchery.
its totality w hen it is collectiv e m ovem ent, T h is ty p e o f m o n tag e, w h ich a t th e rhyth­
never (or alm ost never) w h en it is individ­ mic lev el u ses th e rise and fall o f recitative,
ual. E ith er E isenstein su g g ests th e cau se b y op erates a t th e in tellectu al lev el in a sort of
show ing th e effect o r else h e cu ts (except reflex process (one m ig h t say, m oreover,
w h e n he ca n n o t avo id it) the tim e it takes fo r th a t th e structure o f these recitativ es is
the m ovem en t to take place. H e sp lice s onto based on sim ilar m em o ry processes). If, for
the sh ot o f an actio n as it is begin n in g a shot instance, w e see (a) a firing squ ad and sol­
show ing th e con sequ en ce o f the action. F o r diers w ith their gu n s a t th e ready, then (b)
instance: a sold ier raises h is sab re; h e is a m a n b lin d fold ed stan d in g a g a in st a w all,
ab ou t to strike; h e h a s h ard ly b eg u n the the reflex idea gen erated b y the association
m ovem ent w h en th ere is a cut to the fol­ o f these tw o shots is th a t th e m a n is about
low ing shot: th e sabre h a s sliced into a to b e shot. T h e com p lem en tary sh ot w ould
w o m an 's fa ce , and h e r e y e, sla sh e d op en, show th e execution . E isen stein d oes not. He
is drippin g blood an d aqueous h u m or onto keeps the au d ien ce's im ag in atio n and there­
h er cheek, etc. fore exp ectation in su sp ense. Ju st as in the
E isenstein sh o w s o n ly the "p iv o ta l exam p le from th e O d essa Steps sequence,
p o in ts" o n th e m o vem en t, th e m o m e n t o f he cu ts to a p arallel action, b o th to allow
volition, th e preparation o f th e action and time fo r the execution to happen and to cre­
the result o f th at action. T h is is w h at gives ate a m ore o r less v io len t con trast w ith the
his film s, esp ecially Potem kin, su ch a d y ­ first action. A fter w hich h e show s the result:
nam ic po w er and th e ap p earan ce o f "c o m ­ w e see the firing squ ad m a rch in g away.
pressed m o v em en t." N eed less to say (and w e shall return to this
O bv io u sly these ab breviation s are p o ssi­ fin e p o in t later), h e alw ays show s th e tw o
ble o n ly w h e n th e a b b rev ia ted action is a l­ parts (a) and (b) in terconn ected in space and
read y short. A n y lo n g e r cu ts in th e a ctio n tim e, i.e., w ithin the sam e fra m e, eith er at the
w ou ld m ak e it seem th a t a m istak e h ad b een b eg in n in g o f the sequ ence or, as in this case,
m ade. in this case, E isen stein constructs the as a sort o f coda.
continu ity w ith a k ind o f a ltern a tin g or in contrast w ith th ese abbreviations,
"b ro k e n " m o n ta g e -w h ic h stran g ely re­ E isenstein som etim es uses their corollary,
sem bles the rhythm ic rise and fa ll o f b la n k w h ich is an ex ten sion o f t i m e - b u t on ly
verse. w h en it involves a collective m o vem ent d e­
146 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

serving emphasis as, for instance, the fa­ time, "Eisenstein stretches time so much
mous Odessa Steps sequence. However im­ that the bridge seems as though it will
pressive these stairs leading down to the never be raised." Here also, Eisenstein pre­
port might be, they comprise scarcely a ferred to violate reality in order to reach a
hundred steps in all, divided into ten suc­ more intense truth, turning the image into
cessive flights. Now, the shooting, the cha­ a kind of symbol detached from its immedi­
otic rush of the crowd, and the slow march ate context. Yet when a realistic image like
down of the White Guards lasts so long that this is detached from objective reality, not
we might believe the stairs to be three or only does its value as a sign seem deliber­
four times longer than they are. Yet this ex­ ately and clumsily emphasized but its
tension is im perceptible because our atten­ power is limited to that of a mere rhetorical
tion is held by its increasing intensity. device, which explains why the effect it
Apart from the fact that the steps and land­ produces is contrived.
ings all look alike, offering no point of ref­ A general rule of thumb might be that
erence, we are seeing not merely one line of with all the possibilities in front of them,
White Guards marching down the steps Pudovkin would be likely to eliminate those
but tw o or three, so that each line allows the with insufficient signifying power, keeping
theme to be repeated and therefore time to the rest, whereas Eisenstein would choose the
be extended in a logical fa sh io n . one which signified the m ost and reject the
However, this is not the case with the rest. Less lyrical and less effusive, he is more
equally famous drawbridge sequence in stringent and also more direct, much
O ctober. The revolutionaries, ridden down crisper. And though psychological time has
and machine-gunned by solders of the no part to play in his films, we can see that
White Army, attempt to cross the draw­ metric time, i.e., clock time, is a basic ingre­
bridge over the Neva to the far side held dient for his view of rhythmic development.
by the Red Army. But the Whites set the He uses it as one would the loud pedal on
levers of the drawbridge in motion and the a piano to increase the dramatic tension or
two halves of the bridge begin slowly to violence of the movement. Rhythm, as far
separate, thus cutting off their retreat. as Eisenstein is concerned, is generated by
However, the crowd presses on to the last the perpetual conflict between the object
moment, leaping over the ever-widening and its dimensions, between the scene and
gulf. A young girl has been shot in the act its duration, in a complex of metric relation­
of jumping and her head is resting on the ships controlled by the intensity of the con­
moving part of the bridge. After a series of tent arid the hypothetical meaning inspired
wide-angled shots, a sequence of shots by this organization.
from different angles getting progressively If we take a moment to examine the
tighter frame the young girl's body and rhythmic structure of The B attleship P otem ­
then her head as her hair is gently pulled kin, the first thing we notice is that though
by the rising girders. The scene has a fright­ the film is a kind of reconstructed newsreel,
ful beauty. Yet it is always the sam e m ove­ it is constructed as a classical tragedy. The
ment of the drawbridge raised eight inches "stanzas" (or strophes) to which we re­
from zero (four shots), then from eight to ferred are more precisely "acts" separated
twenty inches (another four shots), that is by subtitles which, because of the break
until the girl's hair hangs free and her head with the preceding act, establishes the tone
falls back, lifeless, to the ground. of the next. We might characterize the five
As Victor Shklovsky pointed out at the acts of P otem kin as "Exposition," "The
 RHYTHM A N D MONTAGE 147

D ram a o n the Q u a rterd eck ," " T h e Fu n eral tw o "c o n te x ts": ship and tow n, land and
P rocession in the H arb or," "O d essa S te p s," sea, sailors and tow nsfolk, d isu n ited topo-
"M eetin g th e S q u a d ro n ." g ra p h ic a lly c o m e to g eth er into one single
E ach p art is a w h o le lead in g to th e next, unity, th eir co m m o n resentm ent. A u n ity
repeating the previous in a differen t form . sh attered alm ost im m ed iately b y the boots
A s th e d ram a o n the q uarterd eck is h ap ­ an d m easured tread o f th e W h ite G uards as
p en in g , a gro u p o f rebel sailors (a sm all th e y m arch d ow n th e steps. T h en, passing
p art o f th e sh ip 's com p lem en t) sh ou t ou t fro m th e sailors to th e to w nsfolk and fro m
"B ro th e rs!" w h ile the m arin e guard is tak­ th e ship to the to w n , th e revolu tionary
in g aim at them . A n d the m arin es low er them e is tak en up again in the contrastin g
their rifles. A ll the other ran ks jo in the reb ­ them e o f the slaughter, then once again re­
els. In the con fu sion o f th e fig h t, th e sailors tu rn in g to th e revo lt o f the sailors o f the
o f the reb el ship (a sm all p art o f the fleet) Potemkin eag erly p rep arin g to engage w ith
m ake th e sam e call to arm s, "B ro th e rs !" as th e rest o f the squ ad ron. It is in this sense
they p ass in front of th e squ ad ron w h ose that th e stru cture o f th e film is n o m ore than
guns are trained o n the Potemkin. A n d the a m ore g en eralized rep etitio n o f th e struc­
guns are low ered. T h e w h ole squad ron ture o f its parts.
joins them . From th e one organ ic cell o f the If w e n o w tak e a close lo o k a t th e rhyth­
individual ship to th e entire navy, from one m ic stru cture o f th e slau g h ter on the steps
un it o f the fleet to th e entire fleet. T hu s the (one o f the m o st p erfect exam p les o f film
them e of revolu tionary fratern ity bursts rhy thm ), w e m u st first o f all con sid er that
o u t - f r o m the actu al stru ctu re o f th e film - one o f E isen stein 's m ain objectives w as to
from seq u en ce to sequ en ce. reg ister the rhythm o f the represented ac­
E ach act is d iv id e d in to tw o e q u a l parts tion in th e p sy ch op h y siolog ical rhythm
w h ich are in con flict in term s o f m ovem ent, w hich that action im plied: to reveal w hat
rhythm , and m eaning. E ach part is, as it n a tu ra lly cau ses p ain in th e rhythm of
w ere, th e an tith esis o f th e other: the first is p a in , w h at n a tu ra lly cau ses ferv or in the
com paratively ca lm , w h ereas th e seco n d is rh y th m o f f e r v o r - t h e one b ein g con­
violen t and explosive. T h e m u tin y is tained, fo r in stan ce, in op p ression and con­
sparked off b y sailors being th row n into the traction and the oth er in d ynam ic expan­
brig. T h e slau g h ter o n th e O dessa Step s is sio n or extension, so that th e audience
th e m ilitarist reaction to the cro w d taking actu ally exp erien ces physically the sen sa­
sides w ith the rebel sailors. Etc. tio n o f th e represented action, sin ce its
It is w o rth y o f n ote th a t th e film itself is p hy siolog ical rh y th m s (heartbeats, etc.) are
d ivid ed into tw o equ al p arts. T h e revo lt at to som e extent "c o n tro lle d " b y th e rhythm
th e begin n in g is interru p ted to b e resum ed o f th e im ages.
later on. A nd the caesura sep arating the tw o In th e ep iso d es d ea lin g w ith fraterniza­
parts is th e ep iso d e o f th e p ro cession b efo re tio n and revo lu tio n ary fervor, th e intern al
V ak u linchu k's body. It serves b o th as a re­ d y n am ics are in ten sified as th e sh ots b e­
spite and a tran sition, identical to the link­ com e lon g er and lo n g er, m o v in g fro m m e­
ing b etw een the separate p arts in each o f the d ium sh ots to w ide angles, as th o u g h from
acts. It allo w s th e tran sition from th e sailo rs' g asp in g to deep pan ting. C o n v ersely in the
rev o lt to th e sin gle-m ind ed su p p ort o f the scenes o f p a in (the shooting on th e steps
tow nspeople o f O d essa: from th e ship to the a n d clearin g th e decks fo r action), the
tow n - t h e one resp on d in g to the other like rh y th m becom es m u ch tighter; th e shots,
m u sical cou nterpoint. T h e tw o them es, th e m u ch shorter, collide w ith details b u ild in g
148 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E MA

u p against each oth er i n a short, tense, and ick y m o v e m e n t o f th e crow d b ecom es

je rk y beat. tran sp osed in to another m o vem en t, th is
A t th e start o f th e O d essa Step s episode, tim e contin u ou s an d u n iform : th a t o f the
close shots are jo stled to g eth e r and ju m b led p eram b u lator b o u n cin g from step to step
up in th e ch a o tic flo w o f a ssorted lon g shots and ov ertu rn in g a t the bottom . T h is im age
(the to w n sfo lk p o u rin g d ow n th e steps). propels the idea o f the d ow nw ard m ove­
T h e n su d d en ly the ch a o s g iv es w a y to the m e n t in to an oth er direction, m oving from
rhythm ic order o f th e W h ite G u ard s m arch ­ th e figu rativ e bouncing o f th e crow d to the
ing d ow n the steps. A su d d en ch an g e of p h y sical b o u n cin g o f th e b a b y carriage.
tem po registers th is je rk y rh y th m d evelop­ E isen stein w rites:
ing w ith in the slo w er tem p o o f th e other,
con stan tly cu ttin g ag ain st it. T h e long shots From the chaotic movement of the ci­
(of the crow d m illin g o v er the steps) inter­ vilians to the rhythmic movement of the
cu t w ith shots o f ran d om d etails in the soldiers, from the downward movement
crow d, and th e in creasin g ly tighter shots (to to the upward movement, from one as­
the extrem e o f the boots closeu p s) o f the pect of movement at speed (the crowd) to
another (the baby carriage), from shot to
m easu red tread o f th e soldiers b eco m e p ro ­
shot, a leap from one dimension to an­
gressively sh orter accord ing to th eir resp ec­
other and one quality to another. The
tive tem po, w ith th e o n e co n sta n tly in tru d ­
method of exposition operates in leaps, in
in g on th e other. T h e d etail shots o f the contrasts, in oppositions, and in colli­
m arch in g sold iers (sh o w n con secu tiv ely sions. Collisions from one shot to the next,
from d ifferent angles), stan d in g o u t again st one sequence to the next, one episode to
the rhythm ic b ack g rou n d o f the cro w d like the next, and one part to the next, like two
a co n tin u ou s b ea t ag ain st a m u sical b a ck ­ rudimentary cells pairing off, multiplying
gro u n d , fo rm one o f th e m o st p erfect d ev el­ ad infini^m . (Film Form)
op m en ts th ere h a s ever b ee n in the cinem a:
space d ivid ed in to p arallel lin es, in to equ al T h e pathos o f the scen e is reinforced and
m easu res (th e steps), an d tim e d ivid ed in to increased b y the p ath o s o f its construction.
eq u al lengths (th e m easu red steps of th e so l­ T h e tra n sitio n fro m th e static to th e dy­
d iers) b eco m e integrated w ith in th e sam e nam ic, fro m calm to excitem ent, is d eter­
u n ifo rm ly rep eated rh y th m ic m easu re, ea s­ m in ed b y the tran sition fro m q u ality to
ily represented b y m e a n s o f a straig h t line quality, rh y th m to rh y th m , and in ten sity to
serving as a m e d ia n b e tw e e n th e tw o sp ace­ intensity, in a d evelopm en t n o t m erely d e­
tim e coordinates. scrip tive o r n a rra tiv e b u t in v itin g ou r " a c ­
W ith in ^ t s acceleratin g dow n w ard tiv e " p a rticip a tio n in th e event b y m ak ing
m ovem ent, there is a su d d en conflictin g us "fe e l" it d eep inside. B ut as Eisenstein
m o v e m e n t upw ard. F ro m th e con fu sed and goes on to in d icate, "th e s e com positional
disordered m o v em en t o f the crow d , there form u lae are n o t p rescrip tion s to b e applied
is a change to a slow and solem n m o v e­ au tom atically to a n y p articu lar content.
m en t b a ck up th e steps: the m o ther, on her T h ey depend on th a t con ten t and v a ry ac­
ow n, carry in g h er d ead child. cord in g to its req u irem en ts." Sim ilarly, it is
T h e n w e are d ragged b ack into th e w h irl n o t p o ssib le to w rite a b o o k o f ru les, since
o f th e crow d ru sh in g d ow n th e steps con ­ each film rein vents itself b y th e m ere fact
stantly b rok en b y th e ordered m arch in g th at its su b ject m atter is different. A n d yet,
and successive salv os d elivered b y th e sol­ as far as constructed, balanced, and prem ed­
diers. B u t su d d en ly the ch aotic and p an ­ itated film s such as The B attleship P otem kin
 RHYTHM AN D MONTAGE 149

(and indeed a ll E isen stein 's film s) are con ­ cap ab le o f p erceiv in g th e m etric accu racy
cerned, w e can accept h is d ictum th a t "ju st o f these relationsh ips? O u r view is th a t this
as the d istrib u tion o f w ord s an d p ho n etic is impossible b y virtue o f the psychop hysio-
v alu es in th e stru cture o f a p oem m akes it logical facto rs g o v ern in g v isu al perception,
possible for us to distinguish a p ro so d ic sen ­ d raw n m ore to th e im age th a n to its d ura­
tence from a p u rely logical or n arrativ e sen ­ tion. O b v io u sly the au d ien ce is aw are m ore
tence, so the plastic org an ization o f im ages o r less o f relatio n sh ip s o f tim e b u t is in ca­
in a determ inative rhy^thmic structure is w hat p ab le o f evalu atin g in any precise way th eir
d istingu ishes the cin em atic m a sterp iece." m etrical value. It is therefore irrelev an t th a t
H ow ever, there a re lim its w h ich cannot th e y sh ou ld or sh ou ld n o t co n fo rm w ith the
b e ignored, set b y the conditions g ov erning g old en section: in their case, there is n o gain
ou r p ercep tion o f sp ace and time. R elation ­ or loss. T h e pow er o f th e im age does not
ships n o t p erceiv ed or im percep tible are depend on h o w lon g it is, on ly o n its em o­
valueless and th erefore p ointless. T o ele­ tion al pow er, and th is exists o n ly by reason
vate th em into etern al values seem s u tterly o f the content an d th e meaning w h ic h the
foolish. co n te n t assu m es th rou g h th is relationship.
"W o rk s o f art con stru cted accord in g to In ord er to assess in term s o f th e gold en
th e golden section have an absolu tely sectio n th e m etrical valu e o f a cu t or a cae­
u n iq u e pow er," E isenstein w rites elsew here. su ra, w e w ou ld n eed to m easu re the film ,
study it a t the editing bench, a p p ly a ru ler
It would appear that a test on the an d a com p ass; an d th is is n o t th e pu rpose
golden section has never been attempted
of a w o rk o f a r t - a t a n y rate o f a film . O f
in the cinema. All the more interesting,
cou rse, E ise n ste in is sp e a k in g o n ly of a test
then, that The Battleship Potemkin, a film
"o n th e g old en sectio n ." B ut a test to what
well known for its organic compositional
unity, should be entirely constructed ac­ end? H e h a s n o n eed to p ro ve th a t a re la ­
cording to the golden section. tion sh ip exists, sin ce the fact is p lain fo r all
We have already noted that the divi­ to see. A n d to p rove th a t it exists in the
sion of each part of the film, as well as the p ro p ortio n tw o to th ree d oes not advance
whole film itself, is made approximately at h is arg u m en t a n y further. T h e em otion al
the halfway point. Actually the propor­ p o w er o f such an im ag e m ig h t ju st as easily
tion is nearer two to three, representing occu r in th e p rop ortion three to tw o or ev en
as nearly as possible the golden section. th ree to four.
Now, the main caesura, the zero point at
It w ill b e argu ed th a t in pain tin g and the
which the action is suspended, occurs at
p la stic arts it is not always easy to see relation­
the end of the second act and the begin­
ship s based on the g old en section, that
ning of the third, in other words, in the
proportion two to three. som etim es th e critic h a s to u se a rule and
To be even more precise, the Vakulin- com p ass. I w ould n o t dispute this. B ut at
chuk theme is introduced not at the be­ least th eir effects (h ow ever obscure) are eas­
ginning of the third act but at the end o f ily perceived, sin ce spatial relation sh ips are
the second, adding, as it were, the 0.18 im m ed iately perceptible w ith in the organic
missing from the six units in the rest of structure o f the whole. N ow , a film , like a
the film. And the caesurae are shifted ac­ sy m p h o n y is n o t an immediate entity, b u t a
cording to a similar principle within each serie s o f relationsh ips w h ich gradually take
part. (Notes o f a Film Director)
shape. M oreover, relationships o f tim e — I
r e p e a t - a r e n o t p erceptible to ou r e y es as
T h at m a y w ell be; b u t is th e au d ien ce they are to our ears. Such relationships, based
150 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

on the gold en section , m ig h t a t a pinch be sp ace and in tim e, it is also m o re su p p le an d

perceptible in m u sic (th ou g h m u sic scarcely less h am stru n g b y p reestablished rules.
ever m akes u se o f them , b ein g a fu tile exer­ A s w e h av e said , film rh y th m is n o t
cise); b u t it is impossible in th e cinem a. rh y th m in tim e attached to rhythm in space;
N ever is E isen stein m ore lucid o r so far it is on e within th e other. Or, m o re precisely,
from the m ark (only h e could b e con v in ced if w e w e re to d ra w a g ra p h w ith relation­
b y h is argum ent) as w h en h e says: ship s o f space (shots, m o vem en ts, plastic
fo rm s, etc.) as the x-axis and relationships
Certainly the strangest feature of Potem­ o f tim e (len gth o f shots and sequ ences) as
kin is that the golden section can be found th e y -axis, rh y th m w ou ld b e represented by
not only when the movement reaches its th e cu rve. W hich m ak es it clea r that rhythm
zero point-w hen the action meets the (like verse) is a consequence and not, like
lowest point of its co u rse -b u t also at the m u sic, an ord erin g and creative schem a.
highest p o in t-th e moment when the red F ilm rh y th m is n o m ore th a n th e space-tim e
flag is hoisted on the ship. And the flag is
fo rm o f an active m anifestation. It is basi­
hoisted at a point determined by the golden
cally determined b y th e internal requ ire­
mean! But here it must be calculated in
reverse, according to the proportion three m en ts o f this m an ifestatio n and is no m ore
to two, near the caesura separating the th an th eir extern al expression. Yet it is not
first three parts from the two end parts, an ab stractly ordered fo rm established a
i.e., at the end of the third act, with the red p rio ri b u t the fo rm o f a n action in the per­
flag also represented at the beginning of petual process o f happening; in other words,
the fourth part. (Ibid.) a fo rm subordinate to th e expressiv e requ ire­
m en ts of events, expressing and sig nify in g
To con sid er the film i n th is w a y - even if th em as th o u g h th e y could n o t exist except
it w e re p o s s i b l e - i s to m isin terp ret it c o m ­ w ith in this m arv elou sly organized form al
p le te ly o r to u se ou r m em ories retroactively developm en t.
in o rd er to recon stru ct the n ecessary rela­
tionships. E vid ence o f th e exten t to w h ich
certain theories w o rk ed ou t in cam era and The Psychology of Montage
valid on ly o n paper can lead th e u n w ary
from the rig h t p a th (p articu larly since the T h e p reced in g rem arks con cern in g r h y ^ m
pro p ortio n tw o to three, inverted in a normal and m o n tag e m ay b e su m m arized as fol­
development in time, is to ta lly in con sisten t low s: th e cin em a has valu e on ly in so far as
w ith the gold en section , proportions in tim e its im ag es con trib u te to the d ev elop m en t of
b ein g irreversible). W h ich really m eans that a concrete reality. M oreover, w ith this real­
Eisenstein is giving proof "in term s o f the ity as its startin g p o in t, it m u st elevate these
golden sectio n " th at h is la st relationsh ip is im ages to the level o f signs; b u t on ly p ro ­
inconsistent w ith the g old en section! vid ed that th e sig ns do n ot lose contact
We m igh t con clu d e fro m all th is that w ith the reality from w h ich th ey d erive and
thou g h the law s o f the golden section are th a t th e y transcend the reality b y signifying
applicable to p lastic stru ctures, to relatio n ­ it rath er th an sig n ify in g bey on d it.
ships o f sh ap e and v o lu m e, i.e., within the W e m u st nev er forget th a t th e im a g e —o f
im age (a d irection leading ev en tu a lly b a ck n ecessity the im a g e o f s o m e th in g - is in its
to E xpressionism ), th ey can n o t b e ap p lied essence objective an d concrete. It is on ly b y
to rhythm . A n d th a t th o u g h film rh y th m is associatio n th a t it b ecom es a sign, a pow er;
m ore com plex, in th a t it is d efined both in but it is the power, not the image, which is ab­
 RHYTHM AND MONTAGE 151

stract. Yet, though the image is always sub­ What is recorded by the camera is never
ject to the personal vision and intentions of more than building bricks, contributing to
the director, it is at the level of its forms, the overall structure. it is not possible to
not its essence; in its expressive purpose, film structures built up "objectively" since
not its actual existence. the very fact of recording the "reality" is
It is therefore important that the logic of already a subjective process, a choice. We
reality be fulfilled before any level of signi­ shall see, moreover, that the same phenom­
fication is achievable (and precisely so that enon pertains in our everyday behavior. As
this may be guaranteed). But fulfilling the Pudovkin put it, "Film rearranges the ele­
logic of reality does not means that the ob­ ments of reality in its own way so as to
ject must be presented in a way that is con­ make of them a new reality specific to it
sistently objective, i.e., impersonal. alone."
We should begin by taking issue with a The most determined of the attempts to
school of thought which, thinking that it is achieve an objective cinema - notably those
possible to capture "true" reality, tries to of Jean R o u ch -are obvious proof of this.
tum the cinema into a tool of scien tific o b ­ In C hron ique d'un ete, Rouch follows up an
servation, pure and simple, a machine for investigation of several people from several
recording behavior. Granted, the cinema different backgrounds. The in ten tion -to
can be a scientific tool -w ith in certain lim­ record these people "in their living reality"
itations. Fortunately, its conditions of exis­ is commendable, but what happens is that
tence prevent it from being this exclusively. this "approximation of truth" has nothing
When this is all it is, it is always to the to do with truth at all. Rouch goes into the
detriment of art. people's homes with a microphone and a
If the film is dealing with a dramatic ac­ camera; he questions them and, at the mo­
tion, then the supposed observation is merely ment they least expect it, he films them and
the illusion of objectivity: the audience ob­ is ingenuous enough to believe that he has
serves what it is meant to observe. However recorded them behaving "as they would in
objective it may appear, this art form in­ reality," whereas what he has done in fact
volves complete subjectivity. For which rea­ is make them react to circumstances which
son, the time and space of the drama must he has contrived for them. The very fact of
be respected and no obvious distortion or knowing that we are being observed, ques­
bias be allowed to intrude. However, it is an tioned and lined up in the viewfinder has
art just like any other. The more detailed the the effect of making us assume (more or
description of reality, the more the reality is less unconsciously) an attitu d e of what we
damaged. We may try to confer on it all the would like to be or what we think we a r e -
appearances of objective reality (which is all which has nothing whatever to do with
well and good) but to speak of observation what we are: bein g is replaced by acting.
in this context is to beg the question. Moreover, man is not an entity; his truth is
Moreover, when the film is a document made up of a series of multiple, contradic­
of life in the ra w -sin ce space must neces­ tory appearances. For us to capture a single
sarily be fragmented into various fields of individual in his true reality, we would
view - the view of the camera, guided by need an in visible camera filming him in his
the cameraman, cannot help but be an ar­ ev ery d ay surroundings for months on end.
bitrary view, an interpretation of reality. Anything else is self-delusion and all the
"True" reality cannot exist in a r t-a n y more delusory for the fact that it is gener­
more in the cinema than in other art forms. ally held to be true. In the example we have
152 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I N E MA

given, the actu al presen ce o f th e "a lie n " in­ as lo n g as it g ives the impression o f being
terview er w ou ld in itself b e en ou g h to alter true: fo r th is im p ression is all th at m atters.
the b eh av io r o f th e su b ject (even th o u g h a H ow ever, if w e b elieve that w e are captu r­
fam iliarity m igh t h a v e d eveloped b etw een in g "re a l" tru th w h en w e film in this way,
the su b ject and the in terview er). th en d ecid ed ly w e d elu d e ou rselves. This
T h e m a n w h o k n o w s h e is b e in g ob­ type o f film d oes n o t help m en to find them ­
served is recorded n o m ore ob jectively th an selves b u t, on th e contrary, to arrange them ­
is a p ath o f electrons w h en a b ea m o f lig h t selves w h en they m ost sin cerely believe
is projected o n to them thereby ch an g in g the th e y are revealin g them selves.
path. N ow here is this m ore evid en t than in W e can learn th e sa m e lesso n exactly
M oi, un noir. W e k n o w th a t after film in g the fro m an episod e in A n to n io n i's Amore in
life o f som e natives in N iger, d ow n-and - citta, a film w ith a su icid e them e fo r w hich
ou ts liv in g from h a n d to m o u th in Treich- the d irector u sed th e advice o f som e su rvi­
ville, a district o f A b id jan , Je a n R ou ch asked vo rs o f u n su ccessfu l suicides. But, in this
one o f them - R obinson - to com m en t freely case, A n ton ion i is p erfectly aw are o f how
on the im ages h e h ad p u t together. Now, a rb itrary h is them e is; as h e says,
this com m en tary (w h ich Jean P ou illo n and
Had I understood the complicated ex­
Je an C arta tak e fo r a "series o f thoughts
hibitionism of this type of suicide, I
ab ou t h im self and h is life, a grad ual aw ak­
would not have felt so bad about it. The
en in g o f co n scio u sn ess") is n o th in g m ore
majority were quite happy to have at­
th a n an attitude w h ich R ob in so n adopts tempted suicide and be in front of the
through h is ow n ju d g m e n t o f h is ow n ac­ camera talking about it. . . . They wanted
tions. H e grants th em the m ean in g h e would me to believe that they wished to die, that
like to see in t h e m - t h a t is all. W h a t M a rie they had done the same thing more than
C laire W u illeu m ie^ 1 ta k e s fo r an "a p p re n ­ once and that they considered themselves
ticeship to lu cid ity " is a good deal less lucid unlucky to have failed; moreover, that
an d a great d eal m ore con fu sed th a n she they were quite ready to try again were
they ever to find themselves in the same
thinks. R ob in so n did n o t "d isc o v e r som e­
situation again.
th in g d ifferen t w ith in h im se lf"; h e m ade
I am sure this is not the case. I ^ sure
him self, w ith th e b est intentions, into a peep
they were not telling the truth, that they
show . If h e changed , it w as n o t b y becoming were exaggerating for some unaccount­
som eon e else b u t b y actin g as th o u g h h e able reason of vanity or masochism. Such
w ere so m eo n e else and accep tin g his ow n cases are more to do with psychology
self-d elu sion, m ak in g h im self ou t to b e d if­ than ethics.22
ferent fro m th e p erso n h e actu ally w as, w ith
th e effect that th is "in te rio r" d ocu m en tary H e re also th e w ell-in ten tioned critics had
is ev en m ore m istak en ly objective than m ore sp o k en o f "re a l tru th cap tu red objectively
conventional d ocum entaries. The "tru th o f an d rig oro u sly w ith all the p recision of
testim o n y " is so elu sive th a t it slip s aw ay scien tific o b serv a tio n ." A n d scientific o b ­
ju st as w e w e hav e it in ou r grasp. It serv atio n there is w ith o u t a d ou bt, b u t for
w ould be w ron g to d en y th e u se fu ln e ss of a p sy ch o lo g ist or p sy ch iatrist, n o t a collec­
su ch investig ation s; ind eed , it is a p sy ch o­ tor o f "r e a l" tru ths, for then the tru th un der
logical test o f th e h ig h est possible value. ob servation is d ou bly cou nterfeited : first
A n d if w e consid er film from a strictly a es­ b y th e in d iv id u al being observed and sec­
th e tic p o in t o f view, it b ecom es im m aterial ond b y th e w ay the facts are reported -
w hether R ob in so n 's b eh av io r is tru e or false w h ich d oes n o t m e a n that th e film s are any
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 153

less interesting; th ey d o , how ever, illustrate ta in Jo se h a s b e e n cond em ned to sev eral

th e cru x o f th e problem . m o n th s in p rison fo r h is p art in a revolu­
Since an y "re co rd in g " o f reality is su b jec­ tion ary uprising. H e is to b e let ou t o n p a­
tive, it follow s th a t any m eth o d o f rep ortin g role. T h e seq u en ce in q u estio n sh ow s ^ m
it is also subjective. Fu rth erm ore (has it b een w a itin g to b e freed. W e see h im in his cell,
said o fte n enou gh?), w e ca n on ly cap tu re a g rab b in g hold o f the b ars and p eerin g ou t­
sin gle aspect, a sin gle featu re, a sin gle fleet­ side. N ow , this sam e m o v e m e n t-i.e ., this
in g m om ent, a sin gle "p h en o m e n o n from same image—is repeated ten tim es in succes­
the external w o rld ." T h e on ly m eans of sion, so th a t w e beco m e aw are o f a deeper
grasping "re a lity " - if on ly from the outside signficance th an the m ere fact o f Jo se 's ac­
- w it h o u t b ein g forced to m ak e an interpre­ tions: the idea o f im patience. T hu s one
tation (unless it b e our o w n - w h ic h is al­ m o vem ent, on its ow n, sy m bolically sum ­
w ays assum ed to b e objective and true) is m arizes all the others. B u t the aud ien ce is
to go in to the streets and look around ; to be supposed to see Jo se acting in h is cell. T h e
inside life and n o t insid e th e cin em a look in g concrete reality is th ereby d istorted and
at a w o rk o f art. E ven so, this v isu al freed om forced into an abstract representation w hich
is very lim ited : w e can see on ly w h a t is in sucks th e " life " out o f it and tu rns it into
front o f ou r e y es, a n d w e can n o t b e in p la ces n o th in g m ore than a sign. T h e freed om and
w h ere w e are not! T h e illu sion th a t reality sp on tan eity o f Jo se 's actions are violated.
can b e captu red in all its reality, in its d im en ­ T he au d ien ce sees actions worked out b y the
sions o f tim e and space, is a trap fo r th e u n ­ director, n o t actions experienced b y a char­
w ary; to claim th a t reality is com m u nicable acter w h o is n o m ore th an a robot.
through film is an exam p le o f eith er naivete H ow ev er, u sed subjectively, th e sam e
or self-delusion. ed itin g tech n iq u e w ould h av e b een p er­
A s C lau d e R oy so rig h tly p u t it, "T o re­ fe ctly acceptable. If w e had seen Jo se re­
create reality, th e coo p eratio n o f the im ­ membering p ast action s instead o f perform­
agination is required. T h e d ocu m en t (how ­ ing p resen t actions, w e m ig h t have b een
ever authen tic) is on ly a reflection. It is left able to id en tify th e m ech an ics o f the sy n ­
to the p o et to restore life itself (in th e orig ­ th esis w ith th e m ech an ics o f Jo se's m em ory
inal sense o f th e w ord ). . . . Poet, in the (precisely w h at Erm ler does in Fragment of
original s e n s e - t h e creator, th e F orce w h ose an Empire, also k n ow n as The M an Who Lost
in sigh t d iscovers the tru th m ore tru e than H is Memory). T h e film d escrib es th e grad ­
tru th ."23 u a l restoration o f the consciou sness o f a
Thus fu lfillin g th e lo g ic o f reality d oes R u ssian v eteran o f the F irst W orld W ar
n o t m ean ch o o sin g o n e m ethod o v er others w h o , w o u n d ed in th e h ead , recovers his
but, q u ite sim ply, m ak in g use o f all the m em ory som e ten years later as the conse­
m ethods available. To ap p reciate the rela­ q uence o f a series o f em otion al shocks. A s
tive m erits or dem erits o f a particular ed it­ he begins to m ak e sen se o f h is scattered,
ing techniqu e, w e hav e on ly to com pare confused, and fleeting im pressions, he re­
tw o film s w h ich u se th e sa m e techniqu e m em b ers th e events d u rin g w h ich h e was
w ith com pletely differen t results: The Ghost w ou nd ed . H e sees the trenches again, the
That Will N ot Return b y A b ra m R o o m an d w ar, the tan ks an d the fighting. But the re­
Fragment o f an Empire b y F ried rich E rm ler ality w h ich h e reconstructs does n o t con ­
(1927-28). fo rm w ith the reality h e h ad actu ally expe­
In the first, in w h ich th e action is se t in rien ced . N ot only d oes h e see h im self as a
a m ining d istrict in S o u th A m erica, a c e r­ so ld ie r in h is foxhole, b u t h e projects h im ­
154 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

self into the attitudes and behavior o f his As we have said, there are no good or
superior officers, into those of the com­ bad techniques—merely good or bad ways
manding officer of his detachment and of of using them. The same techniques are
the colonel of the battalion, of the German used in both the above films. In the first,
soldier he has to kill, and of the Prussian they are disastrous because they are against
officer in the trench opposite. To all intents the g rain ; in the second, they are effective
and appearances, conforming in every way because they are made to submit to the de­
with actual reality, he is physically and mands of the dramatic truth. In the first,
psychologically himself. Thus the mental where the action is su bordin ate to the idea,
representation takes priority over the ac­ they conceptualize and fix the reality; in
tual reality but in an entirely justified way. the second, the action is exploited for the
The symbolism of this sequence is in no purpose of d raw in g concepts from it with­
way forced on the true reality; it becomes out ever distorting the perceptual reality.
a substitute for it. However, it is justified We must agree with Andre Bazin in his
only because it is presented as a memory criticism of yet another incorrect use of ed­
and not as an objective representation. iting technique: "When the thematic struc­
When, later on, he becomes foreman in a ture of a particular scene depends on the
factory, the hero has reason to discipline a simultaneous presence of two or more el­
troublemaker; we see him running to over­ ements of the action, then montage is ruled
power the man. Now, when he launches out." Incidentally, instead of "elements of
himself at the criminal, we see in a short the action" we would prefer to say "frag­
montage a sequence of jumbled images n ot mentation into successive shots," a frag­
d irectly con nected with the fact being objec­ mentation which becomes a contradiction
tively reported: an explosion, a speeding in terms, as Bazin points out in a later pas­
fire engine, a motorboat, a running mob, a sage:
policeman directing traffic, a collapsing
house, a statue of Lenin, etc. A random col­ It is in no sense a matter of being
lection of images representing, in a few obliged to revert to the single-shot se­
flashes, the character's motivating ideas: quence to repudiate the expressive re­
danger, the consequences of an accident, sources or the possible benefits to be
gained from a change of shot. . . . When
quick movement, order, and strong will. Yet
Orson Welles shoots certain scenes in The
these images in no way signify the action;
Magnificent Ambersons from a single setup
they are not a substitute-they merely ex­ whereas, in Mr. Arkadin, he uses an ex­
plain it. It is as though we were in commu­ tremely truncated editing technique, it is
nication with the hero's confused thoughts merely a change of style which in no es­
at the very moment in which we see him act. sential way alters the subject matter. . . .
Of course, this mental representation is On the other hand, it would be hard to
quite arbitrary and, psythologically speak­ imagine the famous scene of the seal hunt
ing, of questionable value. It is merely a in Nanook different from the way it is,
symbolic representation which, though dis­ showing us in the same shot the hunter, the
pensable, nevertheless contributes a great hole, and then the seal. That the rest of the
film be truncated in any way the director
deal to the dramatic action by providing an
chooses is quite immaterial. It is necessary
aesthetically valid translation of the mental
only that the spatial unity of the scene be
reflexes and does not interrupt the rhythm. respected at a moment when to disturb it
Quite the contrary, in fact: it accentuates it would change the reality into a simple fic­
like contrapuntal harmony. titious representation.. . . In other words,
 RHYT HM AN D MONTAGE 155

all that is needed to restore the reality of in sep arate shots rath er th an a sin gle shot;
a narrative is for one of the shots, suitably in other w ords, that a "pseudo-reality"' m ust
chosen, to bring together those elements b e generated - w h ich is absolutely wrong.
previously split up by montage. (Qu'est-ce
It is a m istak e Bazin m akes quite fre­
que le cinema?)
quently. Yet it seem s th a t it is alw ays in bad
film s that Bazin search es fo r exam p les o f the
B ut no o n e d en ie s th a t the u n ity o f space sty listic traits h e w ishes to con d em n or den­
m u st b e respected. F ilm m ak ers o f an y igrate, so th a t in attem p tin g to point out the
w o rth , fa cin g th e p ro blem o f representation dem erits o f a p articu lar tech niqu e h e most
o f a concrete reality, h a v e alw ays ad opted often is criticizin g its m isrep resentations or
th e cou rse w h ich B azin ad vocates, h ow ever m isinterp retations. T hu s, w h ile h e cannot
m u ch th e y m ay try to su b m it th a t reality to b e fau lted in his criticism of th ese m isappli­
fragm entation. P ro o f o f th is ca n b e seen in cation s, h is g en eralizatio n s alm ost alw ays
th e short sequ ence from M other to w h ich cau se h im to d raw the w ron g conclu sions,
w e referred earlier (P ud ovkin being one o f lead ing ^ m to hold th e m ean s o f expression
those d irectors w h o carried th is ty p e of responsible fo r th e m isap p lication (the re­
fragm entation to its extrem e). B efore d iv id ­ su ltin g m isu n d erstan d in g s are endless!).
ing th is scen e in to a n u m b e r o f su ccessiv e W h a t b etter exam p le th an th e shot-reverse-
stages, h e to o k care to sh o w u s in the same shot tech n iqu e, w h ich invited h is b itter con-
shot th e m other, father, and clock ; in other d e ^ a t i o n ? In th e rare cases w h ere this
w ords, he "b lo c k e d " th e p rotag on ists (plot­ technique is used appropriately, B azin gives
ted the p o sition o f each elem en t o f th e scene h is seal o f approval; w h a t point is there,
relative to the others), th ereby d efin in g the th en, in in v eig h in g ag ain st th e technique?
sp ace o f the dram a an d th e lo catio n o f the W ould it n o t b e m o re to th e p o in t to use his
action, as Flaherty did in the episod e o f the invectiv e again st th o se w h o u se the tech ­
seal hunt. niqu e w ith n o rh y m e or reason? L ess sim ­
G ranted , the sequ en ce m ig h t h ave ple, p erhaps, b u t h ow m u ch m ore logical!
op ened w ith a d escrip tive sh ot (as in In a n y case, w e m u st b e carefu l n o t to
Mother), in w h ich case th e frag m en tatio n confuse real space (d ivided in to successive
w ould have b ee n m erely th e detailed b reak ­ cu ts or frag m en tatio n s) w ith p seu d o-reality
d ow n of an alread y established unity. Yet it manufactured b y ed itin g , sin ce e d itin g does
co u ld ju st as e a sily h a v e b ee n introd u ced n o t in fact create a n y k ind o f r e a li t y - i n -
afterward to b rin g together, in th e sam e ob­ deed is incapable o f d o in g so. It m erely cre­
jective space, a n u m ber o f d etails w h o se re­ ates relatio n sh ip s and determ ines ideas.
lationship up u n til th e n m ig h t h a v e b een T h is p se u d o -rea lity is o n ly a fictional repre­
on ly hyp o th etical due to the fa c t th a t the sentation (to b orro w B azin 's term inology).
m ontage had created a certain a m b ig u ity In d eed , th o u g h in lim itin g cases su ch as
th ro u g h the absen ce o f a spatial referent: a th e "m a n com m ittin g su icid e fro m th e Pont
techniqu e lend ing its e lf p erfectly to the d e l'A lm a ," th e reality is w ell and tru ly
crim e film or th e suspense film , in d e e d an y m an u factu red , the suggested idea is o f a
film w h ose purpose is to alarm , d istu rb , or sp ace no m o re a b stra ct than if d eta ils of the
su rp rise th e audience. sam e global sp ace had been ju xtaposed. It
H ow ever, B azin's rem ark s w ou ld lead us is a fiction al sp ace w h ose u n reality is the
to p resu m e th a t th e alm ost inevitable c o n ­ prod u ct o f ou r inability to relate these de­
seq u en ce o f th e m o n tag e p rin cip le is that tails to an ob jectiv ely d escribed place.
N anook, the seal, and the hole m u st b e film ed L o o k a g a in a t th e exam p le o f Nanook. We
156 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

saw the hunter, th e h ole, and th e seal in the - w h i c h is w h a t w e m ean t w h en w e stated

sam e fram e. W ith their resp ectiv e positions th a t "th e logic o f reality m u st b e fulfilled
in the fram e establish ed , w e are able to ex ­ b e fo re an y level o f signification is achiev­
am ine th em separately b eca u se th e sp atial ab le" (and p recisely so th at it m ay be guar­
relatio n sh ip s created b y ed itin g h a v e an au ­ anteed). This "p lottin g o f po sition " consists
tom atic referent in ou r m in d s: th e concrete essentially in stru ctu ring the space o f the
reality o f w h ich w e are already aw are. d ram a and con seq u en tly in com p osin g the
H ow ever, if w e had n e v e r seen N a n o o k , the im ag e - less, how ever, in the p lastic than in
h ole, and the seal in the same shot, then ou r the d y n am ic sense: in d istrib u tin g the
m en tal rep resen tatio n w o u ld b e fictional, fo rces in play accord in g th e d ram atic ac­
th e p ro d u ct o f nonobjectified relationsh ips: a tions and th eir associated significations.
sem io bjective, sem isu bjective pseudo-real­ It is clear th a t this org anization o f space
ity. A nd th e effect of co n stru ctin g a film in h a s n o th in g a t all to d o w ith the im p er­
this w a y is to lose tou ch w ith reality. The sonal ob jectiv ity w e m en tioned a w hile
elem ents in view m ay b e perfectly concrete, ago. Its apparent ob jectivity is m erely one
b u t th ey assum e the appearance o f ab strac­ w a y o f p erceiv in g the w orld . F ar from pre­
tion s. A s w e h av e said , th e d ev elop m en t o f cluding suggestion, it intensifies it, re in ­
ideas alw ays takes p lace to th e d etrim ent fo rcin g it w ith concrete facts. The idea
o f the v isu al data d ep rived o f all liv in g co n ­ w h ich w e in fer fro m the sig h t o f N anook
tent an d divorced from perceptual reality on h is ow n , tu g g in g a t h is fish in g line, is
an d fro m the associatio n s o f w h at they in ten sified b y th e fa c t th a t w e h a v e already
m igh t becom e. seen N an oo k actually stru g g lin g w ith the
In a n o th er lim itin g case (Nuremberg 1936 seal in a real space. A n d th e detail shots in
-Berlin 1945), th e sp ace-tim e relatio nsh ip is M other ow e th e ir in ten sity p u re ly a n d sim ­
p u re abstraction. H ow ever, the h u g e gap p ly to th e fact th a t th e y are d ev elop in g and
b etw een th e tw o events is p erceiv ed as an b u ild in g a scene w hose concrete data have
ellipsis. In th e p seu d o-reality produced b y b een p resen ted to us fro m th e outset. It is
th e m o n tag e o f n e w s events, it is n o t sp a ce ­ alw ays a m atter o f a n aly zin g or suggestin g
tim e w h ich is im ag in ary b u t th e seco nd ary u sin g a p reviou sly d escribed scen e as a
reality (this is n o t im p ortan t, how ever, basis rath er th a n th e constru ction o f a ficti­
since the p u rp o se o f film s su ch as this is to tious reality w h ich (at th e risk o f seem in g
p rovoke ideas, n o t rep resent actu al reality). repetitious) is n o t th e p u rp ose o f m ontage.
To s u m up: the im p ression o f au th en tic T h e sam e m ig h t b e said o f the O dessa
reality d oes n o t d ep en d on an e ffe ct o f e d ­ Steps seq u en ce and o f E isen stein 's sign-im -
itin g or n on ed itin g an y m ore th an on the ages, w h ich become signs and genuinely
feelin g of tim e or sp ace p ro d u ced b y m ore sig n ify on ly insofar as th ey are integrated
or less su bjective stru ctures. It is essen tially into a substantiated reality.
a m atter of p lo ttin g th e re la tiv e p o sitio n s o f T h e fact rem ain s th a t in th e cinem a the
each character in th e dram a. It is n o t a q u e s­ affective pow er o f suggestion is alw ays
tion o f im ag in in g th ese re la tio n sh ip s b u t of greater th a n th a t o f d escrip tion . S u ch is the
recording th em and th erefore o f rev ealin g case in th e last im age o f All Quiet on the
th e m -d e scrib in g th em , n o t suggestin g Western Front, w h ere w e are show n the hero
th e m (su ggestion b e in g m a in ly concerned try in g to catch a b u tterfly restin g on the
w ith th e com m u n ication o f ideas, n o t facts. edge o f h is trench. H e craw ls from the sh el­
N o valid su ggestion can e x ist w ith o u t rely ­ ter o f th e tren ch an d stretches ou t h is arm.
ing o n facts objectively recorded b eforehan d A closeu p isolates h is han d as it m oves to­
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 157

w ard the insect. S u d d en ly it conv u lses, ception in the greatest possible complete­
op en s, and flops b a c k m otionless. E v ery ­ ness, to communicating them with "that
o n e can tell th a t h e h a s ju s t b een killed . power of physical truth" which was im­
We co u ld ju s t as easily h a v e seen th e lieu ­ posed on the author during the creative
process, at the moment of his creative vi­
te n a n t actu ally sh ot, b ee n ab le to observe
sion. . . . This method has one more
th e fact ob jectively; y et (com in g b a c k to
strength in that it draws the audience into
Eisenstein) th rou g h the allusion o f th e im ­
an act of creation during which his per­
ages w e d o n o t register th e fa ct th a t the sonality is not in the least dominated by
lieutenant h as b een killed : w e react to the that of the author but fully develops fus­
fact through th e m ed iu m in w h ich it is p re­ ing itself with the conception of the au­
sen ted to us. th an y e v e n t, th o u g h w e are thor. . . . The image is the one intended
m oved far m ore b y w h a t w e im a g in e than and created by the author, recreated by
b y w h at w e see, the im ag in atio n has to rely the creative will of the audience.
on tangible facts; it can never op erate in d e­
pendently. Su ggestion is m e re ly o n e w ay of T h is view is supported b y B ergson in his
com m u nicating w h a t m ig h t h av e b ee n re­ rem arks con cern in g th e cond itions n eces­
vealed directly. A n d th e im age from A ll sary fo r th e w o rk o f art: arran g in g it so that
Q u iet on th e W estern F ro n t d eriv es its v alu e th e a u d ien ce's point o f view coincides w ith
as a signifier entirely fro m the fact th a t w e th a t o f th e author, eliciting its com plete at­
h av e seen p reviou s scen es w h ich en able us ten tion in a k in d o f ecstatic com m union
to appreciate th e relatio n sh ip s b etw een the after w h ich it "a cce p ts th e concept sug­
various ch aracters in the dram a. gested to it an d sym pathizes w ith the feel­
E lsew here in N otes o f a F ilm D irector, in g s contained in th e exp ressio n ."
E isenstein has this to say: T h o u g h th is su b m ission o f s e lf is, as w e
have said , the antith esis o f self-abnegation
From the point of view of its dyna­ an d is m erely an ov erw h elm in g sense of
mism, the work of art is a process causing p erfection , a state in w hich the effect of
the formation of images in the audience's stru ctu rin g these associations, these ideas,
senses and intelligence. This is the essence
coincid es w ith th a t o f aban donin g our-
of the truly living work of art, distinguish­
s e lv e s - w h ic h is E isen stein 's t h e s is -s o m e
ing it from stillborn works which commu­
critics have seen in this an aesthetic of d om ­
nicate to the consciousness of the audi­
ence the represented effects of a creative in atio n and m agic, an art w h ich precludes
process which has run its course, instead all ob jectivity an d critical exam in ation and
of involving it in the process as it takes w h ose absolutism presenting on ly one
p lace.. . . The strength of montage lies in m ean in g to the represented reality obstructs
that the emotions and reason of the audi­ the a u d ien ce's rig h t to ch oo se freely from
ence are included in the creative process. the am b ig u ity o f the w orld and its objects.
The audience is forced to follow the road T his so rt o f criticism , leveled m o st p ar­
which the author followed in creating the ticu larly b y A n d re B azin, has a sou n d basis.
image. The audience not only sees the el­
It is associated in a sen se w ith th e ideas o f
ements of the representation; it also expe­
alien ation introd u ced b y B erth o ld Brecht
riences the dynamic process of the emer­
gence and formation of the image as it in to th e th eater and find ing its resolution
was experienced by the author. This is in th e d ram atic use o f d epth-of-field as ap­
probably the highest degree of approxi­ plied b y O rson W elles. Suffice it to say, for
mation there is to communicating to the the m om ent, th at this criticism is ju stified
audience the author's sensations and con­ and accep tab le on ly in so fa r as it is n ot used
158 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

d og m atically and d oes n o t claim to replace to act as a m irror b etw een th e universe an d
an old aesthetic p rin cip le w ith a n ew one, m e, w h ereas p rev iou sly it h ad acted as a
since this com p ariso n is m erely a precise screen. T h e au th or is less in terestin g to m e
definition o f tw o equ ally v iable aesth etic than his ch aracters, w h ich is w h y he m u st
p rin cip les (tw o cod es o f s t y l e - t o b e m ore asp ire to th e greatest possible objectivity
accurate) w ith tw o com p letely sep arate and p resen t h is characters as they are in the
purposes. w o rld , tak in g care n o t to reveal him self ex­
The contrast b etw een th e tw o un d erlines cep t through them .
(as if it w ere necessary) the fo rm al d iffer­ W e c a n illu strate th e fo rm al difference
ences existin g in film tech n iq u es b etw een betw een th ese tw o techniques w ith a very
w h at in the cinem a are th e equ iv alents o f sim p le exam p le. Im ag in e that P eter is sit­
th e lan gu age o f p o e try and the lan g u ag e of tin g at his d esk ; h e is w riting. Su d d en ly he
the nov el. A ll th e evidence po in ts to the fact lo o k s up and b eg in s to stare in to space. He
th at the rules g ov ern in g each are n o t the is d aydream in g. Yet h is eyes m ust necessar­
sam e. W hatever the con ten t o f h is prose, ily b e restin g on som ething , so he is look ing
th e n o v elist strives to retire beh in d h is ch a r­ a t - b u t n o t seein g - the lam p to one sid e of
acters and b eh in d th e ap p arent au then ticity th e desk.
w h ich all h is creative efforts hav e a t­ If I sh o w this scen e in a sh o t close
tem pted to create or recreate. O n th e oth er enou gh fo r P eter, the ob ject o f ou r interest,
h an d , the p o et expresses h im self directly: to hav e an im p ortan t place in the fram e b u t
with facte instead o f through facts. The w id e en ou g h to in clu d e all th e d ifferen t ob­
w orld is his p o etic oyster. In stead o f p u t­ jects arranged around him (a m ed iu m shot,
tin g h im self at th e service o f the w orld , h e fo r in stan ce), the audience w ill understand
exp loits it. H e uses it as a p rim ary m aterial perfectly that thou g h P eter is looking at the
to b e re h ash ed and served up in a d ifferent lam p, h e could ju s t as easily b e looking at
form . H e tran sform s and therefore directs his telep h o n e or h is p ip e - or indeed any­
and orders: h e organizes. W h at h e reveals thing. T h e act of lo o k in g is represented in
to m e is his vision o f the w orld and n o t an its con crete p sy ch olog ical reality, according
objective reality. A n d in th is context, w h at to its ch aracteristic free w ill, w h at w e
interests m e th e au d ien ce is n o t so m u ch w ou ld ca ll p sy ch o lo g ical realism , th e style
w h at h e show s m e b u t th e v e ry personal o f th e n ov el or story. T he au th or allow s his
w ay in w h ich h e does it, w h ich g ives m e ch aracter a certain latitud e. H e w atches
direct insight into h im ; I a m able to sy m p a- h im living, w hile rem ain in g outside.
t h i z e - o r even r e je c t - h i s id eas and his If, on-the o th er h a n d , I w ere to represent
w ay o f seeing the world: th e th in g s h e sees the scen e as follow s: (a) Closeup. Peter, sit­
are of secondary im portance. A n d , as w e ting a t his d esk , is w riting. T h en h e looks
shall see fu rther on, th is is th e on ly w ay up w ith a faraw ay lo o k in h is ey es, w hich
th a t the cin em a can b e u sed in a genuinely m ove to the rig h t w ith o u t seem ing to fix on
subjective sen se , w ith th e su b ject as th e art­ an y p a rticu la r object. O f cou rse, w e are not
ist and the "r e a lity " a co n sta n t ob jectifica­ able to see w hat h e is lo o k in g at; th e objects
tion o f his thou ghts. o n h is desk are ou t o f sh ot; (b) Extreme
C onversely, in n arrativ e art, th o u g h the closeup. T h e lam p stan d in g o n the edge of
style o f the n arrator is im p ortan t, w hat h is desk.
cou nts above all is w h at h e show s m e, w hat In th is case, th e la m p is implied in his
h e com m unicates to m e in the most direct lo o k Peter n o longer h as an y freedom of
way possible. T h e fo rm of the n arrativ e seeks action o r free will. T h e on ly th in g h e can
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 159

s e e is the lam p w h ich I am presenting fo r p re sse d ." A n d this is n o t beyon d ene

h im to see. It is I, th e author, exp ressin g b o u n d s o f p o ssibility so lo n g as w e m ean
m yself, d irectin g th e action b y m ak in g re­ aesthetics in th e w idest sense. H ow ever,
ality conform to a certain exp ressiv e p u r­ sin ce the w ay o f say in g som eth in g is a l­
pose. I am n o t con trad ictin g th e au then tic w ay s p a rt o f w h a t it says, it w o u ld b e im ­
fact; I am not, exactly sp eak ing , m isrep re­ p o ssible to fo rm u late an aesthetic principle
sen ting it; I am exp loitin g it, in terp retin g it, ap p rop riate to all fo rm s and all contents.
th ereb y fo rcin g ene au d ien ce to see w ith T hu s film aesenetics is really concerned
m e, like m e, in a w ay d ictated b y me. W ith w ith d efining the reasons w h y one form is
the lamp b eco m in g , enanks to m e, th e d irect better th an an oth er because o f a particular
co m p lem en t o f P e te r's view , ene aud ience con ten t or a p articu lar intention; in other
is no lon ger able to b eliev e th a t P eter might w ords, w ith determ ining the psychological
p o ten tially be capable o f seeing som eth in g b ases w h ich ju stify these fo rm s in particu­
else sin ce, lik e Peter, it is capable on ly of lar g iv en circum stances.
seein g ene lam p. T hu s I b eco m e th e creative U p to now , w e h a v e look ed a t the types
Force, th e ly ric or ep ic p o et p raisin g , red e­ o f ed itin g w h ich in one w ay or another ex­
fining, tran sform ing, exag g eratin g : I order p lo it th e ju x ta p o sitio n (or collage) o f fixed
re a lity m o re th a n present it; I p re sen t it as I shots. B efore w e pass on to cam era m ove­
intend p e o p le to see it. It is w ell an d tru ly m ents, w e sh ou ld point ou t certain psycho­
an art o f d om in ation , y e t th e au d ien ce is lo g ical ph enom ena relatin g to th e percep­
w illing to accede to it all th e m ore easily tio n o f d iscontinuous elem ents.
th a t it kn o w s I a m co m m u n ica tin g my v i­ "In th e cin em a ," a s A lb ert L affay says,
sio n and n o t the w orld itself. "p erm a n en ce is in to lera b le."
N eed less to say, enese are p u re form s an d
there is n oth in g to p reven t th em , if need We must leap constantly from one
arises, fro m b ein g alternated or m ixed up viewpoint to the next, from one scale of
d uring the cou rse of th e film . H ow ever, for size to the next. And yet this is still not
E isenstein, only ene ly ric form h as m ean in g enough. Once the angles and distances
have been altered a certain number of
or com m unicates active p o w er, w h ich is
times, like it or not the object has to
w h y h is aesenetic p rin cip les are re a lly n o th ­
change and the scene has to be shifted___
ing m ore than statem ents o f h is sty listic s—
And yet, why should the audience,
w h ich h a v e obviou s relevan ce b u t could which, in the theater, is quite happy sit­
n ever claim to co n ta in all p o ssib le form s of ting in one place in front of the same un­
film expression. A s m u ch m ig h t b e said for changing perspective, wish to sprout
the fo rm o f the novel w ith w h ich certain wings in the cinema. . . . Doubtless be­
contem p orary critics hav e tried to alig n cause of the fact that since objects pro­
p resen t and fu tu re v isu al d ialectics; an d it jected onto the screen are not really there,
is a tru ism th at in th e cin em a m o st theorists for us to believe (or half-believe) in them,
h ave based their th eories o n p reju d ices and they must be constantly changing or con­
stantly being replaced. . . . That is one
taboos as thou gh, in literatu re, th e style of
way of saying that the cinema is incapable
P rou st can n o t b e praised w ith o u t co n d em n ­
of stopping to underline or articulate the
ing that o f P e g u y —and vice versa.
associations of a world. Because of the
H ow conv enien t it w ou ld b e to s a y - very inadequacies of the objects it reveals
p arap h rasin g th e d efinition s o f lo g ic —that to our eyes, through constant transposi­
aesthetics "is n o t concerned wien content tion, it inevitably describes a definite
b u t w ith the w ay in w h ich con ten t is ex­ structure in which each object is what it
160 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

is by virtue o f the limitations imposed on d iscon tinu ity in editing appear in norm al
it by all the others-specifically, the limi­ p ercep tion as one and the sam e thing. As
tation of its place.24 R en e Z azzo p o in ts ou t so rightly, "em p iri­
cally, th e cam era h as d iscovered a mobility,
A p ossible resp o n se to th e se su b tle o b ­
th a t o f p sy ch o lo g ical v is io n " (N iveau m ental
servation s (in w h ich , in ou r op inion, the
et com prehension du cinem a).
author h as b een ov erzealou s in d ism issin g
W e k n o w th a t ou r m ind is in cap able of
th e effect o f sh ot ch a n g e s on th e fictional
con cen tratin g w ith o u t a b reak on a single
nature o f th e represented objects) m ig h t be object. O ur atten tion relaxes and becom es
th at if th e au d ien ce in the theater accep ts confused. A n d th o u g h in everyd ay life w e
th e u n ity o f th e p o in t o f view , it is becau se m ay h av e th e im p ression o f total constan t
th e th e a te r d ep en d s less o n fa cts th a n on
p ercep tion , it is on ly because w e are at the
w ord s, b ecau se sp eech is the m a in signifier,
center o f a h o m o g en eo u s con tin u u m and
and b ecau se verbal m obility, actin g as a
b ecau se a t an y m om en t w e are capable of
substitute fo r a ctio n and d escribin g the
con cen tratin g u p on a specific featu re o f ou r
p sych ological m o bility o f th e characters,
surrou ndings. Yet th o u g h th e act o f p er­
tran sform s th e im m ob ility o f th e rep re­ ceiv in g is co n tin u o u s, th e ob ject o f our p er­
sen ted scen es and th e im m ob ility o f the
cep tion is d iscon tinu ou s; th e sou rce o f our
a u d ien ce's eyes. W hereas in th e cinem a
freq u en t con fu sion is th a t th e con tin u ity of
(even in talkies) w ord s are o f less im p o r­ perception is related to perceived objects
tan ce th a n actions and action s m u st b e fo l­ w h ose associatio n s, at that m o m en t u n d er­
low ed in th eir co n sta n t m obility.
stood as ob jective, are in fact (not ju st in our
A s regard s m o vem en t, Je a n E p stein 's re­
m em ories b u t also in the present) recon­
m ark s w o u ld seem to b e nearer th e m ark:
stru cted and con tin u ally differentiated.
If I m o ve w ith in a p articu lar p lace, a
In our normal world of all-too-stable street fo r in stan ce, I h a v e th e con stan t im ­
solids, m ovem ent-because it is a rela­ p ressio n th a t I a m seeing every th in g ; and it
tively infrequent occurrence and, gener­ is tru e that I have a n ov erall view o f events
ally speaking, with a weak e ffe c t-
happening before m y eyes; b u t I a m seeing
appears distinct from the form in which
them , as it w ere, unconsciously. T here m u st
it only intermittently occurs and without
b e som eth in g ou t o f th e ordinary to attract
ever succeeding visibly in distorting it. By
contrast, in film representation, move­ m y atten tion in order th at I m ay actu ally see
ment appears to be intrinsic to form; it is each ev en t in turn. T h u s b y sh iftin g m y at­
form and it makes form, its form. Thereby ten tion su ccessiv ely from o n e d etail to an ­
a new empiricism - t h a t of the cinema - other, I see th o se d etails w hiTh seem to m e
requires the fusion of two first principles: essen tial: and it is th ese attention shifts,
that of form and that of movement, whose these fragm entary v isio n s, w h ich m ake up
separation, until now, presented im­ m y global vision o f th e street. In recollection
plicitly as an a priori fact, indispensable it is th ese details and th ey alone w h ich
to the whole science of physics. The sp rin g to m in d , ev ok in g for m e the d istin c­
filmmaker considers form merely as the
tive featu res o f the street, w h ich th en b e­
form of a movement. (Le Cinema du diable)
com e th e id ea I fo rm o f it. G lob al v isio n ts
th e e ffe ct o f a su ccessio n o f essential aspects
B ut o f p aram ou n t im p ortance (and an c h o sen b y ou r m em ories in the sam e w ay
aspect n eglected b y a great m an y th eoreti­ as, in th e p resen t, it is th e effect o f a sequ ence
cians) is the fact th at sh o t m o vem en t and o f im pressions gathered hap hazard ly b y
 RH YTHM A N D MONTAGE 161

our p artially atten tive p ercep tion . T h e sam e also th e film fram e break s up the tran sition
p h enom eno n p ertain s in o u r p ercep tion of from sh ot to sh ot as it severs th e con n ection
duration. A s Jean-P ierre C h artier points out, b etw ee n w h at is represented and the rest of
th e field o f view from w h ich it has b een
just as we feel we are seeing the whole of ch osen . T o u se M . M ich o tte's expression,
our environment, whereas we are per­ fro m o n e sh o t to th e n e x t th ere is a k ind
ceiving certain essential features, so we o f in stan tan eo u s "d isap p earan ce-creatio n ."
think we are aware of the complete dura­ A n d as H en ri W allon indicates, " it c a n b e
tion in what we observe, whereas we can sa id th a t in all th e techniqu es o f the cin­
only be aware of essential moments from em a - c o n t r a r y to w h at occurs in our p er­
which we construct a duration (of the ob­ cep tio n (w h ere every th in g is gradual,
jects) to which we attribute the continuity
w h ere everything depends on ou r m oving)
of our awareness. We can see examples of
- there are sh ock effe cts" (L'Acte perceptif et
this in our everyday lives: I leave a friend
le cinema).
and start to make my way home follow­
ing a familiar route; I climb the stairs and M oreover, in n o rm a l p ercep tion w e are
open my door. Between the time I leave n o t a w are o f this frag m en tatio n becau se it
my friend and the time I open the door, I com es from us, from ou r situ ation in the
will not have been particularly conscious w orld. In the cinem a, on the other hand, it
of my surroundings. I retain only the im­ com es to us from the ou tsid e: it is the
ages of my friend and my arrival. In the film m ak er m ak in g th e shifts of attention on
narrative convention of the cinema, the ou r b eh alf, d ecod ing reality fo r us. A nd
two images are merely juxtaposed and th o u g h in large p a rt the pu rp o se of the cin­
the intervening stage removed. The audi­
em a is "to g iv e us th e illusion th a t w e are
ence of a film feels that it is experiencing
p resen t in real scenes tak in g place before us
the narrative; it places the essential mo­
like ev ery d ay re a lities" (B azin), its fu nction
ments which the shot sequence presents
to it in a continuous duration, with the is to replace life as w e see and perceive it
help of the same movement which allows w ith a m o re in ten se and th erefore m ore
it to situate, within an actual duration, the d en se life. B y retaining only selected m o­
real world of which it gradually becomes m en ts, con d en sin g space and tim e, film im ­
conscious throughout the discontinuous p o ses on us a visio n o f th e w orld organized
shifts of his attention. (Art et realite du tow ard a certain signification . To try to di­
cinema) v est th e cinem a o f this necessary and inev­
itable su b jectivity is to ignore its tru e natu re
Thu s film sh ots create, sim ply b y their or even d en y its valu e as art.
juxtaposition, an idea o f space and an idea Yet if th e se sh o ck effe cts ex ist, w e m ay
o f tim e. Y et this fictional con tin u u m is a hav e reason to w ond er, as Cohen-Seat sug­
concrete fiction sim ila r in e v e ry resp ect to gests, "h o w the audience can accept w ith­
real space and tim e w h ich is the effect of ou t apparent d istress su ch p rofou nd shocks
a p erm an en t c o n c e p tu a liz a tio n -o n ly th e to its p ercep tu al sy stem - w h e t h e r or n ot it
fragm en tary featu res p resen ted th rou g h is already u sed to it" (Problemes du cinema).
our perceptual field h a v in g actual concrete In o u r view , this shock is less re a l th a n ap­
validity. p aren t, particu larly sin ce it appears only
A n d yet d iscon tinu ity in ed itin g is m ore after d etailed exam in ation during w h ich it
su d d en than in real life, w h ere th e p a rticu ­ becom es overlooked th a t the perception of
lar m om en ts o f attention are b len d ed into the film im age can occu r only in p articu lar
the m ore or less g eneral im pression. H ere cond itions, i.e., total darkness. Because
162 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

n oth in g can b e p erceiv ed bey on d it, the passed b y the shots) and the u n ity o f the
im age is n o t d etached from anything. So, at space in th e field o f vision. In other w ords,
least, it w ou ld appear. Su ccessiv e m om en ts w e perceive th e same space accord ing to
o f attention blended into an absence o f per­ con stan tly d ifferentiated d ata or, to be
cep tion replace the su ccessiv e m o m en ts of m ore p recise, w e p erceiv e variab le data
atten tion b len d ed into a vague perception. w h ich enable us to recognize the sam e space
It w ill b e argu ed th a t b ecau se th e y are and it is ou r perceptu al co n sta n ts w hich
n o t com p en sated b y a n y other (even u n ­ restore the b alan ce. If, as P iag et assures us,
conscious) percep tion, sh ot ch ang es are felt these con stan ts are the p rod u ct o f a p er­
even m ore violently. Yet this is on e o f the ceptu al activ ity alread y closely conn ected
effects o f p sy ch olog y u p on w h ich ed iting w ith intellectu al com p ositio n s, it is obvi­
is based . If the sh o ck effect d id n o t exist, it ou s th a t sp a tia l u n ity can b e found on ly at
w ould n ot b e possible to m ak e th is k in d of the lev el o f th e in tellect an d that th e pro­
contrast. The (aesthetic) tru th is th at a cess itself p resu p p oses a certain w a y of
s h o c k from o n e s h o t to th e n e x t m u st not thin king. R. Z a z z o 's tests have show n to
b e felt as such. It m u st com ply w ith the w hat extent ch ild ren can be confused by
expressiv e need s and thu s b e felt as a co l­ these differences o f form an d h o w difficult,
lision o f represented effects, ob jects, or ac­ even som etim es im p ossible, it is for them
tions. It is ju stified in this w ay , as an to recog n ize the sam e d esign presented
em otion al sh ock , th ro u g h the em otion it under different cond itions. H ow ever, this
aim s to express. state o f m in d (w hose various stages have
W ithin the d iscon tinu ou s seq u en ce o f b ee n so ad m irab ly w ell d ocu m en ted b y
film shots, there is n o d iscon tin u ity o f e i­ P iag et) is n o t found in cu ltu red a d u l t s -
th e r space, m o v e m e n t, or action - m erely of o n ly in ch ild ren (or p rim itive people).
p o in t o f view. T h e cu ttin g fro m one sh ot to E ven s o , it is all too apparent that the
another restores the con tin u ity o f th e a c­ e d itin g o f a series o f fixed shots establishes
tio n s and reestablish es th e sp atial unity. a feeling o f continuity b u t is un able, un lik e
A n d in c u ttin g fro m o n e location to an other m o v in g shots, to create the sensation o f the
or one tim e seq u en ce to anoth er, ou r atten ­ con tin u ou s, since this sensation is recon­
tion, guided b y the story lin e an d th e d ia­ structed in tellectu ally and not perceived as
lectic o f th e n arra tiv e, find s n o d ifficu lty in su ch - w h ich m ean s th a t reality appears as
red isco v erin g th e u n ity o f a w orld tem p o­ th o u g h it w e re an idea or a m em ory; or, to
rarily d isunited. p u t it an oth er way, it a p p ea rs restructured.
We m en tion ed p rev iou sly th at in sh ot W hence.the im p ressio n o f a read y -m ad e re­
relationsh ips th ere is n o t one b u t several ality, a k in d o f presentfication rath er th an a
spaces. B y w h ich w e m ean t (an d it m ust p re se n t ta k in g p lace and therefore o f a
have b een quite obviou s to th e reader) that w o rld tran scen d in g the im m ediate exp eri­
w hereas space in the theater n ev er ence. O n the other h and , th e m o vin g cam ­
changes, in the cin em a each shot involves era provides, as w e shall see fu rth er on, the
its own representation, that is, the p oint of fe e lin g o f a p resen t in action, g iv in g us the
view and specific dimension created b y the feelin g that w e m ig h t be able to hav e an
relationsh ips b etw een th e represented effect o n the w orld or, at least, p la y a part
space and the in variable fram e lines. The in a lterin g its potentiality.
"m od u lation o f sp a ce " is nothing m ore O f cou rse, co n tin u ity in film can n o t be
than a constant in teractio n o f the d im en ­ created in the a u d ien ce's m in d except by
sional variety o f the sh ots (or area en co m ­ direct appeal to its m em o ry facu lty (w ith­
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 163

o u t w h ich it w o u ld n o t b e p o ssib le fo r it to changes of sequence or shot become part

have an y perception w h a t e v e r - n o t ev en of the development of a single situation.
of the sim p lest m ovem en t). W e k n o w th a t They suggest an analytical vision, the rev­
visio n in th e cinem a (m ovin g p ictures) can elation of one through another of the mul­
tiple aspects of a reality. The various shots
b e exp lained o n ly b y the persistence of im ­
are just so many points of view in the con­
ages on the retina or, m ore exactly, the p er­
tinuity of a unique sequence and time.
sisten ce of v isu al im p ressio n s on the cortex
Editing cleverly exploits and appeals to
o f the brain, a kin d o f sh o rt circu it (called our expectation by introducing the ambi­
th e p h i p henom enon) in v olv in g ou r im ­ tion or desire to the object round and
m ed iate m em ory, as W ertheim er, D avid round. The change of shot merely con­
K atz, and K o rte d em on strated b etw een firms or fulfills this need. . . . Changing
1912 and 1915. "W h a t film gives u s," as the camera axis and changing the shot
H enri W allon in d icates, give us the equivalent of a voluntary
change of point of view and, by giving it
a form, flesh out a vague attitude on the
is a successive series of images relating to
part of the audience. This is how the au­
the same object, images which we must
dience accepts the discontinuity of film
follow one by one in the order they are
time. (Problemes du cinema)
presented to us and which we must inte­
grate in order to create the representation
of the object from all its aspects, the rep­ Yet, th o u g h th e effe cts o f ed itin g are
resentation of a location from all its angles based on perceptual p h enom en a, it is clear
or the representation of a person from all th a t th e order o f the editing, in d eed the ed­
points of view. However, the succession itin g itself, d em onstrates an obviou s inten-
of images is the succession of specific im­ tionality w h ich puts it in the realm of
ages which we must register and weld aesthetics. E d itin g is alw ays th e produ ct of
together using our memory - our intellec­ a seq u en ce o f scen es organ ized in such a
tual memory, no doubt, but memory w a y th a t their d ev elop m en t b eco m es in te­
nonetheless. We must not lose track of the
grated in to a form al narrative. T hu s ou r p er­
images because it is on their succession
cep tu al exp ectation m u st b e fru strated b y
that the representation of the object, the
th e f i l ^ ^ k e r in order th a t th e elem en t of
identification of the location and charac­
ters and our understanding of the scenes surprise m a y co n stan tly k eep us a t the alert
depend. (L'Acte perceptifet le cinema) as a n aud ien ce. C ohen -Seat p o in ts out,

the point of view chosen to capture the

A s for ou r "p ercep tu a l exp e cta tio n ," sequence of the action is therefore the one
w hich, accord in g to H en ri P iero n , d irects with the greatest power of "revelation,"
th e w a y w e act b u t p resu p p oses a certain the one most capable of maintaining the
p erm anence o f things, it can n o t b e h eld in interaction of shock effects and, at the
suspense b y the con tin u ity o f the film , same time, the continuous tension of the
w h ose changes o f event are co n stan tly v a r­ dialectic. It is the perspective which in a
ied and unexpected . A t a p in ch it can be real situation may be disregarded or may
disappear and at the same time the per­
fo llo w ed fo r th e d u ratio n o f th e sequ ence,
spective which the audience finds diffi­
d uration th e n d escribin g h om og eneou s
culty in anticipating because it is not even
time. B ut as C o h en -S eat p o in ts ou t so
aware of its existence. (Ibid.)
rightly,
th fact, the sh o t m u st n e v e ra n ticip a te the
insofar as film signifies something, the action. Su p p ose, fo r instance, a cafe interior
164 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

with a table and two empty chairs in the mobility become potential for an aesthetic
foreground and suppose, some time later, a system, a language.
couple (whom we have been expecting) This means that there can be no discon­
enter the scene and sit down in the fore­ tinuity in "film time." Discontinuity can
ground, the mistake is obvious. It is tanta­ exist only at the level of the image, i.e., at
mount to saying, "Look, this is where they the level of the directly perceived forms, not
come in." If the audience is able to anticipate the narrative structure. The near impossibil­
the action, it means that the filmmaker is ity for perceptual expectation to exist is due
leading the events. It betrays his presence to this discontinuity of forms of the repre­
(which we should be able to ignore) and de­ sentation and not to a pseudo-discontinuity
stroys the feeling which otherwise enables of the represented. It is also connected with
us to believe in what is being represented. the fact that the audience, through the
Thus shot changes must be dictated by the power of objects, can never dominate the
action or by the movements of the charac­ scenes presented to it, since the director's
ters. In this case it is the couple's entrance art consists in making the scenes dominate
into the cafe. The field of view taking in the the audience.
table and the empty chairs must be dictated It would be wrong, however, to assume
by their movements. Then and only then that in the cinema there is no perceptual
can the camera move closer to them to film expectation. Quite the contrary. However,
them in medium shot or closeup. it reveals itself differently from the way it
It is obvious that though they are dic­ does in reality, where the individual "cen­
tated and justified in this way, shot changes tered in the world" is master of his actions.
must fulfill the requirements of the drama. We have seen that audience participation is
In The Shadow o f a Doubt, when the young never more than an imaginary involve­
girl comes down the stairs holding onto the ment, the projection of an imaginary self.
banisters, though a closeup suddenly breaks Let us review all this in the light of percep­
the continuity of the movement to draw at­ tual expectation.
tention to the ring on her finger, it is clearly As we saw, perceptual expectation pre­
so as to emphasize the particular detail but supposes the capacity to move about. B u t -
also and more especially to show that her bearing in mind Weizsacker's refutation of
uncle has suddenly noticed the ring (which the classical division of sensory stimuli and
had belonged to one of the victims of the motor responses -th o u g h it is not possible
psychopath on the run from the police). All to make an arbitrary distinction between
of a sudden the audience understands for motor phenomena and perceptual phe­
him and at the same time, identifying psy­ nomena, the association of a reflex move­
chologically with Uncle Charlie, under­ ment with a perception cannot effectively be
stands that he sees that she has also made except in terms of a specific need.
understood. In other words, the shot According to Piaget, the stimuli-response
changes are associated and identified with relationship constitutes a general pattern
psychological movements relating to the linked to a signification and not a simple
characters in the drama or are determined automatic association. The response be­
by the audience's interest generated by the comes stable after several trial attempts and
drama; once this has occurred, the fact that to the extent that it is reinforced by the re­
they are imposed becomes irrelevant, since peated fulfillment of the need which guides
they coincide with the audience's attention. and justifies it. It expresses the assimilation
Thus perceptual discontinuity and visual of the perceived data with an organized
 R H Y T H M A N D M O N TA G E 165

pattern. In th e cin em a, the resp on se is n ot atio n is the aw areness of a relatio n sh ip lin k ­

ju stified or com m an d ed b y an y d irect n eed in g or u n itin g facts w ith n o ap p arent or d i­
or actu al activity, excep t an essen tially triv ­ rect conn ection. In th is reg ard , W illiam
ial fulfillm ent. M otiv ated b y th e p ercep tion Ja m e s's law o f coalescence, g en eratin g "a s ­
o f the rep resen ted action s and b y th eir as­ so cia tio n a t th e lev el of th e a ctio n a n d syn­
sim ilatio n w ith th e ten d en cies o f th e re­ cretism a t the level o f the rep resentation," is
pressed Self, it is d irectly "tra n s p o s e d " o n to su p p orted a t all lev els b y film . Indeed, in
an im ag in ary actio n sim ilar to th e h e r o 's - a n y im ag e, represented objects are sim ulta­
b eco m in g , as w e h a v e se e n , th e q u asi-id e­ n eo u sly presented . E ven separate and rec­
alized p ro jectio n o f th is "in te n tio n a l" Self. og n izab ly d istinct, th e y are associated
N ow , to re fe r to P iag et, w ith in a perceptual un ity. N o association
from on e to th e other ca n p o ssibly exist; they
wherever there is association between can o n ly coincide. R e la tio n s h ip s -w h a t w e
movements and perceptions, the sup­ ta k e to b e cau sal r e la tio n s h ip s -e x is t only
posed association in fact consists in inte­ b etw een objects sep arated in tim e, together
grating the new element into a previous
creatin g a k ind o f connective pattern w h ich
pattern of activity. W hether this previous
involves a n org an izin g assim ilation, a po­
pattern is in the nature of a reflex, as in
tential g eneralization. T o p u t it an oth er way,
the conditioned reflex or on even higher
planes, it remains merely an assimilation, a sso cia tio n in volves repetition. H ow ever,
of such a kind that the bond of association fo r association to exist in th e cinem a, all that
is never just the simple facsimile of a is n eed ed is fo r term B to follow term A.
ready-made relationship in external real­ O nce there is a p o ten tial log ical relationship
ity. (Psychologie de I'intelligence) b etw een th e tw o term s, th is im m ed iately
gen erates in th e a u d ien ce's m ind an idea of
W ith these "rea d y -m a d e " d ata existing causality. In other w ords, B is understood as
here as the represen ted action, it is e a sy to th e conseq u ence o f A , even if this is on ly
see h ow m o vem en t, the stim uli-response tem p o rarily valid . W h en it does n o t depend
b ond generated b y this action , in ev itab ly o n the dram atic narrative, association is ap­
b ecom es the carb on cop y o f the g iven rela­ p aren t in ou r m ind s b eca u se the objects rep­
tio n sh ip in the case that it is d ea lin g w ith resented are in th e im age o f real objects. Just
identification through sim ple im itatio n or as in rea lity objects fo llo w in g each other are
m im icry. T h e org an izin g assim ilation oc­ largely self-generating (apparently) in events
cu rrin g in the association o f perception and presen ted su ccessiv ely b y film , i.e., in shot
m o vem en t (w hether real or im aginary) is relationsh ip s, our m in d s look for the causal
fund am ental to the process o f projection - link. T h e y do so becau se th e y r e c o g n iz e -
identification, up on w h ich, as w e hav e seen, thin k th ey recog n ize or w an t to recognize -
the phenom ena o f p articip ation are th e m ­ th e im age o fth e org an izin g p a ttern s created
selves based . In th e circum stances, th ese are b y the causal links. S eein g in th e cinem a is
noth in g m ore th an tran sferred resp on ses es­ n o t ju st recog n izin g the object b u t also com ­
tablishing exp ectation in norm al p ercep ­ p a rin g th e film relatio n sh ip s w ith th e rela­
tio n ; how ever, th is tran sfer p ro cess sh ow s tion sh ip s o f real fa c ts -in te r p r e tin g the v i­
h o w exp ectatio n b eco m es alm ost sy n on y ­ sual p a ttern as a rep etition o f kn ow n or tried
m ous w ith participation. p attern s, h ow ev er artificially c r e a t e d -
If n o w w e exam ine a n o th er sid e o f the w h ic h sh o w s h o w accu rate w as C lap a-
question, w e can sa y in the general (rather re d e's analysis (in L a G en ese d e l'hypothese
th a n logical) sen se o f the w o rd that associ­ qu oted b y Piaget) w h ich states th a t "re p e ti­
166 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

tion does n o t create associatio n b u t associ­ ject). In this w a y w e learn that six m onths
ation ap p ears d u rin g the cou rse o f repeti­ have elap sed b etw een the dinner party and
tion (and only th en ) because association is th e receip t of the cable. N ow , th e descriptive
th e in te rn a l p ro d u ct o f th e assim ilatio n e n ­ con tin u ity is su ch th at w e m ig h t believe
su rin g th e rep etition of the external a ctio n ." th a t on ly a few m o m en ts have passed. The
It therefore follow s th a t p ercep tu al ex ­ ellip sis is m ad e through B ern stein 's m ove­
p ectation in th e cin em a is b ased entirely m ent, fro m the recep tio n room to th e store­
up on patterns p reviou sly experienced in room - b u t w ithout any b rea k in the con ti­
reality or else in film perception. N eed less n u ity o f the m ovem ent, w ith o u t the
to s a y all exp ectatio n is b ased u p on p rev i­ m ak esh ift tran sition from one shot to the
ous exp erien ce; b u t in larg e m easure, real­ n ext w h ich w e som etim es find in sim ilar
ity repeats th is exp erien ce, w hereas film cases. T h e resu lt is th a t th e aud ien ce is at
d o e s n o t or, if it d o e s, d o e s so accordin g to first co n fu sed b ecau se it d oes n ot appreci­
con stan tly d ifferentiated a n d un foreseen ate the shorth and . It d oes n o t register the
norm s. Thu s film exp ectation can b e re­ e llip s is -w h ic h is th e op posite of the n or­
duced to th e com p reh en sion o f a series of m al patterns on w h ich it h as based its
relationsh ip s th rou g h sim ple assim ilation, th o u g h t pro cesses. It is forced to m ake an
th e associatio ns rem ain in g u n fulfilled un til effort and, if necessary, see the film a sec­
th e u n fo ld in g o f the action con firm s or d e­ on d tim e. Y et once the tech n iqu e h as b een
nies them . un derstood, it develops into a n ew asso­
T h e m istake h a s no oth er consequences ciativ e form . F ro m th e n o n the audience
th an in com p reh en sion or con fu sion and w ill rem em b er th e n ew expression - n o t b y
exp ectation becom es a k in d o f artificial ex ­ rem em b erin g som ething experien ced in re­
perience in a state o f co n sta n t rea d ju st­ a lity b u t b y rem em b erin g a fo rm integrated
m ent. A ty p ical exam p le o f th is is th e m a r­ into th e language. It is clear that film is
velou s seq u en ce in Citizen Kane. D u rin g a self-referencing, appealing to a certain cu l­
celebration d in n er in th e recep tion ro o m of ture, to a w ay o f thinking, a cin em atic fo r­
the Enquirer, K an e anno u nces h is im m in en t mula in th e sam e w ay th at literatu re is self-
d ep arture for Europe. T h e seq u en ce closes referencing: H en ri B ord eau x cann ot be
on L eland and B ernstein. T h e y are talk in g read in the sam e w ay as Jam es Joyce.
in th e foreground w h ile K a n e and th e g irls F o r reaso n s sim ilar to th o se w e hav e ju st
are sh o w n d an cin g fa r in th e backgrou nd. m e n tio n e d -r e u n itin g fo rm and c o n t e n t -
A t th is m o m en t, after a v e ry q u ic k a n d a l­ w e cou ld n ever sa y th a t in the cinem a there
m o st im p ercep tible fad e to b la ck , B ernstein are lon g shots an d closeu ps. T here m ay
m oves tow ard th e cam era and crosses w ell b e if w e take a tape m easure or a stop ­
through th e d o o rw ay o f th e room . T h e w a tch and m easu re them , b u t no t w h e n w e
cam era follow s his m ovem ent. H e goes perceive them. A sh ot l a s t s - o r should l a s t -
d ow n a corridor, w alk s up a fe w step s, and o n ly as lo n g as is n ecessary fo r th e exp res­
enters a hu ge storeroom , w h ere crates co n ­ sio n o f its con ten t. O n ly th ro u g h th e d u ra­
ta in in g statu es and all k in d s o f objets d 'a rt tio n o f th e co n ten t can th e sh o t b e p er­
are stacked up. H e shouts out: "M r. Leland! ceiv ed as a d u ratio n, i.e., the tim e o f a
. . . M r. Leland! . . . I'v e ju s t g o t a cable m o v em en t o r action. It is p erceiv ed as long
fro m M r. K an e . . . fro m P aris. . . . It's ju st on ly w h en it is too long, i.e., w h en it lasts
as w ell h e 's p ro m ised n o t to sen d an y m o re lon g er th a n th e tim e requ ired b y th e m e a n ­
statu es!" H e cro sses ov er to L elan d and the in g it is try in g to com m unicate. In th at case
conversation continu es (on a n o th e r su b ­ w e are tran sferrin g ou r atten tion fro m the
 R H Y T H M A N D MO N T A G E 167

narrative d u ra tio n —su p ersed ed in im p or­ W e said that film rhythm is th e rhythm
tance b y th e sig n ifica tio n —to th e actual o f som ething. In the lig ht o f w hat w e have
duration o f the shot, i.e., to “e m p ty " tim e. said above, w e m ay con clu d e th at it is the
If w e accept K atz's form u la, w e fin d th at rh y th m o f th e represented action, i.e., the
“w h enever w e concen trate ou r atten tion rhythm o f a n action form alized by its ex­
on th e passage o f tim e it seem s to get p ressio n and su b ject to a slo w er o r q u icker
longer." C onversely, a sh ot is perceived as tem p o d ep en d ing o n the n arrativ e stru c­
short w h en it is too short, i.e., w h en its b rev­ tures. T h e relatio n sh ip s of tim e b etw een the
ity renders it incap able o f ach iev in g the represented and its representation are
m eaning o r exp ressio n it is su p p osed to be sig n ifican t in this respect. This is how the
com m unicating. O r else, w h en the sh ot se­ seq u en ce fro m Mother w e quoted reveals a
qu en ce is v ery fast (as in H olly w ood -ty p e rep resen tation tim e lo n g e r th an th e actual
m ontages) becau se “speed is all w e can d u ratio n o f the a ctio n - e v e n th o u g h th is is
p erceiv e in shots fo llow in g ea ch oth er in created u sin g sh o rt shots. Tim e stretched in
quick su cce ssio n " (P. Fraisse). A n d if w e this w a y gives the n arrativ e a n im pression
c a n accept that a p articu lar s h o t is lon g er o f slow ness despite the fact th a t the tem po
o r sh o rter th an the p reviou s on e, it is only o f the shots is fast. O n the oth er h an d , a film
becau se w e are registering a lon g er or created w ith shots representing a narrative
sh o rter action in the c o n ten t o f the shot. d u ratio n lon g er th an the representation
T his b rin g s us to a n o b v iou s cru cial tim e gives an im p ression o f s p e e d —h o w ­
problem . A n au d ien ce versed in th e su b tle­ ev e r lon g ea ch individual sh ot m ay be.
ties o f film lan gu ag e w ill u n d erstan d the D eterm ined an d created b y th e action,
m ean in g o f a sh ot m u ch m ore q u ick ly th an rh y th m is th u s d ep en d en t o n th e successive
one less aw are. It is certain th at film fo rm relation sh ip s b etw een th e “tim e " o f the
has trained us to th in k and stru ctu re m ore fo rm and the “tim e " o f the content, since
quickly. A silen t film w h ich seem ed to h ave th e rep resentation tim e is alw ays deter­
a fast rhythm w h en first sh o w n n o w ap ­ m in ed b y the w ay in w h ich the tim e o f the
p ears in tolerably slow . W e m u st therefore ob jects is translated, i.e., b y a certain in ten -
presum e th at the perfect film fu lfills the tionality fro m w h ich the ob jects d erive their
greatest p o ten tial in the id eal audience. m e a n in g —th e actu al m ean in g o f th e film .
 IV
■ ■
■ ■

Rhythm and Moving Shots

The Liberated Camera and w h en they last n o lon ger than the tim e to
Depth-of-Field see them. H ow ever, th o u g h shots fragm ent
reality into various "fra m e s," it w ou ld be
w ro n g to th in k o f th em in term s of frag­
The Principles o f "N onm ontage"
m ents w ith n o d ifference from reality than
and Global Reality
that o f being arb itrarily selected. T h ey be­
com e something else, an oth er reality, fo r a
E veryth in g w e h a v e said in the p reced in g p a rt in iso lation is n e v e r th e sa m e as the
chap ters supp orts th e assertio n th a t film p a rt ta k e n in its context.
im ages fo rm an arb itrary reality altog ether T h o u g h the effe ct o f the fram e is to lim it
d ifferen t fro m "tr u e " reality. It w ou ld be th e represented sp ace, w e h a v e se e n th a t it
stretching the p o in t to assum e fro m th is d efines the im age th ro u g h w h ic h and by
that the cin em a b rin g s us in to con tact w ith w h ich th e w o rld is p resen ted to us: it cre­
a n en tirely n ew w o rld , b u t it m u st b e said ates, b etw een th e elem en ts inclu ded in the
th at w h at it presen ts to ou r eyes is n o t (and fram e, a series o f relationsh ip s and associ­
n ever cou ld b e) an exact im age o f reality. It atio n s n o t p resen t in actu al reality. Take, fo r
replaces con tin u ou s reality (or, m o re p re­ exam p le, a street corner: a h ou se, a pav e­
cisely, the h o m o g en eo u s reality o f ou r con ­ m en t, a street lig ht, a m a n ou t fo r a stroll.
tinuous perception) w ith a series o f d iscon­ To all intents and ap p earances, a w h ole
tinuous fragm ents. It selects th e fram ing, com p lex o f g eom etrical and g eog rap hical
angles, and setups and arran g es th em ac­ relatio n sh ip s (place, p o sition , size and di­
cording to their relative durations, giving rection, etc.) exists b etw een these various
them meanings ou tsid e th e "g lo b a l" future elem ents. Yet th ey are n o t in isolation . T h ey
tim e o f the un iverse fro m w h ich th e y have are involved in other relation sh ips w ith
b een taken. other parts o f th e street an d th ey in tu m
O bviously, con tin u ity o f tim e exists w ith other streets in such a w ay that, in
w ithin a d iscon tin u ity o f shots, ju st as spa­ actu al sp ace, th e relationsh ip s b etw een o b ­
tial unity exists w ith in a d im en sional vari­ jects reflect on e a ch other, gradually blen d ­
ety o f the field s o f view . H ow ever, it is in g and m erg in g into each another. The
alw ays a reconstru ction , i.e., "a n o th e r" m obility o f our visio n , ou r very m ove­
space and "a n o th e r" tim e. It is tru e that th e m en ts, m ak e the space around us appear
d u ratio ns o f a sh ot and its rep resen ted co n ­ h om og en eo u s an d contin u ou s. T h o u g h w e
ten t are alm ost alw ays th e sam e. Ind eed , m ay con cen trate on th o se d etails w h ich at­
th e y d iffer o n ly w h en the action is to o lon g tract ou r attention m ore th an oth ers, w e do
(the film m aker th e n h a s to select a special n o t tak e th em ou t o f the context w h ose
"m o m e n t") or w h e n th e ob jects concerned unity rem ains con stan t (unless w e p u t a
have n o m o vem ent or d iscernible duration, fra m e around them ). F ro m th a t m om ent,
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 169

the objects are litera lly “cu t o u t," d ep rived form s and tran scen d s them . E ach fram e is
o f any direct association w ith th e extern al th e ch ance assem bly o f various ephem eral
w orld. T h eir associations, u n til th e n g en er­ associatio n s n o t ob served in direct reality,
ated in sp ace, beco m e self-reflexive, as introd u ced into a sequ en ce w h ich does not
th o u gh the edges o f th e fram e refer th em b elo n g to the objects them selves but is the
b a ck to th e center lik e a p a ra b o lic m irror. fab ricatio n o f the film m aker.
The con seq u en ce o f th is is th at th e im age W h ich ts w h y it is suprem ely nai:ve to
records a frag m en t o f sp ace w h o se repre­ th in k that th e cam era - b e c a u s e it autom at­
sen tation, lim ited and circu m scrib ed (by ically records th e data o f reality - is presen t­
the fram e), en d ow s the represented objects in g a n objective an d im p artial im age of that
w ith a series o f "d e fin in g ch aracteristics" reality. A n d to say, as does A ndre B azin:
w h ich th e y d o n o t h a v e in actual reality. "T h e aesthetic p o ten tial o f p h o to g rap h y re­
The space w ith in th e fram e b ecom es its sid es in its p o w er to reveal reality. It w as not
ow n "e n tity "; it form s an in depend en t fo r m e to p ic k ou t o f the fabric o f the exter­
s tr u c tu r e - a n y sim ilar cu ts h av in g a sim ­ nal w o rld th e reflection on a w et pavem ent
ilar effect. or the ch ild 's gesture; on ly the im passive
A d d to th is th at o b je cts w ith in a sh ot are lens, strip p in g the ob ject o f th e habits and
related accord in g to th eir relativ e sizes p recon cep tion s laid on it b y m y perception,
(w ith n o n ecessa ry co n n ectio n w ith their could p resen t it unspoiled to m y attention
actu al sizes, sin ce th e m o st d iv erg en t view s and therefore m y lov e" (O ntologie de l'im age
are b rou g h t to g eth er in th e sam e fixed photographique).
fram e) and w e m ay say th a t each sh ot is, as In fact, w h a t is u n sp oiled , w h a t the
it w ere, a " c e ll," a d istinct space, an d that im age really d oes reveal, ts n o t reality-in-it-
w h en com bined in a sequ ence, they fo rm a self b u t a n ew appearance correlative w ith
h om ogeneo u s s p a c e - b u t o n e w h ic h in n o the direct reality o f the w orld an d its objects
w ay resem bles th e space fro m w h ich th e el­ and w ith w h at m ig h t b e called m etap hori­
em ents hav e b een taken. M oreover, th e rel­ cally the p ercep tion o f th e cam era, w h ich,
ative d urations o f the shots an d th e order above and b ey on d the w ishes and choice of
allotted to th em creates a "co n tin u ity " w hose th e director, au tom atically applies this seg ­
global d u ration is n o less arbitrary. reg ation o f space and therefore the recon­
In this way, film c o n t in u it y - generated stru ctio n o f reality, w h ich , b y th a t fact, stops
b y a succession o f constantly d ifferentiated being objective and direct.
spaces and tim es - creates, b etw een these W e see th e w orld a ro u n d us; w e lo o k at
cells (or shots) a series o f associations film . B esid es th e interest (valid or n o t) of the
w h ich su p p le m e n t th e d ram atic or sy m ­ sto ry o r th e represented objects, ou r atten­
b olic relatio n sh ip s w ith th eir con ten t. T h u s tion is repeated ly d raw n to th e n ew ness of
th e film appears as a d isco n tin u o u s sp ace­ ap p earances. B y the v ery fact th at it is pre­
tim e d ev elo p m en t com p letely different sen ted as an im age, the reality captured b y the
from the single con tinu um o f Space and Time lens is stru ctu red accord in g to various fo r­
(that is to say, the Space and Tim e o f our m a liz in g valu es creating a series o f n ew re­
p lan et), even though it reflects its con tin u ­ latio n sh ip s and th u s a n ew r e a lity - o r , at
ous system . th e v ery least, a n ew appearance. T he repre­
D etached fro m their u n certain a n d u n ­ sented is p erceiv ed via a representation w h ich
stable form , the selected elem en ts are in ev itab ly tran sfo rm s it.
grounded in a continuity w hich arran ges B azin says elsew here, "T h e p ^ ^ ^ value
and stabilizes them , i.e., in som e w a y tran s­ o f th e film im age is n ot w h at it adds to re­
170 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

ality b u t w h at it reveals o f re a lity " (Evolution vealed b y film, is n o th in g m ore th an an es­

du langage cinematographique). It is certain sence bey on d ap p earan ces; or, to be m ore
th at the film im ag e reveals som eth in g other exact, a n e w ap p earance gen erated b y an
th an w h at it show s. W e h a v e pointed out u n u su al w ay of p erceiv ing . It is, if you like,
repeated ly that this n ea rly alw ay s relates to an essence b ey on d the direct perception (or
the essence o f the represented objects. But com p rehen sion ) o f consciou sness. W e per­
B azin and h is confed erates regard this es­ ceive w h at an e y e - a l b e i t a m echan ical eye
sen ce n o t as th e effect o f u n d e rsta n d in g b u t - h a s alread y perceived , w h a t an im age
as an id eal in -its e lf p reexistin g th e o b je c t in h a s alread y structured, the data o f a per­
so m e P lato n ic n ou m en al w orld. It is a b u t cep tion n o t ou r ow n , a n organizing plan
s h o rt ste p from th is to con sid er th e p h e­ w h ich is n o t ou r consciou sness. W e already
n o m en o n as e v id e n c e -e v e n p r o o f - o f m en tion ed in an oth er context th a t w h en w e
sp iritu alism , and to a ssert th a t "F a r from see a film im age, w e b eco m e con scio u s o f
settin g us alo n g the path o f d eterm inism a rea lity org an ized so th a t through this
(as one m ig h t reason ab ly presum e), this art im age it is d irect reality w e are seeing,
- t h e m o st p o sitive o f all, in d ifferen t to e v ­ th ereby affected b y a coefficient o f unreality
ery th in g b u t h ard fact, pure a p p e a ra n ce — or s tr a n g e n e s s -w h ic h is th e source o f the
on th e con trary p resents us w ith th e id ea con stan tly reiterated m istak en belief in
o f a system atized un iverse, ordered tow ard sp iritu ality and m agic. There is, w ithout a
a specific pu rpose. W e are n ot p rom p ted to d o u b t, som eth in g m a g ica l and fascinating
look fo r the existen ce o f atom s in w h a t film in th e effects o f th e process, b u t this has
show s u s b u t rath er th e existen ce o f a n es­ m ore to d o w ith th e p h en o m en a of percep­
sence b ey on d the p u rely m aterial: a sou l or tion th an a m etap h y sical in-itself. O ver and
som e oth er sp iritu a l principle. P o etry is to ov er w e h a v e labored the p o in t th at film
b e fo u n d in this revelation, above all else, reality is a mediated reality. E ven w h en there
o f a sp iritu al p resen ce - w h i c h I in ten d to is n o evidence of a d irecto r's hand , the film ,
find in this stu d y ."1 th e cam era, th e representation, stands be­
T h at ech oes the fo llow in g ob servation o f tw een us and the real w orld.
E ric R ohm er: " I can n o t h id e from th e fact It is clear th a t B azin 's d eterm in istic and
that I con fu sed the cau se of th e cin em a w ith sp iritu alistic id ealism (confu sed in a curi­
th at o f a sp iritu al as w ell as classical prop­ ou s w ay w ith n aive realism ) ru ns cou nter
osition. W hereas m o d ern art in vites us to to th e p h en om en o lo g ical m ethodology
m ed itate o n the organic origins o f m an ­ w h ich h e em ployed. M ore than ever, aes­
kind, the cinem a (p arad o xically b u t quite thetics b eco m es a q u estio n o f m etaphysics.
definitely) is b est su ited to illu m in ate his W e shall exam in e this fu rth er on.
spiritual co n d itio n ."2 W h a t R o h m er is in In th e m ea n tim e, w e m ig h t d escribe the
fa c t con fu sin g is th e un iverse o f th e film m a­ con seq u en ces o f th is k ind o f in terp retation
ker, ordered and directed tow ard a specific o f the cin em a as fo llow s: sin ce th e cam era
pu rpose, w ith d irect reality, alw ay s a v a il­ p resen ts us w ith th e im age o f an "o b je c ­
ab le and contingent. H e is also assu m in g tiv e ly p u re " w o rld , evid en ce o f the ab so­
that the film m ak e r's im ag in atio n is a tra n ­ lu te q u a lities it co n ta in s w ith in it, it is clear
scen d en tal in -itself, w h ich is to b eliev e th a t th a t th e se q u alities m u st b e record ed as
the m oon is m ad e o f green cheese. they are, i.e., globally, w ith o u t d am ag in g
W h at B azin, A gel, and all th e o th er sp ir­ them th ro u g h an org a n iz in g in tentio n
itu alists m ean b y th e sou l, th e supp osed (scrip t, ed itin g ) w h ich m ig h t allow su b jec­
essen ce b ey o n d th e p u rely m aterial re­ tiv ity to creep in to its "tru e reality." Id eally
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 171

the cam era sh ou ld striv e to w ard a k ind o f its d u ratio n , if n o t circum scribed , is a t least
o b serv ation , cap tu rin g rea lity in its fu ll red u ced to n ecessarily d iscon tinu ou s suc­
an d activ e e sse n ce (h o w e v e r con triv ed its cessive m om en ts. A t its m ost extrem e, o n e
d ram atic stru ctu re). T h u s B a z in sets up an w ould h a v e to im ag in e a dram a taking
an tith esis b etw een , on th e o n e h a n d , trad i­ place in a sin gle place and lasting as long
tio n al realists, w h o "a n a ly z e re a lity and as th e p ro jection tim e. N ow , n o situ ation
th e n sy n th esize it a cco rd in g to th e ir con ­ can exist w ith o u t b ein g th e con seq u en ce of
cep tion o f th e w o rld ," and , on th e other, an oth er, n o dram a can exist w h ich does n ot
Italian N eo -R ealism , w h ich in h is view "r e ­ con tain w ith in it its ow n d eterm in an t fac­
jects an aly sis o f ch a ra cte rs an d th e ir ac­ tors. Its lim its w ill therefore b e a r b itr a r y -
tions b u t con sid ers re a lity as a w h o le, n o t as p erfectly arb itrary as are th e lim its o f the
in co m p reh en sib le obviou sly, b u t in d iv isi­ sh ot o r th e sequ ence. Taken to th e ultim ate
b le ." It is an "o n to lo g ica l ch oice, in the extrem e, th e conseq u en ces o f "n o n m o n ­
sense that restored re a lity is a g lo b a l im ­ ta g e ," o f th e refusal to in terp ret reality held
a g e " (D efense d e R ossellin i). to b e "p u re ob jectiv e d ata," b eco m e utterly
To p rove that th e m e th o d s o f trad itio n al absurd. T h e ideal film b ecom es a one-act
p sy ch o lo g y (w h ere essen ce p reced es exis­ p la y acted ou t on a sin g le set. I am n o t ex­
tence) are n o t b ein g applied , th is "p rev i­ ag g eratin g ; B azin him self tells us: " I t is n o t
o u sn ess" is associated w ith th e th em a tic h ard to im a g in e a film b y Von Stroheim
stru ctu re o f film . In terp reted thu s, th e es­ com posed of a sin gle sh o t as lon g and as
sen ce b eco m es th e "th e s is " w h ile th e tra n ­ close up as n ecessa ry " (ibid.). C inem a into
scen d ental essen ce "fo rm s p a rt o f th e anticin em a!
concrete reality," w h ich , need less to say, In fa c t, there is o n ly o n e film in the
"re v e a ls" it. W e ca n see w h e re su ch m eta­ w o rld co m p o sed " in re a lity " o f a single
p h ysical p resu m p tio n s can lead. U n iv ersal sh ot lasting in d efin itely and involving the
propositions are h eld to exist necessarily, sim u ltan eity o f a m u ltitu d e o f d ifferent ac­
and assu m in g the p ro cess o f con sciou sness tions collected in to a sin gle g lobal action:
to b e a m etap h ysical reality, th e y are to be th e w orld itself. A n d yet, on th e cosm ic
found in th e "p ro fo u n d exp ressio n o f con­ scale, it is v isib le o n ly sub sp ecie aeternitatis.
crete re a lity " - w h i c h is a t th e op p osite ex­ G od is its o n e and o n ly spectator.
trem e from p h en om en o lo g ical d escription. S in ce w e sh all never see as God sees,
Supposing this to b e th e case, if one lim ited m o rtals as w e are, w e are d estined
wished to "capture the m ystery of existence" o n ly ev e r to catch a frag m en tary glim p se
in a com plete m om en t o f understanding (al­ o fw h a te v e r it m a y be. A n d w e m u st accept
b eit "su cce ssiv e ly co m p le te as m ig h t occu r th e fact. A s frag m en tatio n goes, the fra g ­
to som eon e in tim e "), o n e w o u ld b e obliged m en tatio n o f reality into shots and se­
to record th e w h o le o f th e ev en t, fo llow in g q u en ces is n o less arb itrary th an a n y other.
it fro m b eg in n in g to en d , in clu d in g all the P a rticu la rly sin ce th e reality Bazin w an ts to
rand om ness it m ight involve. N ow , apart capture in its com plete sp ace-tim e co n tin u ­
fro m film s lastin g as lo n g as th e ob jects in ity in o rd er to receive it in the "o bjective
th em last, i.e., films w ith n o b eg in n in g or p u rity w h ich its essen ce reveals to u s" is an
end, or 360-d egree lenses, circu lar screens em in en tly com p osed reality: a dram atic re­
and, o f cou rse, th e id eal sp ectator w ith six ality w h o se p u rp o se and m otiv ations are
p airs o f eyes cap ab le o f taking in at a g lance essen tia lly subjective. Thus w hat B azin
th e sp ace aro u n d ^ m , even th e m o st "co m ­ m ean s is to cap tu re the tran scend en tal es­
p le te " field o f view is alw ay s restricted and sen ce o f an e n tirely su b jective construction
172 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

accepted a s an im p artial objective reality. It ployed b y K uleshov, E isenstein, or G ance

is clear w h ere this lin e o f arg u m en t leads! did n o t reveal the event: it alluded to it.
W h ich d o es n o t p rev en t B a z in from fo llo w ­ U n d oubted ly th ey derived at least the
ing it through: " . . . in Von S tro h eim 's film , greater p art o f th eir con stitu ent elem ents
reality adm its its m ean in g like a su sp ect co n ­ from th e reality they w ere supposed to be
fessing u n d er th e relentless in terrog ation of d escribing , b u t th e final signification o f the
a d etective. H is g u id in g p rin cip le in d irect­ film w a s fo u n d to lie in th e organization of
in g is sim ple: tak e a close lo o k at the w orld, these elem en ts m u ch m ore than in their ob ­
keep on d o in g so and u ltim a te ly it w ill re­ je ctiv e co n ten t." T h is is obviou s. Yet Bazin
veal all its cru elty an d u g lin e s s .. . ." (ibid.). tre a ts it as th o u g h it w ere a w eak n ess or a
I f th e gu id in g p rin cip le w e re a s sim ple d efect, an im p erfection o f la n g u a g e. H e re­
as th at, every on e w o u ld b e a Von Stroheim . jects this ty p e o f editing and any type of
A n d th e w o rld "rev eals all its cru elty and ed itin g w ith o u t w o n d erin g w h y it should
u g lin ess" o n ly b ecau se th e film m aker has b e th e w ay it is, and h e ascribes to this form
asked it to and, w h ere necessary, n u d g ed it o f cinem a in ten tio n s sim ilar to th ose o f the
along. Von Stro h eim 's realism is as m u ch a contem p orary cinem a. A n d h e cou ld n o t be
synthesis "a cco rd in g to h is con cep tion of m ore m istaken .
the w o rld ," and h is u n iv erse is every b it as For reasons w e shall com e b a ck to, film
stylized as L a n g 's or M u r n a u 's - w ith the is b eco m in g m o re and m o re involved w ith
qu alification th at it is n o t th e sets or the o b ­ record in g ch aracters and character b eh av ­
je cts w h ich are su b ject to his in terp retation ior w ith in a fictional developm ent. T h e re­
b u t the situations an d the characters. T o see cord in g o f d u r a t i o n - hom ogen eou s duration
Von Stro h eim 's critical realism (w h ich is - i s therefore a basic p rinciple, w h ic h is
b o th sard onic an d caricatural) as objective w h y w e h a v e shots w h ich last lo n g enou gh
reality w h ich o f its ow n accord "a d m its its to captu re this sig n ify in g duration.
m e a n in g " is to close o n e 's eyes to th e facts. T his w a s n o t tru e o f th e v ast m ajority of
W ith "d o cu m e n ta ry " reality, as w e have silen t film s w h o se aim w as to record crude
seen, the lim its are ju st as great. M oreover, facts, an acted rath er th a n an active d ura­
art is n o t a subm ission to reality. If it is "r e ­ tion. Since tim e h ad only descriptive value,
ality in its en tirety " one is lo o k in g for, one brevity w a s th e guid ing p rin ciple, su g g est­
has o n ly to w alk d ow n the street. E ach of in g effects o r cau ses w ith o u t exam ining the
us can at least see w h a t h e chooses. seco n d ary circu m stan ces. T h is cu rsive d y ­
L eav in g asid e these m etap h y sical co n ­ n a m ic lan g u ag e is th e sam e as th a t o f the
sid erations, this "so u l o f th in g s" w h ich th e ep ic (in th e b ro a d est sen se o f th e w ord).
things them selv es reveal th rou g h th e direct T h e p sy cholog y o f th e se film s (and they
gaze o f the cam era, it is obviou s th a t the h a d their fa ir share o f it) was a "sy n th e ­
fixin g of a d ram atic m o m en t w ith in its co n ­ siz e d " psychology, su g g ested rath er than
crete d ev elop m en t en ables its u n iq u en ess d escribed , d escribed rath er th an analyzed.
and also its ran d om n ess to b e fixed a t the M oreover, it w a s a psych ology without
sam e tim e. T h is is a n o th er p ro b le m alto­ du ration : characters rev ea led them selves
gether, how ever. A n d th e con d ition s, even th rou g h th eir action s, a t a critical m om ent.
exigen cies o f lo n g shots and cam era m ove­ They w ere presen ted in a state of crisis,
m ents in n o w ay rem oves eith er the exig en ­ th rou g h a d ram a or tr a g e d y -w h ic h is w h y
cies or conditions o f editing. They m erely the ed itin g sty les w ere so abrupt, the effects
change them . so v iolen t an d d e c is iv e - ju s t lik e th e char­
B azin observes th at m on tag e "a s em ­ acters they w ere highlighting.
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 173

A llow in g fo r the d ifference b etw een the b en ch fo r m y film Pacific 232. T h ey all ended
silen t cinem a and talkies and fo r th e m ore up on the cu ttin g-room floor because even
flexible techniqu es (track in g shots, crane w h en o n ly a p a rt o f the w h eel or piston w as
shots, etc.) w h ich th e cin em a enjoys, w h en in sh o t, it w as easy to see th at th o u g h m o v ­
a clever director finds him self confronted in g a t h ig h speed , th e locom otive w as n ot
w ith sim ilar p roblem s today, h e uses sim ­ m o v in g forw ard . If w as n o tv ib ra tin g , it w as
ilar techniqu es to solve them . A n d h e does n o t aliv e; th e w h ole th in g w as static. Sec­
so b ecau se, as it h ap p en s, th e y are the m o st o n d , th o u g h G a n ce 's editing indeed com ­
appropriate techniqu es. A s w e h a v e said, prises a series o f closeu ps repeated at
th e p o et d oes n o t try to w rite h is p o em s as ev er-d im in ish in g intervals (w heels, p is­
th o u g h th e y w ere n ov els and the play­ to n s, th e co u n try sid e ru sh in g past, etc.), he
w rig h t d oes n o t w rite h is p sy ch olog ical first o f all sh ow s us som e w id e angles w hich
dram as like traged ies. To d en y this is to reveal in the sam e fram e (tracking along­
ignore the v e ry bases o f language and style: sid e) th e locom otive and the cou ntryside-
to lim it o n e 's con sid eratio n o f literary ex­ "g e n u in e im a g es o f s p e e d " in th e m ost
pression to P rou st or H u g o in th e m istak en con crete and descriptive sen se o f the word.
b elief th at o n ly b y rejectin g on e can the A n d these im ages are in te rcu tw ith closeups
oth er b e g iv en its tru e valu e and status. w h ich supplement the description. T h e n the
A n y aesthetician w o rth h is salt u n d e r­ w id er shots b eg in to occu r at less frequent
stands this. intervals until finally on ly the closeu p s are
M oreover, it is com p letely w ron g to a s ­ left; b u t th e "c o n te n t" o f each sh ot displays
sum e th a t "a ll form s o f this m o n tag e share the increasing speed o f the m ach in e. W e ex­
the sam e objective: to su g g est th e idea am ined th is fo rm o f editing in respect o f the
through th e u se o f m eta p h o r or th e associ­ ride o f the K lansm en in Birth o f a Nation. It
atio n o f id e a s" or to p ro d u ce an "a b stra c t ap p ears th at B a z in w a s in cap able of re­
resu lt in w h ich n o n e o f th e concrete e le­ sp on d in g to th e ly ricism o f th is ty p e o f ed­
m ents co n ta in th e ir orig in al sta rtin g p o in t." itin g sty le, ev en th o u g h u n d o u b ted ly h e
If s u ch w e re th e K u lesh ov e ffe c t (interest­ w a s aw are o f its effects (u nless h e w as ig­
in g in its con seq u en ces b u t m islead in g in n o rin g it o n p rin cip le as n o t c o n f o r m in g -
its b asic principles) or E isen stein 's cined ia- n atu rally e n o u g h - t o th e expression o f a
lectics, then w e h av e see n th a t these w ere p sy ch olog ical duration).
extrem e cases. W e d o n o t con d em n th e use C e rta in ly th is ty p e o f ed itin g w as over­
o f ad jectives b ecau se a ce rta in w riter uses w orked during this period . It w as even
th e m incorrectly! seen as the b asis o f film expression on the
It is also w ron g to sa y th a t in La Roue, naive p rin cip le that b rev ity and the rhyth­
A b el C an ce "g iv e s us th e illu sion o f the m ic su ccessio n o f shots were p erceptible as
steadily in creasin g sp eed o f a locom otive rhythm. W h en "v isu al m u sic" m ad e its ap­
w ithou t actu ally u sin g a n y im ag es o f speed p earance and its pow er becam e apparent,
(th e w h eels indeed m ig h t e a sily h av e b een th e sole p u rp o se o f th e su b seq u en t theories
tu rn in g on the spot), sim p ly through th e ac­ w as to retu rn film to the paths of "p u re
celeration o f shots of ever-decreasing leng th" rh y th m ," h a v in g led it in to the blind alleys
(ibid.). It is w rong on the first cou nt for o f th eater and p a in tin g -e x a c tly as h ap ­
thinking that the w h eels "m ig h t easily hav e p en s th ese days, consid erin g it m erely as
b ee n tu rn in g o n the spot." A n d I sp eak w ith a n "a s p e c t o f litera tu re."
a ce rtain authority, h av in g sh o t a n u m b er of W h at h ea d y excitem en t i n th e speed ing
closeups o f w h eels and p istons o n a test cars u sed to create th is "a ccelera ted m o n ­
174 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

ta g e " —everyone m a d ly try in g to o u td o his cation. W ith obviou s excep tions, th e silen t
fellow film m akers in the m an ip u lation of cin em a w a s ep ic or lyrical. W ords even tu ­
sensation! E ven th e extraord in ary spectacle ally gave (am ong other qualities) a m ore
o f a b a n q u et ed ited in accelerated m ontage! concrete "p resen ce" to tharacters and events
O ne o f th e gu ests carv in g a p h easan t, a n ­ an d as p sy ch o lo g ical realism d iscovered in
other picking ou t th e choice pieces w ith his it a form p erfectly su ited to th e n eed s o f its
fork, som eon e else w ip in g h is m o u th, and exp ression, it w as natural fo r cinem a to
y et a n o th er to ssin g b a c k a g o b let o f w in e, m o v e in that d irection. A s a consequence,
so m eo n e else c ra m m in g fo od in to his w ith facts ta k in g o n a m ore obvious and
m o u th, th e n one and th en th e other, b a ck perceptible relevan ce (sim ultaneity of ac­
to th e fork, th e g o b le t, a h a n d , a ja w , an d tion , am b ig u ity o f behavior, etc.) it becam e
th e w h o le cra z y m ish m ash organized (if n o lon g er n ecessary and even im possible
one cou ld call it organized ) in to an u tterly fo r th e m to d isappear b eh in d an allu sion ,
in coh eren t u rgen t rhythm : th e v e ry m od el su g g estio n , or som e other external sign. In
o f tech n ical i d i o c y - an d u n in ten tion ally this way, e d itin g b ecam e essen tially narra­
quite rid icu lou s. tiv e —in other w ords m ore subtly and
A s w ith th e ch oice o f su b ject m atter, the sp ecifically elliptical.
use o f tech n iqu e is, as often as not, m erely E d itin g in the m o d ern cinem a n o t only
a qu estion o f style. O n e fa n cy after another. ensures that the sequence o f shots is harm o­
Progress is m arked n in e tim es ou t o f ten by nious and, o f cou rse, rhythm ic, bu t also and
stick in g o n e's head in th e san d in the guise m ore sp ecifically it constructs the film ; it en­
o f being on the ball. It is n otable th a t the su res its d ev elop m en t in term s o f them e,
sam e th in g is tru e o f literatu re (or painting). d ram a, psychology, and tim e. It d eterm ines
A fter th e long, con v olu ted sen ten ces o f th e order, th e linking, th e association o f the
P roust, w e h a d the short p ith y precise sequ ences. Instead o f com p on en ts spliced
p h rases o f B laise C end rars. F or th e last ten to g eth er en d to en d as th e y w ere previou sly
years, w riters have b e e n w ritin g e xclu ­ (am orphous con tain ers u n itin g a group of
siv ely in a teleg rap h ic sty le, after the m a n ­ sig n ify in g shots), the seq u ences have b e­
n er o f Jo se p h D elteil. A t on e tim e w e toyed com e self-sign ifyin g. E n com p assin g th e real­
w ith B ergson or Freud ; n ow ad ay s it is ex ­ ity o f th e scen es w ith in its con crete d evel­
isten tialism or ob jectiv ism (a la R obbe-G ril- op m en t, th ey are as it w ere a series of
let). In the theater, it w as th o u g h t in good org anic cells h e lp in g to build up the film
taste to go to see p lay s b y B ern stein , then narration in th e sam e w a y as the shots.
P iran d ello, th en Sartre, and th en G irau- T h e re w o u ld th erefo re b e (som e) logic in re­
d oux. N ow ad ays, if it w ere n o t fo r Ion esco, fe rrin g to shots d ep end ing o n the m o ve­
w h at w ou ld th e re b e to ta lk about? m e n t o f th e cam era as sh ot sequ ences. O ur
We can b e sure o f o n e thing: d u rin g the criticism o f th e term is p rom p ted m erely b y
period b etw ee n 1924 and 1930, e d itin g w as th e fact th at th e w ord sh ot loses its precise
p rin cip ally allusive. Suggestion w as m ore m ean in g in th is con text and b ecom es sy n ­
im p ortant th a n representation, b ecau se rep­ on y m ou s w ith take. H ow ever, it w ould be
resentation w as in som e w a y less solid , less w ro n g to assu m e th a t th is fo rm o f editing
concrete. T h ro u g h the m o re pronou nced preem pts the allu siv e signification o f the
u n reality o f the silent cinem a, facts in th em ­ im ages. Q u ite th e contrary. A part from the
selves h ad m erely an in dicative value, fo r fact th a t su g g estio n is alw ays p ossible, the
w h ich reason they cou ld (or had th e p o ten ­ quality o f th e sign assu m es a n ew validity.
tial to) d isap p ear b eh in d th eir ow n sig n ifi­ T h e d ifference (ad m itted ly large) is th at this
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 175

q u ality is n o lo n g er the effect o f ed itin g - or T h e p reced in g rem ark s su g g est that at

at least n o t necessarily. In ste a d o f b ein g the n o oth er tim e h as editin g (m ontage) b een
conseq u ence o f th e arbitrary in trod u ctio n of m ore im portant. Y et as Bazin and h is disci­
a closeu p in to a continuity, it is d ep end ent ples are q u ick to point out, "It is n o longer
on the particular position o f an object within m o ntag e. T his d efin ition o f structures, el­
the spatial organization o f th e fe ld o f view. P ro­ lip ses, an d cuts, as w ell as m ovem ents and
duced in space rath er th an estab lish in g it­ po sitio n s, is part o f the shootin g scrip t."
self in tim e, it becom es th e effect o f a coinci­ A n d I a m in com p lete agreem en t, particu­
dence instead o f an effect o f a sso ciatio n - and larly sin ce, in m y view , they are o n e and
yet, w ith o u t con trad ictin g th e law o f coales- the sam e thing. A s I h a v e alread y said and
ce n ce ,o n e m igh t a lm o st say th a t o b je cts pre­ a m lik ely to say again: the shootin g script
viou sly sep arated in tim e th rou g h editing is editing in theory, m ise-en -scen e in theory.
and n o w separated in space are presen t in It is th e film "o n paper." T h e three pro­
a n associatio n o f a n o th er order. C o in ci­ cesses, script, d irection , an d ed iting , are dif­
d en ce still exists, b u t th e ob ject in v iew is on ferent on ly from the technical point o f view.
a d ifferent spatial plane fro m th e oth er parts M ise-en -scen e is alread y con tain ed in the
o f the field o f view. T h ere is, m oreover, as­ shooting scrip t, w h ich p lan s and conceives
sociatio n o f th e ob ject relativ e to th e action th e sh ots "w ith regard to a certain e d itin g ";
o f th e preced ing sh ot d ev elop in g into the there is alread y ed itin g in th e film in g of
su bseq u ent shot, etc. shots "w ith regard to certain asso ciatio n s";
To retu rn to the exam p le o f the m a n lo o k ­ an d direction is carried through to th e ed­
in g at th e lam p o n h is d esk. W e saw h o w it itin g stage, w h ich com p letes the film. By
w as possible, on the on e h an d , to allow his in clu d in g the "v ag a ries o f ch a n ce " w ithin
gaze to range freely o v er th e field o f view th e con d ition s o f th e m ise-en -scen e, the
and, on the other, to include the lam p w ith in scrip t-d irection -ed iting com bin ation turns
his field o f view . N ow , w ith th e u se o f d epth- th ese th ree successive processes into differ­
of-field (how ever slig h t), it becom es p o ssi­ en t asp ects o f th e sam e creative process.
b le to reconcile these tw o contrad icto ry W h a t clou d s the issu e o f ed itin g in m any
alternatives. A ll that is n eed ed is to set the p eo p le's m inds is th e conv entio nal A m eri­
cam era (and o f course th e ch aracter and the can (and occasion ally French) use o f a tech­
objects) in su ch a w ay th a t th e lam p is niqu e con sistin g in shooting each scene
sh o w n in f o r e g r o u n d - in extrem e closeu p first in lon g sh o t and th en in a series o f close
- o n th e co rn er o f th e d esk , w ith th e rest of shots tak en from various angles. W ith so
the d esk, the oth er ob jects, an d th e m an m u ch covering m aterial to hand , the ed itor
stretching into the b ack g rou n d . W e ca n see h a s con sid erab le freed om o f choice. He can
from this th at if the m a n ch oo ses to look at con stru ct the film as h e w ishes. This is w h at
the lam p, th e ch oice is p u rely accid ental: he is called "co v e rin g th e sc e n e ," and it can be
has n o external ob lig ation o n him to lo o k at con stru cted in as m a n y w ay s as th ere are
the lam p. Sim ultaneously, th e lam p ("p riv ­ shots.
ile g e d " in th is w ay ) assu m e s the v alu e o f a N eed less to say, th is is n o t w h at w e
sign, in the sam e w ay as th e closeu p p re ­ m ean t b y ed itin g , an assembly-line process
viou sly im p lied b y h is look. T h e p sy ch olog ­ in w h ich th e v ario u s fu n ctio n s - s c r i p t , di­
ical realism is thereby m ain tain ed , and the rection, e d i t i n g - a r e d ivid ed up in order to
reality o f th e scene (let us g iv e Bazin his m ak e the p ro cess as stream lined as p o ssi­
due) is captured globally in its real space ble. G oo d or b ad , a film m ass-prod uced in
and time. this w a y fo r the m ass m a rk et cou ld never
176 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

b e the expression o f a n artist. In this study, rectors and very few of them who have
w e are exam in in g th e resources o f film as ever had the opportunity to direct. The
they are u sed and un d erstood b y the cre­ only directing of any real importance
takes place at the editing stage. It took me
ative individual film m aker. All w e are d oin g
nine months to edit Citizen Kane, six days
is w ritin g o u t cu lin ary recip es. H o w m an y
a week. Yes, I edited Ambersons, even
critics and theorists assu m e, how ever, that
though some of the scenes were not
these prescriptions (and w e d o n o t con ­
mine - b u t my cut was eventually
dem n them fo r their utilitarian value) are changed. The basic editing is mine, and
fu n d am en tal p r in c ip le s - th e perfect exam ­ when a scene works it is because I cut it.
ple o f th e m u d d leh ead ed n ess d om in ating . . . As for my style, my vision of the cin­
the p ro fession at th e m om ent. ema, editing is not one aspect; it is the
W h at w e u n d erstan d (have alw ay s u n ­ aspect. Directing a film is an invention of
derstood) b y the term editin g is the process people like yourself: it is not an art, or at
o f sp licin g sh ots to g eth e r accord in g to a best it is an art for one minute a day. That
prem editated intention in su ch a w a y that minute is terribly crucial, but it happens
only very rarely. The only time one can
each scen e or part o f a scen e is g iven its
exercise control over the film is in the ed­
p red eterm ined place w ith in a continuity,
iting. . . . The images are not enough in
accord ing to its a n g le , fram in g , or m o v e­ themselves: they are very important but
m e n t - a i l o f w h ich h av e also b e e n pred e­ they are only images. The most important
term ined. T h e idea is n o t to film th e sam e element is the duration of each image,
sh o t from vario u s d ifferen t ang les in order what follows each image: the whole elo­
to ch oo se th e o n e w h ich g ives th e b est e f­ quence of the cinema is constructed in the
fect, to "co v er o n e se lf," as o n e m ig h t say. editing room . . . . I do not believe that the
E ach sh ot p resu p p oses one angle alon e editor's job is a function of the brevity of
w h ich fu lfills an internal n eed an d n o t a n y shots. It is a mistaken belief that the Rus­
sians spent a lot o f time on editing their
old an gle ch osen com p letely at random .
films because their takes were very short.
A n d each sh o t h a s its ow n n atu ral and n ec­
One can spend just as much time editing
essary con text w h ich gives it its m ean in g
films with long takes because it is not
and ju stification . T hu s ed itin g and scrip t­
enough merely to splice together one
in g are tw o com p lem en tary aspects o f the scene after another . . . 3
sam e creative process. A n y th in g else is
p u re fantasy. To b e fair, w e sh ou ld ack n ow led g e that
To conclude ou r rem arks on the p ro b ­ B a z in 's con d em n ation o f m ontage w as less
lem s of n o n m o n ta g e , in th e k n ow led g e that con cern ed w ith the "p ro cess necessary for
B azin's ideas w ere generated b y th e film s con stru ctin g film " than w ith "effect-m on-
of O rson W elles (and, in particu lar, Citizen ta g e ." Yet th e title "effect-m on tag e" cam e
Kane, w h o se lo n g sh o ts "in v a lid a te th e v e ry from the fact th at th e ju xtap ositio n of tw o
idea o f m o n tag e "), w e m a y b e b est served sh ots A and B w ith the conseq u ence of an
b y p u ttin g th e q u e stio n to W elles him self. im plication X (signification, suggestion, or
In an in te rv iew cond u cted b y B azin h im ­ allu sion ) cou ld be ach iev ed in th e silen t cin ­
self, W elles h ad th is to say: em a o n ly b y sp licin g to g eth er tw o fix ed
shots. N ow , w h a t m atters is not th e shot but
For me, everything which goes under th e detail contained w ith in it: ob ject (or
the name of directing is a huge confidence fact) A associated w ith ev en t B. In other
trick. In the cinema, there are very few w ords, w h at m atters is the actu al association
people who can really call themselves di­ an d not the m ethod by w hich that association
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 177

is achieved (th ou gh there is evid en ce to su g ­ structure. A n d th e consequence of this is th a t

gest that the m eth o d is im portant). th e g lass n o lo n g er im p lies the idea o f p o i­
W e h a v e ju s t seen h o w effect-m on tage so n in g ; it is its proof In th is resp ect it re­
(or its equ ivalen t) is a th iev able w ith in a m ain s a concrete sign b u t a sig n (or sym bolic
sin gle sh o t m erely b y h ig h lig h tin g th e o b ­ rep resen tation) o f a fa c t ra th e r th a n a n idea.
ject. In th is context, S u sa n 's g lass in Citizen T h o u g h th e re m u st b e a n association o f
Kane represents th e m o st sk illfu l u se o f th e som e k in d , it is clear th a t the w ay in w h ich
te ch n iq u e —and is alm ost as fam ou s as the it is produced alters the content o f its signi­
pince-nez in Potemkin. H ow ever, w e have fication. T hu s if signification is the conse­
also seen th at in su ch cases th e sim u ltan eity q u ence o f fo rm , it w ou ld b e im possible,
o f the tw o term s A an d B p r e c lu d e s - a l- g en erally speaking, fo r one fo rm to replace
m o st entirely th e associative q u alities o f the another.
m ontag e effect. Since it is n o lo n g er “cre ­ L et us tu m o m atten tion to an oth er as­
a te d " (being directly p erceiv ed ), th e A / B pect. T h e exten sion o f tim e is achievable
relationsh ip lo ses th e q u alities associated w ith o u t resortin g to the splicing o f tw o
w ith its (real or apparent) cau sal links. B is fixed shots. The cam era m ay discover, at the
no longer (or can n o lo n g e r seem to be) the end o f a sh o rt p a n or track (in foregroun d
consequence o f A. From b ein g im p licative, or closeu p ), a n ob ject w h ose allusive m ean ­
th e sig n b ecom es syncretic: S u sa n 's g lass is, in g m ay hav e a n effect o n the events being
in som e way, th e sig n o f th e sh ot o f w h ich described .
it is p art o r else th e “sig n ify in g a re a " o f th e T h e m a in differen ce lies in th e fact that
b ack g rou n d again st w h ich it ap p ears to in editing, so to speak, th ere is a sudden
stan d out. T h e im p lica tio n is n o lo n g e r the break in the continuity, cu ttin g fro m A to B,
produ ct of the associatio n o f ob ject B w h ic h e x p la in s th e som etim es inevitable
(closeu p ) w ith con text A (follow in g or pre­ shock effect (su rprise, contrast, antithesis,
ced ing it) b u t o f th e A / B con text (w hich etc.). O n the oth er h an d , w ith a track in g shot
constitu tes the sh o t in its entirety) together th e tran sition from on e elem en t to anoth er
w ith another (real o r im ag in ary ) context. In is m ade gradually: B follow s A — it becom es
other w ords, if th e seq u en ce w ere to b e ed ­ a n ad ju n ct rath er th an a con trast or at least,
ited conv entio nally th ere w o u ld be: A. th o u g h the meaning o f object (or fact) B m ay
Su san ly in g in her b ed ro o m (m id shot). B. b e con trasted w ith th e m ean in g o f ev en t A,
T he glass o n h e r b ed sid e tab le w ith the th a t con trast exists on ly a t th e level o f w hat
spoon and th e sleep in g p ills (close shot). is being signified. T h e object is included
T h e suggested idea is related to S u sa n 's a t­ w ith in the con crete w h ole. Its quality as a
tem pt to p o iso n h e rself. T h e id ea is gener­ sig n b eco m es differentiated from th e object,
ated b y the su ccessio n o f the tw o shots. By w hereas in effect-m ontage it is so bound up
this fact the glass implies, b y associatio n , the w ith the ob ject th a t the ob ject b ecom es a
idea o f poisoning. C on seq u ently it b eco m es m ere “su p p o rt" fo r a n idea. To reiterate: in
th e concrete sign o f the idea, its tem p o rary relatio n sh ip s ach iev ed th rou g h n o ^ o n -
sy m b o lic representation. tage, the effective p o w er o f the concrete is
In the sin gle-sh ot setu p there w o u ld be: m u c h greater; objects are end ow ed w ith a
Su san ly in g in h er b ed ro o m and , in fore­ w e ig h t and d en sity h ith erto d en ie d them :
ground (in extrem e closeu p), the glass on the sig n is a t the sam e level as the object
the b ed sid e t a b le - w h ic h m eans th a t the w ith o u t e v e r b eco m in g id en tified w ith it.
idea is no lon g er generated b y the associa­ A n d this m ak es it, if n o t m ore allu sive, at
tio n of successive term s: it has an immediate least m o re subtle.
178 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

It m ay b e said that the w h ole sem io lo g y p rit), th e re is n o film w orthy o f th e nam e

o f film log os derives fro m th e im p licativ e or w h ich does n o t cu ltivate and exploit the
allusive significations w h ich rely on relat­ reverse angle. A n to n io n i's film s - w h ic h
in g specific ob jects o r events. N ow , though proclaim this aesth etic p r in c ip le - a r e full
these relationsh ips are n o t alw ays the prod­ o f them . T h ere are a lm o st as m any reverse
uct o f m ontage, th ey a r e - o r th e y r e f l e c t - angles in these films as in the various shots
its spirit. T hu s ed itin g d oes n o t necessarily o f th a t p a ra d ig m o f a film in one shot, R ope
m ean th e cu ttin g and sp licin g to g eth er of - w h i c h is sa y in g quite a bit.
film b u t this sig n ify in g form . It is in this W e n eed lo o k n o fu rth er fo r p ro o f than
sen se th at w e u se the w ord. the exam p le o f th e sin gle tak e w hich acted
A m o n g these v a rio u s relatio n sh ip s, the as the springboard for som e o f B azin's
rev erse an gle is one o f the m o st interesting th in kin g. I leav e it to h im to explain:
and typ ical characteristics o f th e cinem a.
W e hav e already con sid ered ou r attitu de to Now, this dramatic reality was in fact
the sh ot-reverse-sh ot techniqu e. T h e use made more concrete through a studio
w h ich h ack d irectors p u t it to is n o less build, not spread across several sound
clu m sy th an a n y o th er m isu sed or o v er­ stages butconstructed in its entirety in the
courtyard of the Billancourt studio. In this
u sed techniqu e. H o w ev er, th e reverse-
vast complex, each important element of
angle p rin cip le h a s n o th in g to d o w ith the
the build (the caretaker's office, the laun­
p in g p on g in g b ack w ard and forw ard , m ore dry, the staircase, the printing-house,
or less quickly, o f tw o field s o f v iew in di­ Batala's office) . . . had its real place
rect opposition to each other. T h e reverse around the courtyard, the center of which
angle o f any p o in t o f view is, in sim ple la n ­ became the geometric location o f the
gu age, the d iam etrically opposite p o in t of whole action. Another significant fact: the
v i e w - o r at least the opposite an g le seen paving o f the courtyard was concentric.
accord ing to a variable latitud e. It is the It is easy to understand then that,
"fo u rth w all" revealed and consid ered o b ­ though the shot-in-depth is the only log­
jectively. T h e sin gle shot is th eatrical space ical way of shooting a scene when the ac­
tion occurs in one of the peripheral
(th ree w alls) and w ith o u t th e reverse angle
elements o f the set, the pan is the camera
w e h av e the v iew of som eon e sittin g in the
movement specifically imposed by this
stalls. As soo n as th ere is m o vem en t in the
general layout when the action is shot
p oint o f view , w ithin th e space, th ere is cin­ from the courtyard.
em a and therefore a reverse angle. W h ich That explains the final breathtaking
p rovides u s w ith a first principle: th a t every master stroke of the mise-en-scene, the
angle is necessarily th e reverse o f som e perfect harmony crystallizing the whole
oth er angle, even th o u g h th a t other angle spatial universe of the film: the 360-de­
m ay n o t actually fo rm p art o f the sequence. gree ''backward" pan following Lange
M erely b ecau se th e re are so m any p o ten tial from Batala's office, through the print
an gles, th e " o th er" angle is in fact im plied shop, down the stairs, and out into the
courtyard. It is at this point, however, that
w ith in th e w h ole. A n d th e p seu d o-aesth et­
the camera leaves him and, instead of fol­
ics o f non reverse angle (a corollary o f n o n ­
lowing Lange, t^urns back on itself and,
m ontage) boasted b y a certain type of
keeping close to the walls of the court­
cinem a is sustained o n ly b y a verb al nicety! yard, ends up framing Lange at the oppo­
B arring an interpretation th a t th e clich e site end where he joins Batala and finally
o f p in g p on g in g sh o u ld b e avo id ed (in kills him. This wonderful, apparently
w hich case th e shot-reverse-sh ot is a cu l­ illogical camera movement is perhaps
 RHYTHM AN D MO VING SHOTS 179

justifiable in other w ays-psychological co m p ariso n ("lik e . . . " ) is im p ossible in th e

or dramatic (it produces an impression of cinem a, i.e., in a linear continuity. It could
giddiness, hysteria, and creates a certain o n ly b e p o ssible in th e co n tex t o f p o ly visio n
suspense); but its raison d'etre is even
(p arallel con tin u ities, h a rm o n ic or contra­
more profound: it is the pure spatial ex­
pu ntal, effects, etc.). F or sim ilar reasons,
pression of the mise-en-scene.4
m etap h or itself is im practicable in the cin­
em a. A n d in the category o f "m eta p h o r" w e
T his cam era m o v em en t, u sed b y Je a n in clu d e ev ery th in g to d o w ith com parison
R en o ir in Le Crime de Monsieur Lange corre­ and sym bolism .
spond s p erfectly w ith the d irecto r's in ten ­ M arcel M artin w rites: "w h a t I u n d e r­
tion. W h at is d isturbing is th a t Bazin stand b y m etap h o r is th e juxtaposition,
chooses this ty p e o f m ise-en-scene to ju stify th ro u g h ed itin g , o f tw o im ag es w h ose con ­
his a r g ^ e n t in fav or o f non m on tage as frontation is bound to produce in the
w ell as non reverse angle; fo r, in th e final a u d ien ce's m in d a psy ch olog ical sh ock
analysis, if there is n o e d i t i n g - t h e cam era w h ose p u rp ose is to facilitate th e percep­
m o v em en t b ein g s e lf- s u ffic ie n t-it w ould tion an d assim ilatio n o f an idea w h ich the
b e ju st as logical to ju stify an arg u m en t in film m aker w ish es to express through the
favor o f the "to ta l reverse a n g le ." W h en w e film " (Le Langage cinematographique).
fo llo w a p an ro u n d 360 degrees, w e ca n see T h is is a p re cise d efin ition o f effect-m on-
that in fact every an g le has its correspond ­ tage. A n d if it w ere as M artin d escribes it,
in g op posite cou n terp art, w h ich the cam era an y sig n ification p rod u ced in this w ay
in ev itab ly inclu d es as it m oves. T h is is e le­ w o u ld be m e ta p h o r ic a l-w h ic h seem s to
m e n ta ry geom etry. T h e n o n rev erse an g le o f us com p letely m istak en , sin ce, in fact, no
A n to n io n i's film s con form s p retty closely exp ressio n o f the k ind w ould b e produced.
w ith this kind o f d efin itio n . Yet, fo r ou r th e­ M a rtin q u otes as an exam p le th e o p en in g
oretician s, fro m the m o m en t a reverse an g le seq u en ce in Modern Times: im ag es o f a flock
is n o t produ ced b y effect-m on tage, i.e., o f sh eep follow ing im ages o f passen gers
from the m om en t it is n ot shot-reverse-sh ot, em erg in g fro m the su b w ay and im ag es of
it m an ifestly can n o lon g er b e a reverse w o rk ers en terin g a factory. H e also cites the
angle. fin al seq u en ce in Mother (w hich w e have
It is easy to p red ict th e con seq u en ces of exam in ed elsew here): the strik ers o n the
such confused theories. F requ ently correct em ban k m en t beside the N ev a and th e river
in w h at they d escribe, they are alw ays m is­ itself carrying alon g the p a ck ice as it
taken in the generalizations w h ich they breaks ag ain st th e b u ttresses o f the bridge.
draw from rand om significations. Even W e w o u ld arg u e that - i n th is case an d in
w orse: once they h av e b ee n raised to the all o t h e r s - i t h a s to d o w ith a com parative
level o f dogm a, they tu m into a value sys­ relatio n sh ip , an association o f ideas, one o f
tem ou tsid e w h ich th ere is n o salv ation - a t the two terms having a symbolic effect on the
least in the eyes o f the ad herents. W e m ust o th e r -a n d n oth in g w h atsoever to d o w ith
confess that, fo r us, the cin em a is n o t a herd m etaphor.
o f sacred cow s. W eb ster's d efin ition o f metaphor is: "A
A s w ell as th e se d u b io u s th eories, there figure o f sp eech in w h ic h a w ord or phrase
is the constan t ap p licatio n o f w ro n g d efi­ literally d en o tin g on e kind o f o b ject or idea
nitions d ue to the use o f inaccurate term i­ is u sed in place o f another to su g g est a lik e ­
nology. Such is the case w ith th e sym bol and n ess o r an alog y b etw ee n th em ." T h e im ­
the m etaphor. W e saw that m etap h o rical p o rtan t elem ents o f this d efin ition fo r ou r
180 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

p u rp oses are: (1) that the lik en ess of an al­ som eth in g to b e avoided. H e goes on:
og y is suggested and (2) th at th e w ord or "T h e ir use results in tw o inexcusable errors:
phrase is u sed in p lace o f another. S u ch is eith er the sy m b ols are cru d e (a w o m an sur­
the case w h en , fo r instan ce, I say: a le a f of rend ers h er virgin ity and th e petals of a rose
a book. I am n o t saying: "th is piece o f p ap er op en , as in Les L aches vivent d'espoir) and
is flat like th e lea f o f a tre e "; I ^ n o t p u t­ n in e tim es o u t o f ten they d o n o t even serve
tin g the p iece o f paper and the leaf side by th eir pu rpose; o r else they are too lavish and
side; I am im p ly in g the com parison . For com plicated, in w h ich case the audience
th ere to b e m etap hor o f this k in d in the does n o t u n d erstan d th em (w hips, jack-
exam p les g iven b y M artin , one of th e term s b ooted w o m en , stallion s, cats, e tc.)."
w ou ld hav e to ev ok e or sig n ify th e other in U nfortunately, it is n o t ju st th at they fail
order for the idea to be transferred fro m one to serve th eir p u rp ose: th ey are appalling
term to the o t h e r - w h ic h is ev id en tly n ot trav esties, the w h o le lot o f them . B u t w e are
the case. talk in g here o f ap p lied sym bols, im p osed
B ecau se it is "o b je c tiv e ," th e sh o t o f the o n to the action in stead o f b ein g im plicated
strikers on the em ban k m en t can o n ly sig ­ b y it. Film sy m b ols are n o t conventional
n ify w h at it show s. T h e revolu tionary sig n s fo r w h ich y o u n eed a cod e b ook to be
m o vem ent cannot in itself evoke in the able to d ecip her th e m ; if th ey are, th e y are
au d ien ce's m ind th e b reak u p o f the p ack e ith er b a d or false. T h ey m u st b e contingent,
ice, sin ce it cou ld ju st as easily e v o k e s o m e ­ im p licated b y a m o m en t or situ a tio n ou t­
th in g entirely different: b o ilin g w ater, fo r side w hich th ey hav e n o m eaning. T h ey do
instance. T h e com p ariso n is entirely fo rtu i­ n o t hav e (ind eed m u st n o t hav e) any intrin­
tous and exists on ly in the m in d o f the sic valu e. T h e visu alization o f ready-m ade
film m aker: first becau se o f th e circu m ­ sym bols h av in g sig n ification independent
stances and second because o f th e concrete o f th eir visual co n tex t is anticin em atic b e­
elem ents w h ich it uses (unless a term u n re­ cause it is n ot a fu n c tio n o f film language.
lated to the represented action is intro­ Take, fo r exam p le, B u n u el's Un Chien an-
duced). T hu s to sa y that this is m etaphor is dalou , a sym bolic film p ar excellen ce. The
to use the w ord m etaphorically. N ow , in aes­ eye b e in g cut b y a razor after a clou d has
th etics as in philosophy, th e first con d ition p assed over th e su n cu ttin g it in tw o is a
fo r b ein g u n d ersto od and fo r en su rin g the con tin g en t sym bol: th e m ean in g it g iv e s to
validity o f on e's arg u m en t is to u se w ords the action is th e con seq u en ce o f an im age
w ith their correct an d precise m eanings. relatio nsh ip produced b y the action itself.
A s far as sy m b ols are con cern ed , the O n the' oth er h an d , the sy m b ol o f th e piano
w ord is correctly used b u t its m eaning is w ith th e d on k ey s b ein g dragged alon g by
m isinterp reted , sin ce th e p u rp ose o f film th e priests is a m anu factu red sym bol. I do
sym bolism is to produ ce s y m b o ls - n o t n o t m e a n th at it h a s n o t b e e n created in view
m erely to u se them . "S y m b o ls ," Fran<;ois o f the film - in d e e d , it exists on ly f o r the
C hevassu tells u s, "a re a collection o f signs film, but n o t by the film . It is n o t som e
w h ich allow som ething to b e represented "c lich e stuck on to life," fo r a t least it has
con v en tio n ally in stead o f revealin g it di­ th e m erit o f being origin al. B u t it is incom -
rectly " (Le Lan gage cin em atographiqu e). H e is p r e h e n s ib le -p r e c is e ly because it does not
right, inasm uch as h e m eans sy m b ol in its have a basis in expression. It is th e visu aliza­
m ost general sense. H ow ever, ifh e is talk in g tio n o f a literary con cep t (and how !), a
about film sym bols he is on th e w ro n g track film ed con cep t n o t a film concept. It is pre­
c o m p le te ly - o r else his d efin ition is of viou s to th e visual expression, w hereas it
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 181

shou ld coexist w ith in it. In short, the shot shall g ain a b etter u n d erstan d in g o f this if
records w h at h as alread y b ee n sig n ified ; it w e refer to a concrete exam ple.
illustrates a con cep t (fam iliar or otherw ise, In Peter Ibbetson (b y H enry H athaw ay),
com m onp lace o r u n im ag in ab le), w h ereas it the o p en in g sequ ences sh ow tw o child ren
should be sign ify in g as it establishes its (girl and b o y ) liv ing in tw o a d jo in in g villas
signification. w h o se parents are o n close term s. These
C hevassu w rites elsew here: "M oreov er, tw o ch ild ren are used to playing their
w e are forced, b y th is definition, to ru le o u t gam es in on e h ou se or the other. B ut their
a certain n u m ber o f sh o ts w ron g ly con sid ­ d om estic duties (studying, hom ew ork, etc.)
ered to t e sym bolic: th e m o st fam ou s b ein g p reven t th e m fro m seein g e a c h other as
the sh o t in Fritz L a n g 's M , w ith th e m u r­ m uch as th ey w ou ld like. N ow , as often as
d erer sta rin g at th e k n iv es in a sh op w in ­ th ey can (even w hen th ey are n o t allow ed
d ow an d th e re flectio n o f th e k n ives in the to p la y togeth er) th e y ru n into the garden
w ind ow around him . T h is is m ore an ellip ­ and m eet th rou g h th e trellis. The passion
sis th an a sy m b o l, en ab lin g L an g to sh o w o f th eir ch ild ish love forces th em together,
th e character and th e object o f h is interest b u t the tre llis is a b a rrie r b etw ee n them .
at the sam e tim e " (Le Langage cinematogra- T h e d ev elop m en t of the film is the devel­
phique). E llip sis . . . certain ly not. A t m ost it op m en t o f this love, w h ich is the eternal
m ight b e seen as an “e p ito m e ." H ow ever, b o n d b etw een th em in their thoughts,
h ere w e are d ea lin g w ith a genuine film th o u g h socially th ey can n ev er b e united.
sym bol: a real fa ct represented objectively. T h e trellis th erefore becom es - b y extension
B ut by implication (by virtu e o f the context) — the sym bol o f everything w h ich prevents
it happens that th e k n ives suddenly assum e th e m from b ein g u n ited . It is th e ph ysical,
a signification th ey d o n o t hav e in everyd ay social, an d m oral, co n crete and abstract
reality; a m ean in g inh erent in th e rep re­ "b a rrie r" stand in g in their way. Yet this trel­
sen ted d ram a b u t one w h ich tran scen d s the lis —w h ich is n ev er in an y w ay em phasized
m om en t during w hich it occu rs. In other b u t is quite sim p ly th e re —sym bolizes
words, in the cinem a, sign (in the lin g u istic n o th in g in -itself; it is n o t the sy m b ol o f sep­
sen se o f th e w ord ) and symbol are sy n on y ­ aration in the w ay that th e p ince-nez is the
mous. N ecessarily created b y th e agency of sym bol o f the fall o f a regim e or the glass
a given object, an y signification gives that is th e sy m b ol o f an attem p ted suicide.
object a value as a sign: it becom es a sym - M o re o v e r—as in th e ch ild b irth scen e in
b o l - a tem porary, contin gent sy m b ol, h o w ­ E a r t h - w e may see in it a sym bolic sig ni­
ever, n o t an intrinsic sy m b ol. W e h ave fication , b u t w e d o n o t do so necessarily. O f
devoted su fficien t atten tion to this q u es­ all th e d ifferent form s, th is is obviou sly the
tion. H ow ever, it did seem n ecessa ry to m o st subtle. C learly it is ad aptable to the
refer to it again in order to d ecid e w h a t are con d ition of p sy ch olog ical realism , w here­
th e im plications of this exam p le fro m M — as sy m b olism produced b y editing, h av in g
notably, th a t th e sig n ification w h ich , un til to co n fo rm w ith th e n eed s o f the lyric or
n o w , w e hav e attributed to e d itin g (the th e epic, h a s a p lace on ly in a "d ire cted "
p ince-nez in Potemkin) o r som e oth er rela­ reality.
tio n sh ip within the shot (th e g lass in Citizen P lacin g a n em phasis on a n object w ithin
ta n e ) m ay ju s t as easily d ep en d on a re la ­ th e field o f v ie w is a m ore am bigu ou s tech­
tionship b e tw e e n th e "to ta l d a ta " o f a shot nique, sin ce it fulfills a n objective as w ell
and th e total d ata o f an y ad jacent shots, as a certain su bjective n eed . Yet n o n e o f
even the totality o f the film context. We these form s co u ld ever b e consid ered as su­
182 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

p e rio r to th e others. T h e o n ly w orth less s h o c k -in te n s ifie d b y a ju m p if the cu t is

fo rm s are th e "sy m b o lic exp ressio n s" — m ade in th e sam e axis. It is norm al, then,
w h ich n o o n e in his rig h t m in d w o u ld call fo r rules to be established (rules are m ade
film sym bols (fad ed ro ses, tu rtled oves, su n­ to be b rok en ), b u t n o t laws. T he clever e f­
sets, etc.), and these should be consigned to fect m ay b e a fin e th in g in itself b u t no one
the scrap heap. w o u ld d en y that th e n eed s o f the expres­
T h e im a g e b e in g a "s ig n a l" w ith an in fi­ sio n are far m ore im portant. I f - a n d only
n itely v ariab le and ep hem eral sym bolic i f - s u c h a cu t ca n b e justified should it be
m ean in g, it is im possible to lay d ow n fo r used. In sh ort, n othin g shou ld be discounted
film any strict ru le s -g r a m m a tic a l r u l e s - w hich p rov es its e lf to be necessary.
as fo r a cod e w h o se s ig n s h av e beco m e It is equally absurd to categ orize editing
conv entionalized and p erm an en tly fixed u n d er vario u s h ead ings: rhythm ic, id eolog ­
(alw ays allow in g fo r a sem a n tic d en sity ac­ ical, n arrativ e, ellip tical, o f cau se, of effect,
q uired through usage). As w e have said, o f con seq u ence, o f relation, o f tim e, o f
the cin em a is n o t a cod e raised to som e place, etc., as the vast m ajority o f th e gram ­
h ig h er aesthetic value b u t an aesth etic fo rm m arian s seem to do, since it can quite easily
com p elled to accep t the co n d itio n s o f cod i­ b e fo u n d to hav e as m an y form s as ideas.
fication through its v ery n atu re as a d ialec­ O r to m ak e up ed itin g tables, as though
tic d ev elop m en t. T h a t is w h y all the so- editing is calcu lable, like sum s w ith log a­
called film g r ^ ^ a r s , b ased on con stan tly rith m tables. It is od d to see a theoretician
sh iftin g and relativ e p rincip les, elevated o f E isen stein 's shrew d ness fallin g in to this
into g eneralized fo rm al law s, beco m e ou t­ k ind o f trap, dividing ed itin g in to arbitrary
dated w ith in a cou p le o f years o f b ein g categories: m etric, rh y th m ic, m elod ic, tonal
p u b lis h e d -n e w m etho d s b ased o n new - a s th o u g h rhy thm ic ed itin g (the only
things to express or n ew w ay s o f seeing valid category w h atev er the style) did not
the w o rld com e alon g to con trad ict th e p re­ inclu d e all th e others (rh ythm being a func­
viou s ru les and regulations. tion o f m etrics, intensity, and tonality all at
It is logical th a t rh y th m shou ld b e "h a r­ th e sam e tim e).
m o n io u s." A s a con seq u en ce, ou r g ram ­ W e shou ld ad d that p erfectly m atched
m arians establish the a p rio ri con d ition s o f cu ts d o n o t n ecessarily guarantee a film 's
rhythm , statin g th at ed itin g m u st b e lik e value o r in te llig ib ility -a n y m ore than the
this or that. In m y view , th e re is n o su ch ab sen ce o f sp ellin g m istak es guarantees the
th in g as in trin sically harm on iou s rhythm , v alu e o f a p iece o f p r o s e - n o t that it m akes
esp ecially since it h a s n o physical precon­ it an y m ore in tellig ib le for h a v in g spelling
d itions (su ch as in tervals in m usic) to gov­ m istak es. Ju st as the first d uty of a w riter
ern it. I on ly kn ow that it m u st b e ju stified is to w rite a fa ir cop y o f h is p iece w ithout
b y th e fe e lin g s o r id eas it su ggests, b y the an y m istak es, so the first d uty o f a film m a­
involvem ent it in vites. It b eco m es h a rm o ­ ker is to m atch h is cu ts, un less, o f course,
n iou s w h en it gives to the exp ressio n o f h is in tention is to ju m p cu t d eliberately in
w h ich it is the percep tible fo rm a po w er o rd er to create a p articu lar e f f e c t - i n w hich
and force it w o u ld n o t have w ith o u t i t - f o r case it is n o t a m ism atched cu t, since the
th e n and o n ly th e n d oes it fu lfill its p u r­ ru les b eco m e altered b y the requirem ents
p ose, i.e., its n eed to exist. o f the expression.
T h at is w h y it is n o t lo g ical to cu t from O n th e su b ject o f ju m p cu ts, I shall sim ­
lon g shot to extrem e closeu p : th e excessive p ly refer to the exam p le w h ich is alw ays
d ifferen ce in scale creates a n u n p leasan t q uoted in th e textbooks (and alw ays, I m ay
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 183

say, m isinterp reted ): th e seq u en ce o f the time context, its objects and events, are
stone lion s in The Battleship Potemkin. M ar­ already present: perception, in this frame­
cel M artin rem in d s us th a t "th re e stone work, does its decoding in many stages,
lions, carved in th ree d ifferen t poses (lying, recognizing something and adding it to
its increasing store of information. In the
crouching, and stand in g), ju xta p o sed in
cinema, the decoding operation is preset
tim e , give th e au d ien ce th e im p re ssio n that
and, from these fragmentary series, per­
it is seeing a sleep in g lion rise a t th e sou n d
ception builds up its hom ogeneity-the
of a c a n n o n " (Le Langage cinematographique). object, the scene, the time, and the space.
If this w ere so, i.e., if th e lio n s w ere ju x ta ­ The perceptual equation is the same, in
posed, e a ch o f th e m in a sta tic p ose, the re­ the final analysis; only the variables
sult w ou ld b e a series o f jum p cuts: w e change. (Le Cinema ou I'homme imaginaire)
w ould b e ju m p in g from o n e to th e other. In
fact, th e seq u en ce is co m p o se d o f five shots, These ob servation s, based on gestalt,
n o t three. There is (1) th e stone lion lying w o u ld b e su fficient to refu te B a z in 's argu­
d ow n; (2) a shell explod in g and shattering m en ts in resp ect of the perception o f the
the grill and fro n t p o rch o f a villa; (3) th e "to ta l field o f v isio n " w ere it n o t fo r the fact
stone lion on its h au n ch es; (4) an oth er shell- th a t this ob viou s "c o n v e rsio n " (of objects
b u rst; (5) th e stone lio n o n its feet. In th is presented su ccessiv ely) is a conscious pro­
w ay th e tim e (how ever short) o f sh ots 2 and cess. In o th er w ords, w e h av e the notion of
4 is m ad e to fit the tim e o f the supp osed th eir sim u ltaneity ; w e are aw are o f it b u t
m o vem ent o f the lion, a m o v e m e n t w e ac­ c a n n o t experience it: aw areness is converted
cept o n ly b ecau se th e d u ratio n m akes it into u n d erstand ing . O n th e other h and , in
possible. It is fo r th is reason that the ed iting perception o f th e total field o f view , this
o f the seq u en ce w o rk s w ell; if it w ere the sim ultaneity is already present. W e feel it in
w ay it is u su ally d escribed it w ou ld p rob­ all its effects w ith o u t b ein g obliged to re­
ably b e d readful. structure it in ou r m inds.
T h e sa m e is tru e o f m ovem ent. E d iting
The M o v in g Camera can cels ou t m o b ility b y p re sen tin g it "a t a
fix e d p o in t": I see ob jects fa ce on, from the
A p a rt from th e su b sid iary q u estio n o f le ft, fro m th e rig h t, from above, from below ,
rhythm a n d stru cture, w e h a v e s e e n that b u t each v ie w I h av e p resu p p oses an in ­
film , through editing, is able to red iscov er stant tran sition from o n e p o in t to another.
th e m o b ility o f p sy ch olog ical vision . A s M ovem ent is im p lie d - th o u g h it n ever ac­
E dgar M orin poin ts out, tu ally occurs. A n d it is the need for m ove­
m ent w h ich is the raison d'etre o f tracking
We are constantly reestablishing not shots.
only the consistency of objects but also the W e sa w h o w th e origin al p u rp o se o f the
consistency of the space-time framework. track in g s h o t w a s to fo llo w th e actors, but
The audience converts parallel actions
w e could stretch the p o in t an d say th at a
into simultaneous time, even though they
track in g s h o t w h ich keeps eq u al distance
are presented in a succession of alternat­
an d speed w ith the characters it is follow ­
ing shots. Yet this qualification is also an
explanation: succession and alternation are in g is an oth er fo rm o f static shot; it is the
the actual modes by which we perceive b ack g rou n d w h ich appears to b e m oving.
simultaneous events or (better still) a sin­ T h at m ak es it possible to shoot stud io
gle event. "tra c k in g sh o ts," u sin g b a ck projection. A re
In real life, the homogeneous space- w e really see in g a co u p le d rivin g th eir car
184 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

d ow n a leafy lane? T h e cam era is n o t m ov­ o ffice s o n th a t floor, and fin a lly to o n e o f the
ing; n or is th e cam era. B u t beh in d the car hundreds o f clerks in th at office. A sequence
there is a "b a c k p ro je ctio n " o f cou ntry sid e o f sep arate shots could n ev er h av e ex­
and trees p assing by. p ressed w ith such sim ple precision th e feel­
It was only from 1924 on w ard that the in g o f the relation o f the in d ivid u al to the
cam era really began to m o v e -a ro u n d collectivity, the m an to the crow d, and all
rath er th an w ith th e ch aracters o f th e dram a th e w h ile d efining th e isolation and insig­
(first ap p earin g in M u rn a u 's T he L ast n ificance o f the individ ual.
Laugh). H ow ever, the p o ten tial o f th e m ov­ T h e extraord in ary jo u rn ey o f Fau st and
ing cam era w as n o t fu lly realized u n til the M ep h istop h eles over h ill and d ow n d ale,
in v e n tio n o f th e crane in 1930. In itia lly d e­ th rou g h to w n s an d villag es (in M ^ n a u 's
scrip tiv e , cam era m o vem en ts g ra d u a lly a s­ F au st), and th e in te rp la n eta ry voyage in A
sum ed a p sy ch o lo g ica l significance, an d W om an on the M o o n (b y F ritz Lang) are
in stead o f d escribin g the lo ca tio n s or fol­ a m o n g th e fin e st track in g sh o ts to h a v e a p ­
lo w in g the characters, th e y w ere used to de­ p eared at th e e n d o f th e silen t period . H ow ­
scribe character relationsh ip s an d constru ct ever, th e first cam era m o vem en ts w ith psy­
the sp ace o f the dram a. ch olog ical as w ell as d escrip tive value -
W e m en tion ed the am azing tra c k fo r­ and w h ic h rem ain so m e o f the m o st re­
w ard in I n t o le r a n c e - o n e o f the first "s e le c ­ m ark ab le in the w h o le o f cin em a - are those
tiv e " as w ell as "d e sc rip tiv e " cam era m o v e­ in M ^ ^ a u 's D aw n. T h ere is one w h ich takes
m ents. A lth o u gh it d escrib es B a b y lo n an d the h ero d ow n to the m arshes, w h ere he is
its te e m in g th ro n g s, its p rim a ry fu n ctio n is to m e e t a w o m an. T he sin u ou s cu rve o f the
to reveal the k in g B alth azar an d th e p rin ­ track fo llo w in g h im as h e w alks dow n
cess in th e m id st o f h is c o u r t - t h e en d of through th e ru shes, th e su d d en revelation
the track has th em fram ed in close shot. o f th e m arsh as h e w alks tow ard the
A lm o st as am azing is the track, w h ich , in w om an, tran slate both h is m ovem ent and
th e very first seq u en ces o f K in g V id o r's The h is feelin g s - h i s h esitation and fin ally his
Crowd, isolates the hero, a sim ple clerk lost a s to n is h m e n t-a n d have th e effect o f m ak­
in the m etropolis. A fter a series o f lo n g p an ­ ing the au d ien ce share his feelings, experi­
n in g shots d escrib in g N ew Y ork and its sk y ­ e n cin g th em at th e sam e tim e as the ch arac­
scrapers (and a cou p le o f jayw alkers ter. E ven m ore rem arkable is the tram
crossing th e b u sy streets), the cam era m oves jo u rn ey tak in g th e m an and h is y o u n g bride
to th e fo ot o f a gig antic skyscraper. A q u ick fro m th e forest to th e tow n: each tu rn in the
m o vem ent tak es us up to the tw entieth road reveals a n ew h orizo n , a n ew aspect,
floor. T h e cam era tracks in to the center of as th e y o u n g couple gradually grow closer
the fram e, to one o f the w in d ow s on this in this shared exp erien ce, th e ch an g in g
floor through w h ich can b e seen an im ­ cou n try sid e reflectin g the d evelopm en t of
m ense office w h ere h u ndred s o f clerk s are their feelings and beco m in g the p h y sical ex­
w orking. T h e cam era m o ves forw ard p ressio n o f th eir dram a.
th rou g h th e w indow , crosses the office, and S in ce the introd u ction o f th e cra n e, the
com es to rest on th e d esk occu pied b y the term s fo r w a r d track, sidew ays track and back­
m ain character o f th e film , n o w fram ed in w ard track n o lon g er have an y m e a n in g -
close shot. A sin gle m o v e m e n t takes us from being that the cam era is capable of describing
the skyline o f skyscrapers to on e p articu lar th e m o st varied o f m o vem en ts a t the end
skyscraper and fro m th a t to on e o f th e floo rs o f a crane. T his is already apparent in
o f th e b u ild in g, th e n o n to one o f th e m a n y D aw n. All the sam e, the term s d o have v a­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 185

lidity w h en w e talk o f "d o lly in g ," i.e., d i­ zoom . M oreover, the change in perspective
rected tracks: to w ard or a w ay fro m a char­ cau sed b y an actual ch an g e o f p o sition im -
acter or object. In the first the field o f view p l i e s - a n d indeed i n c lu d e s - a real m o ve­
b ecom es gradually n arrow er (d olly fo r­ m ent. If w e see (in lon g shot) som eon e
ward), and in the second related facts and sittin g lo o k in g a t a revolv er on a m antle
th e b ackgrou n d itself are gradually re­ sh elf and if there is a track from h is position
vealed as th e field o f v iew b eco m es p ro ­ u p to th e ob ject, it w ould b e incongru ou s
gressively w id er (d olly back). to see, in th e course o f the n ext shot, the
For a lon g tim e this ty p e o f d o lly in g w as m an still sitting in th e sam e place. D oubt­
u sed to m o v e to w ard a ch aracter in order less it w o u ld be un d erstood that w h at is
to b u ild up d ram atic intensity. It d iffers being represented is h is m en tal attitude, an
fro m the straigh t cu t in that it grad ually in clin atio n o f som e k in d , b u t this w ould
builds up the em o tio n rath er th an su d d en ly n o t be clear, fo r atten tion does n o t involve
d raw ing atten tion to it. H ow ever, this a ch an g e in th e sp atial field. This fo rm
m ethod o f em phasizing the "cru cia l m o­ w o u ld on ly apply if it con cern ed a parap le­
m e n t," o f w rin gin g ev ery last d rop o f em o ­ gic im ag in in g w h a t it w o u ld b e lik e to be
tion fro m a scen e, h a s v ery q u ick ly beco m e able to move. But b y th e sam e token the
cliched. N ow ad ays, th e te ch n iq u e is ev ery op tical track is also in cap able o f translating
b it as absurd as th e abuse o f the shot-re­ satisfactorily actu al changes o f position.
verse-shot. T h e m o st im p o rta n t th in g, in all cases, is
W h ereas the track b ack alw ay s allow s th a t ca m e ra m o vem en t sh o u ld b e ju stified
fo r th e u n ex p ected (place or situation) to be -p h y s ic a ily , dram atically, or psy ch olog i­
revealed from a m ore o r less significant cally. W h e th e r it is being u sed to track or is
startin g p o in t, th e track fo rw ard is alw ay s static, the cam era m u st fo llo w the action of
used to rep resen t th e m o v e m e n t o f a ch ar­ a scen e and n o t an ticipate it. This la w (to
acter or else the significance o f a d etail, a w h ich w e h av e alread y allu ded ) is b asic in
shift o f attention - a s in T he S h ad ow o f a the sen se th a t it is a fu n ctio n o f the psy ch ol­
D oubt. T h is is o b viou sly th e m o st interest­ o g y o f the spectacle and th e expression. It
ing o f all its uses. Y et it im plies the r a p i d - does n o t legislate ov er any p articu lar style
b u t grad ual - en larg em en t o f th e particu lar o r genre b u t ov er the w h ole area o f expres­
d etail o r ,b e tte r still, th e rap id n arro w in g of sion: som ethin g can n ot be d escribed unless it
the cam era's field o f view. In th is respect alread y exists. T o do so is to reveal th e artifi­
the op tical track (or zoom ) has m an y ad­ ciality o f th e sp ectacle and thereby negate
v an ta g es ov er th e real track, in th e sen se or destroy the fan tasy it is try in g to create.
th a t it is a good d eal q u ick er and d oes n o t T he cam era an ticip atin g an ev en t is like the
alter th e persp ectiv es. T h e effect o f a zoom actor teleg rap h in g a scen e in the theater.
is o f a tran sition fro m a tw o-d im en sion al O f cou rse, links m u st b e made. If a di­
p h o tog rap h to a tw o-d im en sional d etail of rector w an ts to m o ve from one scen e to an­
the sam e p h o to g r a p h -w h ic h accu rately other w ithout cutting (in order to illustrate
translates su d d en p ercep tu al "re a liz a tio n ." a g lo b a l u n ity ), th e n th e cam era m u st m ove
The straig h t cu t, su d d en ly cu ttin g from m e­ fro m on e to th e other. T h e a rt lies in m ak ing
dium to close shot, tran slates the attention these m o v em en ts seem natu ral b u t a t the
o f our eyes b u t n o t the "in ten tio n al m ove­ sam e tim e necessary. W illiam W y ler w as
m e n t" o f ou r consciou sness. w ith o u t a d ou bt the first d irector capable
E v e n w h en it is a q u ick m o vem en t, the o f g iv in g th em a clear ju stification , and h e
re a l track is a good d eal slo w er th a n a d id so b y a p p ly in g a k in d o f p sy ch olog ical
186 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

o r d escrip tive coefficient. T hu s in O ne-W ay sh e has to ru n, th e greater her distress. The

Street w e see, in a sord id b a ck street, kids tim e it takes fo r h er to ru n can only increase
fig hting and th ro w in g ap p le cores a t each h er anxiety. A rath er corny pretext, one
other. Su d d en ly on e o f the ap p le cores m ig h t th in k , but at least it is a pretext;
m isses its target and land s in a stream off- w hereas in the film in qu estion the only
cam era. O n e o f th e k id s ru ns after it, and thing m otivating the track is B ette D avis's
the cam era, fram in g h im in a d ow nw ard action: an extrem ely flim sy pretext. T o fo l­
tilt, follow s h is m ovem ent. T he m ovem ent low a n action to th e en d in order to preserve
appears s illy - m a k in g a great d eal o f n o th ­ "re a l tim e " is all w ell and good, provided
ing. Y et scarcely h as th e ch ild picked up the the d uration co n trib u tes a sig n ification ; fo r
ap p le core than, in th e action o f stan d in g if it m erely d escribes a void , it cou ld do so
u p , h e perceives (the cam era follow s his indefinitely, an d " a r t" w ould b e w ith in
gaze and also p ick s up): o n th e pav em en t, ev e ry o n e 's capabilities. Thu s it is n o t so
a y ard or so aw ay from h im , a ch aracter m u ch the tracking sh ot in-itself w h ich is of
w h o has previou sly passed un noticed as he interest b u t w h at is con tained in th e track ­
h as b e e n w atch in g th eir gam e. A n d th is is in g s h o t - w h a t th e track is used for.
h o w th e n e w ch aracter (H u m phrey B ogart) T h e op p osite o f this kind o f purposeless
is in trod u ced in to th e action. m o v em en t is a track in g shot such as th e one
A ll th e sam e, th e red un d ancy of certain w ith w h ich M ad am e d e . . . op ens, w h ich , in
tra ck in g sh ots ca n n ev er b e overem ­ a sin gle m o vem ent, d escribes the location
p hasized : their sole purpose b ein g to follow an d th e ch aracters and show s th e b eh av ior
the m o vem en t o f a character o n the pretext o f th e tw o h eroes (D aniele D arrieu x and
o f d escribin g the reality o f a scene. T h is is V ittorio de Sica). A nd, o f course, the track­
tru e o f T he O ld M aid (by E d m u nd G ou ld - in g sh ots in Touch o f Evil and The C ranes A re
ing). W e see B ette D avis an d M iriam H op - Flying.
sittin g in th e d raw in g ro o m o f one of H ow ev er, as w ell as th e variou s p sy ch o ­
those great N ew O rlean s h ou ses to w ard the logical asp ects (w hich w e shall exam in e in
end o f the last century. S u d d en ly Bette th e n ext section), th e ob viou s interest o f the
D avis stands up and starts to look fo r so m e­ track ing sh ot is contain ed less in follow ing
th in g a p p aren tly o f v ita l im p ortance. We th e ch aracters th a n in h elp in g create the
cross the ro om w ith her, fo llow h er a lo n g a "sp a ce o f th e d ra m a ," m aking the ch arac­
corridor, through an oth er ro o m , a cro ss the ters "c o m e a liv e" b y m o v in g freely around
hallw ay, and on up th e stairs, d o w n another them . In th is respect, there is the exam ple
corridor, and then finally into her b ed room , o f the' ball or the b u g g y rid e in The M ag­
w h ere she op ens a ch est o f d raw ers and n ificen t A m berson s (by W elles) of w h ich
takes o u t . . . a h and kerch ief! T h en sh e re­ A n d re Bazin m ade such a subtle analysis
tra ce s h er fo otstep s and w e w ith her. N e ed ­ in h is b ook o n W elles.
less to say, th e h a n d k erch ief h a s no
significance w hatsoever to th e plot. If it had, P sy ch o lo g y o f th e T rackin g S h ot
it w ou ld at least have p ro v id ed a reason and
obviou sly if, during th is lo n g track , som e­ O ne v irtu e o f th e silen t screen is that the
th in g h itherto concealed from us h ad b een facts p resen ted to us seem as though they
revealed , th en it w o u ld hav e had a raison cou ld n ev er have been otherw ise. T h ey are
d 'etre. W e m igh t attrib u te som e d ram atic u tterly u n ch ang eable. In m o d ern film s p eo ­
(or m elod ram atic) p u rp ose to it: a m o ther ple talk. A n d w e g ain th e im pression, how ­
ru shing to w ard a cry in g ch ild ; th e fu rther ever faint, th a t their speech h as a pow er
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 187

w h ich m igh t a t any m o m en t b e em p loyed is a lw a y s presen ted as o n e m om en t w ithin

to ch a n g e th e cou rse o f events. In silen t a contin u ity w h ose necessary purpose seem s
film s, o n th e other h an d , ch aracters seem to previou s to the m o m en t itself, i.e., inherent
b ow to a h ig h er force o f w h ich they are right from th e start and absolu tely inevita­
m erely the visible expression. T h ey could ble, it m eans th at w h at w e are seeing is
n o t be said to b e acted on, fo r they are g e n ­ m erely a re-presentation. T h e scen es of a film
u in ely active; b u t th e e ffe ct th a t th ey create pass b efore o u r ey es read y-m ad e, and
is th e y are p art o f a p rearran ged ritual, as th o u g h th ey m ight engage ou r interest, they
thou g h their existen ce w ere ju stified b y a d o n o t invite ou r concern.
raison d 'etre w h ich , un consciously, they are W e m ig h t go so fa r as to say th a t the
prepared to assum e. irrita tin g asp ect o f film s as beau tifu lly co m ­
A m ong other reaso n s a ssociated w ith p o sed as The Nibelungen, Alexander Nevsky,
th e form s o f language, this effect is p artly and Ivan the Terrible is that they are so per­
e xp lain ed b y th e fact th a t silen t f i lm s - a n d fect, in the sen se th at th eir p erfection is con­
a large p ro p ortio n o f talkies, t o o - a r e (or trived, an organic stru cture w h ere the
w ere) conceived a ccord in g to n orm s asso­ actions are as m u ch subject to a predeter­
ciated w ith th e co n c ep t o f th e a tr ic a lity - o r m ined order as the form s. T h u s, thou g h w e
traged y in th e b road est sen se o f th e w ord : d o p articip ate to a certain e x te n t in a dram a
b eings existing in a g iv e n p lace an d tim e, in v o lv in g o u r in terest, w e do so as w e
actin g and reactin g to a set of circu m stances w o u ld in a d ream , in som ething "in fu sed "
- m o s t o fte n u n u su al ones. T h eir actions in ou r m in d s b y a force created b y the
are the p ro d u ct o f a series o f m ore o r less pow er o f lan g u ag e rath er th an th e intensity
d eterm inative exterior an d a n terio r in flu ­ o f the action.5 B ecau se it is "m e d ia te d ," life
ences: character, a m b itio n , social b a ck ­ appears in th ese film s as a p resen tation of
ground, m aterial p o ssession s, etc., w ith the an experienced reality rath er than a present
m ain facto r being tim eless. It is alm ost al­ actuality. We participate in a re-presented
w ays an escalation tow ard a clim ax, tow ard past rath er th a n in reality "a s it is h ap p en ­
th e resolu tion or d en o u em en t o f a crisis. in g ." In oth er w ords, w e act and th in k w ith
D ram a therefore is sim p ly the log ical d ev el­ these b ein g s th rou g h a k ind o f m ental in­
o p m en t o f ce rtain p recise con d ition s, the vo lv em en t w h ile rem ain in g ou tsid e the
ch ain o f cause and effect, fo llo w in g a nec­ cu rrent w h ich carries them along. T h eir d u­
essary and n ecessarily d irected logic. It is ration is n o t ou rs, p articu larly sin ce it is a
the "in fern al m ach in e" - t h e d ev elop m en t d u ratio n w h ic h has a lrea d y tak en p la ce, al­
o f a th em atic stru cture con ceived as a series re a d y b ee n com pleted.
o f equ ations. T h e circu m stan ces are bound B y a cu rio u s p arad ox, it is h ard er to re­
to cu lm inate in a crisis im p licitly contained m ain d etached from th is k ind o f contrived
in th e prem ises o f th e d ram a: th ere ca n be film , i.e., to m ain tain a n often necessary dis­
n o alternative. W h ich is w h y all d ram a is tan ce from it. In d eed , the very fact th at their
"co n stru cted ," strictly arran g ed , b u t also duration is independ ent o f ours m eans that
w h y the feelin g o f life w e g a in fro m it is it is imposed o n us. Introduced to a precon­
concentrated , transposed, artificial as w e ll ceived sequence o f tim e, w e are forced to
as representative. T h e d ram a d ev elo p s w ith su b m it to it. W e are u n able to m ake any
the logic o f argum ent. active assessm ent o f this p resen t w hich b e­
The cinem a, as w e hav e said, alw ays lon g s to w h at h a s alread y tak en p lace, and
presen ts us w ith the here and now. N ow , in w e h av e the v ery clear im p ression th a t ou r
these film s, the fa c t th a t th e h ere an d n o w exp ectation n o lon g er applies to actions
188 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

h ap p en in g befo re ou r eyes: w e can n o t take tiv e ta k es th e place o f the ab so lu te and p sy ­

th em in; rath er w e are tak en in b y th e m — ch olog ical m o b ility takes th e p lace o f m o ral
w e are literally enthralled. or m etap h y sica l entities.
It is o b v io u s th a t film s in volved w ith T h u s ^ m appears as a series o f m om ents
fantasy and d ream s, w ith a poetic interpre­ fo rm in g as th e y hap p en . In stead o f being
tation o f th e w orld (lyrical, fantastic, etc.), presen t as an a p rio ri stru cture, duration is
e v e n w ith th e ep ic (at least th e m y th ical " in th e p ro cess o f h a p p e n in g ." Involved as
epic), d ep end on a m eth o d su ch as this. w e are in th e actu al stream o f its d evelop­
F ro m the m o m en t it b eco m es im aginary, re­ m ent, w e d iscover in ourselves the an tici­
ality m ay b e introduced in to a preconceived p ato ry fa cu lty oth erw ise d en ied us: w e are
space and tim e, in the sam e w a y th at its able to put things in to p ersp ectiv e. N ot as
settin g m ay b e p a rt o f a sym bolic architec­ w e w o u ld in real life, obviously, sin ce th is
tu ral structure. H ow ever, sin ce film is n ei­ life o f w h ich w e are part is included in a
th er p ain tin g n o r theater, th e characters tim e n o t ou r o w n an d sin ce it is subject to
m u st b e en d ow ed w ith a certain m aterial­ con d itions w h ich w e o n ly d iscov er grad­
ity, even th o u g h th ey m a y b e acted on ually. H ow ever, w e are able a t least to step
rath er th a n active and less em p h asis m u st b a ck a little an d b eco m e detached from
be placed o n p lastic q u alities and fo rm al events w h ile w e ob serve and ju d g e them .
sym bolism . It is the ten d en cy to la y too T h o u g h w e are su b ject to them , it is insofar
m u ch store b y the im age, considered as es­ as w e live th em and n o t in an y w ay insofar
sen tia lly sym b olic, w h ich robs these film s as th eir life is im posed on us. We th in k and
o f th eir vitality, w h ereas ev en film s as care­ act w ith th e characters w h ile reflecting on
fu lly constru cted as D aw n, T he L ast L au gh, their action s, an d w e are able to do ^ i s
T he Passion o fJo a n o f A rc, and T he B lu eA n g el b eca u se w e are exp erien cin g th e m and a s­
retain a certain freed om , b ecau se th e y g ive s e ssin g th eir plausibility.
the in d ivid u al (h ow ever sy m bolic) and the T h is p sy ch olog ical m o b ility n atu rally
d u ration (h ow ever arbitrary) a sig n ificatio n tend s to be released b y the pictorial cond i­
o f obviou s im p ortance. tions o f exp ressio n ism , as u n itary values o f
H ow ever, p ro b a b ly b ecau se it is cap ab le th eatrical a e sth e tic s—or at least their for­
o f ta lk in g , the cin em a is fin d in g itself m a liz in g p rin cip les. Just as the classical
pu sh ed m ore and m ore d irectly tow ard the fo rm s o f ed itin g are ad aptable to the need s
exp ressio n o f re a lism —w h ich m u st in ev ita­ o f a cin em a w h ich "reco nstru cts the w o rld ,"
b ly lead th e d ram a a w a y fro m th e a rb itrary so th e m o v in g cam era and its allied fluid ity
cond itions o f tragedy. F ilm is th ereby fo r­ o f exp ressio n are adaptable to the expres­
sak in g the con cen tratio n o f d ram a in fav or sio n o f a concrete d u ra tio n —w h ich it is the
o f th e linear d ev elop m en t o f n arrativ e. In ­ avow ed purpose o f m o d e m cin em a to
stead o f plots revealing, in a lim ited space cap tu re.
and tim e, the conseq u en ces o f certain ac­ In d ee d , the m o v in g ca m e ra h as m ad e it
tions, film m akers hav e p referred to follow possible to "actu alize" the represented space,
th e fictional develop m en t o f th o se actions. since the sp ace in w h ich w e e fe c tiv e ly m ove
Thu s the "o p e n " tim e o f ev ery d a y rea lity can o n ly b e a sp ace a ctu ally present. Things
an "a ctu a lity " in w h ich events are g ov ­ are "in the p ro cess o f hap p en in g ," sin ce w e
erned b y ch an ce rath er th an pred eterm ina­ fo llo w th em in th e ir v e ry m obility, accord­
tion , starts to rep lace th e "c lo s e d " tim e o f in g to th eir continu ou s d ev elopm en t. We
tragedy, a "n o n actu a lity " subordinate to the m ove w ith them and therefore act (or feel as
actions tran scen d in g it. H ere also th e rela­ th o u g h w e are acting) at the sam e tim e as
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 189

them. T h e here an d n ow presen ted to ou r jects perceived th rough them ) w ill becom e
eyes through e d itin g is p re sen ted p h y sically apparent if w e m ak e a thorou gh exam ina­
to ou r p erception, ou r sen ses th rou g h the tion o f th e rep resen tation o f m ovem ent.
tracking shot. T h u s th e fact that, a t th e lev el In ev ery d a y rea lity w e c a n o n ly "to ta lly "
o f p erception, e xten siv en ess is replaced b y p erceiv e static ob jects; w e are dom inated b y
intensiveness, stru ctured in form ation b y in ­ m o v em en t. T h e fa ct th a t w e can l i in on ly
form ation receiv ed b y th e sen ses, m ean s o n e p lace at one tim e m ean s th at w e are in­
th a t, at th e lev el o f film action , presentifica- cap ab le o f p erceiv in g quickly m o vin g ob­
tion is replaced b y actualization. je cts; w e catch o n ly a fleeting glim pse o f
For th a t reason, represen ted reality a p ­ them , as w e d o a t a m otor rally or athletics
p e a rs "m o re tru e." T h e au th en ticity th e cin­ m e e tin g w h e n w e sit in the stand. Now, in
em a gives to ev e ry th in g it to u ch es becom es the cin em a th e m u ltip licity o f view points
m ore ap p arent the m ore th e d ram a seem s restores to us n o t o n ly the feeling o f space
to evolve in a "p re s e n t" reality in w h ich w e b u t also its corollary: th e feelin g o f m ove­
are in som e w a y involved . W e fe e l w e m ay m ent. E d itin g allow s u s in sta n tly to change
b e capable o f alterin g th e cou rse o f events. our ob serv ation p o in t, i.e., ou r p osition: we
E v en as w e step b a ck fro m th e ob jects or move/aster than the object in motion and, fo r
th e w ay th e ch ara cters b eh av e, w e b eco m e th is reason, w e d om inate it. M ovem en t can
e v e n m o re involved . In stead o f b ein g b e "s e iz e d " o n ly b y relatin g sev eral succes­
forced in to a fictio n a l reality, w e experien ce sive reference p oints. T h e fu n ction o f each
a sim u lacru m o f reality. "b e lie f" is de­ view point is as a reference relative to the
term ined b y a feelin g o f actuality provid ed other v iew p o in ts. H ow ever, it is obvious
b y th e e v en ts w e are w atchin g . In a w ord , th a t th o u g h this en ab les us to seize the
ou r p articip ation is m ore "a c tiv e ." m o vem en t, w e can n ev er feel it since it is
It is n o t th a t th e se events m a y n o t b e con­ outside us. Yet, i f in stead of ob serv in g the car
ventional n or the characters nonexistent. In w e sit in the p assen g er s e a t, w e c a n then
th at case, the lack o f reality - or la ck o f veri- exp erien ce the sen sation and exh ilaratio n o f
s im ilitu d e -w o u ld concern the p sy ch olog y speed. B ut th e fact that w e hav e no other
o f the characters an d logic o f th e situations referent p revents u s fro m perceiving the
(the cred ib ility o f the story) rath er th a n the m o v e m e n t in w h ich w e are involved.
truth or au th en ticity o f th e action " in the T h is is also tru e o f d ram a, th a t is, the
process o f h a p p e n in g ." M oreover, th e arti­ b eh av io r o f ch aracters, psychology, an d sit­
fices gove^rning th e tellin g o f a story are less uations. If w e w ish to p erceiv e objects in
percep tib le th e m o re th e y are spread ov er th e ir entirety, w e m u st n o t m erely consid er
th e fictional d u ra tio n on w h ic h th e y appear th em fro m vario u s ang les b u t also (and this
to d ep end . Involv ed th ro u g h th e m od alities is eq u ally im p ortan t) feel them ; and conse­
o f th e d ram a "ta k in g p la ce," w e ca n o n ly quently to take advantage alternatively o f both
m ak e ou r ju d g m en ts a fter th e fact. O u r the mobility o f the tracking shot and stability o f
p o w ers o f an ticip atio n or d istan tiatio n are editing.6 I accep t th a t for certain facts (if not
concerned on ly w ith th e "tim e o f the se­ the vast m ajority) it is enou gh eith er to feel
quence," never th e "tim e o f th e ^ m ." In­ th em or ob serv e them . H ow ever, the alter­
volved in the course ofev en ts, w e are dragged nation o f facts and , m ore particularly, the
along b y them (rather than enthralied), m uch v arie ty o f levels o f interest th ey im ply sug­
as w e are b y actions in real life. g est quite clearly that it is n o t possible to
T h e m ajor d ifferen ce b etw een th e m o v ­ con sid er on e sy stem as b etter th a n another.
ing shot and editing (or a t least b etw een ob ­ H ere also fo rm is a fu nction o f content.
190 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

W e sh a ll con clu d e th e s e ob servation s o n is a ballet based on an altern atio n b etw een

th e trackin g sh o t b y a d d in g that th ou g h, in th e W h ite K n ig h ts an d Black K nights and
th e film im a g e, th e ch aracters' m o vem en ts b etw een lines con v erg in g and d iv erg in g as
and continu al chang es o f sh ot tend to m ak e th o u g h regu lated b y a m etronom e. A n oth er
u s forget th e "fra m e ," this ten d en cy is m ad e ballet o n th e grand scale is th e fin al b anqu et
all th e m o re p ro n o u n ced w ith cam era scen e in th e third p art o f Ivan, w ith its alter­
m o v em en ts. C o n tin u o u s su b tle m ovem en ts n a te play o f shad ow and lig h t and color,
fro m o n e field to another, fro m one an g le to con flictin g and con trastin g accord in g to the
an oth er, co n stan tly a lter th e internal bal­ p an to m im es an d m asq u erad es.7
an ce o f th e im a g e - m u c h m o re obviou s in W e m u st con clu d e therefore th at the ul­
m o vem en ts related to a fixed point. This is tim ate ap p lication o f this m eth o d involves
n o t to suggest that this tran sform atio n de­ the release o f m o vem ent through form s
p en d s an y th e less on th e fram e; in d eed , it ra th er th an th e p araly sis o f a m o vem ent im ­
can exist on ly relativ e to th e fram e. Th u s if p rison ed in th eir architecture. N ow , m ove­
ev ery th in g con triv es to m ak e us forget th e m e n t a t its m ost lib erated is dance, b a llet in
fram e as su ch, ev ery th in g contrives a t th e its pure form . There is therefore n o incon­
sam e tim e to m ak e us feel its effects. Instead sistency (in spite o f appearances) in say ing
o f b ein g an explicit d eterm in an t, as in certain th a t th e o n ly p o ssible ap p lication o f the
static shots associated w ith p ain tin g , it is E isensteinian co n cep t (besides fantasy and
im plicit b u t n o less d eterm inative; and leg en d ) is in d an ce film s, i.e., in th e total
th o u g h ou r p ercep tu al co n sciou sn ess tends ch oreo g rap h y o f gesture, m o vem en t, and
to tak e in to accou nt o n ly th e rea lity u n d er form , in th e "sy m b o lic rep resen tatio n " of
con sid eratio n , ou r perception o f th e im a g e som e o f G en e K e lly 's, S ta n ley D on en 's and
d eterm ines the w a y in w h ic h th is re a lity a f­ V in cen te M in n e lli's film s. M o re freedom ,
fe cts us and also ou r resu ltan t em otion. satirical force, an d v iv a city and a good d eal
N o on e w o u ld d en y th a t E isen stein 's art less so lem n ity and w e h a v e film s such as
o f "re p re s e n ta tio n "—A lex an d er N evsky, Ivan W est Side Story, B an dw agon , and S in gin g in
the T errible—th o u g h n o t a com p lete dead the Rain.
end , w as so m e th in g o f a one-off. In a hig h ly W h atev er the ca se , b e th ey concerned
d eveloped art, it w a s th e sw an so n g o f th e w ith static o r m oving shots, plastic o r d y ­
p ictorial con cep tion s o f early cinem a. O n e n am ic com p ositio n s, editing an d sym bol­
m ight even d escribe this series o f gestures, ism are o n ly form s o f language (w hat else),
attitu des, stylized m o v em en ts, th is con fu ­ m ean s o f exp ressio n , each w ith its ow n sig ­
sion o f lines, ob tu se and acu te angles, op ­ nificatio n an d th u s its ow n p recise use; and
p ressiv e and op p ressin g v o lu m e, as a kind n o t specific constru ction tech niqu es on
o f m o nstrou s ballet. T h e ted iou sn ess of w h ich or fro m w h ich an a esth etic p rin cip le
these film s (n o tw ith stan d in g th e suffocat­ m ig h t b e based. A t b est th e y m a y b e seen
in g b eau ty o f th eir im ag es) com es from th e as a w ay o f d istin g u ish in g various d ifferent
fact th at th e y are n e ith e r p ain ting n o r ch o­ styles. T h e sam e is true o f d e p th -o f-fie ld -
reograp h y (th ou gh th e y h a v e elem ents in th e p o ssibilities o f w h ich w e m u st exam ine
co m m o n w ith both ). T hey are, as it were, in th e n e x t section.
m ovem ents w ith now here to g o, a static ballet.
A n d o n th e od d occasion th a t th e m o vem ent D ep th -o f-F ield
is freed up, th e film d evelops into a genuine
choreog rap hy of a g iven them e. M u ch m ore D ep th-of-field is, in a sen se, a corollary
th an a battle, th e Battle o n th e Ice in N ev sky o f th e m o v in g shot. Instead o f th e cam era
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 191

m oving relative to th e actors, p ro g ressively ang les p u sh th e p ersp ectiv e van ishing
d escrib in g shots o f d ifferen t sizes, the ac­ p o in t even farth er in to the d istance). Thus
tors m ove relative to th e cam era w ith in a w e can see that keep in g focus on the w h ole
field o f v ie w fram ed in a sta tic shot. field o f view , b y the v ery fact th at it brin gs
We h a v e se e n th a t th e d escrip tive u se of ou t the h o m o g en eity o f th e spatial content,
depth-of-field is as old as the cin em a itself. accentu ates th e association b etw een the
H ow ever, th e aesthetic d im ension b eca m e com p ositio n al elem ents, thereby g ivin g
ad ded o n ly w h en th is co m p o sitio n in dep th th e m character and p o w er o f unity.
w as em ployed to create a specific d ram atic H ow ever, as long as extrem e closeups
s ig n ific a tio n -w h ic h w a s on e o f th e m ajor and lon g shots are n o t fram ed sim ulta­
in n ov atio n s o f Citizen thlne. It w a s n o lo n g e r neously, th is kind o f focus is achievable
a case o f p resen tin g ch aracters w ith n o con ­ w ith a n y sort o f lens; all th at is need ed is to
n ection other th an b ein g in the sam e place "sto p d o w n ." E ven am ateu r photographers
at th e sam e tim e b u t o f sh o w in g us sim u l­ w ith th eir box B row nies kn ow that their pic­
tan eou sly sev eral ch a ra cters reacting differ­ tures are in focu s "b e tw e en sev en feet an d
ently to the same stimulus, the stim u lu s b ein g in fin ity " - w h i c h is h ow effects o f depth
con tain ed sim u lta n eo u sly (or p o ten tia lly w ere achieved before th e w ide-angle lens.
so) in th e p reviou s shots. A d ram atic u n ity W illiam W y ler (The Little Foxes and Jezebel)
is constructed through th e use o f the space, and Je a n R en oir (La Regle du jeu) w orked in
and ch aracters' b eh a v io r is illu strated b y this way, exp loitin g lateral sim u ltan eity or
their respective p o sitio n in the sp ace. It is in d ep th -of-field fro m midshot to infinity rather
fa c t a psychological spatialization o f the drama: th a n the sim u ltan eity o f closeu p s and long
in oth er w ord s, th e u se o f an establish ed shots.
techniqu e fo r a to ta lly n ov el pu rpose. W e are led to w ond er, therefore, w h y it
W e k n o w th a t k e e p in g sh a rp fo cu s o v er sh o u ld b e th a t w ith o n e or tw o ra re excep­
the w h o le field o f vie w (from extrem e close tion s (notably E ric Von S tro h eim 's film s),
up to infinity) required th e u se o f len se s of this "d e p th " w a s aband oned b etw een 1925
short focal length. In fact, it w a s d u rin g the a n d 1940 in favor o f in ten sive fragm enta­
shooting o f Citizen thlne th at the cam era­ tion. Som e sa y th a t it h ad to d o w ith fa sh ­
m an G reg Toland first used th e w id e-an g le ion; others claim th e influence o f the Soviet
len ses w h ich had ju st appeared. N o w , the cinem a. B oth exp lan ations hav e th eir m erit;
cap acity o f th ese lenses to m ain tain focu s th e y d o not, how ever, exp lain the real rea­
o n ob jects o n ly a fo ot a w ay fro m th e cam ­ son - w h i c h h ad n o th in g to d o w ith th e al­
era as sh arp ly as on th e ba ck w all o f the set m o st exclu sive u se o f lenses w ith w ide
produ ces a v ery "s ty liz e d " representation , apertu res. It is n earer th e m ark to say th at
since in reality (th ou g h th e accom m od ation th e use o f such lenses w a s the effect o f som e
o f ou r eyes is alm ost in stan tan eou s) w e are other factor.
unable to take in w ith th e sam e cla rity o f A s w e h av e said, all the cam eram an has
focus ob jects a fo o t o r so fro m u s a n d th eir to d o is stop down. H ow ever, to keep the
b ack grou nd s at th e sa m e tim e. T h e "re n ­ sam e quality in h is p h otog rap h h e m u st in­
d erin g" o f the film im age is therefore that crease h is ligh ting. A n d nothing w as easier
o f an "in te lle ctu a l" im age som ew h at re­ b efo re 1925, u sin g orthochrom atic stock
m oved from ou r n orm al p erception . W h ich w h ich requ ired lig h tin g w ith arcs w h ose
p o in ts u p y et another d ifference: b etw een cand lepow er w as im m ense. B u t from 1925
im m ediate reality an d th e im ag e, m ed iated onw ard , as the pan ch rom atic em u lsions be­
m o re than ever (by th e fa ct th a t th ese w id e cam e generally available, the w h ole ap­
192 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

p roach to lig h tin g chan ged . Sensitive to red fit), b eg in n in g w ith a n exam ination o f the
and to all visible light (as th e n am e sug­ scen e w e h a v e alread y analyzed in respect
gests) b u t unevenly, pan ch rom atic em u l­ o f the sig n ification o f the object, con cen trat­
sions p reven ted cam eram en from using in g th is tim e on the expressive v alu e of the
their arcs w h ose spectru m , te n d in g tow ard field o f view .8
v iolet, coincid ed p erfectly w ith th e least
Let us tum our attention, by way of
sen sitiv e area o f the em ulsion. T hu s cam ­
contrast, to a typical Welles sequence: that
eram en h a d to start u sin g in can d escen t
of Susan's failed suicide bid in Citizen
b u lb s; b u t these w ere n o t su fficien tly p o w ­ Kane. The sequence opens on Susan's bed­
erful. M o re than that, the first p anchrom atic room seen from behind the bedside table.
em ulsions w ere a long w ay from b ein g as In the foreground, right up against the
sen sitive as th ey are n ow ad ay s. C onse­ camera, a huge glass, filling almost a
quently, to g et th e correct exposure the lens quarter of the frame with a small spoon
had to b e "o p e n e d u p ," w h ich m ean t sacri­ and an open tube of sleeping pills. The
ficin g th e ca p acity to "sto p d o w n ." T his ex­ glass almost entirely conceals Susan's bed
p lain s w h y lenses w ith w id e apertu res (and from us, hidden in the shadows, from
therefore a co m p arativ ely sh o rt d ep th -of- which we hear muffled moaning as
though from someone drugged asleep.
field) b eg an to b e u sed , w h y com p ositio n
The bedroom is empty; right in the back­
in d ep th w as lim ited , and w h y o f n ecessity
ground of this emptiness: the door, made
e d itin g styles w ere m u ch m ore fragm en ted .
to seem even farther away by the false
T h at th is b ecam e a rou tine w a y o f shootin g perspectives of the lens, and the sounds
p ictu res, a fa sh io n rath er th an a teghnique, of knocking from the fa r side of the door.
is o b viou sly tru e, b u t this "c a u s e " w as Seeing nothing more than a glass and
n ev er m ore than a con sequence. T h e m in i­ hearing only two sounds on two different
m u m o f tech n ical k n ow -h o w w ou ld have acoustic planes, we are suddenly aware
spared ou r th eoretician s lo o k in g fo r diffi­ of the situation: Susan has locked herself
cu lties w here there are none. in her room in order to swallow an over­
A m on g these, B azin sh ou ld a t least b e dose of sleeping pills and Kane is trying
to force the door. The dramatic structure
credited w ith b e in g th e first to u n d erstan d
of the scene is essentially based on the
th e value o f th e "to tal field o f v iew ." If I
difference between two acoustic planes:
h a v e taken issu e w ith ^ m o n m a n y d etails,
Susan's closeup moaning and her
it is n o t in ord er to co n d em n a m e a n s o f husband's knocking at the door. A tension
exp ressio n w h ich is q u ite clearly b ased o n is established between these two poles
p re tty found ations. I do, how ever, which are differentiated by the depth-of-
challenge certain sp eciou s inferen ces w h ich field. The knocks become louder: Kane is
h e claim s to d raw ; also h is sy stem atic g e n ­ trying to barge his way through the door
eralization o f th e m ethod (all the tim e ad­ with his shoulder; he succeeds. We see
m ittin g that the re sp o n sib ility for this him in the doorway, tiny within the
n arro w d ogm atism is to be laid a t th e feet frame, getting bigger as he rushes toward
the camera. The spark has been generated
of his disciples, n o t a t th e m a ste r's).
between the two dramatic poles of the
We cou ld d o n o b etter in this section
image. The scene is complete.
th a n over v ario u s p o in ts in h is a rg u ­
To appreciate the originality of this
m ent. Therefore w e yield the p latfo rm to mise-en-scene, apparently so natural in
Bazin to exp lain th is aesthetic p rin cip le, the easy way its achieves its intention, we
w h ich h e d efined b etter th a n a n y o n e (re­ must try to imagine how someone other
serving th e rig h t to in te rru p t w h ere w e see than Welles might have directed the scene.
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 193

It would have been broken dow n into volves u s, b u t it involves us as witnesses and
at least five or six shots. For example: a n o t as S u sa n 's or K an e's "d o u b le ." W e are
closeup of the glass and the sleeping pills; in volved in a tragic even t w ithou t sh arin g
a shot of Susan tossing and ^turning on the th e ch aracters' feelings or responsibilities.
bed (with "off-camera" sounds of knock­
True, w h a t w e lo se in in volvem ent w e gain
ing at the door); a shot of Kane knocking
in a certain ob jectiv ity and d etach m en t, and
on the door, creating "suspense" with the
in d eed th is is w h a t W elles expects o f us: h e
short parallel montage, i.e., a series of
shots on the inside and then the outside is try in g to cap tu re ou r attention an d n ot
of the bedroom, up to a shot of the door ou r feelings. T h e m o d e o f expression he
bursting open under Kane's weight, cut­ ch oo ses is perfectly appropriate, b u t w h en­
ting on the action of Kane rushing up to ever h e has to ap p eal to ou r feelings, h e has
the bed; and then maybe a final shot of to ch oo se a totally different m ethod. D epth-
Kane leaning over Susan. of-field is n ot a u n iv ersal pan acea; it is one
It is easy to see that the classical break­ tech n iqu e am ong others, w ith its ow n spe­
down formed by a series of shots analyz­ cific qu alities. Ind eed , B azin im p licitly rec­
ing the action according to the awareness
og n izes this w h en h e says:
the director intends we should have is
contained within one single shot. More­ In contrast to this "realist" mise-en-
over, Welles's composition in depth tends scene, created in "shot sequences," cap­
to eclipse the notion of shot within a unity tured by the camera as blocks of reality,
of composition (which might be called Welles frequently uses a metaphorical or
"shot sequence"). symbolic abstract editing te^mique in
order to abbreviate long periods in the ac­
B azin b eco m es carried a w ay b y h is ow n tion (the degeneration of Kane's marriage
enthu siasm and fin d s h im self sp ecu latin g to his first wife, Susan's career as an op­
o n th e su bstitu tion o f th e n o tio n o f th e sh ot eratic soprano). Yet this time worn tech­
b y th e idea o f the sh o t seq u en ce, w h ereas it nique, used to excess by the silent cinema,
gains a new meaning precisely because of
is obviou s th a t th ey are tw o different styles
the contrast it makes with the extreme re­
each w ith a totally different m eaning. First
alism of the scenes where the events are
he deliberately u n d erv alu es throu ghou t
rendered in their entirety. Instead of a
w h at h e tries to in valid ate. A classical break­ muddled breakdown where the concrete
d ow n w ould n ev er b e as cru d e as h e de­ event is partially dissipated by the shot
scribes it. W h atev er else it m ig h t hav e done, changes, we have two essentially different
th e classical b reak d ow n , altern ately p re­ narrative styles. This fact is particularly ev­
sen tin g us w ith Su san an d K ane, w ould ident in the scene where, after a series of
have forced us to participate su ccessiv ely superimpositions summarizing the three
(and alm ost sim u ltan eo u sly ) in the a n x iety years of Susan's suffering, ending on a
lamp being switched off, the screen bru­
o f one and th e d eath th roes o f th e other. We
tally projects into the drama of Susan's
w ou ld hav e b een with one an d then with the
suicide bid. Jean-Paul Sartre, in an article
other. In the seq u en ce in q u estion, though,
in L'Ecran frangais, correctly observed that
since w e are seeing th em both a t th e sam e
this is the equivalent of the English fre­
tim e, w e are w ith n eith er one n o r the other. quentative tense: "For three years he
W e are o n the sid elines, o b v io u sly interested made her sing in every opera house in
in the d ram a b u t in a com pletely in tellectu al America. Susan became more and more
sense: the significance o f th e g lass and its unhappy; every appearance was torture;
relation w ith th e rest o f th e scen e creates a one day she could stand it no longer . . . "
d ram atic ten sio n w h ich g rip s us an d in­ She swallowed the sleeping pills!
194 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

T his is a vital point. T h e cin em a - a s w e (which is never completely determined a

shall see fu rther on - a l r e a d y had th e d ou­ priori).
ble n arrativ e form : d irect and indirect. All
it n eed ed w as the ab ility to play alternately O n ce a g a in w e m u st define ou r term s.
o n the feelin g s an d the atten tion o f th e aud i­ T h ese "tru e cond ition s o f p e rce p tio n " are
en ce, to give th e au d ien ce an anticip atory o f oth er people's actions, i.e., fa cts in w h ic h I
attention relativ e to th e action " in th e p ro­ a m n ever involved . T h e y h a v e n oth in g to
cess o f h a p p e n in g " and also a certain de­ d o w ith actions w h ich m ight be m ine, w ith
ta ch m en t fro m the action - a t the sam e tim e attitudes w ith w h ich I m ig h t b e able to
allow in g it to share the feelin gs o f the hero, identify. T h ey a r e - a s w e hav e said in a
p u ttin g it, w h en n e cessa ry in the state of ro u n d abo u t w a y - t h e con d itions o f an o b ­
ecstasy w h ich dep rives it o f th e objective serv in g p ercep tion n o t th ose o f an a ctiv e or
con trol provid ed b y "a n tic ip a tio n ." T h e p articip atin g perception. B azin goes on:
m o vin g cam era and d ep th-of-field m ake the
aud ience m ore attentive, m oving am on g the Under the guise of the cinematic
characters o f th e dram a or w ith th em , ob­ image's congenital realism, a whole sys­
serving th em in a present "a ctu a lly h ap ­ tem of abstraction was being fraudulently
presented. Films were apparently limiting
p e n in g ," w h ereas m on tage and its m an y
themselves to a breakdown of events ac­
by-produ cts force the au d ien ce to see and
cording to a kind of natural anatomy of
feel w ith th e heroes o r in th eir place in a
the action: in point of fact, reality was to­
p resen t "w h ich h a s alread y h a p p e n e d ." tally reduced to the "m eaning" of the ac­
The feelin g o f actu alization d oes n o t p re­ tion, subtly transformed into a series of
clu d e or rep lace presentification; it ad ds to abstract “signs." The closeup of a door­
it; th ere is a con stan t altern atio n b etw een knob was no longer a doorknob with
the tw o, in m u ch th e sam e w ay as sh ot-re­ cracked enamel and discolored copper,
verse-shot. O r if th ey are m u tu ally replace­ cold to the touch, but the equivalent of the
able, it is on ly w h en th e specific dram atic phrase "He wondered desperately whether or
m o m en t o r specific w ay o f tran slatin g the not the doorlatch would open." I am not say­
ing that an implicit convention of this
d ram a (w h ich m u st alw ays b e ju stified ) de­
kind is not aesthetically justified; I would,
m and s it. A n d w e are in com p lete agree­
however, make two observations: (1) It
m e n t w ith Bazin w h en h e says:
does not allow the audience the freedom
to choose vis-a-vis the event. (2) It im­
Contrary to what one might suppose, plicitly suggests that a given reality at a
composition in depth is far more loaded given moment has one meaning and one
with meaning than an analytic break­ alone relative to a given event.
down. It is no less abstract than the latter,
but the addition of its abstraction to the T h is is ob viou s. Y et in certain cases th ere
narrative comes loaded with an excess of is n o altern ativ e, p articu larly w h en the di­
realism - a realism which is, in some way,
rector is try in g to m ak e m e share in h is v i­
ontological, restoring to the object or the
sio n o f th e w orld or his p erson al w ay of
setting the density of their being, the
seein g things. In so d oin g, h e is n o t say in g
weight of their presence; a dramatic real­
ism which resolutely maintains in close "th is reality has on ly on e m eaning , th e one
association the actor with the setting, the I ch o o se to show y o u " b u t "fro m all the
foreground with the background; a psy­ v ario u s a sp ects o f the objects I am sh ow ing
chological realism which replaces the au­ you , th is is th e o n e w h ich , fo r m e, has
dience in the true conditions of perception m ean in g or to w h ich I ch oo se to g ive a
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 195

m e a n in g - th e one y o u see b efo re y o u ." In A m berson s o f dep th-of-field w o u ld be o f rel­

this ty p e o f film , w h a t interests m e as an atively little im portance h ad W elles m erely
audience m em b er is n o t th e w orld the d i­ im proved on th e m ethod s o f the classical
rector sh o w s b u t th e w ay h e sees it. H is b reak d ow n . In fact, h e used it differently. H e
testam ent is n o t a testam en t; it is an inter­ m ade it fo r c e the au dien ce to use its freed o m o f
pretation, a confession, a revelation. The atten tion , thereby m ak in g it experien ce the
problem is altogether different. W e com e am b iv alen ce o f reality." A n d Bazin brings
back to th e exam ple o f th e m a n starin g at th e p o in t hom e in an oth er study: " It is not
the lam p o n h is d esk w h o ca n n o t choose a m atter o f p ro v o k in g the aud ience, putting
b u t to lo o k at the lam p becau se th e d irector it o n th e rack or b reak in g it on the w heel.
has so arranged the sh o t th a t it is this ob- W yler m erely w ishes to let it: (1) see every­
je c t - a n d n o o t h e r - w h ic h h e sees at th a t th in g there is to see; (2) choose 'w h a t it
specific m om ent. T h is f o r m - t o g o b a ck to w an ts to see .' It is an act o f faith in the au­
B azin - " l e n d s an extrem e su bjectivity to dience, a desire to b e d ram atically honest.
the event sin ce each elem ent is th ere be­ . . . T h e freq u en cy o f lo n g takes and deep
cau se the director h a s w illed it. N o t only focu s con trib u tes a great deal in reassu ring
does it im p ly a dram atic, em otional, or the au d ien ce, in allow in g it th e m e a n s to
m o ral choice b u t also and m o re p ro fou n d ly ob serve and to choose and , at th e sam e tim e,
an attitu d e to reality as su c h ." Yet to con ­ to fo rm an op inion, th rou g h the length of
clud e that "th e tech n iqu e ten d s ab ove all to the sh o ts."
exclud e the am bigu ity in h eren t in re a lity " N ow , it is m y b elief th a t this is n o t the
is absurd, s in ce reality in its e lf is n o t in an y case, th a t this so-called freed om is an illu­
w ay am bigu ou s. O n ly p eop le, thinking, sion. O f cou rse, the w id e s h o t - o r sh ot-in-
feeling people, ca n b e am bigu ou s (w hich, depth - provides the ch aracters in the
as o ften as not, th ey are). T h e sole attribute dram a w ith m u ch greater freedom of
of reality is unpredictability and uncer­ m o vem en t and respects their free w ill. We
ta in ty - w h ic h explains ou r "p ercep tu a l an ­ h av e seen th a t th e m an sta rin g a t the lam p
ticip atio n " - n o th in g m o re th an a n attem pt m ig h t ju st as easily b e lo o k in g at som ething
to grasp im m ediate fu ture tim e. else. Yet th is d ram atic freed om h as n o th in g
"W y le r's d ep th o f field, as a n arrativ e w h atsoever to d o w ith the freed om o f the
techniqu e, is alm ost th e cin em atic equ iv a­ aud ien ce. A cco rd in g to B azin, how ever,
len t o f w h at G ide and M a rtin d u G ard h old since the au d ien ce is n o lo n g er " le d " b y the
up as a m od el o f exp ressio n in their novels: film m aker, it w ill discover, th rou g h the aes­
p erfect n e u tra lity an d stylistic tran sp ar­ th etics o f the total field o f view, the objective
ence, in terp osing n o coloratio n or refractive circum stance o f r e a l i t y - w h i c h , practically
ind ex b etw een th e au d ien ce's m in d and the sp eak in g , is im possible.
sto ry " (Bazin). We can o n ly share this p o in t In reality, in fa c t, th e events, actions, and
o f v iew (one w h ic h , in an y case, w e h a v e ob jects ad orn in g the space w h ere I find m y­
b e e n d ev elop ing previously). self are con stan tly a c c e s s ib le -to m y inter­
U n til now , any d isag reem en t b etw een p retation as m u ch as to m y ey es. I present
Bazin (argu ing in fav o r o f sh ot sequ ence) th em to m yself; I choose them and organize
and m y self (su pporting all m ean s o f expres­ th em as I like, m aking u p m y ow n s c r i p t -
sion as lo n g as they are ju stified and th ere­ w h ereas, in th e cinem a, as in the other arts,
fo re necessary) h a s b ee n fo u n d ed o n ou r th ey are provided for m e. T h e on ly free w ill
respective aesth etic preju d ices. H ow ever, exercised is th a t o f the director, w h o co n ­
h e adds: "T h e system atic u se in K an e an d d ucts the scen es as h e likes. W h eth er it is
196 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

d o n e w ith su ccessiv e frag m en tatio n s or ou sly this is w h a t B azin is drivin g at), this
w ith dep th-of-field , I a m fo rced to see w h a t frag m en tatio n will b e my responsibility; it
he gives m e to see and in th e order h e has w ill n o t b e im posed o n m e; and I w ill thu s
chosen. M oreover, th o u g h in visual percep­ b e face to face w ith the film "a s in real per­
tion th e im ag e is analogous w ith rea lity c e p tio n ." T h is n aivete w ou ld b e laughable
^ t s is on ly at th e lev el of th e shot. A s soon w ere it cou ched in less d ign ified language.
as th ere is a seq u en ce o f shots, a secondary B eyon d a m o d icu m o f self-satisfaction, w ill
reality com es into play. T his reality, a medi­ I h a v e actu ally gain ed an ything? I w ill
ated reality, is n o lo n g er accessible to me. quite sim p ly hav e sacrificed a p art o f the
T h e re is n o w ay fo r m e to con fron t it in spectacle (or narrative) and m y choice (as­
an yth in g like the perceptu al con d ition s I sum ing I hav e a choice) w ill only b e a
en cou n ter w h e n I am fa ce to fa ce w ith direct ch o ice w ith in a g lo b a l con text w h ic h is pre­
reality. B eliev ing th a t the tw o are th e sam e sented to m e. Lastly, if I a m to create "m y "
is tan tam ou n t to say in g th a t a painted tree o w n film w ithin som eone else's, I h av e no
is the sam e as a real one. need of that film . All I have to do is im agine
M oreover, all w o rk s o f art are w o rk s of it; in w h ich case, I w ill alw ays hav e the
creation and interpretation. T h ey require a facility to im agine w h atev er I please. T h e
certain su b m ission o n th e p art o f th e a u d i­ on ly w a y an audience can b e "fre e " is to
e n ce w ith o u t w h ic h they h a v e no reaso n fo r b eco m e a film d i r e c t o r - i f on ly for itself.
existing. T h e o n ly freed om I can exercise is T h is w a y o f accep tin g th e film b u t resisting
in ch oo sin g to rem ain in th e cinem a. If I the im pulse to b e guid ed b y it or su b m it to
agree to w a tch a film , I a m su b m ittin g to it is one o f th e stran g est assum p tions m ade
data w h ich are n o t d ep en d en t o n m y choice. b y certain th eoretician s o f m od ern art. A ll
H ere as w ell I can find n o n e o f th e objective w e ca n say is th a t assu m p tio n s o f th is kind
cond itions o f reality, since I a m receiving are based o n a false p rem ise; th ey b reak the
d ata w h ich h as b een ch osen fo r m e and n ot n ecessary p a ct b etw een th e film m aker and
by me. his pu blic.
It w ill b e argu ed th a t it is really a ques­ In fa ct, in a "to ta l field o f v ie w " I m ust
tion o f the au d ien ce's attitude o f m ind, free see everything, yet concentrate, at all tim es,
to choose as it lik es fro m am o n g the ele­ o n th e most important features. B u t this is
m e n ts w ith in th e fram e o f the im age. This ordained by the action itself since it is this
is no less serious a m istake th an the previous. w h ich directs m y vision. T h u s if the action
Take the exam ple o f tw o sim ultaneous is guid ing m e, I a m no lon g er able to exer­
actions. S a y in g th a t I a m free to pass from cise m y free w ill. In p o in t o f fact, th e audi­
one to the other is rid icu lou s: fo r m e to en ce is always d raw n in to an im ag e b y the
k n ow th at they are sim ultaneous, I m ust p o in t a t w hich th e p lastic or d ram atic ele­
perceive them sim ultaneously, otherw ise m en t ach iev es its m axim u m significance.
there is n o reason fo r the sim u ltan eity to A m o n g the nu m erou s exam p les quoted
exist (at an y rate, n o n e as fa r as I ca n see). b y B azin, let us exam in e the drugstore
N ow , if a reason exists, it is lo g ic a l fo r a scen e in The Best Years o f Our Lives: in the
signification to e x ist, w h ic h I m u st reg ister foregrou n d , a shop assistan t is serving a
if I am to u n d erstand w h a t is g oin g on. custom er, w h ile rig h t in th e backgrou nd,
M oreover, if I ch oo se to lo o k first at one lost in th e cro w d , w e can ju s t ab ou t m ake
action and th en another, I a m retu rn in g to ou t one o f th e h e ro in es o f th e film . O ur a t­
the frag m en tatio n for w h ich m ontage w as ten tion is n atu rally d raw n to w h at is h a p ­
b ein g cond em ned . N atu rally (and ob vi­ p e n in g in th e foreground. It is entirely
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 197

possible th at w e m ight have com p letely seq u en ce in The B est Years o f O ur L ives or
overlooked the y o u n g w om an. B ut, in the the b a rro o m seq u en ce in th e sam e film :
first p lace, th e characters in th e foreground D ana A n d rew s in th e foreground, initially
are on ly th ere as it w ere accidentally, w ith Fred erick M arch and t r frien d s, goes
w hereas, th rou g h o u t the film , we h ave to m ak e a p h o n e call in a b o o th at th e back
b een fo llow in g the h ero in e in q u estio n and o f the set. The en su in g action (around the
have seen h er, in previou s im ages, w alking p ian ist) taking place in th e foreground is of
tow ard the d rugstore; secondly, as soon as second ary interest. T h e real d ram a ts occur­
w e p erceiv e h er in the backgrou nd she rin g in the backgrou n d and in particu lar
starts to sp e a k —to the shop assistant in the b etw een the p h o n e b o o th and th e w orried
foreground. This sim p le d evice thu s at­ glances F red erick M arch m ak es fro m tim e
tracts our atten tion , an d w e w ou ld have to to tim e in the d irection o f D ana A n drew s.
b e blind n ot to realize it. From that m om en t N ow , B azin says:
on, it is she w h o m w e are follow ing, n ot the
tw o extras in th e foreground. W h ere th en The idea of the phone booth at the
does the ch oice lie? back of the set and the obligation placed
T h e sam e is true o f the fam ous kitchen on the audience to imagine what is going
on, in other words, to make ^ m party to
scene in A m berson s. A u n t F a n n y h av in g
Frederick March's anxiety, was already in
h ysterics an d G eorg e g u zzlin g cakes and
itself a wonderful piece of directing, but
other dainties rep resen t tw o equ ally strong Wyler felt that, standing by itself in the
poles o f attractio n for the aud ience. The sequence, it disturbed the development in
d ram atic tension exists in the relationship terms of space and time of the rest of the
b etw een their actions. Y et throu gh ou t the sequence. He needed to counterbalance
sim u ltaneity o f these actions, there are m o­ and reinforce it, which gave him the idea
m ents w h en o u r atten tio n b eco m es fixed of diverting the audience's attention with
m ore in te n se ly on eith er one or the other. an action to the foreground, secondary in
If w e stu d y the film o n a M o viola,9 w e re­ itself but whose plastic values would be
alize th at these p o in ts o f atten tion alw ays inverse proportion to its dramatic import­
ance. A secondary but not altogether in­
coincide w ith the d om in an t attitude: w e
significant action and one which the
concentrate o n w h ich e v e r o f th e characters
audience cannot ignore because it is also
is sp eakin g or b eh a v in g m o st en erg etically interested in what happens to the in­
- o n w h oever is m o st sig n ifica n t a t a n y valided sailor and because it is not every
g iven point. W h at B azin assu m es to be day that you see the piano being played
"fre ed o m o f a tten tio n " is n o th in g m ore by a cripple. Forced to wait (without
th a n ou r u n certain ty as to w h ich o f several being able to see properly) for the hero to
ev e n ts to look a t - w h i c h is itself produ ced finish his phone call, the audience is also
b y an un certain ty in th e b eh av io r o f the made to divide its attention between the
characters (assum ed to b e the "a m b ig u ity piano and the phone booth. Thus Wyler
has been doubly successful: the diversion
of reality "). W e can n ev er p red ict th e point
of the piano enables ^ m to a shot for
at w h ich the action w ill attract ou r interest,
the necessary duration which otherwise
and this obviou sly forces us to b e m ore at­
would have been interminable but it is,
tentive, to stu d y th e b eh av io r o f the ch ar­
above all, his introduction of ^ ts parasitic
acters in order to u n d erstan d m ore fu lly pole of attraction which organizes and lit­
each in turn; b u t this is b ecau se o f th eir erally builds the dramatic structure of the
actions and n o t because o f ou r free w ill. image. Onto the real action is superim­
The sam e m ight b e sa id o f the m arriage posed the actual action of the mise-en-
198 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

scene, whith consists in dividing, like it lo o k s into the mirror: th e resem blance is
or not, the audience's attention, in the un canny. M ean w h ile w e see (in the mirror)
necessary direction, for the necessary du­ an oth er character com e into fram e w h o has
ration, thereby forcing it to participate on also ju st read the new spaper. W h ile Jo n es
its o"wn terms in the drama intended by
clean s his specs an d p u ts th em back on to
the filmmaker.
continu e reading, the other m an looks at
h im ag hast, gets up, and hu rried ly rushes
It is there in b lack and white: "co n sists in out o f sh ot (to go and p h o n e the police).
d iv id ing, like it or not, th e au d ien ce's atten­ T h e difference is obviou s: thou g h w e are
tion, in the necessary direction, for the n ec­ seein g the w h ole o f th e restaurant, w e are
essary d u ra tio n ." W h ere then does B azin seein g it o n a flat surface fo rm in g the b a ck ­
expect to find this so-called freedom ? g ro u n d o f a tightly framed setting. W hereas
A lm o st in co n trad ictio n o f h is over- a total field o f view w ould u n d erline the
zealou s ju stification o f th e sh ot-in -d ep th , relations b etw een various points in a space
h e w rites: "E x p erien ce d efin itely proves sh ow n in its entirety, here, o n the contrary,
that w e m u st be carefu l n o t to id e n tify the ev ery th in g is h em m ed in, constricted . The
cinem a w ith established aesthetic p rin ci­ sp ace is canceled out, since it is its reflection
p les and, m ore especially, w ith a n y m eth o d w e see. D epth is not presented b u t represented.
or recognized fo rm w h ich th e d irector feels L eav in g to one sid e th e obvious sy m ­
im pelled to use - t o season h is basic ingre­ b o lic role w hich m irrors can play in certain
dients. T h e cin em atic 'pu rity' or b etter yet film s (sp lit p ersonality, sch izop h ren ia, etc.),
(in m y view ) the cin em atic 'co efficien t' o f a th e effects o f a reflected im a g e a re ju stifi­
film m u st b e calculated in te rm s o f w h a t ab le o n ly if th e y e n a b l e - a s th e y d o in the
can n o t b e conveyed in th e sam e w a y b y ab ove case - t h e au d ien ce to discover an al­
p ain tin g, theater, or in a n o v e l." W e cou ld lied action or u n ex p ected ev e n t w h ich sud ­
n o t hav e expressed it better. d en ly affects th e m a in action; as lon g as
In a n y case, the "c o lle c te d " expression they allow th e in teg ratio n in a single shot
p rovid ed b y a single static sh ot is n o t n e c­ o f th e ob ject and subject, the observer and
e ssarily the e ffe ct o f a sh ot sequence. T h e observed , th ereb y e m p h asizin g th e instan-
u se o f m irrors, reflectin g th e w alls o f a cor­ ta n eity of th e vision. T h is is tru e of The Pris­
rectly fram ed field o f view , h a s b eco m e part oner o f Shark Island (b y Jo h n Ford), in the
o f cu rren t cin em atic language sin ce they scen e after th e ju d g m e n t h as b een given
w ere first u sed to effect b y H en ry H ath a­ w h en M rs. M udd learns that h er husband
w a y (Peter Ibbetson) an d Jo h n F ord (The has b een sen tenced to life im prisonm ent. A
Whole Town's Talking). In o n e scen e in the w ard er p in s a list o f conv icts o n to the
Ford film , p laying on the disastrous resem ­ p riso n door: on th e le ft w e see in clo se shot
b lan ce o f a sh y m id d le-class citiz en (Mr. th e b u lletin board w ith the prison guard
Jones) to a m obster (M annion ), th e form er, (seen from th e w aist up in three-quarter
w h o has ju s t sat d ow n a t the b a ck o f a res­ profile on the righthan d side) op en in g the
taurant, is fram ed in m id sh ot: h e fills the p anel. H e pin s up a piece o f paper w ith a
left o f the fram e w h ereas, o n the rig ht, we list o f n a m e s c le a rly v isib le an d clo ses the
see the w h ole o f th e restau ran t reflected in p anel. T h e reflection o f M rs. M u d d 's face
a mirror. As h e w aits fo r his fian cee, he ap p ears in th e p an el glass as she vain ly
reads a new sp ap er and sees, o n th e front tries to hold b a ck h er tears. O n ly a shot of
page, a p hoto o f the w anted gangster. In ­ this kind, revealin g observer and observed
trigued, h e takes off h is sp ectacles and together, could provide su ch an in stan ta­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 199

neou s d ram atic force, su g g estin g the p res­ w h en it is u n n ecessary (on th e p retext that
en ce o f M rs. M u d d w ith o u t sh ow in g it di­ it is fashion ab le and there can be n o alterna-
rectly. Shot-reverse-shot w o u ld have stretched t i v e ) - t h e n w h at is it?
this m o m en t in tim e (how ever short) and T h o u g h the co m in g o f age o f th e cinem a
involved a m o vem en t in s p a c e - w h ic h h a s b ro u g h t w ith it n e w m eth o d s (m ostly
w ou ld au tom atically h av e d ispelled the in lin e w ith n ew technical advances) and
d ram atic te n sio n created in this case b y the th o u g h these tech n iq u es add n ew w eigh t
sin gle shot. to a cin em atic sy ntax beco m in g d aily m ore
A s w ell as th e obviou s attributes w e com plex, these are m erely techniqu es avail­
have id en tified in the total field and in able to th e film m ak er as and w h en he
track in g sh ots an d b y th e fa ct th a t signs n o w ish es. T h eir value is u n iq u ely d ep en d ent
lon g er ap p ear as th o u g h in in verted com ­ on the part th ey are m ad e to play, and on ly
m as, the real freed om o f the au d ien ce re­ w h en th e y are u sed in correctly or un im ag­
sides in being able to d iscov er signification inatively d o th e y becom e outm oded.
in objects or see th em exclusively as objects. A techn iqu e cou ld never b e deem ed su­
The film m aker tru sts in th e a u d ien ce's in­ perior to a n y oth er excep t insofar as it gives
telligence: it is free to th in k about or around an exp ressio n a force or signification it
w h at it sees b u t n ot to ch oo se fr o m w h a t is co u ld n o t h av e p ro d u ced in a n y other way.
presented fo r it to see. A nd th o u g h it is alw ays d am ag in g to a film
Now , there hav e b e e n c ritic s w h o hav e to use a tech n iqu e gratuitously, it is equ ally
tried to assess th e w h ole o f th e cin em a in w ro n g n o t to u se it in circum stances w h en
term s o f these techn iqu es. O n e o f them it is logical. It is th erefore absurd to u se one
writes: "w e k n o w that, outside aesthetics, to the exclu sion o f the others (except in
accu m u lation is n o t rea lly possible n ow a­ v e ry u n u su a l cases) or to u se a m o re com ­
d ays in the cinem a; fair en o u g h if, in the plicated tech n iqu e w h en a sim ple on e
backgrou nd o f a w id e ang le, ob jects can be m ig h t p rod u ce an eq u ally acceptable result.
ind icated w h ich m ig h t hav e b ee n isolated A ll other things bein g equal, virtue lies in bein g
in Von Stro h eim 's d ay." A p art fro m th e fact sim ple and concise.
that this critic seem s to b em o an the fa c t as W e ca n b e sure o f o n e th in g and th is is
w ell as ju d g in g it necessary, I shou ld like th a t the sole aim o f these n ew techniqu es -
h im to explain w h y ob jects w h ich m ight sh ot-in -d ep th or track in g s h o t - i s to stru c­
h ave b een iso lated in Von S tro h eim 's day tu re space according to a p red eterm ined
could n ot b e iso lated n ow ad ay s (w ith ou t signification. A n d th is fact enables film ­
d eg enerating in to aestheticism ). It is d ou bt­ m ak ers to jo in and extend all previous tech ­
less b ecau se it w ould con traven e the rule n iqu es - n o t a b l y E xpressionism , w h ich in
o f total field o f view. B u t w h o h a s ever m a n y respects is the v e ry antithesis o f th e
raised this in to an absolute ru le? Shou ld a n ew techniques.
film be constructed o n th e b asis o f abstract In fact, th e m ain p u rp ose o f film , at the
fo rm u lae or im p ose its ow n ru les an d law s, level o f the sh ot (o r sh ot sequence), i.e., a t
u sing the resources n ecessary fo r th e ex ­ the level o f the "c e lls ," h a s b een a n d alw ays
p ressio n o f a pred eterm in ed co n ten t? F or will b e to stru cture space. B ut, ju st as space
w h at reasons sh o u ld o n e b e fo r c e d to su g ­ w a s on ce "co n stru cted " u sin g techniqu es
gest d etails in the background o f a w id e an gle outside film such as p ain tin g or architec­
w h en perhaps their proper p lace is in the tu re (producing the required signification
foreground? If this is n o t aesth eticism - t h i s th rou g h a "fix ed " decorative com position,
slavish adherence to a g iven form u la even albeit con tain in g m ovem ent), so th e new
200 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

v alu es are in teg ratin g m o bility and d ura­ CinemaScope

tion into the film lexicon.
in stead o f b ein g arch itecton ic o r plastic, T h ere is n o t m u c h to sa y a b o u t C inem a­
sp atial stru ctures n o w a d a y s are d ynam ic S cop e excep t th at th e com m otion w h ich
and p sychological. T he org an ization of g reeted its ad v en t in 1953 w as rath er short­
space is less concern ed w ith the arran ge­ lived. T h e p rod u ct o f a tech n ical invention
m en t o f lines and vo lu m es than w ith the m ade som e thirty years p reviou sly (patents
relative positioning of characters and objects, w ere tak en ou t b y a P rofessor C h retien
w ith the m o bility o f th e characters and the around 1920), its interest lay in w id en in g
cam era - w i t h the effect th at the com p osi­ th e screen ratio, w h ose p ro p o rtio n s w ere
tio n o f a space d issociated fro m th e d u ratio n q u ite pleasing in the d ay s o f the silen t cin­
it co n tain s is b ein g rep laced n ow ad ay s b y em a (1 x 1.55) b u t w ith th e appearance of
th e stru ctu ratio n o f re a l "s p a c e " and "tim e ." sou n d and the need for the soundtrack
E xp ression ism h a s b e e n m en tion ed w ith w ere squ eezed in to th e 1 x 1.37 r a t i o - a l -
regard to Citizen Kane and O rson W elles's m o st a squ are (w h at w e kn ow as th e "a ca d ­
other film s. A n d rig h tly so. B u t thou g h em y fo rm a t"). A n d yet, th o u g h it o p en s ou t
plastic values play an en orm ou s part in th e sp ace an d frees the d irecto r fro m certain
these film s, they con trib u te to rath er than obligations due to th e restrictions o f the
d etract from the m o bility o f the film . M ore­ field o f view , th e extrem e w id th o f the
over, they are on ly values among others, C inem aScop e screen generates not particu­
equ ally im p o r ta n t-p e r h a p s m ore so. In­ larly aesth etic p rop ortions (1 x 2.55). W hat
d eed , the o v erall style is a kind o f psycho­ is m ore, h o w ev er good the anam orphic
logical E xp ressionism w h ose elem en ts are len s, the optical distortion im p oses con ­
th e characters, sets, an d objects, consid ered straints w h ich som etim es result in a lack of
in th e mobility in tim e o f th eir relationships. p hotograp hic "d e fin itio n ." Thu s it w ould
S p a ce a n d tim e a re m erely the sim ple rela­ seem th a t the m a in in terest of C inem aScop e
tionship b etw een con ten t an d container; h a s b ee n in allow in g the fram e to b e w id ­
th ey com p ose a hom og en eo u s en tity w h ose en ed w ith o u t ch a n g in g th e film fo rm at, in
integrated com p on en t p arts are m u tually other w ord s, w ith o u t h a v in g to ch an g e all
d eterm inative. th e pro jection eq u ip m en t in cin em as. H ow ­
O f co u rse , th e m asterp ieces o f th e silent ever, the large fo rm at (70-m m ), first tried in
screen and the period b efo re 1940 had 1931 and eventually produ ced in Todd-A O ,
ach iev ed this sp ace-tim e unity, b u t p sy ch o ­ seem s to h av e a m u ch m ore stable future
logical developm en ts (excep t o n es o f very (th ou g h perhaps n o t im m ediate, on ac­
sh o rt d u ration or n on e a t a l l - w h i c h w as cou n t o f the n eed to alter p rojection equ ip­
m o st often th e case) w ere alm ost alw ay s m e n t an d cam eras). T h e 1 x 2.22 fo rm at is
tran slated b y a series o f su ccessiv e p h ases, b etter p ro p ortio ned , and the im age, since
"slice s o f tim e ," w h ic h w ere them selv es re l­ there is n o d isto rtion, is a t aU points per­
ativ ely static. Tim e w as "ch ro n o lo g y " rath er fectly in focus. W e believ e that the b est for-
th an "ex p erien ced d u ra tio n ." N ow , it is this m u la e —a t least th e m ost h a rm o n io u s—are
d uration " in the p ro cess o f h a p p e n in g " those around the 1 x 1 .80 ratio. M oreover,
w h ich th e contem p orary cin em a tries to en - it should l i p o ssib le to obtain a sim ilar en­
co m p ass—a d u ration w h ith , b efo re W y ler's larg em en t b y h a lv in g (on 35-m m ) the
Jezebel a n d W elles's film s, h a d n o t really h eig h t o f the fram e w hich w ou ld then
b een attem pted , excep t in Von S tro h eim 's cov er tw o in stead o f four sp ro ck et h oles.10
Greed an d K in g V id o r's The Crowd. N o w th a t these techniqu es a re pretty
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 201

u n iv ersally used , w e m ay s a y th a t th ey "o n c e and fo r all," h e is talk in g o f a period

change n o n e o f th e "d ia le ctic" con d ition s o f a cou p le o f m o n th s or so, fo r w h en g en u ­
o f film (th o u g h th e y d o in tro d u ce a certain in e fil^mmakers started experim entin g w ith
n u m b e r o f ra th e r v alu ab le possibilities). it, th e y show ed th a t it could lend itself to
The interest o f S cop e w o u ld b e seco n d ary editing as easily as to any oth er technique.
w ere it n o t that it op ens ou r m in d s to the W e h a v e seen th at if there is less and less
p u rely sp ectacu lar p o ssibilities o f film . A nd frag m en tatio n now ad ays, it is only because
w ithout w ishing to b e d ep recating, w e o f a ce rta in stru ctu ratio n o f th e film sp ace -
m u st ad m it th a t fro m th e aesth etic p o in t of w h ic h S co p e a llo w s b u t d oes n o t impose. It
view , the con trib u tio n is lim ited . M o st im ­ is p o ssib le to im a g in e a film constructed on
portant, this fo rm at allow s th e field o f view the e d itin g b en ch or com p risin g extrem e
to b e organized in depth w ith o u t h a v in g to closeu ps. Bazin is rig h t in th in k in g that ed­
resort to special lenses. iting is n o t th e b e-a ll and end-all o f visual
F ram ed in th e n o rm a l way, a clo se shot e xp ressio n ; b u t to d ed u ce th a t th is "relates
(of a p erso n o r ob ject) fiUs th e screen to the po verty o f th e classical im ag e forcing
(w hen ce its iso lation ), w h ich precludes the th e d irecto r to m a k e m incem eat o f reality "
p o ssibility o f exp loitin g th e v ario u s differ­ is to see th e im ag e m erely in term s of the
en t planes, th ere b ein g n o o th er shots. Now, len ses w ithout d ep th w e m entioned o r in
w id e screen en ables th e d irecto r to stack up term s o f an exclu siv e u se o f closeups. W ide
a series o f action s, ch aracters, o r m ove­ or narrow , th e fram e is still a fram e. A nd
m en ts, from th e extrem e fo reg rou n d rig h t w h ichever it is, it w ill alw ays in v olv e a cer­
into the b a c k g r o u n d - a n d th is is w h y it is tain d egree o f fragm entation - ju st as its lim ­
o f such im portance. Clearly, S cop e (w ith a its im p ose a certain degree o f organization.
w id est ap e rtu re o f f4 ) p re clu d es th e u se of
th e various k in d s o f d istortion p o ssib le w ith F ascination and D istan tiation
w id e-an g le lenses, and y e t it is n o t beyon d
th e b ou nd s o f p o ssib ility th at th e 7 0 -^ m W e sa w that p assiv ity w ou ld b e un avoid ­
fram e w ill so m e d a y fin d a w a y a ro u n d the a b le w e re p articip ation a p henom enon
problem . w h ich com p letely su sp en d s th e au d ien ce's
If there is an y specific sh ot w h ich is im ­ con sciou sn ess - as happens, fo r in stance, in
p ossible in Scop e, it is th e isolated closeup. m im esis. This is w h y "p rojection -id en tifica-
W e h av e seen th a t th is is irrelevan t as re­ tio n ," w h ich serves as th e basis fo r Edgar
gard s detail and rath er u sefu l as regard s M o rin 's th eories su p p ortin g th e un con­
everyth in g else. M oreover, w h en it is re­ sciousn ess point o f view (but n ot accepting
q u ired , th e film m a k er can alw ay s u se p art p u re m im esis), is som e w a y rem oved from
o f th e set as a m ask (O p h u ls w a s o n e o f w hat w e u n d erstan d b y "p ro jectiv e associ­
those w h o used th is device). a tio n ."
M arcel P agnol d ee m e d th e talk ie to b e A s fa r as w e c a n see (and w e h a v e said
th e end o f cinem a an d th e b irth o f an art it b efo re), the au d ien ce b efo re th e screen
consistin g in th e record ing o f d ialog u e or "re a liz e s " in its im ag in atio n situations it
plays. H isto ry proves h im right. B azin saw w o u ld lik e to k n ow o r e x p e r ie n c e - in the
a great valu e in th e u se o f th e w id e screen sam e w ay as th e little girl p la y in g w ith h er
in that, "co m in g after th e shot-in-depth, it doll realizes situations sh e w an ts to h ap ­
has b een m ore su ccessfu l in abolishin g, pen. O bv iously th e un conscious has a lot to
o n ce and fo r all, ed itin g as th e m ain elem ent d o w ith this phen om en o n ; b u t though the
in cinem atic d isco u rse." W h en B azin says au d ien ce is n o t altog eth er aw are o f w h at it
202 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

is d oin g o r w h y i t sh ou ld b e actin g lik e this, cau sed b y th is sta te o f h y p n o sis, p articu ­

it is at least aw are th a t it is participating: it larly sin ce th is "la z in ess" b eco m es apparent
m ay b e u n con scio u s o f th e m ech an ics b u t on ly a t the level o f ju d gm ent, (i.e., th in k in g
n o t th e consequen ces. It is so m eth in g like a bou t a g iven p iece o f inform ation), n o t at
d ream in g or d aydream ing: an id ea sud ­ th e level o f th e m ental processes w h ich or­
den ly com es to m ind. I d o n o t k n o w h o w g anize and stru cture the in form ation in its
or why, sin ce it has n o t b ee n b ro u g h t there ideative d evelopm en t.
b y m y w ill. P rod uced b y m e, it is the ex­ F rom the p ed agogical p o in t o f view , i.e.,
p ressio n o f som e in clin ation - b u t this is from th e attitu de o f th e ch ild to film , w e
quite un conscious. A n d yet, if I fo llow the h ea rtily concu r w ith the rath er ironical ob­
idea th rou gh or in som e w ay let it tak e over, serv atio n s o f a p ro fesso r o f philosophy,
I am p erfectly consciou s o f d oin g so. Yvon Bourdet:
In fact, "p a ssiv e co n scio u sn ess" in the
aud ience is a m yth. It is only seen as "p a s ­ We might observe, in a lighthearted
s iv e " b ecau se th e fe e lin g o f s e c u rity p ro ­ vein, that what most irritates traditional
vid ed b y film enables th e a u d ien ce (as a teachers and conventional parents about
g e n e ra l ru le) to avoid th e n eed s o f a n tici­ the cinema is what they themselves strive
(often desperately) to achieve, i.e., the
pation. H ow ever, this avo id an ce d oes n o t
spontaneous attention of the children. If
entail avoid ance o f any other m en tal activ­
the cinema renders a child still, ts it not
ity. P articip ation in volves th e consciou s a c­
putting him in the sort of conditions a
cep tance o f th e con seq u en ces o f an teacher tries to create in order to analyze
u n con scio u s b u t n ecessary action w h ich, a poem or work out a mathematical prob­
how ever obscure, is still an activity o f the lem? Fortunately, however, that is where
m ind. the resemblance ends; only the e x t e ^ l
Yet, as R ene Z azzo p o in ts o u t, "T h e a p ­ attitudes are similar; the attentive child
p a re n t fa c ility o f th e cinem a s p e cta cle an d listening to the proof of a theorem sits still
its incredible p o w er o v er th e em otion s give in order to participate in an intense men­
it a suggestive force w h ich m ak es it u n n ec­ tal effort, whereas the stillness of an audi­
ence in the cinema is akin to sleep!
essary fo r som e, d ifficu lt for others, to su s­
We may say right away that this
tain an y real effort o f ju d g m en t. T h e feeling
"proof" of the evil fascination of the cin­
o f reality w h ich a n au d ien ce takes from the
ema is not to be found at the level of the
screen m ay give, even to cynics, a n im pres­ language of cinema; our only (justifiable)
sion o f tru th - w h i c h is the first step tow ard concern ts to demonstrate how this fasci­
an intellectu al as w ell as em otion al in v olv e­ nation operates and to catalogue the sup­
m e n t w ith the visio n the film g ives th e m o f posed self-evident results.
th e w o rld " (Le C in em a chez les adolescents). . . . To begin with: we should accept
T h o u g h Z azzo 's b o o k is a stu d y o f that adolescents are "impressionable"
ch ild ren 's m ental attitu d es to film , it is easy and "receptive." It is precisely these fac­
to see th at th is state o f m in d (d ifficult to d is­ tors which are the basis of a child's for­
mation and education. Do teachers com­
p ro ve) represents th e sta te o f m in d o f m o st
plain of children's "receptivity" when
o f the aud ience. B u t e m o tio n a l in v olv e­
they are trying to make them respond to
m e n t, the relative ab sen ce o f ju d g m en t
Shakespeare, admire Pasteur's discover­
w h ich that in volvem en t im p lies, is n o t s y n ­
ies or appreciate a Greek temple or Py­
on y m ou s w ith passivity. T h e con d ition s o f thagorean theorem? Have we not always
credence or receptivity (e v e n , if y o u lik e, in ­ preached the need for enthusiasm, for
tellectual lazin ess) are n o t necessarily emotional understanding, for the appeal
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 203

of heroes? Do those m osteager to criticize In spite o f this, w e d o n o t b elieve th at the

the cinema's "fascinating effectiveness" theory o f V erfrem dungseffekt expound ed
and its suspension of the critical faculty b y B rech t in A Little Organum f o r Theater
make an appeal to that same critical fac­ lend s itself n a tu ra lly to film or, fo r that m at­
ulty when they trot out their life of the
ter, theatrical representation. For B recht, in
Blessed Virgin or the victories of Napo­
fa c t, th e aud ien ce (in th e theater) seem "d e ­
leon?
p riv ed o f all a c tiv ity and are, as it w ere, u n ­
. . . Besides, if film did create this au­
tomatic involvement, as has been claimed, co n scio u sly m a n ip u la te d ." T h e o n ly con­
it would be pointless to deplore the fact: cern o f th is "sle e p in g audience m oved b y
the only essential would be to produce n ig h tm a re s" is to b e able to "ex ch an g e a
"good" films. However, the problem is w o rld o f con trad iction s fo r a harm onious
apparently not quite as simple as that and w orld, an u n k n o w n w orld for a w orld of
there is an obvious confusion here be­ d re a m s." A n d in ord er to create a context
tween effect and cause. If films are as they w here the sp ectacle is n ot "m a g ic a l" but
are (as in literature), it is not the filmmak­ "c ritic a l" and allow the audience to be
ing process which is at fault . . . . The cin­
"lu c id " ra th er th a n "e n tra lle d ," B re ch t pre­
ema merely makes happen what would
scribes: "th e n on id entification o f th e actor
happen in any case. "Bad" films are bad
w ith his role, so th a t h e can stand ou tsid e it
only for those predisposed by the experi­
ences of the life imposed on them. Zazzo an d in d icate its fictional natu re; th e frag ­
has proved this in a survey conducted m en tatio n o f th e p lay in to a su ccessio n of
over 14,000 adolescents (girls and boys) tableaux w ith th e effect o f p rev en tin g the
between the ages of 14 and 18 at school au d ien ce fro m "th ro w in g itself into the
or apprenticeship in Paris (11,000) and story as into a stre a m "; th e Chorus w h o fore­
Amiens (3,200). Zazzo was able to con­ w arns th e audience as to w h a t is ab ou t to
clude from this that "the cinematic expe­ h ap p en . . . etc. All n ostru m s w hich do noth­
rience, the place the cinema occupies in ing but sap the lifeblood o f th e theater. For,
the life of adolescents and the attitudes it
in the final an aly sis, ap art from the fact that
provokes vary considerably from one ^ i -
"m a g ic " (Shakespeare, R acin e, or w hoever)
ocultural milieu to another." And in such
has n ev er p araly zed th e a u d ien ce's critical
a clearly defined way that, from the reac­
tion of a given group, one may deduce its facu lty or its "activ e co n scio u sn ess," the
social class. purpose o f a play is to create or express
. . . Moreover, the phenomena of pro­ ideas or feelin g s th rough a n action w hose
jection and identification are not specific d ev elop m en t "ca rries th e au d ien ce tow ard
to the cinema; they are observable in all a specific ob je ctiv e " w ithou t w h ich it has no
kinds of spectacle, from the theater to re­ b a sis a t all. T h e au d ien ce seems "m an ip u ­
ligion, even teaching (this has more to do la te d " sin ce it is b ein g "le d " ; b u t this h ap ­
with sociology or psychology). Spectacle p en s o n ly if it com plies; and th e supposed
may be used either to induce a kind of "su sp en sio n o f activity " is o n ly an illusion.
hypnosis or, on the other hand, a lucid
In particu lar, th is w a y o f assu m in g th e au­
participation - a s Bertold Brecht attempted
d ien ce to b e a "m e d iu m " m ad e, th rough the
to explore in the theater Not only does
m agic o r w ords an d p ictu res, to sw allow
the cinema (and all the other arts) enable
the audience to be alienated from what it an y th in g and e v ery th in g im plies a ch a ra c­
is seeing but it also has specific qualities teristic presu m p tio n , and th e desire to safe­
particularly stimulating to the mind. It is guard o n e 's "critica l in d ep en d en ce" is evi­
not sleep it induces but relaxation." (La dence o f a m assiv e contem pt instead o f the
Pretendue passivite du spectateur) respect w h ich is claim ed.
204 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

There is no n eed fo r th e actor p lay in g tive o f theater can b e k ep t m ore or less

N ap oleon to m ak e m e u n d erstan d th a t he w ith in a rep resen ta tio n w h ic h h a s con­
is n ot N ap oleon, m erely an actor p lay in g stantly to b etra y itself in order to escape
N ap oleon ; this I alread y k n ow . Yet if he fro m th e d ram a it is stag in g , th e need s o f
sp en d s h is tim e te llin g m e this, h e ca n n o t th e cinem a o p era te in th e reverse direction.
exp ect m e to b eliev e in th e representation A s Je an C arta p o in ts ou t, "F ilm fascination
he is giving m e, and if that is h is in ten tio n , begins w h en w e start to believe that w hat
w h y bother w ith the rep resen tatio n in the is happening o n th e screen is actu ally hap ­
first p lace? If h e fo rew arns m e o f w h a t he pening, w h en the accid en t o r death b ein g
exp ects m e to b e surprised to learn, w h y d escribed is a real accid en t or d ea th ." H ow ­
d oes h e pretend that h e is surprising m e at ever, w h en h e ad d s, "It w ould seem p o ssi­
all? The supposed "d e m y stifica tio n " o f the b le to resolve d ialectically th e contrad iction
au d ien ce creates an e v e n g reater m y stifica­ b etw ee n th e sp ellbin d in g p o w ers o f the
tion: d em ystification itself. im age and the n eed fo r h u m an b eings to
T h e ju stification fo r all th is is quite sim ­ b rea k th e sp e ll," w e u n d erstan d w ith him
ple: B rech t is n o t really a p la y w rig h t in the th a t the au d ien ce m ust b e d istracted from
strict sense. F o r h im , theater is n o t a m ean s an often ov erw h elm in g alienation; how ­
o f suggesting, expressing, or signifying ideas ever, to b rea k the sp ell, there is n o need to
via a dram atic action follow ed through fo r resort to B rech t's d ista n tia tio n —w h ich is
its ow n sake b u t a p latfo rm : a m ean s for achievable on ly through con trad iction or
pu tting ideas into "a c tio n " un der th e p re­ d en ial o f th e a u d ien ce's b elief in w h at is
te n s e of a d ram a its e lf d ev oid of a n y in trin ­ represented .
sic interest. T h e au d ien ce is n o t m ean t to W e saw h o w th e m o v in g ca m era an d the
a th ie v e reason th rou g h em otion ; b y instill­ shot-in-depth m ay facilitate freed om o f
in g em otion al p o w er in to th e a u d ien ce's ju d g m e n t. M ore obviou s objectivity is
reason , th e p la y w rig h t m ak es a d irect ap­ achievable on ly b y b rin g in g the present
p eal to it. It is n o t th e a te r b u t social d id ac­ an d th e past into conflict, w h en com m en ­
ticism on stage. T h e p la y w rig h t's in ten tio n tary is used as a k ind o f consciousness of
is n o t to m ak e h is audience believe in the the events as th ey ta k e place. S u ch is the
d ram a but in th e id eas, w hich is w h y there case w ith H iroshim a, m on amour. W e shall
is n o p lace fo r "th ea trica l illu sio n ism ," it com e b ack to th is aspect w h en w e exam ine
h av in g b een su p ersed ed b y an ap p eal to th e role o f s p e e ch —w h ich , in sim ilar con­
pure th o u g h t, "d irect lu cid ity ". T h e cru x is d ition s, m ay be o f p aram o u n t im portance.
k n o w in g w h eth er the audien ce is con ­ W h e n the te x t casts d o u b t on w h at the
vinced b y the v a lid ity o f th e ideas ex­ im ag e prop oses, w h en it d elivers the film ­
pressed or b y the p la y w rig h t's eloquence; m a k e r's d irect ju d g m e n t o f w h at is being
and it is n o t b ey on d the b ou nd s o f p o ssi­ rep resen ted , th en w e hav e Brechtian dis-
b ility that h e re too there lin g e rs a trace of tan tiation and ev id ence o f its destructive
m ystification. W ords them selv es are n o t ex­ effect.
actly neutral. T o q u o te a n exam p le g iv e n b y Je a n Carta:
O n e can b e in to ta l sy m p ath y w ith "W h e n th e sam e seq u en ce in Lettres d e
B rech t's social p u rp oses w ith o u t being S iberie is p resen ted th ree tim es, each w ith a
taken in b y h is d istantiation, w ith o u t as­ d ifferen t com m entary, th e 'w ily O riental'
su m in g th a t th e g h o st o f lu cid ity is a p rin ­ described b y the en em ies o f th e regim e be­
ciple o f pu re reason. com in g , in h is frie n d s' w ords, an hon orable
W hatever th e case, th o u g h the p ersp ec­ K o lk o sia n to b e ch an g ed in th e third version
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 205

into h o w M a rk er saw h im (and n o n e of sp ecta to r is p articip atin g , h e ceases to be

th em b ein g th e ob jectiv e tru th), w e are led th e sp ectator o f h is p articip atio n " (besid es
to distantiate ou rselves from th e im ag e in th e fa ct th a t this proves con clu sively that
order to ju d g e its relativity," h e is o n the p articip atio n is an act and therefore th e op­
w rong track, in ou r view . In fact, n o t only posite o f h y p n o tic passivity), w e m u st
d o I stop b eliev in g in th e ob jectiv e reality ad m it th a t p articip ation is n o t constan t.
w h en it is p resen ted to m e lik e th is b u t the H o w ev er, ju st as th e act I p erfo rm in life
supp osed freed om o f ju d g m en t offered m e d oes n o t stop m e p assin g ju d g m en t on it,
prevents m e from th in k in g freely. so m y p articip ation in a d ram a does not
If I am inclined to b eliev e th at the m an stop m e assessin g its in tellig ibility and the
in qu estion is an h o n o ra b le K olkosian, then aesthetic valu es w h ich affect m y im pres­
th e d irecto r's imposed iron y d isorien ts m e; sion o f it. O n ly w h en it is com plete can I
and th e sam e is tru e if I ch o o se to tak e the reflect on th e act in w h ic h I h a v e ju st par­
v ie w p o in t o f th e en em ies o f th e regim e. If ticip ated . H o w ev er short, th e tim e on
I ag ree w ith the film m aker, I a m prevented w h ich the action "h in g e s " enables m e to
b y h im from m ak ing ju d g m en ts "o f m y m ak e this alm ost in stan tan eou s ju d gm ent.
o w n " ab ou t w h at h e is p resen tin g , about I a m b oth inside an d outside th e action; I can
th e ju d gm ents h e is sh arin g w ith m e. If I d istan ce m y self an d b eco m e d irectly in­
d o n o t a g re e w ith ^ m , th is also e lic its a v o lv ed w ith o u t e v e r lo sin g m y critical fac­
reaction exten d in g bey on d m y o w n tra in of ulty, w h ic h - c o n tr a r y to w h a t is said - i s
thought. So w h ere is m y freed om ? In an y not in co n sisten t w ith w illin g participation:
case, th e film m ak e r's text, "p u m p in g " the it d o es n o t "r e s ist" it b u t ra th er co n tro ls it.
im age up into an interpretation w h ich, for M y a ctiv e lu cid ity is n o t d etached fro m m y
all its am b igu ity o r irony, rem ains a sim ple p articip ation ; it is grafted o n to it.
interpretation, an tag o n izes m e to th e lim its S in ce w h a t I associate w ith th e h e ro is
o f tolerance, sin ce m y su p p osed freed om m y ow n im ag in ed S elf, a seco n d ary Self, I
h as b eco m e m erely th e effect o f a n in sid i­ in ev itab ly sep arate th e tw o, constan tly
ou s m ystification. T h e o n ly freed om h e can b earin g in m in d that h e is he, i.e., som eon e
allow m e in the circu m stan ces is to sh u t up else; a sim ilar S elf w h o, at the sam e tim e,
and retire b eh in d th e "d o c u m e n t" h e is is n o t m yself. C onsequently, d eep d ow n I
sh ow in g m e, m ain tain in g his freed om to know th a t I a m p articip atin g a n d th u s have
presen t w hat h e w ishes as h e w ish es (al­ the choice o f n o t p articip atin g . M y optim al
w ays assu m in g h is in ten tio n to b e relative participation is w h en I a m in control o f the
objectivity). I am w illin g to accep t th e su b ­ ev en t in w h ich I am p articip atin g , cap ab le
jectiv ity o f h is visio n b u t n o t o f h is th in k ­ a t a n y m o m en t o f op tin g out.
ing; if I w ere to accep t h is thinking, there It is a fact th a t film fascination resists
w ould b e n o m ore to th in k about; th e th in k ­ an y reg u lar v o lu n ta ry control an d th a t this
ing w ould already h ave tak en place. control is less th e effect o f personal vig i­
B e this as it m ay, th ere is n o con trad ic­ la n ce th an a relaxation b rou g h t on b y the
tio n b e tw e e n th e sp ellbin d in g p o w er o f th e film . B u t w h o ca n tak e in th e w h ole o f a
im ag e and a ce rta in freed om o f ju d g m en t. w o rk o f art a t o n e go? A p o em o r sy m ­
A s m a n y p h ilo sop h ers h a v e p roved , it is p h o n y m u st b e read o r heard m ore than
n o t possible to act and jud ge o n e 's action once. A n d th is is n o less tru e o f film (nor
at the sam e tim e (it can b e d on e im m ed i- sh ou ld it be); a film o f a n y q u ality m u st be
ateiy afterw ard). C o n seq u en tly if, in seen m ore th an on ce fo r an y sou n d ju d g ­
C o h en -Seat's w o rd s, " in th e m o m en ts the m e n t to b e m ad e o f it. T h e p articip atin g
206 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

attitu de is alw ays altered b y a critical in inverse p ro p ortio n to ou r capacities to

attitude on th e second view ing. fo resee w h a t is g oin g to happen. O bviously
A ll th is b oils d ow n to th e fact th a t spell­ this h old in volves ou r ju d g m en t b u t does
b in d in g is cau sed b y a so rt o f seizu re o f our n o t supp ress it, an y m ore th a n th e im pres­
m ind s p rod u ced b y w h at m ig h t b e called sio n o f in ev itab ility w h ich a t the sam e tim e
th e "h o ld o f th e u n k n o w n ." S in ce it is al­ clearly ind icates in w h a t respects the ju d g ­
w ay s b ein g surprised , ou r a n ticip a tio n is as m e n t m ay b e red u n d an t o r im practicable.
attentive as it is paralyzed. In a sen se, it Y et w e assum e th a t the h old of the dram a
does n o t really m atter w h ich it is, since w e is related to the sp e cta to r's m entality. H is
k n o w that th e action con tain ed in th e film freed om o f ju d g m en t (also the v alid ity of
h as n o co n seq u en ce in reality. O u r reactions h is ju d gm ent) d ep end s entirely on his m a­
are even m ore lim ited fo r th e fact th a t as an turity, h is cu ltu re, and, perhaps even m ore
activity "w ith th e jo b o f con fron tin g actu al particu larly, h is acq u ain tan ce w ith film lan­
reality," ou r a n ticip a tio n p roves useless. guage. In th e final analysis, if the im pres­
A n d y e t it is ou r an ticip atio n w h ich enables sion o f reality pro d u ced b y a film m ay
us to "d o m in ate" th e im ag in ary action. d eterm in e in im m ature m ind s th e b elie f in
O verw h elm ed b y it, w e are p araly zed by actu al reality w hich Z azzo d escribes, it is
its v e ry existen ce. B ut ag ain, th is p araly sis certain ly b eca u se the spell w o ven b y the
in no w ay su sp en d s ou r cap acity fo r th in k ­ film clouds th eir ju d g m en t. Yet this would not
ing. O u r ju d gm en t is f r e e - b u t free to w ork be possible without their willing consent.
o n "w h a t has already b een d e cid ed " or, at F ilm h y p n o sis (a b o u t w h ich w e h e a r so
the extrem e, o n "so m eth in g in the process m u ch) exists on ly in so far as th e spectator
o f h ap p e n in g " ov er w h ich w e hav e n o con ­ is lazy. It is n o t the con seq u en ce o f an y par­
trol: we cannot prejudge the direct outcome o f ticu lar aesthetic form . T h e only d iffer-
these actions as though they were our own since e n c e - a s w e hav e s a i d - l i e s (accord ing to
theyare not our own even though we experience th e n arrativ e tech n iqu e used) in the im pres­
them as such. F ilm fascin ation is n oth in g sio n o f a reality "w h ich is alread y com ­
m ore than the effect o f this phen om en o n , p le te " and a reality "a s it is actually
b u t p articip ation , o f w h ich it form s a part, h a p p e n in g ." True, the latter fo rm m akes it
exclud es for th at v ery reason the d istantia- easier fo r th e spectator to exercise his ju d g­
tion w h ich it p resupp oses. T h e im p ossibil­ m en t, b u t th e fo rm er d oes n o t m ak e it im ­
ity o f a tru ly su b jectiv e cam era w ill sh ow possible.
u s th a t th is is so.
In th e m eantim e, it is n o th a r d to see that Subjective Camera
to b e sp ellbou nd b y a film is in direct p ro­
p o rtio n to th e in te rest in th e represented T h e con seq u en ce o f a ce rta in choice, the
d ram a and the in ab ility to an ticip ate the film im age is alw ays colored by subjectivity.
outcom e o f the d ram a. A s soo n as w e kn o w Yet this su b jectivity com es from the film ­
w h at is g oin g to h ap p en and h o w it w ill m aker, th e sh o w m a n or storyteller. Pro­
h appen, sp ellbind in g is replaced b y pure je cte d o n to a screen, the im age is presented
aesthetic p lea su re —g iven the rig h t k in d of "a s an o b je ct," w h ich is w h y it m ay b e de­
film . In the case o f a m asterpiece, th e p lea ­ scribed as o b je c tiv e -p a r tic u la r ly sin ce, rel­
sure its e lf can w eav e its o w n spell, b u t a ative to the represented d ram a, it is ob jec­
sp e ll o f a totally different kind w ith to tally tive. W h a t the cam era sees is w h at an
d ifferen t results. in visib le au d ien ce w ou ld see w ere it capa­
T h e h o ld th a t film d ra m a h a s o v er us is b le o f m o v in g in stan tan eo u sly into different
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 207

positions and look in g at objects, sce n e s ,a n d "o b jectiv e -su b jectiv e " or "o n lo o k e r-lo o k e d
characters from sev era l su ccessiv e p o in ts of u p o n " equation b ecam e identified w ith shot-
view. reverse-sh ot, both b ein g used m ore and
Y et w h at the cam era sees m ay also be m ore extensively. H ow ever, it can b e said
w h a t th e ch aracters in th e d ram a see. T h is th a t it w as A b el G an ce w ith La Roue w ho
is w h at is called th e subjective v iew , sin ce it w as resp on sible fo r the revelation o f the
allow s the aud ience to "ta k e the p la c e " of su b jective im age, ju s t as h e w as fo r the d is­
the heroes, to see and feel "a s th ey d o ." cov ery o f rh y th m (in th e m u sical sense).
D ou btless the term s personal and impersonal F ro m th a t m o m en t, th e first th e o r e tic ia n s -
w o u ld b e m ore accu rately a p p lied to this Je a n E p stein in p a r tic u la r -s e iz e d on the
type o f im age th a n objective and subjective, ev en t and elevated it into a b asic principle.
b u t since the latter hav e becom e w id ely E p stein w rote in 1921:
used, w e sh o u ld em p loy th e m , accepting
th e m fo r w h at th ey are w orth. B esides, it The sort of drama I would like to see
w as only gradually that th e ca m e ra 's view ­ would take place on a merry-go-round or
(to be more up-to-date) a Waltzer.11 The
p o in t becam e id en tified w ith th e view point
fair below would gradually become more
o f the actors. A t first it w a s m erely th e re­
and more blurred. Tragedy centrifuged in
verse angle o f a big facial closeu p: the
this way would release its photogenic
frig h ten ed lo o k on the h e ro in e's face w as
qualities, adding the sensations of giddi­
exp lain ed in th e n e x t sh ot b y th e cau se of ness and gyration. The sort of dance I
her frig h t, b u t seen "th ro u g h h e r e y e s " as would like to see would take place suc­
th o u g h the cam era had sud d enly tak en her cessively in the four points of the com­
place. pass; then, through the use of a pan or a
It w ou ld seem th a t it w a s in G riffith 's revolving stage, the room as it might be
Broken Blossoms th at this fo rm m a d e its first seen by a couple dancing. Clever editing
scre en appearance. It m ay p o ssib ly hav e of a series of shots would recreate the life
of the d an ce-tw ice: for the audience and
b ee n used previously, b u t on ly in Broken
the dancer, objective and subjective so to
Blossoms and other film s o f the tim e (1919)
speak. I would like to be with the charac-
d id it b eco m e consciou s o f its effectiveness.
te r -n o t behind, in front, or beside him
It gained ground in A b el G a n c e 's La Roue but inside him; I would like to see
(1922), p articu larly in th e "b lin d S is if" e p i­ through his eyes; I would like to see his
sode w here the en g in e driver, tem p orarily hand coming out from under me as
b lind ed b y petrol in h is ey es, look s a t fam il­ though it were my own hand; I would
iar objects w ith in his reach and n o lo n g er even like black leader to be cut into the
recognizes them . T h e seq u en ce show s us sequence to imitate my eyes blinking.
Sisif p ickin g u p h is p ipe, fingering it, and (Bonjour cinema)
b rin gin g it up to h is fa ce (d escrip tiv e shot),
th e n the pipe (in b ig closeup) as h e sees it, T h is b o o k w a s p u blish ed in A u g u st 1921.
i.e., blu rred and o u t o f focu s (analytic "s u b ­ La Roue w a s sh ow n in N ov em ber 1922.
je ctiv e " sh ot), then sev eral o th er im ag es of H ow ever, the film h ad b e e n tw o years in the
the sam e typ e sh ow in g S isif lo o k in g a t an m ak in g a n d E p stein , thou g h h e h a d n o t
ob ject and th e n th e ob ject as "s e e n b y h im ." seen ru sh es, at least k new w h at th e film w as
It w as n o t u n til The Last Laugh (M urnau , ab ou t th rou g h h is friend B laise C en d rars,
1924) and , in p articu lar, Variety (D upont, w h o w a s G a n ce 's assistant. M oreover, a cer­
1926) that the su bjective im ag e passed in to tain su b jectivism had b een developed som e
th e lan g u ag e o f th e cinem a, w h en the tim e b efo re b y M arcel L 'H erbier in L'Homme
208 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

du large (1920) and in El Dorado (1921). T h e casion tried their hands at introspection—
aud ience w as seeing things "from th e ou t­ almost always unsuccessfully. Daquin, in
sid e" b u t feelin g as th e h ero w a s feeling. Premier de cordee, makes us feel dizzy
when he shows us a man clinging to a
D escrip tive im ag ery w as, to som e exten t,
rock-face, desperately and aimlessly flail­
beco m in g "su b jectifie d ": the A lh am b ra in
ing the air with his h a n d s-b u t we do not
G ranad a b eco m es distorted as th e y o u n g
feel dizzy when, in an attempt to recreate
p ain ter looks at it, and if th e d an cer Sibilla the world of the hero, he photographs the
h as h e r m ind elsew here, it is sh e w h o ap­ cliff below swaying and out of focus.
p ears " in a b lu r" an d n o t w h a t sh e is su p ­ Malraux, in Sierra de Teruel, makes us feel
posed to b e seeing. T his w a s th e fu rthest exactly how poor the pilot's eyesight is
extent to w h ich th e su b jective im ag e h ad de­ when he is shown struggling awkwardly
v elop ed at this ju nctu re and E p stein (as w e from his cockpit, but we remain unaf­
saw in a p reviou s ch ap ter) w as to record this fected by the cut to the pilot's point of
in h is -writings. view, showing a landscape obscured by
gauze. Clarence's delusion in Falbalas
Fired b y th is k n o w led g e, a v an g u ard of
would be even more disturbing had he
you n g critics, attracted b y th ese m o ve­
appeared as if in c a ^ te d in his own vi­
m ents to create a n ew cinem a, to ok th e m er­
sion and ravings; and Becker does not
its o f these tech n iqu es to an extrem e and convince us when he shows us what Clar­
exclu d ed everyth in g b u t th e "su b jectiv e ence sees: a wooden doll ^turning into a
im a g e " and "p u re rh y th m ." Z eal an d y o u th woman. " I n t e ^ l life" is more forcefully
w ere th e on ly excu ses fo r su ch n a iv e d og ­ presented if it is treated strictly as a pat­
m atism . Y et fo r th o se o f us w h o rem em b er tern of behavior and if it appears in the
this period, th ere w a s a certain iro n y in the world with which it remains connected,
red iscov ery o f "a b so lu te su b jectiv ism " in however distantly or closely.
R o b ert M o n tg o m ery 's film (Lady o f the Lake,
1947) w h ich ts m erely a rew o rk in g o f ideas O bviously, introspection can b eco m e a
w h ic h first saw th e lig h t o f d ay in 1925! s tu d y as ob jectiv e as th e exam ination o f
W ithou t lab o rin g th e p o in t, w e m u s t n ot o th er p e o p le 's behavior. W atson a n d the
forget th at there w ere som e o f u s w h o h ad B eh avio rists h a v e su p p lied a m p le eviden ce
in vestigated these p ro blem s w ell b efo re the o f this. A n d y et th ere are ground s fo r dis­
end o f th e silen t era. It w o u ld b e u n g ra­ ag reein g w ith M erleau-Ponty.
cious o f ou r m o d e m critics to ov erlook the F irst th e exam p les h e ch ooses are p o or
part w h ich th e ir eld ers p lay ed in these ones. P eo p le feeling d izzy n ev er see the
areas and w ron g o f m e to ig n o re th e d eb t I w o rld sw ay in g an d o u t o f focus. T h is en­
o w e to m y colleag u es o f th e tim e: Pierre tirely "in te rn a l" sen sation ts n ot o f a p artic­
Porte, Jean -G eorg es A u riol, P au l R am ain, u la r "v ie w " o f th in g s b u t o f a n im p u lse
Je an Arroy, M ichel G oreloff, an d Pierre to w ard th e void ag ain st w h ich w e fig h t des­
Henry, w h o se w o rk w as p u blished in perately, produ cing a feelin g o f anxiety. This
Cinema, Cine Pour Tous, an d Photo Cine. sen satio n m ight b e tran slated sim p ly b y
Som e o f th e s e observation s w e re to b e sh o w in g th e void stretching ou t below , con ­
restated so m e tw en ty y e a rs la ter b y M er- v ey in g an x iety th ro u g h d etailed closeups to
leau -P onty d u ring a con feren ce h e ld at b rin g o u t th e h ero's d is tr e s s - s u c h as his
ID H EC . In M arch 1945 (reproduced in p art h a n d clu tch in g a t a fla k y p iece o f shale, t r
in Sens et non sens) h e w rite s n otably: fo o t scrab blin g at th e slip p ery rock-face, the
ro p e q u iverin g, etc.
It is true that filmmakers have on oc­ M oreover, th e su b jectiv e im a g e is not
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 209

necessarily (in d eed is n ev er) th e w h o le rep­ F ilm exp ressio n h a s to do w ith the con­
resentation o f a particular "su b jectiv e v ie w " stant in terch an g e b etw een th e su b ject and
im p o ssib le to externalize. It is com p letely o b ject o f a d escrip tive view to w h ich the
im possible to represent a m en tal im age, since, su b jectiv e im ag e len d s a p erson al angle.
h av in g becom e visual, it ceases to be m ental. B u t th e su b jective im ag e is incap able b y it­
A n im age is o n ly "s u b je c tiv e " to the e xten t se lf o f m a k in g us share in th e im pressions
th at it relates to a p reestablish ed character. and sen sation s o f a ch aracter w h ose place
I t oth er w ord s, it is n o t the ob jectificatio n w e m ig h t fin d ou rselves tak ing , since it is
o f a su bjective view p o in t b u t, q u ite th e op ­ n o t in itself subjective. is w h y the "a b ­
p osite, th e "su b je c tific a tio n " o f a certain o b ­ solute su b je ctiv ism " to w h ich w e aspired at
jective representation. T h e p u rp o se iS n o t to the tim e is a n obviou s im possibility. As
translate an "a c tu a l" p sy ch o lo g ical reality P ierre P o rte w rote, " I t w o u ld b e v e ry inter­
(w hich, in an y case, it w ou ld b e im p ossible esting to constru ct a film o n th e basis of a
to d eterm ine) b u t to g ive th e a u d ien ce — con tin u al su b jectiv e n arratio n . I w ould love
through an aesthetic e q u iv a le n t-t h e im ­ to see a film w h ere th e m ain character is
pression that it is s e e in g or feelin g "a s n ev er actu ally see n bu t is b eh in d the cam ­
th o u g h " it w e re the ch aracter in the d ram a. era th rou g h o u t w ith h is life seen on the
I t th e sam e w a y as the flash b ack d oes screen constantly through h is ey es" (Une
n o t show us w h a t the hero is th in k in g b u t Loi du cinema: Inventaire du cinema).
w h at h e is thinking about, so the su bjective T h is w a s the id ea, tw en ty y ears ahead
im age does n o t sh ow us w h a t h e is seein g o f its tim e, w orked ou t in M o n tg om ery 's
as h e actu ally sees it b u t a s h e is supposed Lady o f the Lake. B arth elem y A m en g u al re­
to see it, a t least it sh ou ld b e arran ged for m in d s us:
such com p arisons to b e m ade. Now,
though the im ages of b lin d S isif show us The detective never actually appears
objects such as m ig h t be seen by short­ in this cops-and-robbers film, except
when he is standing in front of a mirror -
sighted eyes, ou t-o f-fo cu s im ag es d o n ot
since this is how events take place in re­
translate the b lu rred vision o f a ch aracter
ality. If he is punched in the face, the fist
w ith p o o r ey esig h t (u nless h is ey esig h t is
fills the screen and blots it out. If he lights
as b ad as the en g in e d riv e r's in La R o u e - a cigarette, two hands appear on the
w h ich is n ot th e case, sin ce, w ith ey es as screen and strike a match, then the ciga­
b ad as that, h e cou ld n o t b e exp ected to rette and a cloud of smoke fill the screen.
d riv e e v e n a w h eelbarrow !). T h e im ag e is When we smoke, that is all we see. The
cliched . H ow ever, ev en m ore cliched is the camera becomes the actor. It acts out the
im age in Falbalas su p p osed to tran slate a n drama. And since it is supposed to be our
"in te rn al v isio n ." It w o u ld b e v alid o n ly if e y e s -th e image becoming observation
it w e re the im ag e o f a h allu cin atio n rath er rather than thing observed - (all the other
th a n a som ew h at w h im sical "fic tio n ." characters who talk to the hero, look into
the camera, i.e., into our eyes), we are
In any case, th e su bjective im ag e is never
supposed to be Montgomery. The film
m ore th a n a com p lem en t to an oth er im age.
does not quite hit the mark but is interest­
It has m ean in g o n ly in so fa r as it re la tes to ing because it reveals the limitations of
a character alread y ob jectiv ely d escribed cinematic subjectivity. This absolute (and
and placed . I can see "w h a t P ierre s e e s" unfeasible) identification of the hero's
only if I h a v e alread y se e n Pierre, and I ca n point of view with our own overlooks the
sh are h is p o in t o f v iew o n ly if I ca n relate fact that aesthetic, imaginary participa­
it to him , recogn izin g it as his. tion requires that the audience make a
210 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I NE MA

certain leap of faith. The continual avoid­ g en era ted b y m e. M oreover, th e feet clim b­
ance of any image of the hero contradicts in g the stairs I ca n see in th e fram e o f the
the vocation of the cinema, which must im ag e are not mine; th e hand h old in g onto
allow the man to see himself. Last (and by th e b a n iste r is n ot mine. A t no point am I
no means least) this bias of subjectivity
a b le to recog n ize the image o f my own body.
can become reversed, in an odd way,, into
Th u s it is obviou sly n o t m e clim b in g the
objectivity. Since it does not allow the di­
stairs an d acting lik e this, even thou g h I
rector to use equivalents, the film is obliged
to show scenes in long sh o t-d o o rs, stat­ am feelin g sen sation s sim ila r to th o se I
ues, staircases, in short everything, solely m ig h t fe e l if I w ere clim b in g the stairs. I
from the outside. (Le fe, le Moi, le II au am , th erefore, w a lk in g with som eone, shar­
cinema). in g h is im p ressions. A n d h is face in the
m irror, d ifferent fro m m ine, underlines ev­
O b v io u sly p articip ation requires th e au ­ ery th in g w h ich sep arates us. It proves that
d ience to m ake a leap o f faith; how ever, to th e p resen ce in th e m irror d oes n o t belong
say that the v o cation o f the cinem a is to to m e b u t to someone else o f w h o m it is the
allow a m an to see himself is tru e on ly in the ob jective reflection . T h u s instead o f m ak­
m ost general sense. T h e au d ien ce m em b er in g m e id en tify w ith h im , these "su bjec­
"se es" h im self actin g, as a m an , th rou g h the tiv e" im ages alienate m e still fu rther be­
actor. But th e very fact th a t h e pro jects him ­ ca u se th e y end up m ak in g m e m ore aware
self onto th e actor m eans th a t h e is d e­ th a n ever th a t th e im p ression s I experien ce
tach e d , in d ep en d en t, and it is p recisely as m in e h a v e n o t actu ally b een experienced
b ecau se h e is in d ep en d en t th a t h e is by m e. A t n o point therefore am I ab le to
obliged to associate h im s e lf w ith th e h ero. b elieve m y se lf to b e "in h im ." Ind eed , o n ly
If I read in a nov el, " I w as w a lk in g d ow n the d irecto r can d o this - f o r th e sim p le rea­
th e street w h en I noticed Irene a t h e r front son th a t it is h e, M ontgom ery, w h o per­
door. I ran as fast as I cou ld and caugh t up sonifies th e d etective M arlow e. W h en h e
w ith h e r ju s t as sh e started u p th e sta irs," sees the film , it is he, M arlow e, seeing him­
I p e rso n ify th e " I " in a b ein g w h o is m e. I self in th e m irror, recog nizin g th e im a g e of
do n o t see m y self w a lk in g d o w n th e street, h is o w n b o d y th rou g h o u t th e film. Yet this
sin ce I can n e v e r see m y self, b u t I experi­ is tru e o n ly fo r ^ m . It w o u ld hav e to be
en ce th e state o f "w a lk in g " in th e im a g e of this w ay for every m em b er o f th e audience.
a street. E ven so, I d o n o t exp erien ce it as a S o, posing th e p ro blem au tom atically re­
d irect sensation. I in teg ra te m y m em ories v eals its absurdity.
in to th e id eas su g g ested to m e b y th e w ord s M oreover, th e sen sation s w h ich form the
and thereby co m p o se an im a g in a ry w orld shared exp erien ce m u st b e attrib u tab le to
in w h ich I am an actor. T h is im ag in ary th a t other p erson , w h o w e p resu m e is be­
w orld is created, constru cted , b y m e. h in d th em fo r th em to b e un d erstood , or
In th e cinem a, o n th e oth er h and , th e ra th er fo r th e ir m o tiv a tio n s to b e recog­
so-called su b jective im p ression s a re pre­ nized . T h is o th er p erson m u st therefore
sented to m e - a s is every th in g else: the h a v e a concrete existen ce fo r us to b e able
cam era m oves d ow n th e street, I m ove to use him as confirm ation o f ou r im­
w ith it; it clim bs th e stairs, I clim b w ith it. p ressio n s, sin ce it is h e w h o inevitably ac­
I thereby directly exp erien ce th e sen sation s cepts them . P rov ed n o t to b e an experien ce
o f walking and climbing (at least th is is m y o f ours, it can o n ly b e his. A n d y et (except
im pression). Yet th e cam era is lead ing m e, fo r th e m irro r im age) w e n ev er see him . As
g u id in g m e; it co n v e y s im p ressio n s n o t a liv in g , a c tiv e h u m an b ein g , h e d oes not
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 211

exist fo r us. W e are therefore incap able of an in v isib le w itn ess, not th at of som eone re­
ob jectifyin g the sen sation s w e feel and m em bering.
know w e feel entirely th rou g h a n in term e­ N ow , h ere it is the act o f m em ory itself
diary. W h at w e are supposed to accept as a w h ich ensures th e auth en ticity o f th e su b­
"su b jectiv e exp erien ce" thereby d issolves je ctiv e view point. It is n o longer a ch u n k of
in to a vag u e and in d istin ct "n o n s e lf." W e n o th e p ast b rou g h t forw ard into the present
longer know who it is actin g in this way. A like a brick m oved fro m one place in a
to ta l v acu u m ta k e s th e p lace o f th e "S e lf," b u ild in g to an oth er b u t th e restru cturing of
i.e., th e absence o f th e p e rso n w h o , in the the past th rou g h th e m em ory. M em ory is
cinem a, respond s on m y b eh alf. W h ereas in a n action through w h ich rem em bered ob­
literature I relate " I " to m y se lf, in th e Cinema jects appear to th e consciou sn ess, w hich is
it is an im aginary or w illed "S e lf" w h ich I w h y m em ories are n o t presen t objectively, in
project o n to som eon e else w h o therefore ex ­ the ch ro nolog ical order of the rem em bered
ists as he. We m u st n o t fo rg et th a t p a rticip a ­ events, bu t as th e resu lt of a personal v i­
tio n con fers a fe e lin g o f artificial an d sion, d elv in g in to th e sig nificant m om ents
sym bolic fu lfillm ent. T h e feeling, the re­ o f a p reviou s Self interrelated and con­
ce iv ed im pression, m u st th erefore b e m ad e trasted accord in g to circu m stan ces related
to co in cid e w ith th e b eh a v io r w hich to th o u g h ts in the present tense. The im age
confirm s them . is o f th o u g h ts directed tow ard com pleted
The su b jective im ag e ca n never b e g en ­ actions floo d in g ach ro n olog ically and in a
uinely subjective, except in th e case of different g u ise in to th e consciou sness. The
m em ory. T h en it represents a certain p e r­ p resen ce o f a n arrator and h is interior
son al p o in t o f view and b eco m es th e actu­ m onologue tran sfers into the past the evo­
alization o f a past reality related to som eon e cations o f the past w h ich th e flashback has
in the present w ith concrete behavior. C om ­ brou ght into the present, form ing part of
m entary, p erfo rm in g th e fu n ctio n o f in te­ h is actual S elf and g iv in g us in form ation
rior m o nologu e, em p h asizes the d istance ab ou t him . T h e past is in tegrated in to the
b etw een past and p resen t and tra n sfers the future.
im age into a reflexive in terio rity by g ivin g H ere also - sin ce it alw ays has to do w ith
it th e re b y the only g en u in ely subjective som e sort o f p resen tification - th e data are
quality it can lay claim to: th e p resen tifica- part o f an anterior present. H ow ever, this
tion o f a m em ory, the actu alizatio n o f a fascin ation w ith "w h a t has already h ap ­
thought, the ob jectification o f ce rta in p e r­ p en ed ," w ith th e inev itab le train o f events,
so n al im pression s b elo n g in g to a p ast al­ im posed b y film s o f a theatrical nature, is
ready experien ced . It can n ev er b e d irect rem oved b y film s " o f m em ory," because
subjectivity exp erien ced in the h ere and th ey g ive it meaning.
now b y a w o u ld -be "se lf-sp e cta to r" id en ti­ O bviously, in terio r m onolog u e can be
fied w ith an im ag in ary b ein g w h o is n ei­ m ad e to relate to a n active p resen t. S u ch is
ther him n o r me. the case w ith Brief Encounter, w h en Celia
W e hav e said that the flash back m erely Jo h n sto n , d istrau g h t after sh e and Trevor
show s us w h at som eon e is th in k in g about H ow ard h av e decided to end their affair, is
w h en h e is rem em bering. W h a t h e rem em ­ fo rced to listen to th e idiotic rem arks o f her
b ers is alw ays seen as it happened in previ­ g ossip y friend in the train com p artm ent
ous seq u ences or as w e m ig h t hav e seen it and w e hear: " I w ish y o u 'd stop t a l k i n g - I
had w e b een p resen t w h en it occurred. w ish y o u 'd sto p p ry in g and try in g to find
W hatever th e case, it is the p o in t o f v iew of ou t t h i n g s - I w ish you w ere d ea d ." This
212 AE S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

m onologue, a s B. A m en g u al correctly ob­ m ean s th a t th e d im ension s o f tim e becom e

serves, "is inclu d ed in the reality o f the p art o f the "p sy ch o lo g ical sp ace" engen­
d ram a, in th e action o f th e p resen t tense, dered b y th e con flict o f m an y different ac­
just as m u ch as the gestures and w ords of tualized p o in ts o f view . In Thomas Garner,
the characters; it is n o t a n a p o steriori rela­ G a m e r 's p o rtrait d raw n b y h is boyhood
tionship. In th e sam e objective realistic b u d d y is just as su b jective, b u t th ere is only
fa sh io n in Citizen Kane an d Crossfire th e n a r­ one narrator. Its p ersp ectiv e is on e o f a per­
rativ e in the first p erso n d oes n o t ca rry the petual d isp lacem en t in tim e (six m onths
story forw ard; it actu ally form s part o f the a g o - t w e n t y y ears a g o - t w o years a g o -
sto ry " (Le Je, le Moi, le II au cinema). te n y ears a g o - one y ea r a g o , etc.), a past
H ow ever, th o u g h n arratio n in th e first w h ose m o m en ts, co n sta n tly interrelated,
p erson d oes to som e exten t su b jectify the derive from a con flict b etw een the episodes
events being n arrated , these are n o t n eces­ o f a m a n 's life and o n e 's m a n 's op inions o f
sarily related to a "p e rso n a l" past. T h ey another.
m a y b e events in w h ich th e n arrator has not In sh ort, in Thomas Garner the p ersp ec­
b een p articu larly involved and to w h ich h e tive is u n ilateral, w h ereas in Citizen Kane it
is related accord in g to h is p o in t o f view, e xists on sev eral axes each oriented d iffer­
b e lie v in g it to b e objective. e n tly in differen t times. The n etw o rk o f sit­
The first film o f th is ty p e w a s Thomas uations con v erg in g to reconstruct K ane's
Garner (d irected b y W. K. H o w a rd in 1933). life form s a sort o f presen t tense encom ­
T h e action starts w ith th e bu rial o f a facto ry p a ssin g a certain past. H ow ever, it is not
b oss. A fter the cerem ony, at w h ich there has the ch aracter w h o is en com p assed in this
b een a ^ b e ^ r e o f praise and blam e, the dead way, m erely asp ects related to w hoever is
m an's s e c r e t a r y -a ls o h is child hood friend look in g a t him. W e are n o t w atch in g K an e's
- d e s c r ib e s h is character, h is attitu d es, his career b u t th e career o f fo u r or five "d u p li­
"r e a l" life, at least as h e k new th em as cate K a n e s": K ane-Thatcher, K ane-Su san,
som eon e w h o n ever left h is side. P ast K an e-B ern stein, etc. T h e tim e described is
events are related achronologically, and the related n o t so m u ch to the hero h im self as
narration is constantly obscured b y the a c­ to th e ch aracters d escribin g h im , w h o ob­
tio n b ein g d escribed . T h e entire film is b u ilt jectify th eir o w n lives b y relating them to
o n th e "e x ch a n g e " b etw ee n th e actu al po in t him. T h e same is true o f T hom as G am er.
o f v iew o f th e com m en tator an d th e past Yet G am er is n o t encom p assed ; h e is
e v e n t s - w it h th e co m m en ta ry explaining, "s e e n ." It is the life o f a single narrator
co m p lem en tin g or ju d g in g them . b ein g objectified . It is self-referencing. We
Citizen Kane is ag ain the m od el o f the fo llow the m od alities o f a m a n w h o tells his
g e n r e - a n d yet th e tw o film s are to ta lly o w n story b y d escribin g h is frien d 's life.
dissim ilar. In Citizen Kane th e h e ro 's life is T here is o n ly one course.
reconstructed through th e m em ories o f sev­ W h atev er the c a s e - s e e n b y one or b y
eral characters, each o f w h ich reveals K ane m a n y - t h e h ero is alw ay s seen "fro m the
in a d ifferent light. W h a t is sh ow n is n ot o u tsid e ." H is ob jective reality is the subjec­
the hero as h e actually w as b u t the idea tiv ity o f th o se around. Ind eed , this is the
form ed b y his n arrators o f h im a t a p a rtic­ very su b ject m atter o f these film s, n otably
ular m o m en t in his p ast; a n id ea w e llin g up Citizen Kane: " n o t r e s p a s s i n g " reads the
in to their m em ories and re p la cin g th e real notice o n the w rough t-iron gate to the
character. T h e fact th a t sev eral p a st events grounds o f X an ad u , an d w e do n ot tres­
are rem em bered b y d ifferent characters pass. K a n e 's b ein g rem ains im penetrable.
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 213

T hu s it is on ly through the self-ex am in a­ sciousness w h ich derives its m ean in g fro m

tio n o f th e ind ivid u al, th rou g h h is in q u iry an d b y th a t act.
in to his ow n past, th a t "tru e su b jectiv ity " It w ould b e interesting to exp lain ch ar­
may, as w e h av e said , find its expression. acters b y sh ow in g how these processes of
B u t th is pu ts us in to the d om ain o f the p sy ­ consciousness w ork. T h en w e w ould have
ch ology o f m em ory. to consider, as in Citizen Kane, the recon­
Ind eed (in Hiroshima, mon amour) the in ­ stru ctio ns various characters m ig h t m ak e of
div id u al "tellin g his story" is cap ab le on ly the sam e e v en t b u t also relate the ideas a
o f relating tim e past to tim e present ch aracter m a y h a v e o f h im self a n d his past
th ro u g h a d u ration w h ose d im en sion s be­ w ith th o se o f th e other characters. In all
com e those o f m em ory. H e th ereby reveals events, it w o u ld seem th at em otional p a rtic­
h is in n erm ost S elf th rou g h the aspects of ip a tio n is to b e f o u n d - a s in Citizen K a n e-
rem em bering, bu t th e im age o f h is p reviou s th rou g h th e rep resen tatio n of n o t ju st one
Self is in ev itab ly a recon stru ction m ad e b y con sciou sn ess b u t several, i.e., through the
h im , a "rep rese n ta tio n " h e creates o f w h a t e ffe c t o f th eir conflict, w h ic h is a concrete ac­
he w as p re v io u sly and w h ich is ju st as a r­ tio n alien to su bjective individ uals.
b itra ry as the rep resentation w e m a k e o f W e sh a ll com e b a ck to th e s e problem s,
som eone else. w h ich w o u ld appear to b e m ore sh arp ly re­
T h e o n ly percep tible reality is th a t o f ex­ solved in th e cinem a th an in ev en th e m ost
perienced tim e (i.e., "a s it is b ein g exp eri­ an aly tic literatu re. Yet, as M alrau x rem inds
en ced ") rath er th a n th e im age b y w h ich d u­ us, "th e n ov el ap p ears to retain one enor­
ratio n ap p ears to th e con sciou sn ess w h ich m ous ad van tag e ov er film , w h ich is th e abil­
rem em bers it. Y et th is reality ca n n o t b e ex ­ ity to pass into the interior o f the
pressed , eith er o n the screen o r in a n y art ch a ra cters." In fact, the interior o f a ch arac­
form , sin ce it h as n o other fo rm th a n th a t of ter is as m u ch a con triv an ce in literatu re as
ou r living being consid ered in its ^ ^ ^ t h g in the cinem a. It is m erely a fiction serving
and actin g reality. It can b e tran slated b y to d efine th e character, to g ive it verisim ili­
equ ivalences, b y m a k in g th e a u d ien ce expe­ tude. ff it did exist, th e ch aracter created b y
rience a duration "a c tu a lly exp erien ced " b y th e n o v elist m ig h t act or th in k com p letely
th e ch aracters in a d ram a w h o se actio n is d ifferen tly fro m the w a y th e auth or w ould
show n to d evelop, in thepresent tense, b efore lik e us to believe. P art o f P ira n d ello 's c o n ­
h is v ery eyes. trib u tion to th e th eater is b ased on th is in­
There ca n b e n o other reason th an th is fo r evitable conflict. It m ig h t b e argued th a t
th e criticism s o f in tellectu alism lev eled at certain characters in n ov els are truer and
film s o f subjectivity. It is n o t possible to in­ m ore au th en tic th an real h u m an beings.
volve oneself, i.e., p articip ate completely, in T h is w e accept - and far b e it fro m us to cast
an experien ced rea lity d ev elop in g (though d ou bt o n th e p o w ers o f th e im ag in atio n . Be­
projected b efore ou r eyes) w ith in a single sides, fiction is ach iev ab le m ore easily in lit­
consciousness w ith m ean in g o n ly fo r it. Par­ erature in the sen se th a t the author puis
ticip ation d em ands th a t reality h a v e m ean­ h im self " a t th e c e n te r" o f a fiction w h ich he
ing "fo r u s," in oth er w ords, it dem ands th at creates in h is ow n im ag e, w hereas in the cin ­
as w e d irectly perceive it, w e shou ld b e ca­ e m a all h e can h o p e to record are behavior
pable o f giving it a fu ture o f som e sort. patterns or a t best in d ivid ual m em ories,
W h e n "p rese n tified " reality is sh ow n as an w h ich inevitably beco m e objectified in one
act o f m em ory, w e stop b ein g able to grasp w ay or another.
th e m em o ry process and understand a con ­ T h e m a in d ifference lies in the fact that
214 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

literary fo rm is pure creation, w hereas film as she sleeps. W e are thu s seein g M arc
creation is once rem oved , its p rim ary m a­ watching N ath alie. It is as th o u g h th e ca m e ra
terial b ein g a con crete reality. T h e objects w ere saying: "M a rc cam e into th e bed room
creatin g and fo rm in g p a rt o f the w o rk of and w atched N ath alie a sleep ." It d oes not
art do so on ly as reconstitu ted and reorgan­ take h is p lace in order to sh ow h er as he sees
ized form s. W hereas in literature reality is her. T h e p u rp ose o f sh ow in g N athalie
virtu al, in the cin em a it is p resen t "in the asleep is to com p lem en t the initial proposi­
flesh." W e shall see, m oreover, th a t so- tion. T h e eye o f th e cam era, un related to ei­
called in terio rity m ay b e approached in th er o f th e characters in the dram a, is
m u ch th e same way. "im p e rso n a l." A b reak d ow n o f the sequ ence
The big d raw b ack o f th e com m en tary sh ot from the su bjective view p o in t m ight
film is the constan t risk o f its d egen erating h av e b ee n as follow s: (A) M arc (as above)
in to m ere illustration fo r a sto ry w h ere ev- appears o n th e lan d ing. The camera pans him
e ^ ^ t h g is described and exp lain ed through as he moves to the right. H e stop s and looks.
w ords. T h e d irector sh oo ts a m ute film and (B) The camera, taking Marc's place, tilting
avoid s an y problem s b y resolving them in slightly downward from the landing, reveals:
the text. C o m m en tary is v alid only w h en N ath alie asleep.
there is n o intentio n to illu strate th e com ­ T h is m ethod o f n arration, con stan tly op -
m entary, to develop literary ideas relying p o s i n g - o r ju x t a p o s in g -th e objective and
o n the im ages in ord er to p ro m ote itself the su bjective or, to be m ore exact, the de­
rath er than p ro m otin g th e im ages b y retir­ scrip tive and an aly tic im ages, has b een the
ing b eh in d them . on e m o st freq u en tly in use sin ce it was first
established in Variety (1926). W h en it avoided
The Semisubjective Image th e ab erratio n o f Lady o f the Lake, the use of
the su b jective view p o in t w as som etim es
H ow ev er it is in terp reted , th e sole p u r­ q uite sophisticated . Yet even at its m o st suc­
p o se o f th e su bjective im age (or w h a t is de­ cessful it could o n ly b e sustained over the
scribed as such) is to show us w h a t o n e of len g th of a sin gle seq u en ce as, fo r exam ple,
the characters in the dram a is seeing. H ow ­ the "su bjective track in g s h o t" w h ich opens
ever, sin ce this su b jectiv ity is m erely visual, R ou b en M a m o u lia n 's Doctor Jekyll and Mr.
it seem s p referab le to re fe r to im ag es re­ Hyde (1932). The cam era (taking the place of
corded in this w ay as analytic, reservin g the Dr. Je k y ll) tracks alon g an avenu e o f expen­
term subjective fo r im ag es w h ich create the sive h ou ses, stop s in fro n t o f on e, m oves
m em ory relationships w e have just described. in to the gard en, up a flig h t o f steps into the
The opposite m eth o d o f representation haUway, ev en tu ally ending up in the d raw ­
m ay be called descriptive, since th e scen es in g room . T h e gu ests tu rn round or stand
are alw ays observed "fro m the o u tsid e ." A sto ck still as F red erick M arch, continu in g
g o o d e x am p le o f d escrip tive cin em a is the the ca m era 's m o vem en t (w hich h a s ju st
sequ ence in L'tternal retour w h e n M arc com e to rest), tak es a fe w steps forw ard (ap­
co m es in to N ath a lie's b ed roo m . We see p a re n tly ou t o f th e cam era) and also stop s,
M a rc on the lan d in g o u tsid e th e b ed roo m . w ith h is b a ck to th e cam era. T h e ensuing
We follow h is m o vem en t in a p a n as h e shots show the character am o n g h is guests.
w alk s right. W h en h e stop s, th e cam era con­ T h is lon g tra ck in trod u ces th e aud ience to
tinues his m ovem en t in a d iag on al dow n­ the action and a t th e sam e tim e th row s it off
w ard pan, as th o u g h fo llow in g h is gaze, guard: w h o is this character w h ose place w e
u n til it reveals in close sh o t N a th a lie 's face are tak in g ? T h e rep ly is g iv en a fter a w hile
 RHYTHM AN D MO VING SHOTS 215

w h en Jek yll is sh ow n b eh a v in g in a n u n ­ T h is film , w h o s e actions ta k e p lace in

usu al way. L ou isian a a t th e tu m o f th e century, is the
T h e am azin g su b jectiv e tracking sh ot in ch aracter study o f a w o m an w hose p rid e
D estiny o f a M an (Sergei Bond archu k, 1959), an d arro g an ce lead to h er d o w n fa ll-t h e
o n the other h an d , s h o w s a seq u en ce o f d e ­ d ow nfall both o f p erson al pride and "c la s s "
scriptive sh o ts. T h e h e ro h a s escap ed from p rid e. Ju lie (B ette D avis) is v ery b eau tifu l
a G erm an p rison er-o f-w ar cam p. W e see an d v ery spoiled . S h e treats h er fa m ily as
h im ru n n in g across fields, h id in g in lon g sh e treats h e r h orses, and sh e tries to d om ­
grass, and th e n , as n ig h t b eg in s to fall, tak­ in ate h e r fiance, a y o u n g b an k er (H enry
in g refu ge in a forest. A s th e cam era takes Fonda) w h o resists and bridles against the
h is place, w e ru sh h ead lon g th ro u g h th e w h im s and tantru m s o f this autocratic,
forest, exp erien cin g th e feelin g o f freed om slig h tly crazy y o u n g w o m a n w h o seem s
w h ich h e feels as a m a n on the run. p o ssessed b y th e d ev ils o f sin and scandal.
A t th e sam e tim e, it b eca m e abund antly F in ally h e b reak s o f f th e en g ag em ent and
clear that, th o u g h th is m ethod o f elim inat­ d isap p ears fo r a year. D eep d ow n and in
in g o n e o f th e ch aracters throu gh ou t a film sp ite o f h e r violen t ou tb u rsts, Ju lie really
enabled things to b e considered from his point loves him . H is b eh a v io r dam ages n o t only
o f view , it did preclud e th e p ercep tion of h e r v a n ity bu t also h e r deeper feelings.
any p o ten tial reaction th a t character m ay W h ile h e is aw ay from h er, sh e becom es
h av e h ad at th e sam e tim e. It is n o t possible in trov erted ; h e r lo v e fo r him m atures. A n d
to s e both object an d subject simultaneously. n o w h e is ab ou t to return. H is arrival has
M oreover, in ord er to "e x p erie n ce " the b ee n ann oun ced . (A s y e t sh e d oes n o t
feelings o f a given character, all th e audi­ k n o w that h e w ill retu rn w ith a w ife.)
en ce had to d o is b e w ith the character, T h e seq u en ce in q u estio n show s h e r in
alon gsid e him . Seen objectively, th e charac­ th e d ra w in g ro o m o f th e h u g e m a n sio n . She
te r could th en assum e th e responsibility w an ts ev ery th in g to be p erfect for his re­
and m o tiv atio ns o f a shared p o in t of view. turn. So w e see h e r arran g in g flow ers and
Thu s instead o f th e cam era taking the place ch a n g in g round th e ornam en ts, flitting
o f th e ch aracter, th ere w ere im ages fram ing about, altering ev ery th in g w ith feverish ac­
th e hero, eith er fro m head to to e o r fro m tivity. T h e cam era, fram in g h e r in m idshot,
th e w aist u p , follow ing h im as h e m oved, follow s h e r everyw here. Sh e stops, m oves
seeing w ith h im and a t th e sam e tim e as aw ay, tu rns, sp ins around in a sequ ence of
him. T h e im ag e rem ained d escrip tiv e b u t sh o rt track in g shots pu nctuated w ith vari­
shared in th e ch a ra cter's p o in ts o f view. ous pans. T hu s, as w e se e h er acting, w e
This grad ual b u t d ecisive ch an g e o v er a feel as th o u g h w e are actin g w ith h er; m ore­
tw o-year p erio d b etw een 1936 and 1938 over, th e ag itatio n o f th e cam era m ove­
finally fo u n d its tru e exp ressio n in W illiam m en ts, prom pted b y the nervousness o f h er
W y ler's film Jezebel (1938). It is tru e that the m o vem en ts, conv ey s h e r agitation to the
"su b jectiv e im a g e" as such did n o t b eco m e au d ien ce, w h ich thereby experien ces the
red u n d an t. O n the contrary, it gained ad di­ sam e feelings o f im patience an d irritation
tio n al sig n ifican ce b y b ein g out-of-th e-ord i- and shares in h e r em otion.
nary, th ereby m ak in g its iden tity m o re ob­ W h ereas a d escriptive sh ot m ight hav e
vious w h en it w as ob lig ato ry to see the sh ow n h e r in a totally extern al way, the
subject. Jezebel itself, a lan d m ark in th e his­ su bjective im age w ould h av e forced us to
tory o f th e cinem a ignored b y m ost contem ­ act in h e r place w ithout actu ally b ein g able
p orary critics,!2 offers a n u m ber o f exam ples. g en u in ely to assu m e th e feelings w e know
216 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

t o b e hers. W e can o n ly share in h e r feelings collect her and is kept w aitin g , h e realizes
to the exten t th at her b ehav ior, ob jectively sh e is p la y in g cat-an d -m ou se w ith him. H e
d escribed , provid es us w ith a meaning. goes up to h er b ed roo m and knocks o n the
T h en w e are able to associate w ith h er and door w ith th e h an d le o f his cane. A ch am ­
p ro ject onto h er fe e lin g s w h ic h might have b erm a id opens th e d oor to him . W e see
been ours in sim ilar circu m sta n ces—w h ich Ju lie, g o rg eo u sly attired , putting th e finish­
w ould tend to confirm ou r th eories about ing touches to her m akeup . B ernard pushes
the p h en om en a o f perception. A n im age the d oor op en, w alk s forw ard a few steps,
b o th analytic and d escriptive resolves the a n d su d d en ly stops. Ju lie, tu rn in g tow ard
p ro blem v e ry satisfactorily. h im , say s n o th in g (seein g the cane w h ich
W h at is m ore, W yler end ow s this sem i- h e is nervou sly tw istin g in h is rig ht hand).
subjective cam era w ith d ram atic sig n ifi­ O nce th e d escrip tive lo n g sh ot h ad b een
cance. In th e first h a lf o f th e film , B ern ard established, th ere w a s the p ro blem o f d ecid ­
(H en ry Fond a) is d om in ated b y Ju lie. T here­ in g to sh o w eith er B ette D avis (fro m H en ry
fore B ette D avis h a s the m ore p ro m in en t F o n d a 's point o f view ), in w h ich case t r
role; the cam era is co n stan tly with her: static reaction w o u ld b e sh o w n b u t n o t the object
w h en sh e is static, fo llo w in g h er w h en she o f h is reaction, or else th e cane (from Bette
m oves. She is n ever w ith H en ry Fond a: h e D a v is's point o f view ), in w h ich case the
is seen (fro m B ette D a v is's p o in t o f view ) cau se w o u ld b e seen but n o t the reaction.
approaching or leav ing her, and sh e is fram ed H ow to sh ow b o th in th e sam e shot, in clu d ­
throughout in m id sh o t or else she stands in in g cause an d effect sim ultaneously, the im ­
th e foreground. In th e seco n d half, th e ta­ m ed iacy o f the m o m en t p rev en tin g the use
bles are turned; Ju lie is dom inated b y Ber­ o f sh o t-rev erse-sh o t?—a sh ot w h ich m ig h t
nard. T h e cam era, p rev io u sly w ith h er, is b e n o t m erely d escriptive b u t an alytical as
n ow with him; and it is B ette D avis w h om w ell. W y ler's solution w as brilliant. It is
w e see (from H en ry F ond a's p o in t o f view ) m ore or less w h a t m ig h t b e called an inverse
ap p ro ach in g or lea v in g him. subjective shot. S e ttin g his cam era a t floor
O f cou rse, the film d o e s n o t exa ctly d i­ level, b eh in d H en ry Fond a, tilted sh arp ly
v id e d ow n the m id dle. D istressed b y her u p w ard in th e d irection o f B ette D avis, he
fiance's infidelity, Ju lie is in despair. H er in clu d ed in h is fram e: H en ry F o n d a's hand
w ild natu re takes the upper h an d ; she b e ­ h o ld in g th e can e (in extrem e closeu p) and
com es a b itch ; sh e tries to m ak e her riv al's Bette D a v is's face lo o k in g a t the cane, fright­
life a m isery an d th e n provokes a d u el, w hich ened b y h e r fia n ce's m en acin g attitu de.13
leads to a death. Yet all th e tim e she loves O b v io u sly th e aud ien ce is n o t seein g the
the m an sh e is p ersecu ting . In a y ellow c a n e as B ette D a v is se e s it, sin ce it is looking
fev er epid em ic sh e n u rses B ernard , sacri­ in th e reverse d irection, b u t it sees it at the
ficin g h erself fo r h im , w illin g to p a y w ith same moment she does an d in the sam e axis.
her life fo r h er p a st m isd eed s. T his change In o th er w o rd s, w ith o u t lo sin g a n y o f Ju lie's
is m ad e o n ly gradually, how ever, as the reactions, w e ca n see, w ith th e sam e in ten ­
characters develop. sity as she, th e ob ject w ith sy m b olic p ro m i­
Yet W yler g o es e v e n further. In o rd er to nen ce in the fram e.
flou t p u blic op inion and to hu m iliate h er T h e m arv elou s b allroo m seq u en ce d u r­
fiance, Ju lie decides to go to a b all w earin g in g w h ich Ju lie, em barrassed and covered
a red d ress w h e n fa sh io n and social con ­ w ith con fu sion , is fo rced b y Bernard to
v ention dem and that a respectable you n g dance w ith h im w h ile every one clears a
girl w ear w hite. So w h en Bernard com es to sp ace a ro u n d h er as a sig n o f disapproval,
 RHYTHM AN D MO VING SHOTS 217

is a p iece o f p u re p o etry w h ich w e h a v e no a u d ien ce" is therefore no lon g er im p erso­

need to exam in e in this chapter. H ow ever, nal. S h o w in g o b jects "fro m th e o u tsid e" b u t
th ere is a cam era m o vem ent in La Dolce vita fro m a sp ecial a n g le d efining th e tem p orary
sim ilar to the d raw ing ro om tra ck in g shot, sig n ification o f th e d ram a or the situation,
w h en A n ita Ekberg, accom panied b y a th e view o f th e cam era is "in v o lv e d ." Ka
jo u rn alist, clim bs up th e w in d in g staircase o th e r w o rd s, th e ch oice o f th e an g le allow s
lead ing to th e top o f th e Basilica o f St. P eter th e im age to b e com posed w ith o u t affecting
in Rom e. H e r happiness as sh e clim b s, then ad versely th e au th en ticity o f th e recorded
h e r b reathlessness and p a n tin g are faithfully reality. "S u b je ctiv ity " is contained in the
translated b y th e cam era, w h ic h follow s w ay o f seein g , n o t in the com position o f a
her, passes her, com es b ack to h er, picks h er m o re o r less h y p o th etical reality. T he sym ­
up again and carries h er along , etc. b o lism o f form - l i n e s , planes, and volum es
W e sh o u ld p e rh a p s n o te th at d escrip tive - p r e v io u s ly ach iev ed through th e u se of
sh ots are cap ab le o f b etra y in g a certain ori­ architecton ic tech n iqu es aim ed at con­
e n ta tio n or intentionality. Ka this case, the stru ctin g an arb itrary reality in front of the
v iew p oint o f the "in v isib le au d ien ce" be­ cam era is n o w produ ced through the w ay
com es identified w ith the point o f view of sp a ce is structured. D ep th-of-field is on e of
th e film m aker. This tech n iq u e w as used th e form s o f this m ean in g fu l description.
fro m 1919 on w ard b y G riffith (Broken Blos­ T h e in terp la y o f ang les is particu larly
soms, Dream Street), th e n b y M a rcel L 'H er- sig n ifican t in ^ t s resp ect; b u t fa r fro m
b ier and Jacq u es F ey d er (L'Homme du Large, b ein g confined to on e level, as som e of ou r
El Dorado, Crainquebille). T h e sequ ences in g r ^ ^ a rians m ig h t w ish , th e re su ltin g ex­
El Dorado w h ich w e have alread y m en­ pression is alw ay s relativ e to its c o n t e x t -
tioned are the m ost co n v in cin g exam ples. as in deed are all film significations.
The o n ly criticism w e m ig h t m a k e of ^ i s It is cu stom ary to s a y th a t a d ow nw ard
w ay o f seein g - o r sh ow in g - is th a to n c e re­ tilt "cru sh es th e in d ivid u al o r pu ts h im at
duced to subjectivity, it tran slates v e ry little a m o ral o r p h y sical d isa d v a n ta g e" and that
except th e su b jectiv ity o f th e film m a k er an d a n u p w ard tilt, o n th e contrary, "e m p h a ­
certain ly n o t th at o f th e c h a r a c te r s -w h ic h sises his p o w er." A s a g eneral ru le, this is
is w h y it fell in to disuse alm ost com p letely tru e - b u t so also is th e contrary. Ka Citizen
a fte r 1924 w h en th e "su b jectiv e " sh ot b e ­ Kane, w h ere th e cam era is alm ost alw ays
cam e p art o f cin em a tic u sage. Ka Visages set at floo r level (at least w h en the action
d'enfants (1924), how ever, Jacq u es F ey d er con cern s C h arles F oster K ane), w e can see
sh o w s us ob jects as th e y are seen b y ch il­ th a t this sy m b olism expresses the char­
d re n b etw ee n th e ag es o f six and tw elve. a cte r's desire fo r pow er. B u t, at the sam e
T h e cam era is set up o n ly th re e feet fro m the tim e, w h en w e see K an e surrou nded b y the
ground: at a ch ild 's ey e lev el (except w h en vast ceilin g s and m onu m ental decor o f his
the im age corresponds w ith w h a tth e grown­ palace at X anad u, w e receiv e th e im pres­
ups see); b u t this is alread y alm ost a form sio n of suffocation and cru sh in g w eight. H e
o f subjectivity. is a p riso n e r in a w orld w h ich dom inates
Now th at it h a s b ee n restored to us, "d e ­ h im , and h is d esire fo r p o w er is b asically
scrip tive su b jectiv ism " - w h ich is th e direct n o th in g m o re th a n a n ad m ission o f h is im ­
op posite o f the an aly tic sh ot (o r is, at least, p otence. O n e o f th e fe w shots w h ich show
com p letely different from it) m ak es it p o s­ h im free, happy, you ng, and in c o ^ ^ a n d
sib le fo r "u n in v o lv e d " im a g es to h a v e o f h is pow ers is, in fact, an upw ard tilt:
meaning. T h e view p o in t o f th e "in v isib le sh ow in g h im stan d in g on piles o f n ew sp a­
218 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

p ers, in th e press ro om o f th e Enquirer, cel­ w h o , o b je ctiv e ly d escribed , occu pies a spe­

ebrating h is v icto ry ov er th e Chronicle. cial p o sitio n in th e fram e (close shot, m id ­
To su m up, th e cam era p o sition provides, sh ot, or rig h t in th e foreground). The
according to its ax ial relatio n sh ip s w ith the cam era follow s h im w h erever h e goes, acts
objects represented , a m o re or less pro­ like ^ m , sees w ith h im and at th e sam e
nou nced feeling o f objectivity or subjectivity. tim e. A t th e lim it, th e ch a ra cter in question
G en erally sp eak in g , there are four dis­ serves as a go-betw een, h is p o in t o f view
tin ct ty p es o f im age: coin cid in g w ith th a t o f th e director.
A . T h e descriptive (or "o b je c tiv e ") image. ty p e o f im ag e m ig h t be called a total image,
T h e cam era records th e dram a, m ovem ent, d escrip tive (through w h at it show s), ana­
or action from an an gle capable o f g ivin g ly tic (id entified w ith th e c h a ra cter's vision),
th e b est p o ssible d escrip tion o f th e events an d sy m b olic (th rou g h the resultin g com ­
b ein g film ed. T h e p o in t o f v iew is q u ite p o sition al structures).
sim p ly th e o n e b est su ited fo r a n accu rate D. T h e subjective (o r analytic) image. The
ren d erin g o f th e action , and th e cam era re­ cam era ta k es the p lace o f on e o f the char­
m ains as im p erson al as possible. N o special acters, p rev io u sly p laced in the set. It sees
atten tion is p aid to d etail or ch aracter to the w o rld in its p lace and identifies w ith its
prod u ce a sp ecific sy m b olic signification. visio n . O verexp loitation of th is k ind of
T h e on ly relationships e xistin g b etw een ob­ im age - w h i c h tends to con fu se the audi­
jects or characters are th o se involved b y the ence in stead o f enablin g it to d efine the
situ ation w h ich th e film m ak er ch ooses to h e ro 's b eh a v io r and p lace h im very pre­
record as it is. cisely in th e geography o f the d r a m a -
B. T h e personal image (d escriptive sub­ lead s to the sort o f aberrations w e have
jectiv ism or "film m a k e r's point o f v ie w "). a lread y d escribed.
T h e cam era records events fro m an angle T h e total image w o u ld see m to b e the
d eliberately ch osen b y th e d irector in order m o st effective o f th em all. Ind eed , an im age
to com pose with reality (d irect or recreated) com p osed with a view to a p articu lar signifi­
and stru ctures space b y g iving it meaning. cation is alw ays m o re or less arbitrary. It
Details or characters are emphasized by creat­ p resen ts its e lf as an objective record ing o f
ing between them particular relationships events, b u t its ob jectiv ity is m erely a super­
which bring out, underline, or contradict the ficial iUusion. F ro m the scen e o f S u san 's at­
meaning implied by the psychology and the tem p ted su icid e in Citizen Kane, w e can see
drama, thereby elevating certain particularly th a t th e im ag e is organized so as to b rin g
significant details to the level o f signs or sym­ the glass in th e foregroun d into greater
bols. T h is com p ositio n al fo rm correspon d s p ro m in en ce; n o one is looking from the
at th e "realistic" level (concerned w ith th e ca m e ra 's point o f view .
re co g n itio n o f actu al reality) w ith w h at, at It w ill b e argu ed th a t sin ce th e "invisib le
the "u n re a listic" level, are th e com posi­ au d ien ce" m u st b e som ew h ere, w h y n ot
tional form s produced b y the organization there rather th an som ew h ere else? Y et it has
o f a set stylized or interpreted b y arch itec­ to be there, since if it w ere som ew h ere else
tonic m ean s (expressionism - p i c t o r ia l im ­ th e im ag e w o u ld lose its m e a n i n g - a t least
ages, etc.). th e m ea n in g it gain s fro m b ein g sh ot from
C. T h e semisubjective (o r "a sso cia te d ") that p a rticu la r angle. T h e im age lacks a cer­
image. R etain in g all the attributes o f the d e­ tain ju stification : the psychological coefficient.
scriptive im ag e, th e a ssociated im ag e adopts O f cou rse, there d oes n o t hav e to b e a p sy ­
th e v iew p oint o f a p articu lar ch aracter chological coefficient. In the seq u en ce in
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 219

question, it is a ll the m ore easily avoid ed sou nd s o f th e m a rch in g , th e m u sic, and the
fo r th e fa ct th a t th e p resen ce o f an alien shouts o f th e crow d fo rm th e acou stic b a ck ­
o b s e r v e r -a nu rse or Tham berm aid—would g rou nd to th e sequence. T h e w h ole sym ­
tend to intrude in a situation requ iring the bolic architectu re o f the im age in ten ded by
intim acy o f the tw o p rotag onists. N everth e­ the director is thu s integrated in to th e con ­
less, since the d irector gains b y h id in g b e­ crete reality and is a p erfect exam p le o f a
h ind his characters, h e m u st ensu re th at the total im age, ^ m expression in its highest form.
stru ctures h e gives h is im ag es are b ack ed A s w e can see, this expression is pro­
up w ith a co n crete ju stification . T h e p sy ­ d uced b y th e relatio n o f tw o successive
ch olog ical co e fficien t—th e p o in t o f view of shots. It m a y b e p rod u ced b y a sin gle sh ot
the character, crucial if requ ired - f u l f il l s w h en the d irecto r's view p o in t is intro­
th is fu nction and su p p orts even th e m o st d u ced b y th e ch aracter in question. A ll
sy m b o lic com positions. L u b itsch n eed ed to d o to achieve th is w as
A concrete exam p le w ill exp lain this to sh o w (in a static sh o t or track backw ard)
p rin cip le m ore clearly. In B roken Lullaby th e legless cripple m o v in g forw ard in his
(Ernst L ubitsch, 1931), w h o se action takes trolley, p a n n in g at th e m o m en t he stop s so
place in G e rm an y som e m o n th s a fter the as to rev eal the o p en in g left b y th e stum p,
First W orld W ar, w e are present at a m ili­ and refram in g th e m a n in th e foreg rond so
tary parade. E v en th o u g h th e y h av e b een th a t the cam era tak es h is point o f view.
d efeated , the "ste e l h e lm e ts" m arch o n th is It w ould seem , how ever, th a t th e form er
S u n d ay th ro u g h the streets o f a W estphal­ so lu tio n is infinitely p re fe ra b le —w ith edit­
ian village. T h e streets are lin ed w ith on­ in g playing a n o t in con sid erab le part. In
lookers. T h e cam era, at w a ist level o n one fa c t, the im a g e, p resen ted in itia lly w ith n o
o f the p av em ents, tracks sid ew ay s a lo n g a ju stification , su rp rises us as m u ch through
ro w o f spectators b u t fro m b eh in d them as its u n exp ected ness as th rough its sym bolic
th o u g h try in g to slip th rou g h to g et a b etter sign ification . C u tting back to th e sh o t o f the
view. Su d d en ly it stops: it h as fo u n d a suit­ legless cripple th en restores th e situation. It
able van tage point th ro u g h a g ap left b y a is lik e the w eig h t on a seesaw sud d enly
one-legged m an. T h e ca m e ra tra c k s fo r­ sh iftin g fro m seren d ip ity to verisim ilitud e.
w ard u n til it fram es, on one side, th e m a n 's N ow , these effects co n trib u te en orm ously
leg a n d , o n th e other, h is cru tc h an d a t the to film expression: th e y keep ou r attention
top th e stum p am p u tated a t th e th ig h u n d er at th e alert, th ey constantly surprise us and
w h ich w e see th e reg im en t, w ith th e band m ove th e a c tio n —or m e a n in g -fo r w a r d
lead ing, m arch past. T h a t is th e "d ire c to r's th rou g h a series o f d ialetical progressions.
p o in t o f view ," y o u m ig h t say, sin ce it is T h e latter solu tion (w hich is m erely de­
obvious th at the im age h as b e e n com posed scriptive) is far m ore com m onp lace, b u t
in view o f th is sig n ification ; w h a t th e cam ­ from w h at w e ca n tell, the ch oice b etw een
era sees d oes n o t correspon d w ith an y th in g th em d ep end s fu n d am en tally on th e choice
the onlookers are seeing ; th e y w o u ld have o f n arrativ e techniqu e.
to b en d d ow n or sit b eh in d th e cripple. But
the n ext sh ot show s us, b eh in d the soldier, O b liq u e Im ag es
another crip p le —le g le s s —sittin g in a little
tro lley and tak in g ad van tag e o f th e occa­ A s w ell as im ages w ith m ore or less
sion to sell his shoelaces and ribb ons. F ro m ju stifica tio n , there are th o se w ith n o ap p ar­
tim e to tim e h e d arts h is ey es fo n d ly p ast en t ju stifica tio n a t all. F or instan ce, the
the so ld ie r's leg tow ard th e street, w h ile the sid ew ay s-tilted sh ots ("D u tch tilts") w h ich
220 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

a t one tim e w ere all the rage. T h ey are Perceptual com p en sation is alw ays m ade
m eaningless. alon g th e h orizo n tal axis, i.e., perpend icu­
In fact, w h at h ap p en s if I lie sideways on larly to an axis w h ose d irection is defined
is th a t v ertical lines ap p ear h o rizo n tal to b y the axis o f ou r b o d y 's sy m m etry linked
m e b u t the m ech an ism o f co n sta n cy in m y to a series o f coord in ates w h ich w e choose
p ercep tio n im m ed iately resto res th e situ a­ as referents, an d this correlation constitu tes
tion: I recog n ize and p erceiv e th e lines in ou r "sp a tia l lev el."
their n o rm al lin earity b eca u se all th e d irec­ T h e g id d in ess w e feel w h en w e are sea­
tions relativ e to th e sp ace aro u n d m e con ­ sick h a s v e ry little to do w ith th e vertical
stitute a reference p o in t in d ep en d en t o f the m ovem ent o f horizontal lines (w hich at m ost
angle from w h ich th ey are seen. I ca n m ove g ives a feelin g o f vertig o a s on a sw in g) but
m y bod y w ith o u t ch a n g in g top or bottom . rather w ith their rocking relativ e to th e ver­
If I see m y b ed roo m from a ly in g -d o w n p o­ tical. A sim p le proof o f th is is seen in shots
sition , I k n o w p e rfe ctly w ell th a t th e p o si­ tak en fro m th e air. W h e n the cam era re­
tio n is m ine. I am co n scio u s th rou g h o u t of cords a p lan e lo o p in g aro u n d a horizontal
m y ow n b od y an d o f the position it occu­ axis b u t k e p t in a co n stan t straig h t line, w e
pies in space, inasm uch as the coord inates see the earth fa llin g a w a y beneath ou r feet,
o f m y p o sition rem ain p erm an en t. Seeing th e sk y taking its p lace an d th en falling
vertical lines from a p a rticu la r in clination aw ay before th e earth, w h ich returns to its
d oes n o t alter m y perception o f them . If a o rig in al p osition. Perhaps w e feel a little
ro o m lo o k s to m y e y e s as th o u g h tilte d w ith u n easy w h en w e see th is un u su al im age,
m y body, I d o n o t recogn ize or perceive it b u t w e certainly d o n ot feel sick. On the
as such. On the other h an d , if a cam era is other h an d , w h en the cam era film s in a
in clined an d then b ro u g h t back to the v er­ p la n e rolling, sp in n in g , or d iv ing, th e earth
tical, it p resen ts a sid ew ays-tilted im age. tu rn in g below round the v ertical axis very
Since th e fram e severs all con n ection s b e­ q u ick ly m ak es us n a u s e o u s -m o r e so on
tw een its co n ten t an d extern al space, th e seeing the im age in the cinem a than actu ­
im age (w hose angle of in clin atio n is m ore a lly b ein g in th e aircraft, through the iso ­
or less acu te relative to the v ertical) does la tin g e ffect o f th e fram e.14
n o t corresp o n d in a n y w a y w ith reality. The "C o n sta n cy o f shape a n d s iz e ," Koffka
b asic difference lies in the fact th at in reality rem inds u s - a l s o co n sta n cy o f orientation
w e see th e space as inclined sidew ays, where­ relative to a g iven a n c h o r -p o in t- "m u st be
as in th e cinem a th e rep resen tatio n o f the related to the prelogical action through w hich
space presents it a s inclined sid ew ays. the subject takes h is p o sitio n in his w orld.
H ow ever, if, in stead o f ly in g o n m y side, If a h u m a n su b je c t is p laced at th e center of
I lie w ith my back to the floor, th e ceilin g a sp here onto w h ich are w elded discs of
appears to replace the floo r b u t there is still equ al d iam eter, o n e can observe th at con­
verticality. If I ro ll ov er w ith a cam era in m y stancy in th e ho rizo n tal axis is m ore perfect
h and , th e im age w h ich ap p ears to p iv ot th a n in the v ertical axis. For m onkeys, on
around a central axis d oes n o t strik e m e as the oth er h a n d , fo r w hom v ertical d isplace­
unusual, sin ce it is id en tified w ith n orm al m en t in th e trees is as n atu ral as horizo n tal
p erception. A p articu la rly d ram atic im age d isp lacem en t is fo r us on th e ground , co n ­
o f th is kind can b e seen in D re y e r's Joan o f stan cy in th e vertical a x is is ex ce lle n t"
Arc w h en the E n g lish sold iers o n the b a t­ (Principles o f Gestalt Psychology).
tlem ents th ro w v ast n u m bers o f w eapons W e know , m oreover, th at the "sp atial
d ow n to their fellow s below . le v e l" w h ich en ables th e su b ject to fix h is
 RHYTHM A N D MOVING SHOTS 221

o rien tation d ep en d s o n coo rd in ates relativ e servations show how the field of vision
to w h ich his ey es p erceiv e th e w orld. O n e may impose an orientation not shared by
of W erth eim er's exp erim en ts p roves this the body. Yet, though the body, as a mo­
conclu sively: saic of various sensations, does not define
a direction, as an agent, on the other hand,
If we arrange for a subject to see the the body plays an essential role in estab­
room in which he is sitting only through lishing the level. . . . The constitution of a
a mirror reflecting it at an angle of 45 de­ spatial level is merely one of the ways in
grees from the vertical, the subject first of which an integrated world16 is consti­
all sees the room "sideways inclined." A tuted: my body is in contact with the
man walking round the room appears to world when my perception provides me
be tilted sideways. A piece of card falling with as varied and clearly articulated a
through a doorframe seems to be falling spectacle as possible and when my result­
sideways. The whole effect is "odd." How­ ing motor intentions receive from the
ever, after a few minutes, there is a sud­ world the responses which they expect.
den change: the walls, the man walking This maximum clarity in my perception
round the room, the direction of the piece and action establishes a perceptual basis,
of card return to the vertical. . . . The im­ a background to my life, a general context
pression is as though certain objects (the for the coexistence of my body and the
walls, doors, and man's body), initially world. . . . The possession of a body car­
established as oblique relative to the given ries with it the power to change one's
data, were assuming the role of providing level and "understand" space, in the same
the particular orientation, adopting the way as the possession of a voice allows
vertical and playing the role of "anchor one to change one's pitch. The perceptual
point," thereby refuting the previous data.15 field is restored to the vertical and at the
end of the experiment I can identify it
M erleau-Ponty, fro m w h o m th ese qu ota­ without a context because I am living
tions are borrow ed , say s th at within it, identifying completely with the
new spectacle and, as it were, making it
we must take care not to fall into the re­ my center of gravity. (Phenomenologie de la
alist trap of providing directions in space perception)
for the visual spectacle, since the experi­
mental spectacle is for us only (obliquely)
T his "p ro jectio n o f th e su b ject in to the
oriented relative to a certain level and
does not therefore provide inherently a new sp ectacle" restoring th e perceptual field
new direction for top and b o tto m .. .. We to th e vertical is in m an y w a y s sim ilar to the
maintain that "spatial level" is not to be p h en om en o n o f "a n ch o rin g " on w h ich the
confused with the orientation of one's n o tio n of m o bility d epend s. Say I ^ sittin g
own body. Though consciousness of one's in a stationary train and there is an oth er sta­
own body obviously contributes to the tion ary train o n th e n ext platform . I d o not
determination of le v e l-a subject whose know , as w e begin to m ove, w h ich train is
head is tilted sideways, when asked to actually m oving. I hav e to resort to a refer­
find the vertical with a piece of string, will en ce p o in t w h ich I k n ow to b e fixed . W ith­
hold it obliquely to the vertical (N a g e l)-
ou t a referen ce p o in t, I have th e im pression
it is competing in that function with other
th a t it is the oth er train w h ich is m o v i n g - i f
areas of experience and the vertical tends
to follow the inclination of the subject's m y thoughts k e ep m e in sid e m y o w n com ­
head if there are no "anchor points" as, partm en t. If, on th e oth er hand , w h at I see
for instance, when the experiment is con­ an d th in k "carries m e into the oth er tra in "
ducted in the dark. . . . Wertheimer's ob­ (som eo n e I recognize, a pretty face, etc.),
222 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

then I h a v e the im p ression th a t it is " m y " th e audien ce w h o tilted th eir head s slig htly
train w h ich is m oving. A n ch o rin g in volves to one sid e in ord er to see " in the correct
(or im plies) the im m ob ility o f th e place ax is" w ere n o t aw are o f d oin g so. T h e y
w h ich attracts m y atten tion. It is b y and th o u g h t th e y w ere in th eir n orm al position.
fro m th is th a t I reg u late "fo r m y s e lf" th e ori­ T h e co n clu sio n s w e b elieve m ay be
en tation o f the m ovem ent. d raw n fro m th is exp e rim e n t (repeated on
I con d u cted , for m y ow n interest, an ex­ sev eral occasions) are as follow s:
perim ent sim ilar to W ertheim er's a few years F rom th e film p o in t o f view , the second
ago at ID H EC w h ich has the ad van tag e of d em on stration is v e ry im portant. It reveals
b ein g easily repeatable. W ith a n assistant I the regulatory effect o f th e fram e and how
s h o t so m e film o f th e sea in calm w eather, m u ch the i m a g e - a s a form al s tr u c tu r e -
i.e., a p erfectly h orizo n tal stretch o f w a ter d ep en d s o n th e fra m e (as w e h a v e m ain­
cu ttin g th e im age a t th e h a lfw a y p o in t.17 tained through out). W hereas the lin e o f the
S in ce th e exp erim ent in volves th e w h o le horizon, p arallel to th e ground, does n o t b y
im age, ta k e n a s a p ercep tu al fo rm , all con­ itself co n firm th e tilt o f th e fra m e, on ce p er­
tents are equally valid , b u t for conv enien ce cep tion restores th e fram e to th e vertical, it
it w as judged necessary to use a clearly show s th e h o rizo n as tilted fo r th e reason
d efined horizon. W e co n tin u ed th e process th a t th e h orizon is tilted relative to the
b y tiltin g th e cam era slig h tly to th e rig h t, so fram e.
th a t the h orizo n w a s fram ed a t th e sam e F ro m th e p sy ch o lo g ica l p o in t o f view,
p o in t b u t at an in clin ed an g le o f tw en ty de­ there is a ch an g e of sp atial level and yet the
grees. O n ce th e film w as d ev elop ed , w e set represented w o rld does n o t concern the au­
up a m obile screen tilted to the rig h t a t th e dience. Though w e p ro ject a certain "in ten -
sam e angle, w ith the p rojector tilted in th e tio n a lity " onto th is sp ectacle, w e are not
sam e way, so that the im ag e in th e fram e of able co m p letely to identify w ith it and
the cam era an d in th e fram e o f th e screen transfer onto it ou r center o f gravity, since
shou ld coincide. T h en w e p rojected the film it does n o t g ive us, as W erth eim er's m irror
to vario u s grou p s o f stud en ts, w h o quite does, the im age o f ou r b od ies and ou r im ­
n atu rally noticed th e un u su al position of m ed iate su rrou n d in g s. W e are n o t involved.
the screen b u t, sin ce th e p ro jection took O u r m o to r in ten tio n s d o n o t apply in the
place in the dark, n o referen t ou tsid e the rep resen tatio n o f a m ed iated w orld (except
im age cou ld b e seen during the experim ent. in o u r im ag in atio n s) and therefore w e do
In th e first case, the h orizo n (correct in n o t receive th e responses w h ich the real ac-
the cam era) an d th e h orizo ntal lines o f the tio n m ig h th a v e received. We d o n o t liv e the
fram e show ed an angle o f tw enty degrees spectacle in the sam e w ay as W erth eim er's
relativ e to th e ground . N ow , a fter th ree or subj ect, o f w h o m M erleau -P on ty w rites: "h e
fo u r m inutes (accord in g to th e stud ents) the n o longer feels h im self to be in the w orld
horizontal w as restored. T h e im ag e, initially w h ere h e a ctu a lly is, and in stead of h is real
seen as tilted , w as p erceiv ed as straight. arm s and leg s h e feels h im self to have the
In th e second case, th e h orizo n (parallel kind of arm s and legs h e w ou ld need to
to th e g ro u n d d u rin g p rojection) appeared w a lk and act in the reflected ro o m ." M ore­
to b e h orizo ntal w ith in a tilted fram e. Now, over, thou g h th e sp ectacle is obliquely ori­
after an even shorter p eriod (around three en ted relative to th e previous l e v e l - t h a t of
m inutes), th e im age w as p erceiv ed as th e g r o u n d - t h i s n otio n d isappears very
straight once m ore: a tilted h orizo n in a ver­ quickly. O u r k n ow led g e o f it stop s b ein g re­
tical fram e. I m ight add th a t th e m ajority of lated to a p ercep tion h ap p en in g in th e dark,
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 223

with the audience sitting not standing tain reactions and the spectacle as the invi­
(since the verticality defined by the former tation to those reactions is established giv­
position stops acting as a potential subjec­ ing me tenancy of space and direct material
tive referent). power over my own body."18 Thus, if the
At a superficial level, it would not be spectacle does not "in itself" provide the top
wrong therefore to associate spatial orien­ and bottom orientation, for the restoration
tation with the visual spectacle since it is of the image projected at an angle to happen
apparent that, in this case, the spectacle "it­ there must exist (if only potentially) a similar
self" provides the new orientation from top sort of pact between the spectacle and me.
to bottom. A kind ofexchange must begin to takeplace

lev el o f t h e g ro u n d

In A ,the line ofthe horizon, tilted relative between my body as the power behind cer­
to the ground, is ultimately perceived as tain responses and the actor who actually
horizontal relative to the verticality of the does the responding, between my world
"restored" frame. In B, the line of the hori­ and the world of the representation. The
zon, parallel to the g rou n d, is ultimately per­ actor must assum e my presence; in other
ceived as tilted relative to the "restored" words, I must project it intensively onto the
frame. We have seen that at the opposite ex­ represented world, since my body, as an ac­
treme from Nagel's experiment, where the tual agent, is in no way involved in this
inclination of the head is what guides the world. Thus projective association intro­
inclination of the string, in this case - as for duces the audience into a spatial level of the
Wertheimer's mirror - the inclination of the representationjust as it introduces it into the
visual field is what guides the inclination of represented universe: fiction involves reality.
the body. Repeating our experiments-this time not
However, "realist" conclusions do not with an empty landscape confirming or
necessarily follow from this observation, contradicting the orientation of the frame
limited to a film effect, i.e., to the perception but with a dramatic action occurring in a
of an im ag e represen tin g a universe alien to natural location (the Battle on the Ice in Al­
the space inhabited by the audience. In ac­ exander Nevsky)-we noted that restoration
tual experience, my body is in con tact with to the vertical was even quicker (two or
the world: what matters for the orientation three minutes, sometimes less). Moreover,
of the spectacle is not "my body as it actu­ when the inclination was gradual and pro­
ally is, an object in an objective space, but gressive (and, of course, simultaneous), in­
my body as a system of potential actions," cluding both projector and screen, i.e., the
the spatial level being set up when 11a pact image itself, it became perceptible only be­
between my body as the power behind cer- yond the angle where the audience became
224 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

aw are that i t w as h a v in g to lean. R eality being b leach ed ou t b y absorbed rad iations

th e n took ov er from th e illusion. In all ou r (1 8 6 9 -8 1 ). Taken u p b y L ip p m ann , w h o
exp erim en ts, restoration b ey on d tw en ty- u sed a starch m ad e fro m potatoes, this p ro­
five degrees w as p ractically im p ossible. cess w a s to resu lt in th e trichrom e process
d eveloped around 1906.
C o lo r in the C in em a W h atev er else it m a y h a v e don e, color
p h o to g rap h y ob tain ed b y exp o sin g light-
T h e p ro blem o f record in g a n d reprod u c­ sen sitive plates o r papers required such a
in g color, like th at o f record in g sou n d , p re­ lo n g exp o su re th a t it p u t th e p ro cess out
sen ted itself rig h t from th e b eg in n in g s of o f th e reach o f th e cinem a. T h e first film s
cinem a. Yet ev en in 1895 there w as a relative­ "in color" w ere therefore m erely colored
ly satisfactory color-p h otog rap hic process. w ith sten cils, a series o f p o sitive p rin ts
W ithou t goin g in to tech n ical d etails stru ck fro m the orig in al n eg ativ e b ein g cut
(w hich, in an y case, a re o u tsid e th e co m ­ ou t w ith a p antog rap h. It w a s n o th in g
p ass o f this stud y), w e sh ou ld sim p ly re­ m o re th an a cru de, u n so p h isticated color­
m e m b er th at, fro m th e w o rk o f N iep ce and in g o f b lack and w h ite im ag es (P athecolor
D aguerre, H ertchell, O tto W iener, an d See- 1901). T h e first d irect p ro cess w as invented
b o ck attem p ted to p h o tog rap h co lo r d i­ in 1907 b y th e E nglish photograp h er G. A.
re ctly b y p ressing pu re silv e r ch lorid e S m ith (one o f the pioneers o f th e B righ ton
b etw een tw o glass p lates h eld to g eth er at school) follow ing th e p rin cip les o f trichro­
the edges b y w a x (1 8 39-40). A t th e sam e m atics; bu t K in em acolor (bich rom e), w hich
tim e, E dm ond B ecquerel, R o b ert H u n t, and su p erim p o sed tw o im ag es using selective
N iepce d e Saint V ictor succeeded in m ak ­ filters, w a s ab an d o n ed around 1912 in
in g a series o f helioch rom e plates, u sing fa v o r o f th e trich ro m atic process d evel­
b oth electrolysis and ch em ica l to n in g (1845­ oped b y G au m o n t (1911), inspired b y the
51). U nfortunately, these w ere u n stable, researches o f D ucos d u H au ron and b etter
fad in g a fte r o n ly a fe w h o u rs' exp osu re to b y fa r th an all th e others. P erfected in 1919,
lig ht. P oitev in achiev ed b etter resu lts in th e p ro cess con sisted o f sh oo tin g th ree im ­
1866, and the w o rk o f L ip p m an n , C h arles ag es sim u ltan eou sly w ith th ree superim ­
C ros, and L ou is D ucos d u H au ron even tu ­ p o sed lenses, ea ch carry in g an appropriate
ally su cceed ed in p ro d u cin g a stab le p h o­ selective filter. T h e th ree im ages (black and
tograp hic im age. w h ite on th e em ulsion) th e n b ecam e col­
Taking th e in terferen tial m eth o d o f h is ored green , b lu e, an d red b y p u ttin g o n a
p red ecessors a stag e further, L ip p m ann p ro jection filter, and th eir su p erim p osition
w as ab le in 1891 to stabilize colors b y sus­ in to a sin g le im a g e rend ered th e colors as
pend ing silv er g rains (several th o u san d p e r th ey w ere originally. It w as fro m th is m o ­
square m illim eter) in a m ixtu re o f albu m en m en t th a t film s cou ld b e d escribed as "in
and collod ion (gelatine), w h ile th e p o et n atu ral co lo r" - t h o u g h th e y w ere natu ral
C h a rle s C ros (w h o in ven ted th e p h o n o ­ on ly in th e sen se th a t th e y w ere obtained
grap h b efo re E dison) and D u cos d u H au - a t th e sh oo tin g stage. It w as, h ow ever, a
ro n , h av in g d iscov ered th e principle o f the s te p in th e rig h t d irection. N o t u n til 1925,
antichrom atism o f filters and p ig m en ts, th o u g h , w ith th e a d v e n t o f Technicolor (Dr.
used a lig ht-sensitiv e lay er m a d e up o f col­ H erb ert T. K alm u s, 1 9 1 7 -1 9 ) and K eller-
ored p igm ents corresp o n d in g to th e three D orian (patented b y B erth on and K eller-
prim ary colors, w ith each o f th e p igm ents D orian) cou ld color b e regard ed as a com ­
(several h u n d red to th e squ are m illim eter) m ercial proposition .
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 225

Technicolor w as th e first o f th e su b tra c­ w ith th e chem ical processes, th e chem ical

tiv e pro cesses and w a s pro d u ced b y exp o s­ tran sform atio n o f the silv e r salts w as
ing first tw o, th e n th ree d ifferent len g th s of b o u n d , soo n er or later, to a ffect th e colors
film , each w ith its ow n p a rticu la r color-sen­ ob tain ed th ro u g h th e p h o to g rap h ic process.
sitive em u lsio n s (or, to b e m ore exact, one E v en so, film s sh ot in color w ere n o t really
film sensitive to g reen an d one film , in bi­ satisfactory. T h eir fu ture w as still in the b a l­
p ack, sensitive to blue o n o n e side and red a n ce u n til E astm ancolor cam e a lo n g in 1953.
on the other). In fact, Techn icolor a n d m o s to f the other
The K eller-D orian p ro cess u sed a n sim ilar p ro cesses requ ire rath er strong
em u lsio n into w h ich a p latin u m m atrix lighting in order to expose th e th ree sensi­
p u nched b etw een 1,000 an d 1,500 tiny tive layers th rou g h the m ore or less com pli­
p rism s p er squ are m illim eter. E ach of these cated sy stem o f p rism s. T h is u n iform lig ht­
m icroscopic prism s, receiv in g the b ea m o f in g , illu m in atin g th e set "fro m th e fro n t,"
lig h t accord in g to th e v a rio u s co lo rs o f the killed an y relief or shading. T he effect cre­
spectru m , refracted color onto the fo cal ated in term s o f colors is one o f flat tones
plane. U nfortunately, th is p r o c e s s - b y far reacting v iolen tly against each other. A t best
th e b est o f them a l l - w a s su ch th a t no it is th e type o f co lo r seen in stained glass
prints cou ld b e stru ck from th e m aster. w in d o w s, in con stan t con flict w ith th e relief
F ro m the p u rely com m ercial an g le, th ere­ and volu m es o f th e setting; a t w o rst it is a
fore, it w as useless. kin d o f pretentious im agery w ith non e o f the
B etw een 1925 an d 1940, attem p ts w ere sim p licity or ch arm of real stained glass.
m ad e to refine th e ad d itiv e p ro cess u sin g Fan tasies in a fa n ta sy w o r ld - p a r tic u -
o p tical system s d e riv in g m o re or less from larly song-and -d an ce f i lm s - w e r e perfectly
G au m ont-C olor (Fran cita, H erau lt, H udely, suited to these tau d ry sp lashes o f color,
D ufaycolor, R ouxcolor, etc.) o r p h o to ch em ­ sin ce th ey w ere in keeping w ith th e styliza­
ical processes d eriv in g fro m L ip p m an n 's tion o f th e sets; b u t, u sed in a realistic co n ­
(A gfacolor, 16 m m - v e r y fin e an d tightly text, th e y succeeded m erely in d estroyin g
b u n ch ed g rain s o f potato starch , dyed ev en th e m o st b a sic b elie f in the realism . In
green, red and yellow , laid b etw een the fa c t, co lo r is never a u n ifo rm t o n e - l i k e the
base and the em u lsio n , a llo w in g th e color red dress w e hav e ju s t d escribed b u t a w hole
to b e sep arated an d recon stitu ted ). H o w ­ series o f tiny m u lticolored bits w h ich, react­
ever, in th e op tical printer, th e su p erim p o­ ing together, p ro d u ce an in fin itely subtle
sition o f th ree or four sep arate im ages an d v ariab le overall sensation, a fact appre-
resulted in an in ev ita b le "co lo r-frin g in g " d a ted b y the Im p ressionists, w h ose paint­
effect, d ue to the d ifferen ce in axis o f the in g s are n oth in g m o re th an a break d ow n of
various lenses co v erin g th e sam e field. the v ibratio n s o f lig h t, revealing a greatly
F or this reason , research con tin u ed in the en h an ced in teractio n o f tru e colors.
line o f th e su b tractiv e p ro cess. F ar from N ow , if th e p u rp o se is n o t so m u ch to
b ein g p erfect, T echnicolor w as n evertheless re p ro d u ce re a lity as to com pose w ith colors,
used m ore fre q u e n tly than the oth ers (A g­ d istrib u tin g th e m as a p ain ter m ig h t over
facolor, Sovcolor, K od achrom e, T ru e C o lo r h is canv as, th en this is p o ssible on ly to the
an d Ferraniacolor, etc.), fo r th e re a so n that e x te n t th a t the color "ren d itio n " is different
p rin ts could b e m ade relatively easily. U sin g from actual reality, since sty lization im ­
th e m atrice s fro m th e original n eg ativ e as posed b y d e f a u lt- o r , m ore particularly, b y
trichrom atic stencils, as it w ere, p erfect m ech a n ica l m e a n s - i s a b arrier ra th er than
color stab ility w a s g u aran teed , w hereas, a v alid m ethod o f creation.
226 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E M A

It was a Japanese film, The D oors o f H ell, more convincing proof of this than Seven
which thanged a l the ground rules. Though M en fr o m N ow (Boetticher), an excellent
it had little more to recommend it than the Western which takes us as the dramatic ten­
average decent film, it was the first film to sion grows from the lush green of the prai­
be fairly described as being "in color" ries to the unrelieved desolation of the rocks
rather than being merely "colored." At last and the dryness of the sand where the final
the shimmering pastel shades of actual re­ confrontation takes place, contrasting with
ality had found an accurate reproduction. an evocation of a bygone time in the wooden
From the purely aesthetic point of view, shantytown with the strange charm of its
color cinematography came into existence gaudily painted saloons.
with this film (not counting the one or two This progression, this change of loca­
rare successes like 11 C arozze d'oro and tion, would, of course, have been effective
H en ry V, which have more in common with in black and white, but color adds another
the style of illuminated manuscripts than dimension. The colors, both harsh and sub­
realistic authenticity). From the beginning, tle, lend a tone, a tragic resonance, to the
Eastmancolor brought out this authenticity harshness of the settings which the finest
and fi^iny established color as one of the black and white photography would never
resources of cinema's expressivity. Not only have been able to give, and the splendid
is the shading not killed by a uniform light­ shantytown gains its effect from the subtle
ing but the relief of the colors heightens the color schemes of the frills and flounces of
overall relief in the same way as the action the 1890s.
of light and shade. The flexibility of the However, our perception tends not to
color process allows for filming with register color as strongly as it does form in
greatly reduced illumination from that re­ its structuration of the perceptible world,
quired for black and white. but it is a happy addition.
Until now, color has been used merely There is a general assumption that we
to achieve greater realism. Using it for psy­ do not dream in color, thereby relegating
chological purposes presents many prob­ color to a secondary role. Yet this assump­
lems, particularly since it requires the total tion is groundless, especially considering
control of a technique whose purely chem­ that we make our mental images from
ical perfection allows neither a selection of thoughts, not percepts. Our mind adds an
color nor an organization of the palette. Of idea of color to the idea of form, but since
course, there will come a time when it can the color is not necessarily specific to the
be used in this way, but it is too early yet form and since it is a creation of the mind
to speculate as to how it will be used - even and not the perception, it is eclipsed by the
though general patterns can be perceived concept. We imagine it without experienc­
in the setting and harmony of the primary ing its effects.
colors. Be that as it may, the harmony or dishar­
Even so, it is possible even nowadays to mony of colored sensations is an element of
use color for dram atic purposes. Though expression capable of complementing or
color values cannot be altered in the shoot­ contradicting the meaning of the film sig­
ing, at least the art director has control over nification. The danger is in using color to
color when he designs the sets. And the compose a "good-looking" image, to make
director can choose a framing whose natu­ "pretty pictures," to signify through harmo­
ral colors set off the expression of a partic­ nies w ithin the shot, tacking a color symbol­
ular feeling better than any other. What ism onto the formal symbolism and thereby
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 227

picking up all the faults of Expressionism in toning and tinting of the silent films of
a kind of contrived Impressionism. Color 1915. Though the films of this period were
expression is an effect of the discreet way it not actually "in color," they were only very
is handled. The signification must come rarely seen in black and white. They were
from the dynamics of color, in other words, given a toning consistent with the overall
from their transformations and contrasts, meaning of the sequences: night scenes
from the ever-changing associations of form were tinted blue, fire scenes red, country
and color, emphasizing first one and then scenes yellow, etc. Tinting (of the nitrate
the other. Instead of creating "inherently" base) affected the "whites," whereas ton­
harmonious compositions, the filmmaker ing, introduced at the developing stage, af­
must create structures in tune with the psy­ fected the "blacks." Thus for scenes of
chological meaning of the drama. terror there could be shots tinted red but
That is why using colored sensations for toned green. And the effect had its own pe­
psychological purposes requires extreme culiar charm, especially since there was no
tethnical skill. Ideally, the predominating intended symbolism, merely a n addition to
colors should be low-key rather than the deficiencies of the photography. Inno­
heavy-handed as they are at the moment. vations in lighting techniques, made just
Except, that is, in the rare cases where they after the First World War, put an end to this
are produced by flexible lighting tech­ style of printing, which was gradually
niques such as Eisenstein employed in the phased out until it disappeared entirely
banquet sequence in Ivan the Terrible, rather around 1923. The crude modem usage of
than by a uniform wash of color as in Rich­ primary colors, blues, greens, and reds, is
ard Brooks's idiotic K a r a m a s o v - a fantastic a throwback to this period, with none of its
difference between what can be done and naive charm but a lot more pretentiousness.
what must not be done at any price! Creating a psychological background
The psychological significance of color using harmonies of color to correspond with
depends on relative harmonies and not on the dramatic situation is one thing; to
the qualities of the colors themselves. Mak­ endow a particular color system with sym­
ing red stand for anger, blue for tender­ bolic value is something else entirely—
ness, and yellow for treachery is to create which leads us inevitably to the researches
an elementary if not infantile form of sym­ into the "signification of color."
bolism. in the same way that musical "W hat color are our feelings?" Carlo di
sounds have no meaning except relative to Carlo asks in his study of Antonioni's II
each other, so the relationships of various D eserto rosso (T he R ed D esert). We could
tones with a predominating tone and the reply that they have no color. However, ac­
resulting harmonies direct the mind to­ cording to Antonioni, "one might say that
ward a predetermined meaning. Since this color is a relationship between the object
is imposed by the dramatic situation, there and the psychological state of the observer,
can be only one harmony, one resonance, in the sense that both are mutually suggest­
especially since, for the most part, colored ible. That is to say, the object, with its color,
sensations tend to conform with the asso­ has a predetermined suggestion for the ob­
ciations given them; their symbolism is server at the same time as he sees the color
subordinate. Such is the case with the in­ which he is interested-or p leased -to see
verted significations of the whiteness theme in the object."
in The G eneral Line and A lex an d er N evsky. It is true that the color of objects varies
Or else we find, in a different form, the according to the intention and state of
228 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

m ind o f the p erso n p erceiv in g it. Yet, inter­ cep t b y associatin g it w ith a state of m ind
preted in th is way, th e exp lan ation is m is­ all too easily understand able!
lead ing. W h e n , fo r in stan ce, w e ta lk o f a T h u s concrete reality can n o t b e tra n s­
"r o s y fu tu re," it is n o t as if w e are seein g fo rm ed , in e ith e r its color or its form s, un d er
things through ro se-tin ted glasses. We sim ­ the p retext o f ob jectify in g the su bjective b e­
p ly associate, in ou r m ind s, th e color p in k cau se, h ow ever con ceivable, th is tran sfor­
w ith a certain state o f euphoria and this is m ation is presen ted as objective b y being
because th e en erg izin g qualities o f th e arbitrarily im posed on th e ph en om en al re­
color p ro vok e reaction s o f th e sa m e kind. ality o f th e external w orld. A n alteration of
In th e sam e way, w h e n w e talk o f a "b la ck this kind is accep tab le as su b jective only
fu tu re," w e associate a d ark color, w ith o b ­ w hen the description its e lf is subjective. A s is
viou s d ep ressive q u alities, w ith a m elan­ th e case w ith the bed tim e story w hich G iuli-
ch olic fram e o f m ind. In oth er w ords, ana tells V alerio. Im m ed iately understood
w h atev er our fram e o f m ind, w e in tu itively as the illu stratio n o f som eth in g pu rely im ­
associate an idea o f color w ith the colors w e aginary, th e im ages can th en take o n w h at­
actu ally perceive w hose qualities a re su ch that ever fo rm one w ishes. T he sickly sw eet
they determ in e a fe elin g w h ich is g en u in e but, colors w h ich follow are perhaps n o t in the
a t that m om ent, alien to them . T h is "n o tio n best o f taste, b u t a t least they are n ot at vari­
o f co lo r" exists n o w h ere excep t in our ance w ith th e n aiv e sen tim en tality o f the
m ind s. It is th erefore u n tran slatable, at story.
least into an objective rep resen tatio n o f the W h ich com es d ow n to say ing that, at the
w o rld into w h ich it cou ld never b e intro­ p ercep tu al level, colors are a great deal less
duced as th o u g h it w ere real coloring. It is noticeable th a n fo rm s; th a t is w h y th e latter
an o th er exam p le o f th e im p ossibility of cannot in v olv e th e fo rm er and are forced to
u sin g th e cam era in th e first p erson. be p a rt o f their su p p osed reality or unreal­
W h e n A n ton ion i tran slates M onica ity. N on e o f this p revents th e chro m atic as­
V itti's euphoria b y sh ow in g h er in a room sociations fro m creating n ew relationships,
sudden ly turning p i n k - a room w h ich h e has i.e., d eterm ining su g g estio n s o r relation­
already sh o w n us several scen es earlier in sh ip s capable o f ch an g in g or m o u ld in g the
its n o rm a l co lo rs - th ere is an a p p a llin g d is­ form al sig n ification s. T hou g h, at the level
con tin u ity com bin ed w ith an in com p rehen­ o f realism , th ey allow th e m aterial qu ality
sible p sy ch o lo g ical naivete. N o t on ly is it o f objects to b e u n d erlin ed m ore strongly,
im p ossible fo r the audien ce im m ediately to w h a t m atters is n o t so m u ch th e co lo rs as
enter a ch a ra cter's s u b je c tiv ity -u p to that their d y n am ism , th e ir relatio n sh ip s w ith
point seen on ly o b je c tiv e ly -u s in g th e de­ th e continu ity, th eir g rad u al tran sform ation
vice o f a set su d d en ly tak in g o n an "in te ­ in oth er colors.
rio r " color b u t, as w e h av e seen , the color F ro m th is p o in t o f view , co lo rs m ay be
as su ch d oes n o t exist. T h e su b jective fan ­ w o rk e d , interpreted, selected in term s o f the
tasy is revealed to b e pu re cliche. Sup pose, su b ject th e d irector ch ooses to express. T hey
fo r th e sak e o f argu m ent, that M o n ica V itti m ay avoid realism and a t th e sam e tim e re­
is "g e n u in e ly " seeing th e ro om "th ro u g h m ain accu rate and tru e to life; th ey m ay co r­
rose-tinted g la sse s"; this d oes n o t alter the resp on d w ith th e feelin g s o f th e characters,
fact that th e au d ien ce is still see in g the w ith their d ram a. H ow ever, th e n w h at is
ro o m as ob jectively as it has b een up to this b ein g featu red is th e film m a k e r's subjectiv­
point. For th at v ery reason, it is in cap able ity ra th er th a n th e su p p osed su b jectivity of
of accepting this gen u in e co lo r ch a n g e , ex­ one o f th e ch aracters in the story, th e vision
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 229

o f a creator rath er th a n th e clich ed tra n sla ­ presen t, are identified w ith th e im ag in a­

tio n o f a m e n tal im age. F o r if, in A n to n io n i's tion, w h ereas states o f m in d associated
film s, d istorted sou nd s are im m ed iately re c ­ w ith th e n o tio n o f color are p u rely concep ­
og n ize d as su bjective, it is b eca u se th e y are tual; and becau se the feelings associated
n o t presen ted , as are the im ag es, alon gside w ith m em ory are reg istered in the facte
real sou nd s: th e y rep lace t h e m - a n d all the evok ed and d o n o t dep end m erely o n a
m ore easily b ecau se sou n d h a s n o concrete h y p o th etical w ay o f tran slating th e em o­
form , n o inertia o f its ow n. tion al co n ten t.19
O n the other h an d , ou t-o f-fo cu s, p seu d o­ A s a g eneral ru le, co lo r is used to its b est
ab stract rep resentation s d o n o t m ak e us see ad van tag e in th e cinem a i f its v a rio u s tones
th e w orld th ro u g h th e ey es o f th e heroine. an d p attern s are ap p lied in order to "tell a
T h ey m erely sh ow it o u t o f fo cu s, as th o u g h sto ry u sin g co lo r." C o lo r m ay p lay a dra­
our eyes had su d d en ly developed m yopia. m atic role to th e exten t th at it is used as an
We are to tally in cap able o f associatin g this elem en t to explain th e forces b ein g brought
fu zzy w orld w ith w h a t G iu lian a sees be­ together. In th e sam e way, a spiritual devel­
cause this has n ot been presented to us opm ent m ay b e fo llow ed , a state o f m ind
(w hereas w e h a v e seen h e r listen in g to exp lain ed or s u g g e s te d - b u t only "fro m
sou nd s and p u ttin g her fingers in h er ears). th e o u tsid e ." W e m ad e this point clear in
We stop b e in g ab le to ap p reciate th e " o b ­ relatio n to Seven M en fr o m Now , but there
serv er-o bserv ed " relationsh ip fro m the m o­ are m an y other exam p les to w h ich w e could
m ent the ob server is tak en o u t o f the context u sefu lly refer.
o f the representation. A n d this ab sen ce can ­ W hatever the case, c o l o r - like every other
n o t be seen as an ellip sis, fo r if on ly th e "o b ­ sig n ify in g elem en t in a film - m u s t be m o­
served" p art o f the relationsh ip rem ains, it tivated . It m u st not have an independ ent
im m ed iately b eco m es iden tified w ith ou r existence w h ich can n o t b e justified con ­
o w n v is io n o f th e w o rld - a t least th e visio n cretely fo r the aud ien ce. It m u st appear as
th e d irector w o u ld lik e us to have. As w e th o u g h "ca u g h t," n o t "d ire c te d " (th ough ,
hav e said repeatedly, th e v isio n o f an in d i­ fo r tech n ical reasons, it ca n n o t help b u t be
vid u al can b e associated w ith only if he d irected ). Suffice it to say th a t it can n o t lend
has alread y b een p laced ob jectiv ely in the iteelf to pictorial interpretation, on ly dram at­
setting. A n d this su b jective vision can be ic an d p sy ch olog ical, and th a t sym bolism ,
u n d ersto o d on ly in so fa r as it relates to an w h en it exists, m u st find its apparent ju stifi­
objective reality alread y represen ted or ex­ ca tio n in th e p ro d u ctio n o f concrete facte
am ined. (like im ages becom ing signs through editing
E xcept w h e n it co n c ern s an objectifiable b u t rem aining, ab ove all, p art o f a d escrip ­
fig m en t o f a ch a ra cter's im agin ation, any tion o f even ts). W hereas color in p ain tin g is
attem pt to represent concretely (even if th e im p ression th e p a in ter m a k e s on the
only sym bolically) a sta te o f m in d w ith o u t w o rld , in th e cinem a it is the im pression o f
any real con ten t is b o u n d to be u n su ccess­ the ob jectiv e existen ce o f the w orld, regard­
fu l or, as in th e case o f th e p in k b ed room , less o f th e subjectivity o f th e vision.
rid icu lou s. T h e o n ly accep tab le m en tal im ­ T h o u g h color en ables the film m ak er to
ages in th e cin em a cap ab le o f b ein g tra n s­ m ak e a d eep er (or su b tler) analysis o f real­
lated in to film are th o se p ro vid ed b y m e m ­ ity th rou g h th e selction and presen tation of
ory, becau se m em o ry relates b a ck to an v ario u s chrom atic relationships, it also en­
actu al reality; because facts o f m em ory, in­ ables him to choose not to m ake this kind
so fa r as they restru cture th e p a st in the o f analy sis if h e prefers to create a fiction
230 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

preserved from the restrictions o f realism. tion to the images, making us read when
It does not, however, enable him to make a we have just been watching, breaking up
cliched interpretation of a character's "sub­ the rhythm of the film. When we watch a
jective" point of view, since the concrete film, we always feel as though there are the
qualities of the representation will always images on the one hand and the titles on
reveal the artifice for what it is. We must the other. This conflict must be resolved:
not forget that images of a state of mind tex t an d im age m ust be com bin ed an d carried
should be suggested rather than shown along by the sam e rhythm."w The major bene­
and that the cinema, though requiring us to fit of talking pictures was that the te x t-e x ­
follow the interpretation of reality through pressed out lo u d -n o longer disrupted the
the vision of a filmmaker, does not set itself organic unity of the film. On the other
the task of presenting us with that reality hand, film found itself forced to keep to a
in its interpreted state. homogeneous development providing a
more tightly constructed continuity with
more precise matching from shot to shot
Speech and Sound and sequence to sequence. Be this as it may,
a deluge of silly verbosity flooded the scares
R o le an d M e a n in g o f D ia lo g u e between 1928 and 1930.
"A film w ith speaking in it is not neces­
It should be noted right away that the cin­ sarily a talking ^ m ," Alexandre Astruc noted
ema, before the advent of sound, was silent at the time; "it may be nothing more than a
but never without sound. Apart from the photographed play, a cut-price version, a
fact that speech was not necessary (or technique for popularizing theater." But
shou ld not have been n ecessary ), the odd cries, with the "Manifesto of Orchestral Counter­
sounds, or even words suggested by the point" (Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Al­
characters' description or behavior were exandrov), published in 1928, the first
"understood" by the audience, which had theories to deal with the use of speech and
to use its imagination to provide the char­ sound started to see the light of day. It was
acters and objects with the sound qualities noted in particular that:
they might have had in actual reality and
Only a contrapuntal use of sound rel­
star-struck young girls credited the roman­ ative to a piece of visual montage offers
tic lead with the sweet nothings they longed new possibilities for developing and per­
to hear. Since the dialogue was created by fecting montage.
each audience member as he or she wished, The first experiments with sound must
it is not unreasonable to suppose that this be directed toward "nonsynthronization"
"imaginary dialogue" was potentially one with the visual images.
of the most poetic aspects of a film. On the Only this approach will provide the
other hand, silence was meaningless, pow­ necessary sensation leading inevitably to
erless. One benefit of the "sound picture" a new orchestral counterpoint of visual and
aural images.
was that it gave a value to silence.
Sound, treated as a new element of mon­
Going back thirty or so years, we see
tage (independent of the visual image),
that the criticisms of the first talkies were will inevitably introduce new and ex­
precisely those directed against mediocre tremely effective means of expressing and
silent films dressed up in a different form. resolving the complex problems confront­
Pierre Porte wrote in 1922: "However, sub­ ing us up to now, which we have not been
titles will always be an irritating interrup­ able to overcome because of the im­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 231

possibility of finding a solution using ning dress is finishing the last few bars of
only the visual elements. the song we have been hearing. 22
The contrapuntal method to construct
sound and talking films will not merely
Thus from 1929 onward the sound film
alter the international nature of the cinema
was being defined in terms of laws which
but will raise its significance and cultural
it was forced to apply methodically if it
power to an unprecedented degree.21
wished to safeguard visual expression
This statement of basic principles echoes from the threatening assault of speech.
certain of Rene Clair's observations: "It is Even though Marcel Pagnol, as late as
the altern atin g use of the image of a subject 1933, was able to say quite seriously that
and the sound produced by the subject— "silent films are the art of recording, fixing,
not their sim ultan eou s u se-w h ich creates and broadcasting pantomime. Talking films
the the best effects in the sound and talking are the art of recording, fixing, and broad­
cinema. It is conceivable that this first prin­ casting theater,"23 anyone believing in the
ciple to emerge from the chaos of a devel­ art of film with no specific ax to grind
oping technique could become one of the agreed on the same principle: that the
fundamentals of future cinematic technique." image must have priority over speech. Yet
And Rene Clair quotes some examples this priority was interpreted as a kind of
from B roadw ay M elod y : exclusivity: words had to be excluded from
the "visual data" as for instance in voice­
For instance, the sounds of a door clos­ over or offscreen sounds or contrapuntal
ing and a car pulling away with Bessie effects. Which explains the extremism of
Love's anguished face on the screen peer­ the early days: either filmed theater or si­
ing through a window at this unseen de­ lent cinema embellished with sound effects
parture. This short scen e-w h ere the and a few meager conversations. Con­
whole effect is concentrated on the tradictory conceptions were sometimes in­
actress' face and which the silent cinema
cluded in the same film according to the
would have had to fragment into several
character of the sequences, as for instance
s h o ts -is successful precisely because of
in S how boat and B roadw ay M elody.
the "unity of place" provided by the
soundtrack. Rene Clair in S ous les toits d e Paris, writes
In another scene, Bessie Love is lying Denis Marion, "made it a point of honor not
down, sad and pensive; we feel she is on to break with the traditions of the silent film,
the verge of tears; her face is screwed up avoiding synchronous sound wherever
but disappears into the shadow of a fade possible, disguising his conversations with
and, out of the black screen, comes the ambient sound or behind glass doors."24Yet
sound of a single sob. this way of not using speech, making char­
acters who, in the normal course of events,
He quotes another example, this time would have talked at length to one another,
from Show boat: exchange only a few words, very quickly
becomes very irritating. Of course, there
Some time later a shabbily dressed
were one or two obvious successes: the fight
singer is singing in a tiny bar. The director
between the young hooligans along the rail­
wanted to show in shorthand this wom­
an's climb to success. As the song contin­ way track, with the sounds of passing trains
ues, the singer becomes invisible and a and smoke surrounding the fighters. And
series of quick cuts leads us to the huge the argument in the bedroom: Pola, taken in
concert hall where the same singer in eve- by Albert but refusing to sleep with him,
232 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

sleeps o n th e floo r instead . F u rio u s, A lbert g o o d b y e to h e r h u sb an d ; su d d en ly sh e re­

gives up h is bed to her. Sin ce n e ith er o f them m em b ers som eth in g im p ortan t she had
will yield , they b o th spend the night on the m ea n t to sa y to h im ; h e r em otion, th e pain
floor, sep arated b y th e em pty bed. W h en the o f leav in g , prevents h er fro m rem em bering
light is turned off, th e argum ent continu es exactly w h at it w as sh e w anted to say; she
in th e dark. A ll w e h ea r is an exch an g e of im ag in es that the w h eels o f the train are
b ittersw eet w ord s, over a to tally b lack startin g to tu rn fa ster and faster, takin g h er
screen. S p eech tak es priority, ju stified b y the aw ay from h e r h u sb an d b efo re she has tim e
d arkness, an d th e scen e gains a rath er ex­ to tell h im w h at it is. A n d the aud ience,
traord inary su g g estiv e p o w er b y th e very h earin g th e sou n d of the train p u lling aw ay
fact th at n o th in g is seen. H ow ever, it is n ot an d g ath erin g speed b u t seein g the carriage
the rath er b lan d dialogue w h ich provides at a stan d still, realizes th a t w h a t is being
th e e ffe ct b u t the im age w h o se significance exp ressed is the h ero in e 's fear, sin ce on the
is b ased on its v e ry absence. F ar from b ein g screen it ca n see the train still n o t m oving
a n egation, th is "a b s e n c e " is a stra n g e affir­ and the y ou n g w om an still leaning ou t of
m atio n o f its exp ressiv e capabilities. the w in d o w o f h e r com partm ent."25
E ven so, R ene Clair, like m an y others, It w o u ld b e the sam e th in g w ere th e ac­
w as n o t lon g in realizin g th a t d ialogu e w as tion to tak e p la ce in a little cou ntry station
n o t ju s t a sim plistic w a y o f replacing the in the back o f b ey on d . B u t the action is set
subtitles o f th e sile n t cinem a. S in ce it rep ­ in M oscow , in a h u g e term in u s; there is
resents fife, th e cin em a is b o u n d to record n o th in g to say that th e sou nd w e h ear is
sp eech , ju st as it record s actions. T h e im ­ n o t com in g from som e oth er nearby train
p ortant th in g w as n o t to g ive p riority to the settin g o ff ra th er th an the train w e see
verbal expression b u t to u se it in associa­ stan d in g a t the platform . A n d fo r this rea­
tion w ith the im ages. N ow , in th is film , son, th e inten ded effect is d estroyed.
R ene Clair show s h is h an d ; h e shies aw ay T he B lu e A n gel, w h ich d o e s n ot tr y to
from w ords, m ak es every attem pt to avoid p ro d u ce effects o f this type o r "v o ices-o ff,"
th e m , u sin g them m e re ly as em bellish ­ n everth eless uses dialogue scen es w h en the
m ents. P aradoxically, h e em p loy s th em to lo g ic o f th e action requires the characters to
"sig n ify " and , at th e sam e tim e, d ep rives speak. Q u ite sim ply, it is n o t used to excess
th em of th e ir con crete m e a n in g , th eir d y ­ and dialogue is in volved in th e sig n ifica­
n a m ic reality. W ords are g ra fted o n to the tion o f th e d ram a in exactly th e sam e w ay
ch aracters as ad d ition al "s ig n s ," w ith o u t as the rest. T h e resu lt is th a t T h e Blue A n gel
ev er b ein g u ttered b y them . In th e sam e rem ain s fresh , w h ile oth er film s hav e b e­
way, h is heroes do n o t express them selves. com e ab su rd ly ou td ated.
They recite w ord s w h ich , in theory, "tra n s ­ Ja cq u es F ey d er w a s g ettin g n ea rer the
la te " them , an d th e a tte m p t to involve truth w h en h e w rote: “In the theater, the sit­
sp eech m erely in ord er to "s ig n ify " w ith o u t uation is created by the w ords; in the cinem a,
exp loitin g its ow n in trin sic sign ification the w ords must arise fr o m the situation —
w as ju st a n o th er w ay o f p ro m otin g som e­ w h ic h m e a n s th at th e cinem a is no closer
th in g through its absence: g lorifyin g to th e th eater fo r h a v in g an n exed speech; it
sp eech and, at the sam e tim e, rejecting it. is as distant as ev er and rem ains an art w hich
A n o th er sim ilar error, due to a n over- is different, exten d ed and lib e ra te d "^
zealous u se o f sou nd cou n terpoint: in L ife It w a s in L u b itsch 's first m u sical com e­
Is G ood, Pudovkin's first sound ^ m , " a w o m ­ dies (Love P arade) and p articu larly in his
an is lean in g ou t o f a train w ind ow , say ing ironic com ed ies (Trouble in P aradise) th at the
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 233

p o ten tial o f aud iovisual sig n ification first eym ooners on th e deck o f a tran satlantic
b eg an to b e re a liz e d —the relatio n sh ip b e ­ liner. T h e ch ild ren of tw o n eig h b o rin g fam ­
tw ee n text and im ages a ssu m in g a n e w ilies, friends fo r as long as anyon e can re­
m e a n in g rad ically d ifferent fro m w h a t w as m em ber, th e y have ju s t realized their
im agined at the tim e. It w as n o lon g er a d ream : to b eco m e m an and w ife. A s fash­
qu estion o f in teg ratin g d ialo g u e sce n e s into ion decreed in h ig h society o f the time,
as visu al a n arch itectu re as p o ssib le, o f ig­ th ey are g oin g to hon eym oon b y N iagara
n o rin g d ialog u e or cu ttin g it d ow n to the Falls. A w id e sh o t show s th e m fro m the
b arest essentials, b u t o f creatin g signification rear o n the forw ard d eck o f th e ship: they
through the sim p le relatio n sh ip b etw een m o ve tow ard the railings. A reverse angle
text and im age, i.e., th ro u g h th e contrast, fram es them in close shot, lean in g side b y
d ifferentiation, an d con trad iction , etc., pro­ side w ith the ra ilin g coinciding w ith the
d uced b y the ju x ta p o sitio n o f th e seen and b otto m fram e-line. T h ey look ou t over the
th e heard. It w as, in a way, a sort o f cou n ­ ocean (i.e., the cam era), and th ey exchange
terpoint: visual again st v erb al b u t, in place a sh o rt seq u en ce o f d ialogu e. H e asks
o f th e old -style sou n d effects cap ab le of w h eth er sh e is happy, w h eth er th ere is an y ­
p ro d u cin g n o th in g m ore than a few th in g h e can give her. She is in seventh
vaguely su ggested feelin g s, the relation­ h eaven : " I f I h ad to die tom orrow ," she
ship assum ed a m o re in tellectu al quality, says, " I b eliev e life w ould hav e g iven m e
w ith the im ag e-text associatio n creatin g a every th in g I exp ected o f it." O b v io u sly she
new idea in th e au d ien ce's m in d . It w as, in is sp eak in g figuratively; but d u rin g the con­
th e final an alysis, th e transposition an d ex­ versation th e cam era pu lls back and re­
tension o f the very grou n d rules fo r editin g v ea ls, just as th e you ng w ife finishes w hat
on to th e au d iov isu al plane: in addition to sh e is say in g , a life b u o y tied to the railing
the idea d eterm in ed b y th e succession of o n w h ich w e read th e n am e o f th e ship:
tw o im ages (or "v e rtic a l" m o n t a g e - f o l­ Titanic. T h e n there is a cu t to the n ext
low in g the m ean in g o f th e film narrative), shot.28
th ere w as an oth er idea created ou t o f the in a different fo rm , th is is an exam p le of
d irect relationsh ip betw een th e v isu al and th e shock m o vem en t b ack w ard w e m en­
the verb al (or "h o riz o n ta l" m ontage), b oth tion ed in another con text w hich sud d en ly
significations occurring sim ultaneously.27 tu rn s th e in itia l m ean in g o f the film upside
M on tage is m ean t here (and elsew here d ow n and, in th is in stance, gives a tragic
in this study) in its m ost w id ely accepted reson ance to w ord s w ith n o apparent m ean­
sense: m ean in g determ ined b y relatio n ­ ing. It is a p erfect though perhap s ru dim en­
ships (o f o b jects, facts, situ ations, etc.) ei­ tary and sim p listic exam ple o f film lan­
th er through a d irect su ccessio n o f im ages g u a g e —pu re audiovisual signification. A
or the total sp ace o f the field o f view , w ith good ta lk ie sh ou ld b e com posed exclu­
the visual con ten t con stan tly referred b a ck siv ely o f exp ressions o f th is kind. A n d if w e
to the auditory. A n o b v io u s exam p le w ill rem em ber the b eginning o f Trouble in P ara­
illu strate this m o re clearly. dise: in V enice, o n th e G ran d Canal, a gon­
in F ran k L lo y d 's C avalcade (1933), w h ich dolier is ro w in g and singing w ith great con­
traces the d evelopm ent o f E n g lish society viction a t the top of h is lu ngs "O Sole M io ."
fro m the d eath o f Q u een V icto ria up to the It is ra in in g . To all intents a n d appearances,
First W orld W ar through the story o f tw o he is ro w in g a pair o f b ash fu l lovers. T here
fam ilies b elo n g in g to th e E n glish u p p er h e is stop p in g in fro n t o f the steps o f a m ag­
classes, o n e seq u en ce sh o w s us tw o h on - n ificen t p alazzo . . . b u t no: it is m erely the
234 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

F ig. 1 Fig. 2

Axis o f th e Axis o f the Axis o f th e Axis o f th e

Im a g e s Text Im a g e s Text

A A

B B' B B'

c c

D D'

local d u stm an o n h is rou nd , d isp o sin g o f tionsh ip is, in fact, an .A k' /B relationship,
g arbage. T h e w h ole film is like this. w h ich p ro d u ces th e X signification.
T h e fo llow in g d iag ram s w ill help d efine S h ot B is, in its tu m , associated w ith d i­
m ore clearly th e stru ctu re o f th e talking alogue B '. It is v isu ally related to sh ot C bu t
film . T h ey are n o t in ten d ed to rep resen t a the sig nification (BB' plu s X) affects C ac­
strict ru le b u t to tran slate sch em atically a cord in g to th e BB' /C relationsh ip. W h ich
g eneral procedure. p rodu ces th e Y signification. A n d so on.
S ay w e h av e, on th e on e h an d , a v isu al It is clear, how ever, th a t, in th e A -B-C -D
continu ity A -B -C -D an d , on th e other, a seq u en ce, the shots are directly lin k ed to ­
verbal con tin u ity A '-B '-C '-D ' (fig. 1). It is g eth er'a cco rd in g to th e logic o f th e dram a.
clear that: sh ot A is associated w ith d ia ­ O n th e o th er h an d , in the A '-B '-C '-D ' se­
log u e A:. E ach contrib u tes its o w n sp ecial q u en ce, the respective verbal d ata d o not
signification, an d a third sig n ification is becom e m o re closely interrelated . T h eir
generated b y th eir d irect relationsh ip: A k ! m e a n in g is relativ e to th e v isu al im p lica­
(w hich w e m ig h t call th e real signification tions. I f B ' is related to A ' in a co n tex t dif­
o f shot A). feren t from th e visual continuity, it is
W h at is m ore, sh ot B fo llow s sh ot A and en tirely p o ssib le that th eir relationsh ip is
carries th rou gh the lo g ical im plications of m ean in g less and that their m ean in g is de­
the prim ary inform ation of A. A certain m ean - fined via B.
ing results from the A / B relatio n sh ip b u t In o th er w ord s, film con tin u ity is based
this m ean in g is co rrected b y th e effect o f the in essence on th e visual d evelopm ent w hich
A ' d ialogue. In o th e r w ord s, the A / B re la ­ form s th e fram ew ork , the structural axis, of
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 235

the film. This does not mean that the text three buses and I'm late as it is, etc." Since
cannot serve as a hinge, altering or con­ it purports to represent life, the cinema must
stantly deflecting the continuity, since this record speech patterns just as it records be­
is precisely the purpose of its continual in­ havior patterns. Yetbanal conversation is no
terventions. But the logical development more relevant than any other noise, unless
and principal significations are based on it sets character or a state of mind. As
the development of the images, not on ver­ Merleau-Ponty correctly observes, "the sort
bal associations. of words a character uses and the way he
th filmed theater or poor talkies, the op­ uses them indicates his character more cer­
posite is true. When (as in fig. 2) there are tainly than pages of description." Nonethe­
shots A and B on the one hand and texts less, these conversations, whose psycholog­
A: and B' on the other, it is obvious that ical importance is crucial, do not get to grips
the logical, dramatic, psychological, etc. as­ with the characters relative to the drama
sociation develops along the verbal axis: B' which involves them. They establish their
follows A: and so on. An image A corre­ presence but in no way explain their situa­
sponds with dialogue A: placing the char­ tion. There can be as much dialogue of this
acters and the action in a specific place and kind in a film without damaging its specifi­
time. It places them in a set, on a stage, cally cinematic qualities, for, though it may
describing movements, illustrating a situa­ contribute to an understanding of the char­
tion signified through words, offering no - acters, it only communicates what they are,
or very little - signification of its own. not what they think. And it contributes very
is dialogue fleshed out with images. The little toward an understanding ofthe drama.
images may well be pretty enough in Stage dialogue, on the other hand, in­
themselves; they may provide a pleasant forms us as to the thoughts, feelings, and
enough spectacle. But it is not what might intentions of the heroes. It is theatrical dia­
be called film expression -w h ic h is pre­ logue, perfectly acceptable in the c i n e ^
cisely what we mean when we say of a but only insofar as it corresponds with ac­
film, "It's not cinema." tual reality, i.e., with situations where it is
A good talkie therefore is not a film with normal for characters to talk to each other,
little or no dialogue (contrary to a longstand­ when there is conflict or confrontation. i t
ing belief). The actual quantity of words has life, however, people never reveal them­
no meaning in this context. A film may have selves completely through what they say:
very little dialogue and still be a bad film. there is an essential gap, differing in size
And a film with wall-to-wall dialogue may according to the individual, between what
just as easily be outstanding. What counts they say and what they are. There is no such
is not the importance of the text in terms of gap in the theater (at least not of this size),
numbers but the part it is made to play. since characters are able to signify them­
We should make an immediate distinc­ selves only through their words (they have
tion, under the general heading of dialogue, no other choice), as much to justify their ac­
between two aspects which, more often than tions as to enable the drama to be under­
not, are considered as one and the same: stood. This is not true of the cinema, where
"stage" dialogue and "character" dialogue. a major area ofinterest is precisely this twi­
th real life, people talk; often they say light zone where characters can be revealed
nothing, but they talk. It is part of their be­ beyond what they say. The purpose of speech
havior pattern: "H i there. How are you? in the cinema is not to add ideas to images.
Hope it stops raining soon. I've just missed When this occurs, when the information to
236 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

b e understood i s con v ey ed so lely th rough rep resen ted cinem atically. E ven w ith o u t v i­
w h at is said, w h en the text takes resp on si­ su al sig n ification s, it is p lan n ed at least
b ility fo r the exp ressio n and sig n ification of w ith a v iew to a narrativ e d ev elo p in g freely
the p lot, w h en w h at "e n g a g e s" the heroes in space an d tim e, liberated at any rate from
derives e xclu siv ely from th eir speech, then th e restriction o f th e stage.
w e are d ealing w ith som eth in g en tirely dis­ Yet, th ere is som ething else w h ich on
sociated from film expression. Indeed, in as­ close exam in ation proves ev en m ore im ­
m u ch as it is art, the cin em a h a s n o n eed to p ortant: the stru ctu re o f the dialogue. In the
record significations, m erely create its ow n. theater, ev ery th in g is organized , prepared,
O bviously, film techn iqu es allow "m o ­ an d arran ged to suit the verb al expression,
m ents of verb al e x p ressio n " to b e given sin ce th is is w h a t con tain s the d ram atic con­
greater em p hasis th an any stage presenta­ tinuity, its su b stan ce and its expression. T he
tion, and there is n o th in g to sa y th a t the play, relying o n th e w ord s, g athers specific
cin em a shou ld n ot b e u sed to "p resen t" a "m o m e n ts o f sp e e c h " (uniquely these m o­
stag e play. B u t th en it is n o lon g er required m ents) into a single tim e an d place29 in such
to b e an art, m erely to p u t itself at th e ser­ a w a y that a play is n o m ore th an a series of
vice o f som e other m eans o f expression, to u n in terru p ted conv ersations. T h e verbal ex­
fix an alread y com pleted expression. A ll ch an g es g o b a ck and forth a t v ary in g rates
th at is retained o f it is its techniqu es. H o w ­ accordin g to the ty p e o f play, som etim es
ever, it is an ap p licatio n w ith far-reachin g g ettin g up to m ach in e-g u n speed. A nd al­
consequences. It is n o longer "film ed the­ w ay s w i t t y - o r literary. T h e astonishing
a te r" in th e p e jo ra tiv e sen se o f the w ord th in g ab ou t th e th eater is h o w clever all the
(the cam era reco rd in g a th eatrical event) heroes are: clear-th in k in g m ind s and gold en
b u t cin em atic presen tation a p p lied to a stage to n g u es u sin g p o lish ed , tem pered, and
play (w ith th e p o ten tial o f b ein g g reatly en ­ carefu lly ch osen lan g u ag e w ith o u t pause
riched b y it). N ot th a t th e cin em a con trib ­ fo r th o u g h t or ch oice o f words: p u re intelli­
utes a great deal, sin ce its exp ressio n has gence. H ow ever, th e sou rce o f all th is, how ­
n oth in g to d o w ith itself b u t w ith the fact ev er cu ltu red and witty, has spent six
th at it em p h asizes, fixes, and , m ore esp e­ m o n th s th in k in g ab ou t w h a t takes only tw o
cially, am plifies th e m ean in g o f th e verbal h ou rs to d eliv er o n stage, w h ich m ean s that
expression. F ilm s lik e H am let (G rigori K o­ the actors are "a s s u m in g " a text rath er than
zintsev ), H en ry V (L aurence O livier), M a c­ a character. O bviously, th ey en d ow their
beth (O rson W elles) and Les P arents Terribles ro les w ith life and verisim ilitu d e, b u t they
Qean C octeau) are am p le p ro o f o f this. Yet c a n n o t "liv e " lik e cin em a actors becau se
it is a m eans o f presen tation and n o t a m eans their ch aracters and , m ore especially, the
o f expression. A n y a rt there m a y b e com es te x t d oes not b elo n g to actu al reality.
fro m the play. T h e criticism s o f ov eractin g , stagey, con­
O ne m ay w ell w ond er h ow a play pre­ trived acting, leveled m ost frequently against
sen ted o n film is less cinem atic than a talkie stage actors, can be exp lain ed m ore in term s
w hose exp ressio n d ep en d s exclusively on o f th e artifice o f th e text and th e need s of the
its dialogue. In fact, fro m th a t po in t o f view verbal d iscou rse im p osed by the sta g e than
it is n o t really less cinem atic. In one respect, by a b eh a v io ra l or expressiv e techniqu e
how ever, it is: a p la y is con ceived and con ­ w h ith conform s q u ite easily w ith the con ­
stru cted w ith a v iew to its rep resentation ditions o f film . It is odd th a t n o on e h as no-
on a stage, w hereas a screenplay, ev en one t i c e d - a t least to m y k n o w le d g e - th a t the
w h ich is overdialogued, is conceived to be acto r is alw ay s h eld responsible fo r w hat
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 237

the theater itself imposes on him.30An actor that "moment of truth" and keeps the take
on a stage with nothing to say does not with the clearest delivery: what could be
know what to do and strikes a pose. It more artificial? The so-called New Wave
would be difficult to imagine otherwise, for may be criticized for many things, but it
one moment of actual truth would destroy must be admitted that the young directors
the artifice necessary for the truth of the have been able successfully to free them­
stage expression. selves from the yoke of theatrical dialogue
It should be obvious that the above is still in use in contemporary cinema. From
not criticism, merely observation of certain this point of view, films such as A bout de
facts. Theatrical truth is con ven tion alized sou ffle are a step forward toward a complete
truth, stylized reality, a series of artifices en­ abandonment of "fabricated" text.
abling us to glimpse an essen tial truth be­ It is interesting to tape record conversa­
yond the contrived reality through which tions with speakers unaware that they are
it is conveyed. Yet, though these conven­ being recorded. In B atons, chiffres et lettres,
tions are acceptable (even necessary) on the Raymond Queneau quotes the observa­
stage, it is not the same in the cinema, tions of the South American novelist and
where the realistic truth is based on a feeling musicologist Alejo Carpentier, with refer­
of true reality provided by the representa­ ence to this sort of experiment. He writes:
tion and setting of concrete reality.
Thus, whether it is all-pervasive or oth­ The result is something absolutely un­
erwise, film dialogue must provide an im­ realistic. Conversation has rhythm, move­
pression of life which has been lived (or at ment, a lack of sequence in ite ideas with,
on the other hand, unusual associations,
least as it might have been lived in the
strange skips of thought, in every way
given situation). Nothing is more irritating
different from the dialogue generally
in the cinema than the "author speaking"
filling the average novel. . . . The result
through the mouths of characters who abounds with unexpected revelations on
would otherwise apparently be incapable the real laws of spoken style.
of speaking in that particular w a y - at least I ^ all the more convinced that dia­
in the given circumstances. This does not logue, as used in novels and plays, in no
mean that film dialogue must be un­ way corresponds with the mechanism of
structured and banal: it must just be spon­ real spoken language (I refer not to words
taneous. It must come out of the characters' but movement, rhythm, the way we actu­
mouths, not the actors' memories. More­ ally argue and quarrel, the way ideas are
put together or not). We have gradually
over, even in the most lively moments of
become used, since the appearance of the
conversation, characters must have the
first "realist novels," to the mechanics of
time to think about what they are going to
realism, to a kind of conventional stabili­
s a y -a s in real life. Mumbling, s t ^ ^ e r - zation of speech, which has nothing what­
ing, stumbling over words (as long as the soever to do with actual speech. In
audience is not aware of an intention to mis­ speech, there is something far more alive,
pronounce the words) all adds to the im­ out-of-true, out of control, with changes
pression of actual reality. Of course, the of m o v em en t-a logical syntax which has
words must be audible. But how many di­ never really been captured.
rectors insist on the text being "well deliv­
ered?" An actor hesitates, "dries," and then From thatwe should expect, forthem ost
picks it up again . . . the director calls "cut" part, dialogue improvised by the actors
and there is another "take." He throws out around a given theme or, at least, written
238 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

d ialogue w h ose con ten t and stru cture the which is one stage before the shooting
actors m a y m o d ify a ccord in g to th eir ow n script. By which I mean I write the as
co n cep tio n o f th e ir ch aracters, p articu larly it will develop on the screen, as I see it, with
as much detail as possible. For this draft,
sin ce, in sp oken langu age, a s V endryes
I divide my script pages in two, keeping
p o in ts ou t, p h rases ten d to d ivid e into tw o
the right hand side for dialogue sketches;
sep arate halves: m o rp h em es (the sy n ta cti­
in other words, I note down what I want
cal structure) on the one h an d an d sem an ­ the characters to say to make clear the
tem es (the sig n ify in g data) on th e other. narrative and psychology of the protago­
Q ueneau observes th at "w h a t y ou hear on nists. It is from these sketches that the di­
the street is never: alogue writer writes his dialogue. Using
'Was it not the M ets w ho w on the W orld Series this method, I am able to keep him within
last year?' b u t ‘It w as the M ets w ho w on the a rigid framework and provide ^ m with
W orld S eries last year, w asn't it?' . . . Lastly, a way of becoming immersed in the style
the fu ture itself is u n d er threat. N o one ever I want to give the and my attitude to
it. The method helps save time and
says: ‘W ill you g o to the cou n try tom orrow ?'
avoids misunderstanding and confusion.
(w e p refer th e p ositive fo rm w ith a n in ter­
O f course, it must never be applied dog­
rogative intonation: A re you g oin g to the
matically, since it can happen that the di­
cou n try tom orrow ?). I'm takin g the m idday alogue writer may make a contribution to
train is m ore u su al th a n I w ill take th e m id d ay the structure of the narrative, suggesting
train." an unexpected twist to the plot through
Film first o f all ^turned a w ay from th ea t­ his dialogue. There are great difficulties,
rical p resen tation, th e n th eatrical acting, however, inherent in this discipline which
th en the constrain ts o f d ram atic structure, must be imposed on the dialogue writer
th en th e v e ry n o tio n o f theatricality. Yet it without tying m down or taking away
h a s y et to free itself fro m th e stranglehold his inspiration. (Le Metteur en scene et le
dialogue)
o f "w e ll-w ritte n " (literary) dialogue and
stagey verbosity. T h e reason w h y it h a s n ot
d on e so u n til n o w is th a t fo r the m ost p a rt A s fa r as co m m en ta ry is concerned , the
(in Fran ce at least) the w riters co m e from general ru les are p retty m u ch the sam e as
the theater. T h ey are w riters w h o see d ia­ for d ialogu e: it m u st d uplicate the function
log u e as th e v erb a l d ev elo p m en t o f a situ a ­ o f th e im age. It m ust n o t exp lain w h at is
tio n an d n o t as a d ram atic or p sy ch olog ical show n but rem ain d etached , m ak in g assess­
in cid en tal su p p o rtin g a v isu al exp ressio n - m en ts o f th e even ts an d th e scen es repre­
w h ich w o rk s v e ry w ell w h e n th e y are n o t sen ted . T h e sm aller the q u an tity o f com ­
responsible fo r th e o rig in al story, sin ce the m e n ta ry an d the greater priority given to
storytellin g then b eco m es n o th in g m ore the im age, th e b etter th e film . G enu in e com ­
th a n illustrated d ialog u e b ased on th e stru c­ m entary, detached fro m the film (i.e., d isin ­
tures d escribed above. terested and objective) can really b e used
W h en the d irector d oes n o t w rite his o n ly in short film s, d ocu m en taries and p o­
ow n d ia lo g u e - w h ic h is m o st often the etic film s, etc. In d ram atic film s, it m ost
case - the o n ly v iable m ethod is the on e d e ­ often becom es id entified w ith a particu lar
scribed b y L o u is D aquin: c h a ra c te r's im p ression o f ce rta in events.
W h ile th e im ag es rep resen t th e scen es d e­
In my case, w hen I have decided with scribed , th e n a rra to r expresses his p o in t of
the screenwriter upon the precise conti­ v iew in voice-over. T h is tech niqu e m akes it
nuity of the narrative, I write a draft p o ssib le fo r scen es w ith n o direct logical
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 239

connection to be related with verbal associ­ as inspiration Chateaubriand's famous text

ations. As we have seen, it may be used in which he uses as a commentary. In this film,
various ways (T hom as G a rn er—C itizen K an e the text follows the images. And since these
—R ashom on). -v e r y beautiful—images are related
When it is a question of an action not throughout to the text and since the percep­
involving attitudes or opinions but facts tion is visu al, we first o f all feel an emotion
pure and simple, the text, uncovering or toward what we see. Yet even as we feel it,
explaining these facts, runs the risk of du­ it is directly transferred to our intellect to
plicating what the images are inevitably re­ form a judgment requiring words with
vealing. A way of avoiding this redun­ which to express itself. And the words are
dancy is to offset (minutely) the image provided for us precisely as we think of
against the sound, so that they do not ap­ them; in other words, our thoughts are
pear synchronous. A shift of half a second moulded into Chateaubriand's actual
is most usually appropriate, but, of course, phrases at the very moment they appear in
it all depends on the length of the scene, our minds. What is more, the marvelous
its nature and its importance. It may vary prose makes us feel deep down as though
from a half-second to as much as two sec­ we are translating our emotion with the
onds; but, as a general rule, the commen­ mastery and verbal precision of a Chateau­
tary must always fo llo w the image and not briand. We feel as he must have felt and, like
the other way around, since at the very him, we use words to express what we feel.
least this would be anticinematic. Thus the emotion precedes the expression,
Indeed, if the explanation of a fact pre­ whereas in L e R ideau Cram oisi, it is the other
cedes that fact, the meaning we receive from way around. Now, an emotion which has
the commentary is essentially verbal. The already been sign ified loses its power to move.
image then merely fills in the gaps, illus­ Communicated through words, expressed
trating what the text has said, not as a com­ and intellectualized, all the emotion can
mentary but as a narration embellished with gain from the images is an extension or res-
images. Such is the case with a film like Le onance-w hereas it is the images themselves
R ideau C ram oisi (Alexandre Astruc), which which should move us in the first place.
I ^ better qualified than most to assess, In the cinema, what must have priority
since I edited it. However hard I argued and is not the signified or the signification but
tried to explain (we had some battles royal!), the con tin u ou s p assag e fr o m the nonsignified
Astruc insisted that the text should precede to the signified, the transition fr o m the em o­
the image. At the time (1952), according to tional to the intellectual throu gh a constantly
the theories of Bazin, Leenhardt, and indeed con tin gen t signification. We have already ex­
Astruc himself, the primacy of the text was pressed this essential truth in various di­
absolutely sacrosanct. Nowadays, Astruc verse ways, considering it from different
has stopped liking his film (and, let it be angles, and we cannot help but come back
said, it is the best he has made to date): "It to it, since it is at the heart of every single
is illustrated literature," he says (in an inter­ aesthetic question in the cinema.
view in C inem a 6 2 )-te n years to realize Before we examine the potentially en­
something which was self-evident! riching role of the verbal expression in the
By way of contrast, in a short film made cinema beyond the rather rudimentary use
in 1947, C om bourg, v isa g e d e P ierre Jacques made of it so far, it might be appropriate to
de Casenbroot), the filmmaker discovers say a few words about the dialogue of ideas,
Combourg, its estate and its castle, taking dialogue with philosophic pretensions used
240 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I NE MA

bycertain filmmakers to convey "thoughts" don't know exactly what but it must be use­
by putting them into the mouths of their ful for something! If it isn't, then nothing is,
characters. To my way of thinking, nothing even the stars! That's how it is. . . . Every­
could be more contrived. Not that intelli­ thing is useful for something. . . . Even
gent people do not say sensible things (in­ you're useful for something, you ninny,"
tellectuals have a place in the cinema just as etc. The moral of the story is the utilitarian
much as cowboys), but if they express ideas one of "everything which exists has a use."
during a conversation, it can only be in a From this it follows that nothing is useless.
very general and vague way. A metaphysi­ Yet if nothing is useless, the idea of useless­
cal discussion can be dramatically struc­ ness becomes meaningless, since it refers to
tured. Moreover, the very conditions of art . . . nothing. Moreover, if everything which
(allusion, suggestion, rhythm, and balance) exists has a use, the notion of utility be­
and of the cinema in particular (visual comes identified with the notion of exis­
rather thanverbal progressions) counter tence itself. Thus to say "everything which
to the conditions of logic and accuracy im­ exists has a use" is just another way of say­
posed by the formulation of ideas. Giving ing "everything which exists exists." We
perfect form to the expression of a thought plumb the hidden depths and what do we
(Pascal, Nietzsche, Bergson) is one thing, find? The tautology of a self-evident truth.
making a work of art another. For, though None of this would be important were it
the work of art must suggest ideas through not for the fact that we are expected to in­
a certain consciousness of the world, it is not terpret this stone throw as the expression of
duty bound to describe them precisely. In a "philosophy of existence." The heroes of
the cases where it does try to formulate the film are poor uneducated folk, and it
ideas, it merely produces poor ideas. would be absurd to have them discourse
An excellent case in point was provided like learned professors. Theirs is a home­
by La Strada. Though by no means Fellini's spun philosophyand we understand it as
best film, it is still an interesting work. The such. Yet Fellini makes the fundamental
general idea concerns the loneliness of a mistake of trying to give a metaphysical
man discovering the absurdity of his exis­ perspective to remarks which are ingenu-
tence after losing the only being for whom o u s -b u t in character. If there is any philos­
he had any feeling (and that a kind of ophy of existence it emerges from the film
amused contempt). There is a lot to think and not the conversations contained in it.
about in this film, therefore. Any criticism There are more philosophical conversa­
we might make of it would be at the level tions in Agnes Varda's La Pointe cowrte
of its rather obvious symbolism. For a large (1955). It is not the moment to criticize this
section of the public, however, the most in­ film (whose imagery, in any case, is very
teresting thing about the film was the fa­ beautiful and whose strange symbolism is
mous "stone throw." Let us try to explore not without interest); but what do we make
its "hidden depths." of the man and woman who, down among
During a conversation they are having, the oyster fishermen of sete, talk of love in
Matto (Richard Basehart) says to Gelsomina a way usual only in rather reactionary lit­
(Giuletta Massina): "You're not going to be­ erary circles? Obviously they are intellectu­
lieve me . . . yet everything in world is als - a t least that is what they believe and
useful for something. Take a stone, for in­ do their best to make us believe it too. That
stance. This one . . . any one. O .K .-ev en is not the issue: were it merely a question
this pebble is useful for something. . . . I of generalities, it would only be the preten­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 241

tious and p o m p o u s style o f th e d ialogu e sented in its developing state; it emerges

w h ich cou ld b e fau lted . H ow ever, th e y are from the time structure o f the film, in the
sp eakin g o f their love fo r each other, and same way as the idea in a painting comes
from the coexistence of its component
the effect p rod u ced is lud icrous. A cou ple
parts. Art is fortunate in being able to
o f p hilo sop hers m ig h t easily d iscu ss love
show how something begins to signify,
from th e sociolog ical, phen om en o lo g ical,
not by allusion to previously formed and es­
or p sy ch o an aly tic p o in t o f view , b u t they tablished ideas but through the time or space
w o u ld n o t b e talk in g ab ou t any feelin g s b e ­ arrangement o f its elements.31 As we have
tw ee n them . If th ey w ere, th ey w ould do so seen above, a film signifies in the same
w ith extrem e sim plicity, k n o w in g th at to way as an object; neither of them appeals
speak oth erw ise w ould b etra y an ill-ad ­ to an independent reasoning faculty but
vised im m o d esty ig n o ra n ce , or pretension. to our capacity for deciphering implicitly
Varda m u st k n ow n o th in g o f h o w a cou ple the world and our fellow men and for co­
o f intellectu als l i v e - or m ig h t liv e - to hav e existing with them. (Le Cinema et la nou-
velle psychologie)
presen ted th e m in th is w ay. A n d if th e film
p u rp o rts to b e sy m b olic, th e n it is the sy m ­
b o lism o f artificiality! In film s w ith v o ice-o ver com m entary,
If it is p h ilo sop h y w e are lo o k in g for, w e u su ally b ased o n th e p rin cip le o f the "jo u r-
shall n o t fin d it w ith A g n es Varda b u t n e y -b a ck -to -th e-p a st," the narrator reveals
rath er w ith M erleau -P onty: w h a t h e k n ow s, b u t h is in v o lv em en t is only
relative. T h e even ts h e d escribes are alw ays
In a novel there is always an idea seen "fro m the o u tsid e ." T h e idea o f su b ­
which can be summarized in a few words, jective com m en tary happened at about the
a scenario which can be summed up in a sam e tim e as film s w h ere th e h ero did not
few lines. In a poem, there is always an ap p ear on th e screen; how ever, w hereas
allusion to objects or ideas. However, the film s acted in the first p erso n p roved im ­
purpose of pure fiction or pure poetry is p racticab le fo r the reasons w e described
not just to signify these facts, ideas, or ob­
above, film s thou ght in the first person
jects, for then the poem would be exactly
op en ed u p n ew and b ou n d less horizons.
translatable into prose and the novel
C o m m en ta ry assu m ing the tone and
would lose nothing by being abridged.
. . . In the same way, a film always con­ b read th of a k ind of self-exam ination, began
tains a story (and quite often an idea), but to explore a su bjective w orld sim ilar to the
the purpose of the film is not to make us w o rld o f P rou stian analysis.
aware of the facts or the idea. Kant writes in fact, th e first su bjective com m entary
with great insight that in consciousness film s (H ow G reen Is M y V a lle y - B r ie f En­
we use our imagination to help us under­ counter) did n o t asp ire to exam in ations of
stand, whereas in art we use our under­ an y kind. T h e film s m erely traced chrono­
standing to help our imagination. In other lo g ica lly v ario u s facts experien ced b y the
words, the idea or prosaic facts are there
heroes. O nce again, it w as an objective re­
merely to give the creator the opportunity
ality seen fro m a subjective angle; the n ar­
to seek out perceptible emblems for them
rator testified to his actions rath er th an to
and trace their visual and auditory ci­
phers. The meaning of the film is con­ a period in his "p sy ch ic d ev elop m en t," and
tained in its rhythm, just as the meaning the associated ev en ts w ere set in the past
of an action is immediately readable in on ly becau se the com m en tary w as w ritten
the a ctio n -a n d film has no meaning ex­ in th e im perfect or perfect tense.
cept through itself. Here the idea is pre­ W e h ad to w ait fo r H iroshim a, mon am ou r
242 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

(Alain Resnais, 1960) for hurdle to be an antithesis between the facts, differentiat­
overcome. The time experienced by the ing them in time as they are in space, while
characters and their memories form the es­ the commentary connects them in our ^thds,
sential elements of film, and its basic creating a psychological unity and giving
subject matter, though quite important, is meaning to unconnected, disparate memo­
treated merely as a starting point. Instead ries. Links are drawn between Nevers and
of describing a character through the eyes Hiroshima, between the past and the pres­
of one or more of his fellows, as in Thomas ent, between memory and reality, and these
Garner and Citizen Kane, the film centers it­ reconstitute an existence. Through an illu­
self on the consciousness of a single indi­ minating act of consciousness, the present
vidual and therefore allows for the kind of shows itself as a special moment caught be­
self-analysis we have just described. tween memory and oblivion.
In this film, as in Proust (the cake dipped The commentary is never explicit, made
into the tea), the memory process is stimu­ up of snatches of conversation: it translates
lated by a physical sensation: it is the image feelings, states of mind. And if at times the
of the Japanese man's hand against the situation is explained both through the
sheet which suddenly and quite unexpect­ image and the text, the effect is never re­
edly brings back the image of the German dundant, since they are each, as it were,
soldier killed on the quayside in Nevers. understood on different levels. The text is
Naturally, past events do not come back in never the verbal equivalent of the images;
the order they were experienced but in an it echoes them as a kind of interior correla­
order determined by the process of con­ tion, with the effect that something else is
sciousness. And yet it is not exactly a "jour- communicated using the same ingredients;
ney-back-to-the-past." Indeed, the past is they serve complementary rather than
re-presented in Proust in its objective real­ identical functions. The dialogue extends
ity as though it were being reexperienced by the interior monologue. When the young
the character remembering it. In the film, it woman is talking to her lover, she is speak­
is the past being remembered by a con­ ing to herself more than to ^ m . She is grop­
sciousness in the present; what the girl re­ ing for an illusory certainty, reliving her
members forms the actual material of her past in the present, at the same time as the
memory: it is a trace left in the present by present takes the place of the past and be­
the past but belonging to a present actually comes memory following the eternal dual­
being experienced; it is the actualization of ity of remembering and forgetting: "Time
a series of sensations which she interprets will pass. There won't be anything left for
as "consciousness of." The perpetual recur­ us. It will all fade away. We won't even be
rence of the past, mingling fragments of the able to say what it was that kept us to­
characters' lives with actions actually hap­ gether." It is almost a state of half-sleep or
pening, results in the memory becoming hypnosis, and it takes a slap to bring her
superimposed over concrete reality, giving out of it, as it does to release her from the
it profound meaning. The associations are influence of the p ast-w h ich explains the
neither logical nor causal but analogical incantatory nature of the interior mono­
and affective. logue. The text is music put into words.
The difference in composition of the im­ With the psalmlike feeling of its obsessional
agery (close shots and harsh lighting pre­ reiteration and repetition, like a verbal hal­
dominating in the Hiroshima location; long lucination, it constantly reacts against the
shots and subdued tones in Nevers) sets up images, polarizing them. In the light of
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 243

m em ory, reality b eco m es com p letely su b ­ h a s n o "re le v a n c e " outside it. It is con­
jectified as p art o f a d ream w o rld , and the stantly related to the im ages w ithou t ever
internal con flict ap p lied to an act o f m em ­ "e x p la in in g " them , and if the film seem s
ory has the effect o f tu rn in g th e exam in a­ "sa tu ra te d w ith litera tu re" as som e critics
tion o f self in to poetry. "In its fo rm , th e film h av e claim ed , it is only in asm u ch as its sub­
is closer to the stru cture o f m u sic than of je c t m atter b elo n g s to th e a rt o f the novel.
conv entional d ram a. It appeals less to on e's It is n o t lite ra ry in eith er its fo rm or its ex­
reason than on e's fe e lin g s," R esnais h im self p ressio n and is m u ch m ore closely related
w rites. to pu re cin em a, i.e., to the specific art of
From a purely psychological p o in to f view cinem a.
there is a certain cred ibility gap: th e events O n ly th o se w h o k n o w n o b etter p u t this
h ap p en in g in N evers are alw ays presen ted film in th e sa m e categ o ry as Chris M a rk er's
objectively to us as th o u g h seen "fro m the film s, w h ere th e te x t reig n s suprem e, and
o u tsid e." W e w atch E m m anu elle Riva in­ as La Pointe courte, w h ose ridiculous dia­
volved in h er ow n action s, w h ereas in her log u e reveals literary qualities o f the sam e
past, exp erien ced by her, sh e has n o t b een type. T h e m o n u m en tal difference is this:
able to see herself, sin ce sh e has b ee n a t the the d ialog u e in La Pointe courte is mediated
center o f her vision. H o w ev er (apart from b u t p resen ted as direct an d placed in an ob­
the fact that this b rin g s us u p ag ain st the jective r e a lity - w h ic h reveals it to b e con­
problem s o f the su bjective cam era), it w ould trived and ou t o f place. If it w ere a question
appear that th e real orig in ality o f th e film o f a n interior m onologue (or im aginary di­
is contained in th is contrad iction. It allow s alogue) p u ttin g a noticeable distance be­
a greater contrast to b e m ad e b etw een an tw een the ob jectively consid ered reality
analytic text and a d escrip tive im ag e (the a n d a su b jective an aly sis not actually pres­
im age b ein g seen as an objectification o f the ent, th en it w ould b e ju stified . It w ould be
subjective, as th o u g h som eon e cou ld project o f an ord er sim ilar to Hiroshima, w hereas
h im self into h is ow n consciou sness in order th e introd u ction o f un real (or im possible)
to w atch h im self existing). d ialogue in to a real con text d istorts every ­
H a v in g said that, th e field rem ains w id e thing. L et us n ot forg et that the conversa­
op en fo r a closer exam in atio n o f th e w o rk ­ tion s b etw een the y o u n g w o m a n and the
in g s o f ou r m em ory faculty. In fact, w e Jap an ese are very sim p le an d n atu ral; the
m ig h t im agine a ch aracter rem em b erin g text is d istan ced only to th e extent th a t she
p ast events film ed in th e style o f Lady o f the is telling a story, her story, an d therefore
Lake. W hereas in th a t film it could n o t be tran sp oses it. It is th e sam e contrast, the
ju stified becau se it w a s n o t related to a vis­ sam e a n tith e s is -th is tim e a t the level of
ible character, in Hiroshima, mon amour, it th e dialogue an d c o m m e n ta r y -a s w e saw
w as supp orted b y th e presence o f th e ch ar­ in The M an Who Lost His Memory and The
acter. It provid ed th e p erfect ju stificatio n Ghost That Will Not Return. W h at is tru e for
fo r th e u se o f su b jectiv e cam era ap p lied to o n e is n o t n ecessarily true fo r another.
th e m em ory o f a character objectively placed B azin w rites: "T h e m ain ingredient in
in tim e and space. C h ris M a rk e r's film s is in telligence; speech
W h ile on th e su b ject o f th e com m entary is its im m ediate expression; the im age
o f Hiroshima, mon amour, it is clear th a t the takes third p la c e ." T h is is p recisely w h at
literary q u alities o f th e text (w hich are ob­ w e criticize h im for! H e goes on: "T h e
vious enou gh) are necessary. T h e text, de­ im age d o e s n o t relate to the one b efore or
p end ent on the point o f view o f the film , after it b u t to w h a t is said in it."32 In fact,
244 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

buried u n d e r th e text, th e im a g es relate th ro u g h w h a t th e y say. N ow , in th e cinem a,

m o re to w h at is said th an to w h a t is said w h ere this con v en tio n is n o t m erely irrele­
about them (th e p rep o sition su g g estin g a van t b u t to b e avoided a t all costs, it is
p rio rity con trad icted b y th e facts). It is n o t am azin g to see h o w o fte n d ialog u e w h ich
th e p lace o f th e im ag e to re la te to the com ­ is unreal is in corp orated into a reality
m en tary b u t o f th e co m m en tary to relate w h ich is.
to w h atev er th e im ag e reveals; it m u st not In fact, n in e tim es o u t o f ten, in real life,
prom ote itself b y co n sid erin g th e im age people d o n o t sa y w h at th ey think. N ot
m erely as a p retext fo r a verb al sig n ifica­ becau se th ey w ish to lie (th ou g h that is cer­
tion. T h e sig n ified m u st n ot b e con tain ed ta in ly a p o ssib le reason) b u t p u rely fo r rea­
in th e w ord s b u t as the consequence of a sons o f social conven ience. T h ey alter the
film signification. to n e o f their con v ersatio n accordin g to
B ernard P ingau d w rites in h is illum inat­ w h eth er it is th eir w ife th ey are speaking
ing stu d y o f R esnais's film s: "W e are led to to, th e ir m istress, a o n e-n ig h t stand, a col­
conclu d e that H iroshim a, mon am ou r proves leagu e o r w o rk associate. W h eth er fo r rea­
th at a self-aw are cin em a com pares v ery fa ­ son s o f self-interest, m odesty, delicacy,
vo rab ly w ith th e m o st com p lete, m o st lib er­ M ach iav ellian subtlety, o r a n y other m oral
ated n arrativ es in fiction. W h a tev er m in o r o r im m oral reason , the "c iv iliz e d " m an
criticism s w e m a y m ak e of R esn ais, th e w ay ch an g es h is "a n g le on th e w o rld " and takes
h e han d led his actors, th e w a y th e y sp oke up a position according to th e su b ject o f
th e ir lines, th e w a y th e film w as cu t o r p er­ th e con v ersatio n and the ch aracter o f his
h ap s th e v e ry su b ject o f the film , it is fa ir to interlocutors.
say th at H iroshim a represents a v ery co n sid ­ O b v io u sly this d ifference is apparent on
erab le step fo rw ard in th e art o f cin em atic th e screen, but it is g iv en u n d u e em phasis
n a rra tiv e."33 th rou g h a w ay o f being categorical or a par­
Follow ing in this th e exp erim ents in ticular attitude; a certain freed om of expres­
m o d ern fiction and th e d irection suggested sio n o r a certain to n e indicates th e degree
b y T hom as G arn er and C itizen K ane, film s are o f in tim acy b etw een th e characters on the
b eco m in g m o re and m o re clo sely align ed screen. In th e d ram atic context, it is e a sy to
w ith th e stu d y o f b eh a v io r an d real tim e, g u e s s - a s in th e th e a te r -w h e t h e r a char­
en ablin g d irectors to pro b e variou s states of acter is telling th e tru th o r not; b u t w h ich ­
m ind and ach iev e a greater d egree o f p sy ­ ever it is, h is w a y o f th in k in g rem ains
chological t r u th -b e y o n d co n v en tio n al sto­ constan t. This d u a lity o f being an d seem ing,
rytelling. F rom this p oint o fv ie w , H iroshim a b etw een w h at a ch a ra cter is and w h at he
is on ly a h altin g step fo rw a rd , esp ecially as think s h im self to b e, b etw een w h at the
fa r as th e u se o f d ialo g u e is concerned . oth er ch aracters th in k h e is and w h at he
It is stran g e to con sid er h o w closely d i­ really is (in short, th is p sy ch olog ical d en ­
alogu e (th ough fre e fro m th e constraints of sity, p ro v id in g th e ch aracter w ith continu­
th e stage) rem ains attached, in th e m ajority ally varying and con trastin g perspectives),
of film s, to th e trad itio n s o f th e th eater is n ev er really rep rod u ced in th e cin em a, at
w h ere th e heroes, u n able to reveal th eir b e ­ lea st in th e w a y th e ch aracters talk to one
h av ior except th rou g h th eir sp eech , say another, sin ce it is m o st freq u ently su g ­
w h at th e y th in k ev en w h e n it is n o t the g ested in th e su b tle in teractio n s b etw een
truth. T h ey lie o r th e y are sin cere; th ere is th e actors, in th e m ise-en -scen e or th e film
n o m iddle way. A n d w h en th ey show expression. Visible com p lexity does not
them selves fo r w h at th ey are, it is alw ays have an acou stic equ ivalent. W e are in the
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 245

presen ce o f real b ein g s expressin g th e m ­ W e are led from th is to com pare film de­
selves in a w ay really seen o n ly on a stage v elop m en t w ith literary f o r m s - t h e cin ­
- e v e n w h en the w ord s th e y u se are w ith ­ em a, in ou r op inion , ta k in g th e u p p er h and
ou t literary artifice. T h e w o rd s are tru e, b u t in m a n y areas as regard s p sy ch olog ical
th eir th o u g h ts are contriv ed , a t the very analysis. In fa ct, th e n o v e list h as tw o form s
least conventional. T h ere is a certain com ­ a t h is d isposal: a direct style w h ich lets the
plexity in som eon e th in k in g and behavin g characters be described th rou g h w h at they
like a hig h -society ty p e and talk in g like a say and a n ind irect style w h ich allow s the
low -life. Talking is p u ttin g up a front; it is author to d escribe h is ch aracters' behav ior
b ein g o n eself and som eon e else at th e sam e or p u t h im self "o n the insid e" of his heroes,
tim e; it is d eliberately p ro jectin g oneself an aly zin g fro m w ith in th eir innerm ost
onto a fictional b ein g created fo r the pu r­ th o u g h ts. H ow ever, b o th of them are verbal
pose. M oreover, if the b ein g w h o acts is ca­ processes - i n other w ord s, the reader has
pable o f m easuring an d controlling his to restructure m en tally w hat th e text gives
actions, so also can th e bein g w h o speaks. him . H e m u st im ag in e th e situations,
N ot o n ly d oes h e th in k o f w h a t h e is say in g conflicts, an d reactions w h ich direct p er­
b u t also o f w h at h e has ju st said, about w h at cep tio n w ou ld m ak e m ore easily com pre­
he h as ju s t said. It is n o t o n ly Jesu its w ho h en sib le fo r the fa ct that it is direct.
hav e m ental con strain ts. T h e inn er voice is A n o v el is created in th e thoughts an d
alw ays th ere to correct o r contrad ict w hat im ag in atio n o f th e reader. A film , o n the
one says - a l s o w h at oth er p eop le say. oth er h a n d , is created n o t in the im ag in a­
Ju d gm en t is endless. tion b u t in th e perception. T h ro u g h the ob­
T h u s in te rio r m o n olog u e, w h ich in the je ctiv e representation o f things, the im age
theater allow s th e hero to reveal his secret h a s a lib era tin g pow er w h ich w ord s do not
fears and am bitions b u t rem ain s a con v en ­ hav e. It frees us from reality b y offering it
tion (since it m u st b e spoken o u t loud for to us, or a t least frees us fro m the need to
the audience to h ear it in th e g allery ) finds im ag in e it, a t th e sam e tim e ask in g us to
its aesth etic reso lu tio n in th e cinem a. O bvi­ d iscov er a meaning in it. Though it is not
ously, it is still spoken b u t as voice-over - created through thought, it gives food for
heard w ith o u t b ein g uttered. thought. M oreover, as w e have indicated
N aturally, it is n o t a tech n iq u e t o b e used o n nu m erou s occasions, it alw ay s involves
w illy-nilly. V isual sig n ification (a gesture or the processes o f consciou sness (association,
a look) is p referab le, b u t th e re are occasion s ju d g m en t, etc.). T h e en d result o f fiction in
w h e n a w ord or p h rase is necessary, w h en th e cin em a is n o t, as in th e nov el, a fictional
w h at the im ag e is capable o n ly o f su g g est­ reality; its point o f d ep arture is a perceived
ing h as to b e m ad e explicit. M oreover, far reality, w h ich it th e n tran scend s. Besides, as
from b ein g stru ctured as a text, the in terio r B ernard Pingaud points ou t, tim e in the
m onolog u e m a y b e com posed o f disparate cinem a "coincid es w ith th a t of the audi­
th o u g h ts, in organ ic phrases (like M o lly e n c e ," w h ereas in the nov el, "e v e n if the
B lo om 's m onologue at th e e n d o f Ulysses), read er is close to u n d erstan d in g the origi­
provided that it is u n d erstand ab le in the n a l tim e, h e d oes n o t actu ally experien ce it;
given context. W h atever the case, there is a h e exp erien ces so m eth in g created b y the
potential association b etw een w h a t is said narrative w h ich ca n o n ly b e v estig ial."
and w h a t is th o u g h t. U ltim ately one cou ld T h e im p ortan t p o in t is this: the talkie en ­
im ag in e a film b ased e n tirely o n th e in n er­ joys all th e ad van tages o f literary, i.e., fic­
m ost th o u g h ts o f a character. tion al exp ression, p assin g co n sta n tly from
246 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

th e v e rb a l to the v isu a l, fro m d escrip tion to g reater ju stification fo r h is lo v e r's fears, etc.
su ggestion, from som eth in g said to som e­ N ow , w h ere it w ould hav e tak en a novelist
th in g seen , fro m a n action to a th o u g h t and te n or tw en ty lin es to exp lain th e m ental
b a ck again. reactions o f the m a n and describe its con ­
A n y th in g un d er th e h ead in g o f direct sequ ences, th e im age gives us th e in form a­
style in th e n o v el is tran slatable in the cin­ tion in stantaneou sly: as h e con tin u es acting
em a b y dialogue and b y the w a y the ch a r­ a n d speakin g, it draw s atten tion to p articu lar
acters behav e. A s w ell as w h at is said, it is m an n erism s, in v o lu n tary m o v em en ts, the
also how it is said and h o w th e characters attitu de o f each in tu m ; it exposes, corrects,
beh av e, i.e., the actors' acting. e xp lain s an d very accu rately fulfills the role
A t th e sam e tim e an y th in g u n d e r the o f th e n o v elist relative to his characters. It
h ead in g o f in d irect sty le is d efinable is able to investig ate m otiv es, p oin t ou t
th rou g h p u re visual expression . T h is is the con trasts, u n d erm in e th e d ialogu e, and,
part p lay ed b y ed iting , fram ing, cam era th ro u g h its associatio n s w ith th e dialogue,
m ovem ent, and the sp atial organization of con trol or d eflect th e m eaning , constan tly
the field o f view relative to th e action and altering it.
situation. It is th e an aly sis o f facts an d ac­ It is clear th at there are fa r m o re op por­
tions in an ap p rop riate rhythm . tu nities offered to a film m aker w an ting to
B y this m eans, the relationsh ip b etw een exp loit the p sy ch o lo g ical d im ension s o f a
direct and ind irect style is exactly th e sam e ch aracter th a n to a n o v e list. A s w ell as the
as that b etw een the tw o different m odes of d escrip tive im ag e on w h ich it is based , film
e x p r e s s io n -v e r b a l and v i s u a l - e a c h w ith offers d ialogu e an d the analytic im age,
its ow n different in flu ence on th e concept. w h ich provid es th e relationship betw een
E verything in literatu re w h ic h takes tim e to w h a t is seen and w h a t is heard ; interior
register w ith the read er is fe lt im m ed iately m o n olog u e, w h ich p rovid es the relation­
in th e cinem a. ship b etw een w h at is said and w h at is
The exam p le o f th e Titanic is sig nifican t th o u g h t; and com m en tary (possibly the
in th is respect, b u t even so, the relationsh ip com m en tary o f som eone ou tsid e the ac­
is a sim p le o n e - b e t w e e n a k n o w n h istori­ tion ), w h ich provides th e relationsh ip b e­
cal ev en t and a situ ation to w h ich th e event tw een com m entary, d ialogu e, and m ono­
lend s a m eaning. log u e vis-a-v is w h at th e im age show s,
Im agine th e fo llow in g situ a tio n : a m a n analy zes, or su ggests. A film is a com plex
is trying to co n so le h is m istress. H e d oes o f com p lexes, an o v erlay o f allu sions and
n o t dare (or is n o t able) to con fron t h e r w ith associations all (potentially) related to var­
certain h o m e truths, the con seq u en ces of iou s different significations like m u ltifac­
w h ith h e is w eig h in g in h is m ind. H e lights eted , infinitely self-reflectin g m irrors.
a cigarette, pulling ou t h is lighter. R ecog ­ T h e (d eliberately cru de) exam p les w e
n izin g it as a p resen t w h ich h is fiancee gave h av e used sh ow very w ell w h at th e cinem a
h im a few scen es earlier, w e are directly could be, w h a t it is capable o f b eing. T hough
aw are o f his dilem m a: the lig h ter p rick s his it is a long w ay from th e p sy ch olog ical sub­
co n scie n ce —w h ich is in d irect contrast tleties o f a P rou st, a Joy ce, or a Faulkner, its
w ith the attitu d e h e is assum in g. H e pulls d ialectical cap acities are such that it will be
h im self together, b u t, as h e starts to speak, on a par w ith them in the foreseeable fu­
he fondles the object. W e g uess th a t h e is ture. It w o u ld be alread y were th e film m a­
thinking o f h is fia n ce e and this thought, ker able to express him self through film as
w h ich m akes h im act oddly, gives an even the w riter d oes th rou g h w ord s, i.e., were
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 247

the public capable of understanding the vi­ fects can be out of synch, early or late;
sual code as it understands the verbal code sounds can be played backward or at un­
and were film not to require universal com­ natural levels. A whole universe of disso­
prehension to guarantee its very existence. nances and discords is available to the
In a less serious but no less interesting sound recordist. Has anyone ever explored
vein (interesting because it is immediately them?34 Except for animation films, which
comprehensible - 1 am referring to comedy, generally use them for comic effects, the ex­
fairy tales, fantasy), the text has never been amples could be counted on the fingers of
exploited to the extent that it might have. one hand: the rugby match in LeMillion, the
Think of sound distortion, the potential of quarrel between the two capitalists in Mir-
increasing or decreasing recording speeds, acolo aMilano, certain scenes in Belles de nuit,
dialogue backward to produce a strange the horse in Okraina letting out a sigh of ex­
convoluted neolanguage, thanging voices haustion are the classical examples. But
around so that an old man has a little girl's they are few and far between. At the fantasy
voice, a construction worker a baby's, a level, La Nuit /antastique has some extraor­
pretty woman a deep bass, etc. A character dinary effects in it, but there has been only
loses his temper -in stea d of cursing, he one director to my knowledge who has been
barks like a dog. His neighbor shuts him able to use sound to its fullest advantage:
up by bleating like a sheep. Animals ex­ Gregory la Cava. In Private Worlds, whose
change crazy ideas. Andre Delons wrote as action takes place in an insane asylum, a
far back as 1928: "Imagine the sort of satir­ young woman loses her sanity. She hears
ical comedy where slapstick comedians her own voice whispering to her: "You're
could become dramatic characters, country going mad." Repeated endlessly, this phrase
bumpkins could play tragic parts, and vil­ keeps recurring: murmured, shouted,
lains could read the news. Imagine the screamed, from close to, from far away, on
speaking parte reversed, with a tree being the right and on the left; with every intona­
cut down screaming like a woman in pain tion possible-anxious, hysterical, terrified
or humming a gay little tune or a woman —and every pitch-m uffled, muted, sharp,
speaking in tree creaks, soughing leaves, or hissed, screeched. The general psychic ef­
tearing roots. Imagine your images of com­ fect is mind-bending. The audience might
edy and tragedy turned upside down— easily think itself going mad. Had the se­
when a group of characters with smiling quence been stretched beyond the levels of
faces sob their hearts out. Imagine the op­ tolerance it would have had people fainting
posite of everything I have said . . ." (Le in the aisles. I have never seen anything like
Melange des genres). it before or since. And yet . . .
Fantasy films could not be better served.
Merely putting words and sounds out of The Role o f Music
synch can produce the most amazing ef­
fects. Awoman screams but we do not hear From the earliest days, films were always
the sound . . . until a second later when the projected to the accompaniment of music.
scream reverberates and echoes, terrifying In my own memory, the silent films pro­
the woman herself. A character carries on jected in the local cinemas had pianists im­
an argument with his own voice saying provising (more or less successfully),
words he does not mean. A singer mouths changing rhythm and tempo according to
her words; she swallows the sounds instead the pace of each individual sequence, from
of letting them out of her mouth. Sound ef­ chase scenes to tender love scenes, jumping
248 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

from B a ch to C h ristin e, from F ra n z L eh a r to is therefore subsidiary, h e lp in g to p u t us in

Wagner. a tra n ce w ith a vag u e backgrou nd hu m .
The idea of a p iece o f m u sic sp ecially M u sic h elp s to create silence. A n d it is this
com posed fo r film s d id occu r to som e pro­ tran ce-in d u cin g q u ality w h ich is fo r us the
d ucers, b u t th e expense o f h irin g orchestras real purpose o f m u sic in th e cinema."36
to p lay th e scores w a s so great th at on ly one Yet it w o u ld appear th a t the n eed for
o r tw o cinem as, in P aris and the provinces, m u sic in film m a y b e exp lain ed in a w ay
w ere able to afford that k in d o f luxury. In that is b oth lo g ical and psych ological. The
th e p erio d b etw een 1908 and the en d o f the "u n re a listic " natu re o f silen t film m ak es it
s ile n te ra I ca n th in k o f o n ly te n scores w rit­ in cap able o f a llo w in g the au d ien ce to expe­
ten for film s, th e first b ein g S ain t-Saen s, for rien ce a real feelin g o f duration, o f tim e pass­
the A ssassinat du Due d e G u ise (1908). There ing. T h e tim e exp erien ced b y th e characters
w ere also (quoting fro m m em ory): Q uo in th e dram a, the relationsh ip in tim e b e­
Vadis Q ean N ogu es, 1912), C abiria (Ildeb- tw een shots o r seq u ences, m ay b e perfectly
rante P izetti, 1914), Birth o f a N ation Q oseph w ell recognized - b u t it is understood, not
C arl Breil, 1916), In toleran ce Q oseph C arl experienced. Film needed a kind o f rhythm ic
B reil, 1916), El D orado (M ariu s Francois beat to en able the au d ien ce to m easure in-
G aillard, 1921), E n tracte (Erik Satie, 1924), to n a lly the psychological tim e o f the drama,
Salam m bo (Florent S chm itt, 1925), L e Jou eu r relatin g it to the b asic sen sation of real time.
d'echecs (H enri Rabau d , 1926), N apoleon (A r­ In other w ord s, it n eed ed a m easure capa­
th u r H onegger, 1927). b le o f a ccou n tin g fo r rh y th m and cadence.
F ro m 1919 onw ard , cin em as w ith o r­ A n d it w as m u sic w h ich con trib u ted this
chestras b e g a n to p ro liferate an d m o re an d m easu re, this tim e content. Far m ore than
m o re sco re s b e g a n to b e co m p o sed , b u t as a sou nd b ack g rou n d echoing the senti­
often as n o t th ey w ere m erely ad aptation s m en ts o f the film or freein g us from that
o f existing w o rk s m ad e to fit th e stru cture terrible silen ce b y creating its unity, m u sic
o f the film . T h e m o st ou tstan d in g o f these provid ed th e au d ien ce w ith th e sensation
w ere A rth u r H o n eg g e r's "a rra n g e m en ts" o f duration actu ally experien ced . R elated to
fo r L a R oue (1922) and G ottfried H u ppertz's the tim e o f the d ram a, this d uration allow ed
fo r the N ibelungen (T he D eath o f S ieg fried — th e aud ience to feel its signifying value.
T h e V engeance o f K riem hilde, 1923-24).35 A s w e hav e indicated, the sound film
In th e sile n t era , m u sic w a s in d isp en s­ w as to b rin g a n even greater feeling of "re­
able, n o t ju st to accom p an y a d ram atic a lity " to th e ^ m content. E ven so, the m usic
m o vem en t b u t also, as Je a n E p stein said, to o f these film s w as to prove n o d ifferent
"fre e the au d ien ce from the terrible w eig h t from the ideas d eveloped d u ring the silent
o f sile n ce." A rth u r H on eg g er observed: "T o era. T h e o n ly difference w as that it cam e
avoid b ein g m o n oto n ou s, a film m u st n e c­ from beh in d the screen instead o f from the
essarily b e accom p anied b y a n oise of som e orchestra pit.
k in d " —w h ich led P aul R am ain to conclu de W e shall ig n ore th e fash ion for m usicals
th at "a ll that is required o f th e orch estra in w h ich m ark ed th e b eg in n in g o f the talkies,
the cinem a is to p la y h arm on iou s b a ck ­ b u t w e m u st n o t pass o n w ith o u t d raw ing
ground m u sic w ith th e idea n o t o f b ein g atten tion to som e o f the m ore su ccessfu l of
heard b u t of creatin g an atm osp here to sin k th ese, n o ta b ly Congress D ances (W erner
us into ou r su bconsciou s and m ak e us fo r­ H ey m an ) and S how boat Qerome K ern). H al­
get the ru stlin g paper, the sh u fflin g feet, lelu jah!, Le M illion , and T hreepenny Opera
etc. in the au d itoriu m T h e role o f m u sic were m asterp ieces in their w ay but since
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 249

th eir structure w as actu ally b ased o n m u sic, m u sic), film m u sic fo llow in g the role estab ­
it did n ot p resen t a p roblem , any m ore than lish ed fo r it in the silen t era is silly and
in m u sical com edies w h ere it is th e m ost useless. T h e tiresom e orchestrations su p ­
im p ortant elem ent. V in cen t Y ou m ans, Ir­ posed to b rin g ou t th e h ig h lig h ts in the
ving B erlin, H arry W arren, V ictor Sch ert- d ram a an d create an apparently essential
zin ger, G eorge G ersh w in , etc. are all partly a tm o sp h ere are m ore o f a h in d ra n ce th an a
resp on sible fo r th e su ccess o f 42nd Street, h elp . A film can q u ite ea sily d ispense w ith
Top Hof, Gold-Diggers of Broadway, an d The their acou stic ado^rnments, particu larly
Gay Divorcee and other film s w ith Fred A s­ w h en its action deals w ith p sy ch olog ical or
taire and G in g er R og ers, a s th ey a re fo r social realities w h ich create th eir ow n d u­
m ore recent film s b y G en e Kelly, Stanley ration. O n ly dream s, fairy tales, or fantasy
D onen, R ob ert W ise, an d V in cen te M in nelli film s - b e i n g in a sen se m ore in line w ith
(Singing in the Rain, A n American in Paris, silent film s in an y c a s e - c a n ben efit from a
Band Wagon, West Side Story, etc.). continuous acou stic backgrou nd.
M u sic took o n a m o re "r e a lis tic " m ean­ It is n o t th a t m u sic itself h a s n o u s e - i t
in g w h en films d escribin g th e liv es o f fa­ ju s t h a s another p a rt to play. Its p lace is not
m ous m usicians cam e along. E ven thou g h to com m ent o n the imagery, to parap hrase
it fu lfilled a log ical requ irem ent, the m u sic the v isu al exp ression , to su stain its rhythm
w as still u sed to ra th er p o in tless end s. In - e x c e p t in one or tw o excep tional c a s e s -
The Unfinished Symphony (by W illy Frost), o r to h a v e v alu e o r sig n ifican ce o f its own.
w h en Schu bert p lays th e op en in g chord s o f W h a t w as true for th e text also holds good
his sym p hony on th e p ian o , h e is jo in e d b y fo r m u sic: goo d d ialog u e n eed n o t hav e an y
a com p lete sym p h o n y o rch estra ; b u t there m e a n in g , an y log ical d ia le c tic -e s p e c ia lly
is n o orchestra - n o r could th ere b e, since w h en it is divorced fro m the im ag es w h ith
the com poser has on ly b eg u n th e first few m ig h t g iv e it m eaning . G oo d film m u sic can
b ars o f his score. You m ight say th a t it is d o w ith o u t m u sical stru cture provided that
Sch u bert's im agin atio n co n ju rin g up th e or­ its in tru sion into the f l m at a specific m o­
chestra; b u t th en a w h ole orchestral score m e n t sh ou ld hav e a precise signification.
p layed on a pian o w ould stretch even a m u ­ F ilm m u sic is n o t exp lan atio n ; n o r is it ac­
sician o f S ch u b ert's u n d o u b ted skill. W h e n com p an im en t; it is an element o f signification
S ch u b e rt receives h is in sp iratio n fo r Ave (no m ore n o r less) b u t from w h ich it gains
M aria standing in fro n t o f a chapel and w e all its p o w er once associated w ith the other
h ear it b ein g su n g , th at is perfectly accept­ elem ents: im ages, w ord s, and sounds. As
able, sin ce n o m u sical reality exists to con ­ R o la n d M a n u e l p o in ts o u t, "m u s ic m u st
trad ict the fiction w h ich is im m ed iately d en y its ow n stru ctu re i f it is to b e a n ally
recog n ized as such. T h e sam e is tru e w h en, o f the im a g e ." P laced In a v isu al con text, it
in A bel G an ce's Beethoven, w e h ear the m u st establish sig n ify in g reactions through
opening chord s o f a sy m p h o n y a t the sam e con trast o r u n u su al association.
tim e as the com poser, h a v in g lo st his h ea r­ W e m u st b e carefu l to avoid an expres­
ing, receives the v isu al im pressions su g ­ sio n w h ich h a s beco m e som eth in g o f a
g estin g th e chords to him . (T hou gh it m u st c lic h e ov er th e y ears, w h ich is that m usic
be said th at the com p oser d oes n o t h ea r his m u st create a k in d o f "co u n terp o in t" w ith
sy m p h o n y any m o re th an a p o et does his the im age. C ou n terp oin t is precisely th e sort
p o em u n til it is w ritten d ow n !) o f im pressive w o rd w h ich lo o k s v ery good
A p a rt from these o n e or tw o excep tion s in m agazine articles; how ever, th at d oes not
(w h ich at least d ep end fo r th eir th em es on m e a n that it is any the less irritatin g, since
250 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

it is generally m isused. T o stretch th e point, M ost generaUy, music is used to "com­

an y p iece o f m u sic used in con ju n ctio n w ith ment on the action." If the scene is tragic,
any im ag e acts in cou nterpoint: sound a few notes on an oboe or trombone help
against vision. M ore specifically, counterpoint bring out the blackness of the imagery. If
the scene is sentimental, a solo violin
is a fo rm d eriv in g entirely fro m sp ecifically
makes the sweet-nothings even sweeter
m u sical stru ctures. It d escribes tw o m e lo ­
(so it is believed).
d ies d ev elop in g sid e b y sid e in su ch a w ay
One wonders whether those who hold
th a t th e ir d issim ilarity catch es th e attention to this aesthetic realize that all they are
o f th e listener, through the sim ultaneous pro­ doing is transposing into the cinema a
gression of the different "v o ice s" rath er than very old musical tradition associated with
th rou gh harm onies or "h a rm o n ic s" (though melodrama. They are certainly unaware
the "v e rtic a l" relationship b etw een the tw o that from a purely acoustic point of view,
m elodies does con form w ith th e law s o f to superimpose music over a voice or
harm on y). In a w ay, it is th e d ev elopm en t sound inruns the risk of destroying the
in tim e o f a h arm o n y or, to p u t it an oth er emotional value of one and the authentic­
ity of the other.. . . These current notions
w ay, a new m elod y created fro m tw o others.
about film music have led specialized
(So m eth in g lik e m o n t a g e - t h a t is, p arallel
composers to the natural conclusion that
ra th er th a n su ccessiv e m o n tag e, as in split
music is dramatic and expressive in its
screen.) N atu rally th ere c a n be con trast, a n ­ essence. A kind of musical-cinematic lan­
tithesis, inversion, etc. betw een the point and guage has developed, uniting the worst
its cou nterpoint. Yet, a p art fro m these p o­ kind of Wagnerian orchestration and
tential relationsh ip s, it is g en erally a q u es­ pseudo-Debussy slickness-and even put­
tion o f relatio n sh ip s of rh y th m and p i t c h - ting in touches of more modem music. A
n o t relationsh ip s o f m eaning. T h u s to refer monstrous absurdity which leads some
to cou nterpoint w ith reference to th e op po­ musicians to think that, if they are capable
sition o f feelings expressed b y m usic and ^ m of writing a pop tune, they are equally
able to express in eight bars and with a
is utter non sense. W ould it b e an oversim pli­
full orchestra the whole range of human
fication to u se the on ly really appropriate
emotion.
w ord to describe th e effect, n am ely contrast?
We should bring these people back
H av in g said th at, it is to M au rice Jau bert from cloud cuckoo land. W e do not go to
th at w e m u st refer in talk in g ab ou t film the cinema to listen to music. Indeed, all
m u sic. H e w as th e first to ap p reciate its p o­ we need it to do is reinforce the visual
ten tial, and in a stu d y w h ich serves as a expression for us. We do not need it to
m o d el fo r anyon e interested in film m u sic, "explain" the images to us but to add a
he laid d ow n th e fo u n d a tio n s fo r the p rac­ completely different resonance to them.
tical use o f m u sic in th e cinem a. T he fo l­ We do not need it to be "expressive" and
lo w in g extracts fo rm th e b a sis o f h is thesis: add its own feeling to that of the charac­
ters or the director but to be "decorative"
W hat do most of our directors require and to add its theme to the one on the
of music? screen; and, lastly, to rid itself of all its
First, to plug up any acoustic "gaps," subjective elements and give us physical
either because there is not enough sound evidence of the i n t e ^ l rhythm of the
in a particular passage or because the di­ image without limiting itself to a transla­
rector cannot find a real sound which is tion of the emotional, dramatic, or poetic
acceptable - e v e n one suggested by the content.
image. (No need to look further into this That is why I believe that it is vitally
crude notion of music.) important for film music to create its own
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 251

style. If its only concern is the traditional fault o f the d irectors, w h o in large part are
one of composition or expression, instead n o t really interested in the quality o f sou nd
of entering as an ally the world of the produ ced fo r th eir film s or at least regard
images, it will create a world apart, that
it as a m in o r consid eratio n -p a r tic u la r ly
of sound, obeying its own laws, answer­
sin ce, th o u g h th ey are p erfectly prepared to
able only to itself.. . .
cu t th e d ialog u e w h ere necessary, they are
Film music must be free of all these
subjective elements; it must be as realistic u n able to d o so w h en it com es to the score.
as the image. Using purely musical, not M o st often it is on ly w h en the film h as b een
dramatic, resources, it must support the edited th a t the com poser is b rou g h t in, to
plastic content of the image with "im­ provide "m ood m u sic to fill in a b ack ­
personal" sounds, by means of the grou n d for th e im a g es." T he com poser
strange alchemy of correspondences does w h at h e is ask ed an d som etim es one
which is at the very heart of the film or tw o ad ventu rou s sou ls m anag e to create
composer's art. Lastly, it must bring out sig n ification s w h ere and w h en they can
the rhythm of the image, without striving
(th ou gh it sh ou ld b e a t the shootin g script
after a slavish translation of its content—
stage, w h en the ov erall stru cture of the film
be it emotional, dramatic, or poetic.
is d ecid ed , that the m u sic should be dis­
Once it is released from its academic
commitments (symphonic composition, cu ssed - a l o n g w ith all the o th er contribu­
orchestration, etc.), music will reveal, tory effects: d ialog u e, sets, lighting, cam era
through the agency of film, an aspect of m ovem ent, etc.). If th e sh oo tin g script is the
itself hitherto unimaginable. It has yet to d irecto r's responsibility, th en h e should
explore the no-man's land between its consu lt the w h ole crew (in clu d in g the com ­
self-imposed frontiers and those of its nat­ p o ser), ea ch o f w h o m shou ld add his
ural self. Through the images on the sp ecia list's o p in ion in th e execu tion o f the
screen, it will restore tired old cliches to w h ole. T his is th e on ly w ay that a film can
their rightful place, presenting them in a achieve an y sort o f p erfection and also the
new light: a couple ofn otes on a harmon­
only w ay a com p oser can d ecid e w h ere and
ica (if they correspond to what a particu­
h o w th e m u sic sh ou ld b e used . W henever
lar image needs) will always have more
m u sic is seen to be aesthetically integrated
impact in the context than the Ride of the
Valkyrie. into a film , it has alw ay s been prepared in
It must never be forgotten that in the this way.
cinema music makes its greatest contribu­ E ven after tw en ty years, M au rice Jau-
tion as an element of sound rather than as b ert' s ad ap tation s are still ou tstan d in g as
a means of intellectual or even metaphys­ m odels o f how film m u sic should b e used.
ical expression. The more it lets the imag­ The so n g in Q uatorze Juillet, the w altz in
ery take the upper hand, the greater its C arn et d e bal stand as p retty tunes b y them ­
chances of exploring uncharted territory. selves, b u t take th e m u sic o f L e Jou r se leve
(La Musique de film)
aw ay fro m the im ages and it m eans n oth ­
ing. Ind eed , w hat valu e is there in the
If o n ly d ialo g u e w riters w o u ld sh o w a rh y th m ic beat w h ich show s Jean C a b in 's
sim ilar hum ility, a sim ila r u n d erstan d in g of fea r trap p ed in his ro om except relative to
the p art their w o rk shou ld play, in stead of th e im ages w h ich resonate in an am azin g
trying to m ake the im ag es fit rou nd their w ay as a con seq u en ce? W h at v a lu e is there
w ords. It is tru e th a t a large p ercen tag e o f in the tru m p et solo p lay ed b y the b u sk er
com posers, instead o f w ritin g film m u sic, w ith G abin and Ju les B erry sittin g in the
w rite m u sic f o r film s; b u t it is m o stly the cafe, excep t as an interrup tion to B erry's
252 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

lying tittle-tattle b rin g in g G ab in b a ck to re­ musician who confirms this fact, i.e., that
ality? M u sic d oes n ot accom p any th is film : “realistic" films are (ideally) self-sufficient
it is integrated into it. and that, all too often, music is used to
T h e sam e is tru e o f th e them e tu ne in “wrap up" the mediocrity of others.
Stagecoach, a sim p le fo lk so n g revam p ed Yves Baudrier writes in his very perti­
and arran ged b y R ich ard H agem an. A t the nent treatise on film music:
b eg in n in g o f th e film , w e fo llow a stage­
Is it believable that films are less suc­
coach in a series o f tracking shots, w ith the cessful, less effective, without music?
fo lk son g p layin g b eh in d ; then w e see the Well, we would contend that it is all a
stagecoach on ly a t th e start of ea ch succes­ matter of style and we base our conten­
siv e part o f the journ ey, th is tim e in m u ch tion on observations which are objective
shorter shots. N o w , w h ile o u r atten tion is in their generality.
d raw n to the actio n in sid e th e stagecoach, Take a film which is truthful and dra­
the them e tu ne (w hich w e are still hearing) matic, observing all the documentary and
tran slates th e m o v e m e n t o f th e coach , g iv ­ psychological qualities generally ex­
in g th e film the d y n am ic lift it need s. B y pected of honest realism. Frankly, such a
film does not seem to require a musical
ov erlap p in g the story tellin g , the m u sic first
accompaniment. Yet if a score is forced on
o f all signifies th ro u g h its relatio n w ith the
it, how subtly must it be treated to avoid
im ages, a n d th en , th rou g h a k in d o f sy m ­
distorting the unbroken visual dialectic
bolic transference, it assum es th e d escrip ­ centered on a total surrender to reality?
tive role orig in ally a ssig n ed to them . Take a completely different ^ m . Ev­
A p art from th ese classic exam p les, w e erything in it is set up: think of it as sen­
m igh t a lso m en tion the su b tle tu n es lin k in g timental and unashamedly melodramat­
seq u ences in Pickpocket or, b y con trast, u n ­ ic, riddled with every cliche in the book,
d erlinin g su d d en chan g es in tone. B resson guaranteed (or so the promoters hope) to
is o n e o f th at rare b reed o f film m ak ers w h o fill the cinemas from coast to coast. Now,
recognize th e im p ortan ce o f u sin g so u n d as this film is swamped with music from
start to finish. The average audience, en­
a si^gnification. The expressivity o f the sound
dowed, one hopes, with the faintest glim­
effects in Un Condamne a mort s'est echappe
mer of a critical faculty, will see that in
is as g r e a t - a t a n y rate, a lm o st as g r e a t - a s fact the screenplay is packed with im­
th e exp ressiv ity o f the im agery. probable situations and the psychological
W e m u st n o t fo rg et th a t th e difference truth is distorted to make it conform with
b etw een actu al sound an d m usic (setting the cheap emotional effects. If it has any
asid e fo r th e m o m en t its sp ecifically m u si­ analytical sense, the audience will realize
cal q u alities) is th e sam e as th a t b etw ee n that all these weaknesses are subtly
arran gem ents o f o rg a n ic an d inorganic glossed over by the music; and the film,
sou nd s: the sig n ify in g qualities are the as shot, could in no way have managed
sam e. (B y w h ich w e m ean th a t so u n d m ay to support the dialogue and real location
sound by themselves.
h ave a p o w er equ al to th e d ram atic an d
Let us take this to its ultimate extreme.
p sychological s u g g e s tio n -th o u g h th is has
Suppose we put continuous music over
n o th in g to d o w ith th e rh y th m ic structures,
the first ^ m where the realism is so
i.e., the v e ry qualities w h ich m ak e m u sic marked. There is no doubt that the mean­
w h a t it is. A n d th e q u estio n d oes n o t arise ing of the film becomes softened and its
at th e lev el o f realism : real sou nd s w ill al­ deliberate austerity ends up becoming
w ays b e p referab le to m u s ic -p a r tic u la r ly compromised, maybe even strait-jacketed.
im itativ e m usic.) A n d , once ag ain, it is a Obviously this is all entirely subjec-
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 253

tive. Yet there is an entirely objective risk w orld, p ro vid in g it w ith th e b asic u n its of
in the interest of the ^ m being reduced, rh y th m cry stallizin g either in to relative
drawn by two contradictory considera­ tem p i or static spatial dim ensions. F or an
tions, as if the brightness of the screen exten d ed d om in ation o f space is achiev­
were decreased by the sudden illumina­
able o n ly w h ere th e m easures o f absolute
tion of the auditorium, dispersing one's
tim e hav e b ee n integ rated into it.
visual attention over too wide an area.
As for the second ^ m , if the music is
In oth er w ords, in addition to th e em o­
taken away, there is a risk of losing the nec­ tional or on eiric background w h ich m usic
essary minimum emotional warmth which can h elp create in "u n re a listic" film s, its role
must exist for us to believe (however tem­ in "re a listic " film s is pretty m u ch the sam e
porarily) in the sentiments we are supposed as it w as en visag ed in th e silen t era: to pro­
to be feeling, attracting, through a sort of vid e th e au d ien ce w ith a fe e lin g o f real d u­
magic, the complicity of the audience. ration, an idea o f tim e relativ e to w h ich the
In this perspective, therefore, what be­ p sy ch olog ical tim e is d efined (w ith this im ­
comes of film music? Something which, p o rtan t d ifference: that it is im posed o n ly at
on the one hand, runs the risk of softening
certain m om en ts).
dangerously the value of certain real im­
W ith ou t listin g ev ery film w h ose score
ages and, on the other, through its unde­
com plies w ith M aurice Ja u b e rt's and Yves
niable strength in the areas of weakness
in the visual dialectic, runs the risk of en­ B a u d rier's requ irem ents, we shou ld m en­
couraging mediocrity in the easy options tion in this regard G io v an n i F u sco 's m usic
it provides. (Musique et cinema) fo r Hiroshima, mon amour and fo r A n toni­
o n i's film s.
B aud rier goes on to co n tra st (perhaps a A s M a rc e l M a rtin p o in ts o u t, "G io v a n n i
little too system atically) the realism o f film F u sco m ak es a p o in t o f n o t com prom ising
an d th e ly ricism o f m u sic, con ferrin g o n h is m u sic fo r the sake o f the d ram a; h e on ly
m u sic th e p o w ers o f ly ricism (or su b jectiv­ in trod u ces it at the crucial m o m en ts o f the
ity), as w ell a s - w h e r e a p p r o p r ia te -th e film (not alw ays th e m ost cru cial in th e ap­
realism (or objectivity) o f the im ag es. D raw ­ parent action b u t the m ost im p ortan t in the
ing a m ore p recise antith esis (and alig n in g p sy ch olog ical d ev elop m en t o f the charac­
him self w ith ou r v iew o f film rh y th m ), he ters) as a k in d o f sou nd backgrou nd lim ited
contrasts the fu nd am ental irreg u larity of in its d uration, attenu ated in its volum e,
the relative d u ratio ns o f shots w ith th e reg­ refu sin g th e soft op tion o f m elo d y and ab­
ularity o f in d ivid u al rhythm s. "R e a listic solu tely n eu tral from th e sen tim ental point
stru ctu res," h e says, h a v e n o strict tempo, of view: its role ap p aren tly is to extend the
w h ere as m u sic is d efin ed b y th e tem p o space-tim e relationship and add to the im age
w h ich organizes th e p rio rity o f certain a sen so ry elem en t d eriv in g m ore from the
them es and repetitions. T here is therefore in tellect th an the e m o tio n s" (Le Langage
an obvious irred u cibility: relative to tw o cinematographique).
com pletely sep arate con sid eratio n s or tw o In Hiroshima, th e m usic tran slating the
d ifferent associative fields. M u sic b eco m es ov erall m ean in g o f the film n ever lets itself
"d e fo rm ed " if it trie s to fo llow th e im age b e carried b y th e to n e o f th e feelings in the
and th e im age b eco m es stiff and "m ech a n ­ d ram a. T h e three elem ents, im age-text-
ica l" w h en it b eco m es su bord inate to the m u sic, sig nify independently o f each other
m usic. It is therefore vital to ensure that, and, o f cou rse, relative to each other. T he
th rou g h the m u sic, the internal reality of m ag ical atm osphere o f the film h as partly
tim e is directed outw ard to th e external to d o w ith th is strange tension.
254 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

We shou ld add th a t th o u g h th e irredu c- because it imposes its rhythm and form,

ibility o f the t i m e - a n d th erefo re th e stru c­ because it is in control of its tempo—
tures —w h ich B aud rier m en tion s is in ev ita­ tempo, "the most necessary and most dif­
ficult, the most important thing in music,"
b le as regard s film m u sic in th e w id est sen se
to quote Mozart's axiom.
o f the w ord , th ere are certain in stan ces
This independence of music with a
w h ere it is n o t - w h i c h w e shall com e to
strict tempo explains why we remember
later on. R olan d M a n u el's ob servations pro­ a symphony accompanying or rather ac­
vide a fairly com p rehen sive picture: companied by playback or a sequence of
Since it is impossible to relate musical animation much more clearly than music
rhythm and visual rhythm, all one can do tacked onto the action of a film with little
is subordinate one to the other, according effect of the audience's consciousness.
to circumstance or the genre of the ^ m in (Rythme cinematographique et musical)
question. This antinomy may be trans­
formed and used to our advantage. Audiovisual Structures
Though the priority of the visual rhythm
seems to be a sine qua non of the cinema, It is n o t th e p u rp ose o f th is ch ap ter to
it is still necessary for the subordination associate m u sic w ith film (nor to exam ine
of the music to the image to be as effective
m u sical com edy, w h ere the m ovem ents,
as the re v e rse -fo r the reasons we have
d ictated b y the choreography, are registered
suggested: visible forms change with the
in th e rhy thm ic cad en ces o f th e score) but
speed of light, possessing an almost infi­
nite plasticity, in which they differ from to com pare film w ith th e structures b ased
musical forms which are constantly on o n the p rin cip les ou tlined b y R o b ert M an­
the point of overflowing the narrow u el: viz, "th o u g h it is im possible to m ake
framework given to them and are slow to m u sical rh y th m con form to visual rhythm ,
move. Just as in a busy traffic-laden street all th at is required is to m ak e one subordi­
the overall speed is governed by the speed n ate to th e oth er." A n d yet, th o u g h "a split
of the slowest vehicle, so it is easier to second is all w e need to perceive all the de­
make the rhythm of the image fit that of tails o f an object, w e n eed a consid erably
the music than the other way round.
lon g er tim e fo r ou r ears to assim ilate the
The success of animation and the ex­
sound elem ents a ccom p an y in g ou r vision
cellent effects produced by playback are
o f the o b je ct." O n the oth er h and , though
due, on a very elementary but significant
level, to a healthy understanding of this on ly a cou p le o f bars of m usic are sufficient
fact. In both instances, the script is written to p rod u ce a m arked effect on us, visual
to the music before being translated into rh y th m acts m u ch m ore slow ly. T h e fa ct that
images. The composer is obviously still m u sic is su b ject to law s o f com p ositio n not
required to illustrate all the various affectin g the im age m ean s that film gains in
changes in the subject of the film; but lettin g the score d eterm in e th e tem po,
since he is working directly with the sub­ w hereas, if it is the oth er w ay around, nei­
ject and not the plastic expression of the th er b en efits. T h u s "m usic b eco m es inte­
storyline, he is free to proceed using the
grated b eca u se it im p oses its rhythm and
proper resources of his art. It is therefore
fo rm , b eca u se it con trols the tem p o ."
within the framework of preestablished
A n im ation , b eca u se it is com posed to
and coherent music that the poetic and
amusing antics of the cartoon and also the th e rh y th m o f a score, is o p en in g up prom ­
graceful movements of 42nd Street are isin g areas o f exp loratio n . O f cou rse, w h en
placed. n a tu ral m o v em en t is su b jected to a prede­
The music is coherent in these cases term in ed rh y th m , it b ecom es to som e ex­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 255

tent "mechanized." And the effect of this is pure forms. Then it is no longer a matter of
comedy, adding to the overall burlesque at­ free will but of blind subm ission-for
mosphere of cartoons. which inanimate objects are better suited
In fact, unless the film has choreo­ for the fact that their very inertia means
graphed movements, the effect of making that they are liable to all and any movement
gesture conform to a given tempo is to make without inviting humiliation or ridicule.
real characters look ridiculous. Chaplin From the very beginnings of the talkie,
used this mechanization of gesture to create perfect association of rhythm was obtain­
some wonderful gags, particularly in M od ­ able through animation. The little cartoon
ern Tim es (Charlie's spanner dance) and T he characters acted rhythmically. However, vi­
G reat D ictator (Charlie staggering around sual imagination and musical presentation
when he is hit over the head with a frying (though working round the same subject)
pan). However, in the famous barber shop remained independent ofeach other. Image
sequence, his movements, guided by one of and music, both with the same tempo, per­
Brahms's H u n garian D ances, assumes an ob­ formed different patterns in different worlds.
vious poetic quality. The reason is very sim­ In some of the Silly Sym phonies series,
ple: movements controlled by a "mecha­ however, the visual patterns described vari­
nized" rhythm make a character look ations of form and movement around the
ridiculous only insofar as the rhythm ap­ musical theme: a method of plastic transpo­
pears to come "from outside," when it is sition which occasionally proved quite suc­
imposed unexpectedly. Then the man be­ cessful. These short films, the products of a
comes a puppet. He loses his essential qual­ rigid construction coupled with an ex­
ities (free will, freedom, self-control, etc.), tremely poetic imagination, formed comic
and this degradation -w h ic h is the effect ballets which still represent the art of the
[Bergson called] "le mecanique plaque sur cinema at its most accomplished. Yet,
le vivant" [the mechanical stuck onto the though animated films are in fact made up
living]-im m ediately makes him ludicrous of nothing more than movements of lines
and comical. and colors (however little Mickey Mouse
On the other hand, if this control ap­ seems based on pure graphic abstraction),
pears to be theeffect of free choice, then the these movements can turn into movements
man is able to transform our attitude to of "pure forms." The researches of the
him, registering the movements of his body avant-garde were along these lines.
in a predetermined rhythm, proving that he We saw how Richter's and Ruttmann's
is a man of free will, a sort of winged god: experimentation came to a dead end. It
a dancer. The choice may be of an action (as drew attention to the du ration value of the
in the barbershop sequence) as easily as of image and contributed to a definition of a
a choreographic interpretation (the balloon basic film metric structure, but the predicted
dance). The rhythms of gesture become the rhythm did not materialize. Rhythm is al­
expression of an "internal" movement. ways rhythm o f som ething; it can never be
That is why dance is never ridiculous, gratuitous. Though music is rhythm in ite
whereas an involuntarily "mechanized" essence, this is not the case with either the
gesture is always grotesque.37 cinema or literature.
But dance, the "pure act of metamorpho­ Whereas notes or chords by themselves
sis," the power of signifying through the signify nothing, words or images have very
performance of a rhythm controlling the definite meanings. And these meanings,
body, can be replicated in the mobility of varying according to their place in the sen­
256 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

ten ce or sequ ence, m ay b e au g m en ted b y a sso cia tin g v isu a l rh y th m w ith m u sical
a n em otional q u ality p ro d u ce d b y various rhythm . R h y th m is provid ed entirely b y the
m etric relationships. H ow ev er, rh y th m ex­ m u sic, w h ich " f ills " w ith its su b stance and
ists only w h en these relationsh ip s provide tim e signature an em p ty form visu ally un­
the w ord s o r im ages w ith a n ew sen se rel­ d ersco rin g its m o v em en t and tem po. In
ative to th eir o rig in al m eanings. Now, o th er w o rd s, if a cinerythme is projected
w hereas a m u sical seq u en ce creates its ow n m u te, th e m iscon cep tion s beh in d E ggel-
sign ification through its actu al d evelop­ in g 's , R ich te r's an d R u ttm an n 's w o rk b e­
m e n t, w h en v isu al fo rm s h a v e n o m ean in g com e im m ed iately apparent.
in them selves, they ca n n o t b e expected to T h e sam e is tru e o f th e experim ents of
h av e an y as part of a sequ ence. T h ey cannot th e E n g lish film m aker L en Lye and the Ca­
therefore b e em p loyed in th e sam e w ay as n a d ian N orm an M acL aren, w h o follow ed
sounds. To attem p t to create a cin em atic the p a th p ioneered b y F isch in g er b u t added
rh yth m sim ilar to m u sical rh y th m is to a g reater flexibility and brilliance (Mac^laren
stru g g le against a n obviou s im possibility. in p articu lar) to th e arran g em en t and d az­
In R u ttm an n 's exp erim en tal film s, the z lin g in toxication o f co lo red fo rm s. (We
m oving geom etrical shap es d o n o t d eter­ k n o w th a t M acL aren p ain ts d irectly on to
m in e any p articu lar fe e lin g o r em otion. cellu loid , w h ereas F isch in g er uses the
T h ey m erely con trib u te to th e p ercep tion of m eth o d s o f anim ation, p h o tog rap h in g his
a cad en ce w ith no actual found ation. im ag es fram e b y fram e.)38
Yet, th o u g h n on rep resentational form s F ro m an oth er p o in t o f view, b eca u se of
w ere incapable o f creating rh y th m , th ey the speed not o f the m u sical rhythm but of
cou ld b e used as accom p an im en t fo r m u si­ the sou n d s w h ich the ear can p erceiv e in a
cal com p ositions. R elation sh ip s o f line, ca d en ce b e y o n d th e cap acities o f ou r eyes,
color, an d sou nd w ere th erefore ab le to p ro ­ if on e tries to tran slate each b ea t o f sou nd
duce, through th e ir h a rm o n iz ed o r co n trast­ w ith a v isu al b ea t (as M acL aren tries to do),
in g m o vem en ts, som e ra th e r n ov el effects. the speed o f th e m o vem en t b eco m es su ch
T h e first to ach iev e an y th in g lik e p erfec­ th a t in sp ite o f th e schem atic or lin ear ap­
tion in this association o f im a g es and m usic p earan ce o f th e g rap h ics, th e sequ ence of
w as th e G erm an O sk a r F isch in g er w ith h is im ag es creates a series o f shocks w h ich the
cinerythmes p rod u ced b etw een 1932 and ey e find s d ifficu lty in to leratin g fo r longer
1935. Taking o v er R u ttm an n 's ideas an d at th an a few m inutes.
times a d d in g co lo r (Komposition im Blaue, W e shall p ass ov er th e variou s experi­
1934), h e u sed m u sic to g iv e m e a n in g to m en ts ■w h ich h a v e tried to p hotograp h
these patterns, variations o f lin es, circles, sou n d vibrations produced b y th e op tical
squ ares, and ovals. W h a t in R u ttm an n w as record in g o f m u sic, m ak in g it th e graphic
m e re ly e m p ty fo rm and gratu itous cad en ce elem en t accom p an y in g th e m u sic. O n e ca n ­
becam e rh y th m th ro u g h th e m u sical con ­ n o t h elp th in k in g o f th e gold sm ith de­
ten t w ith w h ich th e form s w ere associated . scribed b y Je a n d 'U d in e in L'Art et le geste
Yet w h atev er th eir fo rm al p erfection , w h o , "w h e n h e fash ion s a b rooch b y chis­
these con stru ction s at th e sam e tim e re­ e lin g th e p a rticu la r cu rv e produ ced b y tw o
vealed a w eakness: w h en th e m o vem en ts tu n in g forks each vib ratin g a t an interval
o f geom etric shap es are associated w ith th e o f a n in th , firm ly believes h e is producing,
rhythm , cad ence, even tones o f a m u sical in plastic form , an em otion corresponding
sequence, this is lim ite d to p u n ctu a tin g - to th e h arm on ies w h ich M . D ebu ssy intro­
h ow ever s k il lf u l ly - t h e la tte r ra th er th an d u ced in to m u sic."
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 257

In a d ifferent w a y b u t along the sam e d en ces w ith a score sp ecially w ritten to

lin es, other research ers hav e b ee n led to as­ dem on strate th e relative qualities o f a
sociate real im ag es w ith m u sic, b a sin g their sin g er p a st h er prim e.
w ork on the w ell-estab lish ed ideas o f v ari­ In 1933, a first ad ap tation o fA rth u r H on ­
ou s theorists. T h e first o f these w a s C an u- e g g e r's P acific 231 w as produ ced in Soviet
do, w h o, as far b ack as 1922, su g g ested that Russia b y Tzekhanovsky. T h o u g h it had
any film w ith an ob viou s lyrical intention n o th in g to d o w ith aud iov isual rhythm s, it
could b e su p p orted b y a preestablished w as a very clev er experim ent. F ilm ing the
m u sical rhythm . orchestra, th e director w as able to isolate at
T h e first film m ak er to b e attracted to this suitable m o m en ts and follow ing the
type o f exercise w as G erm ain e D ulac, w ho, chang es in the m u sic th e caff o f the French
from th e earliest days o f the talkies, at­ h orn s, th e beat o f the tym pani, th e w ailing
tem pted to create im ag es u sin g th e m u sic of o f the strings, the bray in g o f th e trom bones,
fam ous com posers. Her m istak e (shared by w h ile in a sequ ence o f fleetin g im ages, b y
those w h o follow ed h er p io n eerin g w ork) intercu ttin g an d su p erim p osing , h e show ed
lay in try in g to illustrate m u sic, g ivin g a v i­ a locom otive u n d er fu ll steam w ith p arts of
sual interpretation o f th e them e rath er than the en g in e related to th e variou s sections of
the m u sic (in the com positional sen se of the the orch estra. H e w as thus able to associate
w ord). A w h ole seq u en ce in D isqu e 95 7 con­ the m o vem en t o f a con n ectin g rod w ith that
sists o f im ages o f th e record tu rn in g on the o f a bow , th e in -an d -ou t o f a trom bone valve
turntable. In A rabesqu e, w e see w ater sp ray ­ w ith that of a p iston, etc. B ut a t b est th is w as
in g on to a law n , raind rops an d various n o th in g m ore th a n a clev er w ay o f film ing
m o v em en ts fo rm in g p attern s w ith o u t any an orchestra.
tonal or rhythm ic correlation b etw een the T h e sa m e criticism m a y b e m ad e o f a
tw o exp ressiv e form s. A t b est, the im ages m ore recen t an d m o re o rig in a l exp erim en­
are, photographically, in flee tin g harm ony tal film m ade b y D jo n M ilie w ith a jazz
w ith the im p ression istic to n e o f the m usic. b a n d (Jam m in the B lues, 1947), a splendid
A n d o n ly occasion ally is th e re a n arbitrary film p h o tog rap h ically b u t w ith n o direct
ju xtap ositio n b etw ee n th e th em e expressed con n ection w ith the experim ents in ques­
by the m usic and th e im ag es represen tin g the tion —p articu larly sin ce in th ese, w h ere the
actions d escribed or su g g ested , im ages m usic is accep ted as an in d ep en d en t entity,
w hose sequ ence rem ains u n altered b y the th e first con sid eratio n is to ignore th at it is
m ovem ents o f the score. th e o u tp u t o f an orchestra and cu t ou t the
E isen stein , how ever, w h o rig h t u p to h is m u sicians.
d eath rem ain ed o n e o f th e p io n eers o f au ­ It is ob viou s that if o n e w an ts to asso­
diovisu al stru ctu re, succeeded in R om an ce ciate visu al and m u sical rh y th m an d n ot
sentim entale (prod uced in F ran ce in 1930 lim it on eself to illu strating the latter w ith
w ith his assistan t A lexand rov) in giving a fo rm d evoid o f sign ification, th en one
som e pretty clear ev id ence o f w h at w as m u st refer to reality, taking som ething
possible. A p art from one or tw o cliches and w h ich already h as m eaning to b e altered
a rath er dubious story lin e (not w h a t w e an d tran sform ed a t w ill th ro u g h a rhythm
had com e to exp ect o f him ), h e com posed — a specific rhythm .
a series o f v isu al im p ression s co m in g right T h e on ly possible d anger is in lap sing
in the m iddle o f a lon g sequ ence (au tum n in to m ere illu stration , som eth in g n eith er
landscapes) w h ich p resen ted e x a c t - G erm ain e D ulac n o r E isenstein w a s able to
thou g h n ot alw ay s rh y th m ic -c o rr e s p o n - avo id b u t w h ich the R u ssian painter Sergei
258 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

A lexeyev m anag ed to steer aroun d in his p lastic correspond ences. Q uite th e contrary.
film A Night on Bare M ountain, w h ich is p er­ A p o ll cond u cted around 1932 b y L'lntran-
hap s the m asterp iece o f th e g e n re as w ell sigeant pro d u ced th e fo llo w in g results:
as a m asterp iece in its o w n right.
It is n e ith er g ra p h ic (in the ab stract sense) Albert Roussel: I would be happy if a
director who knew what he was doing
nor a p h o tograp h ic reprod u ction o f reality
took my Festin d'araignee, for instance; it
b u t a sequ ence o ffa n ta s y im ag es, ap o caly p ­
would provide the basis for a great many
tic visions, a stran g e nightm are, an d it w as
cruel and comical effects.
produ ced u sin g th e "p in b o a rd " techniqu e. Alfred Cortot: I believethat for compos­
Thou sand s and th o u sa n d s o f p in s are stu ck ers in the future there is a whole area ripe
sid e b y sid e into a b a ck in g b oard covered for exploitation, every bit as large and fer­
w ith rubber. A cco rd in g to the am o u n t the tile in suggestions of all kind as was the
pins p rotru d e fro m the b oard , th e light pro­ form of the symphonic poem for the gen­
jected over the p in board picks out areas of eration which is p assing .. . . The danger
lig h t and sh ad e w h ich th e artist m o d els as would be in being led, when interpreting
he w ish es b y p u llin g th e pins ou t or d rivin g a purely musical subject, into contriving
th e m in (fram e b y fram e) to fo rm p o in ts of nonsense or irritating overstatements.
Moreover, when filmmakers and musi­
eith er lig h t or shad e.
cians collaborate, they should not concern
N o m o re lin e s, th e n , b u t a p erp etu al p lay
themselves with using imagery to restore
o f lig h t an d sh a d e, o f shadow y, ghostly, the great works of our musical past but
m a g ica l form s w h ic h M u sso rg sk y 's m u sic with composing new works in which there
seem s to d raw fro m the d ep th s o f hell, is equal respect for the characteristics of
breath in g life into th em w ith its enorm ous both arts.
vitality. N o t g ratu itou s im ag ery any m ore Albert W o lf The "symphonic poem"
b u t a p lastic e m o tio n d ra w in g ou t the m u ­ formula is the most adaptable to the screen
sical em otion, b o th m o u ld ed in to the sam e because it includes a linking mechanism
rh y th m and con sistin g o f its actu al d ev elop ­ but no grandiose effects. What a fund of
m ent: a w o rk o f g eniu s if ev er th ere w as on e, opportunities for filmmakers! This was
what was in my mind when I conducted
far outstripping M acLaren's th arm in g graph­
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Peter and the Wolf,
ics and F isch in g e r's clev er g eom etrical d e­
and In theSteppes ofCentralAsia. Don't mis­
signs. A n d th is tim e th e film ca n be
understand me! There is a wholly accept­
projected w ith o u t its m u sic. O bv io u sly it able fusion between music and images;
loses an enorm ous am ount: its internal res­ except that, for this to exist, the composer
onan ce, its op p ressive feelin g o f tim e, e v ­ anddirector must constantly compare notes.
eryth in g w h ich it g ain s fro m th e m u sic Jacques Ibert: In principle, I am com­
—that goes w ith o u t saying. H ow ev er, th e pletely convinced of the value of these ad­
visio n rem ains and its fan tasies find su ffi­ aptations. There is no earthly reason why
cient ju stification in th eir o w n m o vem ent certain symphonic works should not be
and form . brought to the screen, as is done in the
theater every day of the week. Even more
It h as b een often said th a t m usicians are
than the stage, the cinema, through the
veh em en tly opposed to this idea o f "ta ck in g
many marvelous resources of its tech­
im ag es o n to a sco re ." T h o u g h it is tru e that
nique, is able to offer music the possibili­
they hav e b ee n p ro vok ed by certain clu m sy ties and fulfillment which the theater is
efforts, it is to tally w ro n g to say th a t they mostly inadequate at providing. Obvi­
have alw ays b ee n op p osed to th e id ea —at ously, "visual transcriptions" of this kind
least to an y general d e g re e —o f lo o k in g fo r must be treated with great caution; first,
 RHYTHM AN D MOVING SHOTS 259

in the selection of the pieces and then in tical for all listeners. It is possible that
the way they are handled . . . . The cinema sound films will be able to provide it with
can give music a privileged place without one.
interfering with the interest of the rhythm Maybe it will be possible one day to
or the image. define, with some degree of accuracy, the
Andre Coeuroy: The screen adaptation constant and unknown relationships be­
must be careful to retain the same rhythm, tween the acoustic and visual rhythms so
the same spirit, and the same character as that a visual representation of every musi­
the music. It requires a delicate touch. The cal expression will be available corre­
system or, to put it another way, the style sponding exactly in every detail. From
of the director must correspond exactly that moment on, the musician will be able
with the music. to make his listener understand what he is
Emile Vuillermoz: It is quite clear that trying to convey,for whom everything
most descriptive symphonic poems and, will be immediately translatable into im­
even more obviously, evocative tunes pro­ ages, not those of the fantasy world con­
vide marvelous themes for the cinema. jured up by the listener but the concrete
The laws of cinematic technique are ex­ images of the composer's work, fixed with
actly the same as for musical composition. precision and unity.
A synthesis of the two is not only possible The same artistic sentiment is capable
but also quite feasible. . . . Laws of this of being expressed in many different
kind will be flexible, since they will in­ ways, according to the nature of the
clude anecdotal interpretation as well as artist's talent: be it music or speech,
purely plastic or rhythmic transcriptions. graphic art or choreography, it is always
And the formula will have no other limi­ the same reality in one of its aspects. There
tations than the breadth of imagination of exist (inevitably-betw een these various dif­
the directors. ferent expressions o f a something always the
same) perfect, reversible relationships which,
M oreover, A rth u r H on eg g er p u blish ed if we are aware o f them, enable us to translate
in 1931 in th e re v iew Plans a rath er rem ark­ each one through its equivalents.
able article, "D u cin em a sonore a la m u si- Once it has stopped being misunder­
stood or butchered, music can become it­
que re elle," fro m w h ich w e hav e ch osen the
self, penetrate reality, and be, like the
follow ing passages:
cinema and with it, a real unanimous
The sound cinema will come into its force, no longer subject to the anarchic re­
own only when it creates a union at the visions of individual temperament but
narrow junction between visual and musical applying all its strength to a rapturous
expression, on the basis that they will explain audience.
and complement each other in equal measure.
This synthesis will prove to be the birth W e co u ld d iscu ss end lessly the interest
of a strange art setting itself in two direc­ - o r lack or i t - t h e r e m ig h t be in g iving
tions at the same time and in equal quality of m u sic a concrete signification. In our view,
which we have up to now seen only tiny it w o u ld not gain very m uch and w e do not
glimpses in Hallelujah! and more particu­
share H o n eg g e r's view s. In any case, w hat
larly R uttaann's films and Mickey Mouse
h e is talking ab ou t is applicable to only a
cartoons.. . .
We can take this even further. The lim ite d ty p e o f m u s ic -c e r ta in ly n o t "d e ­
sound film is admirably suited to completing scrip tiv e " m u sic, to w h ich any "a d d itio n "
and complementing music by giving it an ac­ w h a tev er is superflu ous, sin ce the m u sic
tual meaning. . . . Music has no real, con­ co n ta in s its ow n suggestive elem ents (The
crete and perceptible representation iden­ Pastoral, fo r instance). "Im p ressio n istic"
260 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

m u sic a t least avoid s this k in d o f red un­ sual material. An understanding of the
dancy. Since it is n ot concerned w ith evok ­ structural laws of the method and rhythm
in g im p ressions b u t w ith tran slatin g them underlying the stabilization and develop­
ment of both provides us with the only
- e v e n creating them - h a r m o n y b ecom es
firm foundation for establishing a unity
possible to the e xten t th a t th e im ag es strive
between them.
to d eterm in e equivalent im p ression s av o id ­
in g precise representations. A lexey ev 's film
H ow ever, describing the associative po­
d em on strates th is perfectly. In an y case, the
ten tial o f m u sical rh y th m and static shots,
interest does n ot lie in the im age "in -itse lf"
E isen stein goes on:
b u t, in H o n eg g e r's w ord s, " in th e d efini­
tion o f th e various relatio n sh ip s b etw een We cannot deny the fact that the most
acou stic and v isu a l rh y th m ." striking and most direct impression will
Since fo r so m e tim e th is h ad b e e n m y be gained, obviously, from a congruence o f
op in ion , h av in g d iscu ssed the q u estio n at the movement o f the music with the movement
len gth w ith E isen stein d u ring th e shootin g o f the visual contour, i.e., with the graphic
o f Romance sentimentale and b eliev in g b o th composition of the frame; for this contour,
this outline, or this line is the strongest
h e and G erm ain e D u lac to b e o n the w ron g
"emphatic" element in the actual idea of
track, I set o u t in 1932 to m ak e m y ow n
the movement.
version o f Pacific 232. U nfortunately, the
rig hts fo r the film h ad alread y b een sold , so A n d this is w h ere w e part com pany w ith
th e p ro ject did n o t see th e lig h t o f d ay u n til E isenstein.
som e tw enty years later. In th e in terim , the A n alyzing the "w a itin g " sequence w hich
exp erim ents o f F isch ing er, A lexeyev, and p reced es th e attack o f th e G erm an knights,
L en Lye a ll tend ed to b a ck up G erm aine w ith th e R u ssian arm ies stan d in g in static
D ulac's find ings . . . an d m y ow n , apart
ra n k s a t th e fo o t o f R a v e n R o ck w here
from m in o r differences in detail. N ev sk y and his lieuten ants are w aiting,
M e an w h ile, E isen stein h ad sh ot Alexan­ Eisenstein goes on:
der Nevsky in collab oratio n w ith P rokofiev
and h ad published, in The Film Sense, a th e­ The first chord can be visualized as a
oretical expose w h ich ca n be consid ered as "starting platform," a springboard. The
the v ery b asis o f aud iovisual art. W h at fol­ following five quarter-notes, proceeding
low s is the essence o f h is argu m ent: in an upward scale, would find natural
visual expression in a tensely rising line___
In such a way we find a complete corre­
Obviously, musical and visual "imag­
spondence between the movement o f the
ery" are not actually commensurable
music and the movement o f the eye over the
through "representational" elements. If
line o f the plastic composition. In other
one speaks of genuine and profound cor­
words, exactly the same movement lies at
respondences and proportions between
the base of both the musical structure and
music and the image, it can only be with
the plastic structure.
reference to the relationships between the
fundamental movements of the music and
W e ca n n o t agree: first, b ecau se w h a t w e
the image, i.e., between the compositional
are seein g h ere is nothing m ore than an in­
and structural elem ents.. . . We can only
speak of what is actually "commensu­ tellig en t and "g ra p h ic" tran scrip tion of an
rable," i.e., the movement lying at the base absu rd n o tio n w hich consists (for instance)
of both the structure of the given piece of in associatin g a d escend ing scale w ith the
music and the structure of the given vi­ m ovem ent o f a character w alking d ow n a
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 261

flig h t o f stairs; second , b ecau se in stead of multaneously ov er all the p a rts and n o t
associating a v isu al m o v em en t w ith a m u ­ from o n e p a rt to another. Selectivity occurs
sical m ovem ent, E isen stein is associatin g on ly at th e p o in t of im pact around w h ith
th e m o v e m e n t w ith the d elin eation o f a the im age groups itself w ith in a fraction of
s ta tic shape. H e is associatin g a p rogression, a second. T o b e m ore exact, this perception
a rh y th m d ev elop in g in tim e, w ith a body can be divided into th ree stages: (1) simul­
o f d ata in stan tan eou sly p erceived , w h ich taneous p ercep tion o f all th e p arts; (2) dis­
produ ces a collision b etw ee n the d ynam ic cov ery o f a special point w h ich attracts the
expression o f the m u sic and th e plastic ex­ eye; (3) d ev elop m en t o f the form s w hich
pression o f th e im age crystallizin g the m o ve­ group them selv es aroun d this point. B ut it
m en t into an ab sen ce o f m ovem ent. A n d cou ld n ev er h av e a n y th in g to do w ith
since th is im age lasts as lo n g as the subse­ "re a d in g ", i.e., an in tellectu al, analytical
q u ent m u sical phrase, th e result is th a t (1) process. It is an autom atic response acti­
the au d ien ce is fo rced to read the im age vated w ith in the space o f less th a n a sec­
rath er th a n m erely lo o k a t it, read in g from ond , w h ich ca n v ary on ly according to the
left to rig ht, as w ith a b ook and thereby fol­ lu m in ou s in ten sity of the ob ject u n d er con ­
low in g , w ith th e m u sic, th e particu lar ou t­ sid eration.
line o f the plastic com p ositio n ; (2) sin ce the E isen stein ad ds th a t "th e art o f plastic
eye is attracted in a n im ag e to the fo cal p oint com p ositio n consists in lead in g th e sp ecta­
o f th e p lastic or d ram atic lin e s of force, to r 's a tte n tio n through th e exact p a th and
E isenstein is alw ays ob lig ed to p u t this w ith the exact sequ ence prescribed b y the
p o in t on th e left (foreground character or author o f th e com p osition . T his applies to
special th em e) an d , g en erally sp ea k in g , to th e eye's m o vem en t over the surface o f a
op en the correspond in g m u sical phrase ca n v a s if th e com p ositio n is expressed in
w ith a m ajor chord to co n fo rm w ith th is p a in tin g or o v er the surface o f the screen if
p lastic d om inant. w e are d ealin g w ith a film im a g e."
C learly m u sic d oes n o t develop in a par­ T h is is self-ev id ent, b u t it b rin g s u s b a ck
ticu lar direction. E isen stein m ig h t ju s t as to w h at w e h a v e alread y said conce^rning
easily hav e p u t th e fo cal p o in t on the right left-to-rig h t reading. A s fo r th e analytic ex­
o f the screen or in the m id d le and the m ajor am in ation o f a p a in tin g (or an i m a g e ) - r e -
ch o rd at th e ce n te r o f th e tim e g iv en to the qu irin g m ore or less tim e - t h i s is an
im age (as h e som etim es d id ), but then it in tellectu al op eration w hich can only take
w ou ld be m ore d ifficu lt to "r e a d " the p lace using perceived material. A nd this has
im age, since, through a sort o f p sy ch o lo g i­ nothing to d o w ith p ercep tion (though it is,
cal au tom atic resp on se, th e m ajority of in fact, con cern ed w ith a n analysis o f p er­
cinem agoers th rou g h o u t th e w orld read ception). T h e eye allow s itself to b e led b y
from left to right. th e lin e g en eratin g th e shapes or th e repre­
E isenstein d efen d s h im self b y say in g sen tation , b u t this b rin g s us rig h t b a ck to
th a t "th e static w h o le o f an im age and its w h a t w e said ab ou t The Voyage to Cythera 39
p a rts do n o t en ter th e p ercep tion sim u lta­ In any case, there cou ld n ev er b e a cor­
neou sly." B u t m anifestly th e y do! E v ery ex­ respondence b etw een m u sical m ovem ent
p erim en t concerned w ith the p sy ch olog y and th e m o vem en t o f the eye ov er an ob­
o f p ercep tion (gestalt, etc.) p roves it. je c t - o n l y w ith the m ovem ent o f the object
T hou gh a certain lap se o f tim e (short in­ or th e im ag es representing it. In oth er
d eed) is n ecessary fo r a n im age to be fu lly w ord s, considered as a series о/ perceptions,
p erceiv ed , th is p en etration tak es p lace si­ music can be associated only with another series
262 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

o f p e r c e p tio n s -a n d certain ly n ot w ith the a n ­ from a long way off" (the series of shots
alytic exam ination o f an object. (It b ein g u n ­ of the empty lake) and finally reaches Al­
derstood th at w e are referrin g to rhythm ic exander, suddenly breaking through into
the frame of the Russian soldiers who
harm onies and n o t affective relation sh ips
hear it directly. The following shot dis­
w h ich ap p aren tly p resen t n o problem s of
closes the distant line of German cavalry
structure.)
advancing head on, appearing to flow
P lastic association b eg in s to take on a
from the horizon with which it at first
m ean in g only w h en th e seq u en ce is consid ­ seemed to be merged.
ered in its totality, i.e., the m o vem en t o f in­
te n sity g ro w in g fro m sh ot to shot. In the E v e n so, it is easy to see th a t in A lexander
"w a itin g " sequence, the shots p ass through N e v s k y -a s in Ivan the T e r r ib l e - t h e associa­
variou s su ccessiv e p h a s e s - t o n a l, linear, tion o f m u sic and plastic stru ctures adds
spatiolinear, d ram atic - i n an ascen d in g n o th in g m ore th an a sen sation o f com plete­
progression, fo llo w ed b y "lig h t effects" n e ss w h ich , in any case, ou g h t to have b een
w h ich are vagu e, scarcely a la rm in g , in su b ­ provided b y the appropriate m u sical ac­
stan tial (fading in), to th e p o in t w h ere the com p an im ent. F ro m th is point o f view , Pro­
ch aracters w aitin g fo r the en em y begin to k o fiev 's scores are th e m odel par excellence
m o v e off. The u n ification o f the plastic and and E isen stein 's film s th e equ iv alen t in film
m usical elem en ts form s a m ovem ent, a sin­ term s o f opera, bu t th e rhyth m ic associa­
gle im petus across all the shots, bu t it is tions h e prescribed w ere im p lem en ted in
only an "id ea o f m o v e m e n t," a successive on ly on e sh ort section o f o n e film - b u t w ith
g rad ation , an in crease in in te n sity co rre­ w h a t effect! - in the fam ous Battle on the Ice
sp on d in g to a sim ilar in crease at th e m u si­ and , in particular, th e attack o f the G erm an
cal le v e l- w it h o u t th e represented m aterial knights. T h e associatio n o f the cavalry
fo llow in g the m u sical score. ch arg e an d the related m usical m ovem ent
O n e obviou s effect is th a t ap art from excites us as w e sit p hysically transported in
these associatio n s, th e use o f sound as the cinem a: m o vem en t m atches m ovem ent
cou n terp o in t here ach iev es a n extraordi­ in a com p lex structure form ed b y the rhyth­
n ary p o w er o f su ggestion . T he tw elve shots m ic, plastic, and d y n am ic totality o f a n in­
preceding the k n ig h ts' attack are fo llow ed d iv isible au d iov isu al unity.
b y three "e m p ty " shots rep resentin g the W e have seen to w hat extent "E isen -
bare and em p ty surface o f the lake. E isen- ste in ia n " m ontage tried to id en tify the
stein says: rhythm o f the im ag es w ith th e psych op h ys-
io lo g ical rh y th m s o f em otion. T he exam ple
In the middle of the second of these w e h av e ju st described is a p erfect illustra­
three shots, the enemy is announced by a tion o f this. T h e attack o f th e k n ig h ts is
qualitatively new element: the sound of m odeled o n th e rh y th m s o f a q u ickening
its battle h o ^ . This sound bursts from h eartb eat. T h e progressive increase in the
the time center of the shot of the empty
m o vem en t, in its in ten sity and its acoustic
lake so that our attention, guided by anal­
exp ression, th rou g h a m u sical b ea t b eco m ­
ogy and the sensation of space, places the
in g faster and faster an d m ore an d m ore
sound in the spatial center of the shot, as
though it were coming from inside the com p licated translates, at th e sam e tim e,
frame. It is heard a second time in the th e heartbeats, th e clatter of arm or and
second of the next shots (representing h orses' hoofbeats o f the G erm an k n ig h ts as
Nevsky surrounded by his lieutenants) - th ey charge to w ard th e R u ssian arm ies. Ev­
to give the feeling that the sound "came ery th in g com bin es to create a d ynam ic
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 263

u n ity w h ich d eterm ines a n e m o tio n sim ilar op in ion s; suffice it to sa y that all th a t is
to that suggested b y th e rep resen ted action need ed to tu m this article b y V incent
- b u t an em otion con sid erab ly increased d 'In d y into a perfect precis o f E isen stein 's
b y the resources used . w o rk is to su b stitu te the w ords film and
Thu s E ise n ste in 's film s offer tw o aspects image fo r drama an d text.
fro m w h ich the association o f m u sic and T h e them atic association o f im age and
the im age m ay b e regard ed : rhythm ic asso­ m u sic w as to tem p t quite a n u m b e r o f film ­
ciatio n - t h e m o st e ffectiv e, in ou r view , at m ak ers, m o st o f th em m u sicians. O n e of
least the m o st p ercu ssive; an d lyrical or th e­ these w as G ian-C arlo M enotti, w h ose The
m atic association, sev eral d egrees h ig h er Medium, h ow ever in terestin g and original it
on ou r scale o f effectiven ess th an the "e m o ­ m ig h t be, w as n o t p articu larly convincing.
tio n al" associatio n g en erally g iv en to m u sic It is w o rth y o f n o te th a t a form er actor
in film s. fro m th e cinem a, F ried rich Feher, produ ced
It w ou ld seem th a t in th e latter the in 1936 (tw o y ears b efo re Nevsky) a fasci­
im a g e-m u sic relatio n sh ip is com p arab le to n a tin g and o rig in al film , The Robber's Sym­
the relationsh ip o f m u sic an d text in Pelleas, phony, fo r w h ich h e com posed the screen­
w hose m usic is "so n a tu ra lly incorporated play, m u sic, and im a g e s 42 T h e score w as
in to the action, so n a tu ra lly d ev eloped from th e actu al b asis o f the film , th e im ages serv­
the situation, settin g and language, so in g m erely to carry through the dram atic
closely associated w ith the m u sic u n d er the d ev elop m en t o f the action, w h ose ly ricism
w ords that in the to ta l im p ression produ ced d eriv ed en tirely fro m th e m usic: an exact
b y this kind of sou n d tran sfu sio n itb e co m es application o f th e p rin cip les o f lyric dram a.
im possible to disassociate it fro m th e text U nfortunately, th e fa u lts in th e script, the
w h ich it p erm e ate s."40 loosen ess o f th e th em e, the u n su itability of
A n d V incent d 'In d y w ro te the d ay after th e im ages vis-a-vis th e m u sic, and esp e­
the first night: cially the m ixture o f s t y l e s - w it h the film
p assin g fro m fantasy and exp ression ism to
What is the reason for the emotion com ic surrealism , fro m b itin g irony to sor­
which the audience in good faith found did realism , from ly ric d ocu m en tary to car­
impossible to resist? Is it contained in the
icature, w ith o u t rhym e or reason or inter­
drama itself? . . . yes, clearly it is, but the
n a l lin k in g - w e r e the reasons fo r its
drama by itself could never produce an
failu re, w h ich does n o t m ean th at one or
impression of such a special kind. Is it
contained in the music? . . . there again, it tw o seq u en ces d o n o t d eserve to go dow n
clearly is, but music on its own could never as lan d m ark s in th e history books. The film
be expected to create the complex emotion in fact resem bles a su ccessio n o f b rillian t
I m ean.. . . Music per se in Pelleas fulfills a im p ro visation s on an un u su al th em e w hose
secondary role. The text is the main fea­ con v en tio n s d raw attention to them selves
ture, marvelously adapted in its acoustic b u t w ith the saving grace that they are som e­
conception to the inflexions of language tim es treated carelessly and lightheartedly.
and washed by differently colored waves In 1940, W alt Disney, overam bitiously
of music which serve to pick out the de­
taking fam ou s pieces o f m u sic as his inspi­
sign, reveal the hidden meaning, extend
ration, reexam ined in the form o f anim ated
the expression while, at the same time,
cartoons th e principles o f rhythm ic associ­
allowing the dialogue to appear through
the fluid element around it.41 ation . A travesty! In place of A lexey ev 's p o­
etic fantasies, w e had m iserab le M ickey
T h is is n o t th e m o m en t to d iscu ss these M ouse effects illustrating a story for w h ich
264 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

the m usic w as supp osed to b e th e exp res­ here on ly w ith rh ythm ic associations, w e
sion! In fact, Fantasia w a s n o t on ly m is­ can adm it th at there are certain sequences
guid ed b u t h ad th e effect o f d iscred itin g the in The Nutcracker Suite w h ich show a per­
w hole area o f exp erim entation in aud iovi­ fect sy n chronization o f acou stic and visual
sual association, lettin g the p u blic (even m ovem ent. T h e m u sh ro o m d an ce an d the
th o se w h o sh ou ld hav e k n o w n b etter) b e­ b a llet o f the exotic fish are successful in this
lieve th at th e p u rp ose o f th ese experim ents respect. T h e d raw ing s are as supple and
w as "to p u t pictures to m u sic ." W e ow e it p recise as anything o f M acL aren 's and
to ou rselves to p o in t ou t w h at m u st be scru­ cou ld h a v e a g en u ine em otion al valu e w ere
pu lously avoided. it n o t fo r th eir irritatin g pictorial quality
O bv io u sly there a re som e th in g s of evoking soft m u sh y colors.
value in d isjoin ted an d incoherent film . T h u s th e p ro b lem s o f au d iov isu al com ­
T here is th e qu asi-geom etrical v isu al co u n ­ p o sition su g g e st various solutions. E ith er
terp o in t accom p an y in g the Toccata and on e accom p an ies th e m u sic w ith abstract
Fugue, w h o se g rap h ic style is d irectly in­ draw ings w h ich, in b ein g capable on ly of
spired b y F isch in g e r's w ork. The Sorcerer's punctuating th e m usic, n ecessarily u se it as
Apprentice, w h ich is n o th in g m ore than a a rhythm ic su p p ort and an exp ressiv e form
serie s o f m u sical variation s around a story (Fischinger, M acL aren). O r else one follow s
line, is p erfectly su ited to th e D isn ey style; th e score w ith con crete im ages w h ich carry
tran sform ed into "M ickey, th e S o rcerer's th eir ow n m ean in g s b u t thereby run the risk
A p p ren tice" (not w ith o u t h u m or) it m akes o f b ein g m erely "illu stra tio n s" o f th e uni­
a ch arm in g cartoon. B u t bad taste already verse su g g ested b y th e m usic (G erm aine
ru ns aw ay w ith The Dance о / the Hours. As D ulac). O r th e representational form s re­
G eo rg e s S a d o u l p u ts it, m ain su fficiently v ag u e to b e evocativ e in
th e ir o w n right, exten d in g the m u sical im ­
He pokes fun at Ponchielli's old Italian p ressio n s w ith o u t ever "illu stra tin g " them
ballet, trampling over the music with the (A lexeyev). W h atev er the case, all these
clumsy, bumptious movements of hippo­
m eth o d s o f p u ttin g pictures to m u sic take
potamuses dressed as ballerinas. The ex­
m u sic as th e ir starting point.
treme bad taste of The Nutcracker Suite,
Association in th e tru e se n se is achiev­
copied from Tchaikovsky, is at times jus­
tified by its ingeniousness. But how can able on ly at the level o f a sy m p honic m ove­
we excuse the awful duel between the m e n t form alizing som e dram atic action
waxworks Devil and the Angel with gos­ (E isenstein). B u t (in general term s) these
samer wings against the fairyland back­ are th e con d ition s o f lyric dram a: the im ­
drop to the a lte ^ t in g sounds of Mus­ ag es show p eop le in action, a m ovem ent
sorgsky's A Night on Bare Mountain and w hose rhy thm s are extended b y the m usi­
Schubert's Ave Maria? Or the cosmic pre­ cal rh y th m b u t w hose prim ary rh y th m is
tensions of The Rite o f Spring, in which provided b y th e d ev elop m en t o f the repre­
Stravinsky creates a ballet of volcanoes
sen ted action.
and dinosaurs? Or, more especially, Bee­
W e are led to w o n d er w h eth er it w ould
thoven's Pastoral Symphony, transformed
b e possible to associate im ag es and m usic
into a pretty ballet of dancing horses and
capering satyrs in an Olympus decked b y d ev elop in g th rou g h o u t th e same rhyth­
out like a 1910 gambling saloon. . . . mic s tru c tu r e -w ith o u t the im ages bein g
(Histoire du cinema mondial) fo rced to "illu stra te " som eth in g b u t evoke
and suggest it lik e a p o em ; w ithout being
In view o f th e fact th a t w e are concerned en d ow ed w ith a dram atic p o w er and (how ­
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 265

ev er concrete) w ith o u t b e in g subjected to in g an y th in g , th e y p rove incapable o f en ­

rid icu lou s m u sical illu stration . suring th a t the visual poem has a "fu tu re ,"
It is a p ro b lem w h ic h h a s interested us sin ce th ey hav e n o perceptible relation sh ip s
fo r q u ite som e tim e, and it w as a lo n g this w h ich m ig h t relate to a clearly d efined un it
line o f inquiry th at w e began to th in k about of m easurem ent. S in ce v isu al p rogression
rem aking Pacific 232.43 T h e read er will in­ obeys n o law s o f log ic, a film m ay b e edited
dulge us if w e refer to our ow n film s. T h ey in alm ost any order: w h atev er the chosen
w ere experim ents and o n ly p artially suc­ structure, it w ill alw ays lack a rh y th m ca­
cessful; in n o w ay w o u ld I claim that they p ab le o f b e in g effectively experienced, i.e., rec­
exhau st th e q u estio n or solve th e problem . ognized as necessary.
T h ey are, how ever, th e o n ly attem p ts m ade T h u s w e ru n in to th e sam e dead en d as
in this area, w h ich m ean s th a t w e can n o t w ith ab stract d esign s, excep t that im ages -
avoid b rin g in g them in to th e discu ssion. as im ag es " o f so m eth in g " - at lea st possess
Yet, m o re th a n th e film s th em selv es, it is the th e em otion al q u alities o f th e objects th ey
intentions b eh in d th e m to w h ich w e sh all be re p resen t, q u alities cap ab le o f assum ing
referring. meaning as th e film d ev elop s. It is therefore
B efo re an y th in g else, w e d iscou n ted all a q u estio n o f p ro vid in g this d evelopm ent
"p u re " form s, sin ce these la y o u tsid e the w ith a certain org anic n eed , su p p ortin g it
scope o f the problem . W e d iscovered in fact w ith a "fu tu re " th rou g h w hich th e im ages
th at there is n o m ore rh y th m or definable can find the m ean in g intend ed fo r them .
expression in a sequ ence o f quasi-geom et- N ow , it is in m usic th at th is im p ression of
rical d esigns th an in a seq u en ce o f p h o­ "re a l tim e " is to b e found. It provides the
n em es un affected b y lingu istic sem iology visual impressions with the missing time con­
(lettrism ). W h ich is w h y th is d evelopm ent tent by giving them the powers о / perceptible
requires a m usical signification to serve as rhythm.
an "em o tio n al co n te n t." A n d y e t it is clear In oth er w ord s, it is n o t so m u ch a m atter
that in their "p u re " state these d esign s are o f imposing im ag es onto m u sic as o f intro­
b y far th e m o st effectiv e, in so far as th e y are d u cin g m u sic into the visual c o n t in u it y -
required m e re ly to accompany th e m usic. N o n o t ju s t a n y p iece o f m u sic, how ever! F or
concrete form tak en fro m the real w orld, if th e in tentio n is to associate th e tw o form s
fro m real objects, cou ld h av e the flexibility o f exp ressio n using the same spinal column,
o f these cu rves m o d eled on th e m ovem ent th e n it is v ita lly im p ortan t fo r th e tw o
o f th e m u sic, follow ing it n o te b y note, beat form s to p rod u ce sim ilar sen sation s in their
b y beat. It is easier to u se a paint b ru sh th a n ow n w a y so that the em otions stim ulated
M other N ature. com p lem en t or correspond w ith each other
N ow , w e are n o t d ealin g here w ith m u ­ w ithin a single "en tity ."
sical accom p an im en t or m u sical illu stration O f cou rse, the id eal w o u ld b e an origi­
b u t w ith an association o f tw o expressive nal com position, created fro m sou nd s and
fo rm s u sin g the same basic rhythmic structure, im ages conceived specially fo r on e another,
the m usic serv in g less as a "s u p p o rt" than each o f them d ev elop in g sim ultaneously
as a parallel content p ro vid in g the film im ­ tow ard the establish m en t o f com plem en­
ages w ith the notion o f tim e sense w h ich tary feelin g s or sensations. H ow ever, w ith ­
they lack. ou t b ein g b o th com poser and film m aker
T h o u gh rhythm in a film is d efined b y there is n o th in g to sa y that one w ould suc­
the d ram atic d ev elop m en t o f an action "as ceed in h a n d lin g im ages and sou nd s w ith
it h ap p en s," w h en the im ag es are n o t say­ equal ease.
 266 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

T h o u g h the w a y th e im ag es o f P a cific 231 ov erw h elm in g sensory v a lu e it g iv es us.

d evelop is d ictated b y the score, th e y are A n d th a t is w h y w e choose to lo o k fo r p la s ­
in d ep en d en t o f th e m u sic as fa r as th e ob­ tic correspond ences in m aterial reality rather
jects represented are concerned ; th a t is, they th an in ab stract d esign s, in th e h op e of m ak ­
are essentially n on illu strative. P arap h ras­ ing p o etry from th e m ovem ent of objects
in g a passage from Sou riau, w e do not w h ich alone is capable o f h av in g m eaning.
m erely say th at the form s o f these tw o T h e ob jects m u st appear as th e exten­
w orlds, m u sic and film , are m u tu ally im ita­ sion o f sound in to a concrete reality subject
tive or th a t th e film m aker is in sp ired b y the to its law s, a reality w h ich then becom es,
com p oser b u t th a t h is exp ress in ten tio n is as it w ere, a "sp a tia liz a tio n " o f the m usic
to offer visual effects sufficient in them selves w h ich lend s its d u ratio n s relative to the
fo r creatin g a w orld sim ilar to th a t sug­ represented m ovem ents. In this way, the
gested b y th e m u sic (th ou gh d e a r ly m ore locom otiv e trav elin g a t h ig h speed m ust
precise). T h en the im ages and sounds start "c o n s tru c t" the sym phony as it goes along,
correspond ing w ith each other rath er than as th o u g h the score w ere b ein g produced
im itate each o t h e r - y e t , as it w ere, echoing b y a clev er org an ization o f the shots. T h e
the sam e w orld w h ich th ey both offer.44 au d ien ce m u st fo rg et that the m u sic is the
T hu s it is a m atter o f sig n ify in g in space w ork o f a com p oser b ein g p lay ed b y an
a rhythm alread y d eveloping an d being orchestra; it m u st p erceiv e it as though it
signified in time, fin d in g a plastic equ ivalent w ere the expression in sou nd o f the m o v ­
fo r it b y lettin g th e fo rm a l m o v em en ts b e ­ in g objects.
com e associated w ith th e m u sical rhythm s, T h e concrete reality, th e sou rce o f th e film
like shots in th e editing w ith phrases in the im ag es, b eco m es thereby affected b y a co­
score, th e qu ality of the im ag es rem ain in g efficien t o f unreality, h elp in g it "su b lim ate
"in k e ep in g " w ith the quality o f the parallel its e lf" th ro u g h a tran scen d en t rhythm . The
sounds. stage is reach ed therefore w h en a p iece of
O bviously, sin ce im ag es are alw ay s o f ab stract architecture m ay be com posed
som ething, reality m u st b e p laced " in th e ab­ from con crete reality w ith o u t it ever ceasin g
stract" in order to elim in ate any overrep- to b e w h at it is: the com bin ed m o vem en t of
resentational elem ents, w h ile a t the sam e rails an d p o in ts shot in extrem e closeu p pro­
tim e m aintainin g the em otion al qualities d u cin g a b allet o f in terlo ck in g and inter­
produ ced b y their tan g ible reality. T h e ele­ ch a n g in g lin es w h ich com e togeth er an d
m e n ts to b e retained are m ovem ent, rhythm , p a rt ag ain accord in g to the m u sic, w ith ou t
tonality, rath er th a n w h at th ey represent, th e rails ever being an y th in g b u t rails, con ­
th e im p ortant th in g ab ou t their qu ality "a s trib u tin g th eir em otion al value "a s ob jects"
o b jects" b e in g th eir su b stance rath er th a n tran sform ed b y the all-em b racin g rhythm .
the fa c t that th e y are objects. In d ee d , as G as­ T h e problem consists therefore in associ­
to n B achelard so clev erly rem in d s u s, " only a tin g in th e a u d ien ce's m in d , u sin g th e sam e
m atter can b eco m e ch arged w ith m u ltiple rhy thm ic d ev elo p m en t, em o tio n a l shocks
im pressions and feelin g s; on ly sen sory p rod u ced b y th e im ages and th e m u sic, in
qualities can p ro vid e correspond ences. P er­ su ch a w ay th a t th eir identical or com p le­
ceptu al qualities m erely provide tran sla­ m en tary q u alities are gen erated sim u lta­
tio n s." T h at is w h y it is necessary to ad d to neously. To achiev e th is, it is n ecessary to
th e perception o f m o v e m e n t th e sensation of find a q u ality co m m o n to b o th perceptions,
th e th in g m o v in g , b u t w ith o u t it b ein g in­ co m m o n to tw o elem en ts affecting tw o d if­
troduced for any other purpose th an the feren t sen ses; to d efin e th e relationsh ip s -
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 267

arbitrary but perceptible—b etw een objects h a v e th e n ecessa ry resources, I w as unable

d eveloping, som e a t th e visual level, others to sh oo t a n u m ber o f the shots I had
a t the acou stic level thereby creating an p lan n ed and I h ad to fill in w ith oth er shots
em otion in cap able o fb e in g produced either w h ich are n o t en tirely suitable. B ut the
b y the m u sic o n its o w n or b y the im ages on b a sic reason is that H o n eg g e r's m usic is in
their ow n but b y their co n sta n t association, symphonic form. It is therefore com posed of
th e ir su p erim p o sition in th e a u d ien ce's co n ­ several elem ents com binin g sim ultaneously
sciousness. T h e art con sists in associating w ith each oth er in th e score. N ot on ly are
th ese im p ressio n s, u n ify in g th em in to a sin ­ th e v ario u s th e m e s interconnected , b u t
gle u n ity so th at th e y b eco m e ind issociable th e y are a t tim es ju xtaposed (prod ucing the
in the au d ien ce's m in d as it p erceiv es them counterpoint w e d escribed in th e previous
sim ultaneously: to create a con text w h ereb y chap ter) and it is im possible to produ ce a
one is n ot sure w h eth er one is hearing the v isu al eq u iv alen t fo r this, sin ce th e im age
im ages or seeing th e m u sic. has o n ly one fram e. W e had therefore to
W hen th e asso cia tio n is successful, it choose: eith er to fo llow th e m ain them e and
"p rod u ces the tru ly artistic satisfaction ignore the others or else show the locom o­
w h ich lies in see in g d iv ersity in unity, di­ tiv e in lo n g sh ot so th a t th e au d ien ce could
vergence in sim ultaneity, th e exten sion o f a p ick out th e d etails th ro u g h th e progression
m om en t in tim e " (P ie rre Schaeffer). o f th e m u sic. B u t in th e latter the repre­
I t i s u n d ersto od th a t if th e piece o f m u sic sen ted objects assum e a com p letely incon­
is self-su fficient, th e film m u st also b e able gru ou s anecd otal quality. W e shou ld have
to stand on its ow n , m ain tainin g the struc­ a v o id e d - o r cu t o u t - a l l im ag es o f this
ture w h ich it b orro w s fro m the m u sic. In kind, w h ich tend to d estroy the aesthetic
w h ich case, all it lack s is th e rh ythm ic re­ u n ity o f th e film . W e th erefore com e to the
quirem ent to w h ich w e referred (not to sam e con clu sion as w e reached in a previ­
m ention th e em otion al pow ers w h ich the ous chapter: "y o u can n o t p la y a sy m p h o n y
m usic induces). on a p ia n o ." F o r th is ty p e of exercise, o n ly
In Pacific 232, w e avo id ed the problem . split screen or m u ltiscreen provides an ac­
In fact, th o u g h th e film d oes n o t actu ally ceptable version: th e variou s th em es in the
tell a story, it d oes describe a m o vem en t sou n d track can be reprodu ced sim ulta­
formed b y the m usic. T h e locom otive w ith n eo u sly in three d ifferen t fram es on a triple
its carriages is traveling tow ard a specific screen.
d estination. T h e film h a s a n a p rio ri direc­ A n d so th is im p erfect, in com p lete first
tio n provided b y th e m o vem en t o f the train: effort laid the fo u n d ation s fo r another ex­
th e re is a definable sta rtin g p o in t, a m id d le p erim en t m ore in lin e w ith the "m o n a d ic"
section, an d an arrival. T h e film cou ld quite con d ition s o f th e ord in ary acad em y screen.
easily stand w ith o u t the m u s ic - t h o u g h it H ow ever, b efo re w e com e o n to Debussy,
w ould n o t b e the sam e - p a r tic u la r ly since w e m u st d eal w ith th e criticism generally
th is m o vem ent m ain tain s th e rhythm im ­ leveled at this type of experim entation show ­
posed on it b ein g in ev itab ly in cluded in it. ing a com p lete lack o f u n d erstan d ing as to
M oreover, thou g h th e re are o n e o r tw o its p u r p o s e - th e so rt o f criticism w h ich con­
sequ ences (travelin g over th e points, th e dem ns us fo r in vestig atin g the synchronism
countryside ru sh in g past and th e locom o­ of im age and sou nd instead o f "co m p o sin g
tive u n d er fu ll steam ) w o rk w ell in term s in co u n te rp o in t" - w h i c h I assum e is sup­
o f aud iov isual association s, the film as a posed to m ean effe cts o f contrast.
w hole is n o t successful. B eca u se I did n o t L et u s b ea r in m in d th a t th e se effects,
268 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

often d esirable w h e n the m u sic is used m u sic tends to suggest, it is alw ay s a case
m e re ly as accom p an im en t, are created out o f m atch in g th e m u sical co n ten t w ith a v i­
o f relatio n sh ip s o f meaning rath er than sual, d etail b y detail, th at is to sa y (like it
structure: a b o u n cy tu ne m a y b e u sed as a or not), an effect o f cou n terp o in t in the true
contrast fo r a scen e o f p a th o s, revealing an sense o/ the word.
attitude o f iro n y o n the part o f the f i l ^ ^ - Sin ce Pacific 232 w as essen tially d y ­
k e r to th e situation. B u t th e co n tra st is b e ­ n am ic, m ain tain in g in v isu al term s a cer­
tw een a ce rta in e m o tio n a l q u a lity d e te r­ tain rh y th m , I h ad to d evelop a series o f
m in ed b y th e m u sic an d a certain em otional im p ression s cap ab le o f deep sym bolism
qu ality d eterm ined b y w h a t is shown or de­ b u t w h ose self-involved m ovem ent required
scribed. T h e m u sic is m ade to con trast w ith th e su p p ort o f th e m u sic to beco m e ordered
the meaning о / the drama an d n o t w ith th e in percep tible time. A poem about w ater
structure o f th e im ages. O b v io u sly a catchy, seem ed to fit th ese requ irem ents quite n a t­
ironic tu n e has a com p letely d ifferent urally. T h u s it w as n o t th e pieces o f m usic
rh y th m from that, say, o f a lovers' g o o d ­ b y D eb u ssy w h ich w e u sed as starting
b y e. B u t then b o th film an d m u sic are d e ­ points, fin d in g correspond ences naiVely
v e lo p in g accord ing to different structures. su g g ested b y th e titles o f the pieces, b u t the
A n d i f th e y hav e different stru ctu res, th ey th em e o f w ater itself, D eb u ssy 's crystal-
clearly ca n n o t hav e th e sam e rhythm ic p ro ­ clear sou n d s, th e sh im m erin g o f his harm o­
gression. n ies - in co n tra st w ith classical harm onies
N ow , the p ro blem here is n o t to p la y on scu lp ted , as it w ere, fro m m a r b le -r e m in is ­
the relatio n sh ip s o f two parallel rhythm s cen t o f the ed d ies, reflections an d tran sp ar­
(w hich is elem en tary ) bu t to d ev elop similar e n cy o f ru n n in g water.
expressions around th e same sp in al colu m n T h e p u rp o se o f th e p oem , its "e ssen ce ,"
u sin g different resources. T h a t m ean s th at w as to m ak e th e au d ien ce d ou bt the "p h e ­
th e m o vem en ts, rh y th m ic or "p h ra se d ," n o m e n a l" rea lity o f the w o rld and its objects
m u st b e in con stan t synch, e v e n th o u g h th ro u g h th e objects them selv es, to create
th e y m a y n o t b e requ ired to b e in harm ony. fan tasy fro m reality and, in N ieteche's
T h e slig h test d ev iation fro m sy n ch pro­ w ord s "e x ten d th e p h en om en al w orld to its
duces neither contrast n o r em otion al cou n­ fu rth e s t lim its w h ere it d en ies its ow n exis­
terp o in t b u t m erely the irritatin g effect o f a ten ce an d tries to becom e p art o f the only
film o u t o f synch. A n d w h e n a deliberate tru e re a lity " [The Birth o/ Tragedy]. So the
n o n sy n ch effect d oes n o t ap p ear as a n ed­ title Images pour Debussy is deceptive.45 It
itin g m is ta k e - w h ic h seld om h a p p e n s - i t su g g e sts im a g es sp ecially com posed / o r the
is as th o u g h th e p ic tu r e tr a c k an d th e sou nd m u sic w h ereas (even m o re than fo r Pacific
track w ere ru nning w ith two p arallel 2 32) w e w ere using a m u sical fram ew ork as
rhythm s, n e a tly avo id in g th e p ro b lem or th e d y n am ic fou n d ation o f a v isu a l progres­
relating it b a c k to the p ro blem o f film m u sic sion, in te g ra tin g the them es, rh y th m s, an d
in general. sou nd s o f D eb u ssy in a m etap o etic o f water.
O bviously, tem p o rary n o n sy n ch m a y be In fact, there is n o th in g aquatic about
used to great e ff e c t- in d e e d w e h a v e used Arabesques, except perhaps the continu ou s
it ou rselves - provid ed th a t it occurs w ith in flu id ity and color o f th e sound structure.
a synchronou s context. A t th e risk o f N ow , there w as n o th in g a r b itr a r y -a n d
sound ing repetitiv e, w e m ig h t add that there w as n o m u sical reason - i n grouping
even in the case о / purely illustrative imagery, into th e sam e film En bateau, Arabesque en
even w h en the im ag es show w h at the mi, Reflets dans l'eau an d Arabesque en sol, for
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 269

us to b e g in w ith im a g e s w h ich w ere con ­ d ep en d en t on th e im ag in atio n o f m atter:

crete and y et at th e sam e tim e d escriptive th e sou l is m erely a reflection.
and alm ost "illu stra tiv e " an d m ak e ou r Th u s above all it is a k ind o f contem p la­
w ay progressively, th ro u g h a con tin u al tive d ream state: a search fo r m ovem en t b e­
co n tractio n o f shots, tow ard a n abstract n eath th e surface o f objects, fo r the essence
representation, fin ally en d in g up w ith d e­ o f objects b en ea th the ap p earance o f m ove­
ta ils sh o t in e x trem e closeu p. A n d there m en t; a m o v em en t w h ich tran sform s direct
w as n oth in g arbitrary in our b eg in n in g reality, delving into m atter in th e search for
w ith the rep resen tatio n o f m aterial objects - th e "u n co n scio u sn ess o f fo rm ," to u se G as­
th e river, trees ov erh an g in g th e w ater - and ton B a ch ela rd 's expression^ 7
th e n go b a ck to the sam e elem ents reflected M y in ten tio n w a s to create a sort o f sw irl­
and th e n the reflection s th em selv es w h ich , in g , p ro g ressive m ag ic u sin g a d em ate­
turned upside d ow n, replaced reality and rialized fo rm o f natu re perceived through a
offered a sim ilar y et different universe. The rh y th m ap p earin g to em anate from it. Ju st
film im age then becom es th e "im a g e o f the as reflected reality seem s to dissolve in to the
o b ject's im a g e " and m akes u s refer back to liquid su b stan ce w h ich su p p orts it, so the
it w h en w e p ro ject it in to ou r im agination . im ages fuse in to the rh y th m w h ich b ecom es
R etu rn ed to its p h e n o m en a l m obility, re­ a p p aren t b eh in d them . T hu s m u sic b e­
ality discovers ag ain, b ey on d its ep hem eral com es the sou rce o f life: at th e start o f each
aspects, th e vibrations com posing it and "p ie c e ," th e im ages, static to b eg in w ith
recognizes itself as th e effect o f a m om en t (stills), start to m ove w ith th e first few notes
in the un iverse. B u t if su b jectiv e tim e sense w h ich th ereby appear to b e w ak in g N ature
replaces real tim e in the sam e w a y as the fro m h er hibern ation .
reflection replaces the o b je ct, these object- O b v io u sly th ese are v ery sh o rt film s; bu t
im ages ap p ear to identify th eir m o vem en t a "d ro p o f w ater con tain s a un iv erse, a m o­
w ith a un iversal m ovem ent: a fluid and m e n t in a d ream con tain s a com plete soul
continu ou s rhythm soften in g and d issolv­ and the w ater-fairy, gu ard ian o f th e m irage,
in g all rhythm s an d w h ic h , see m in g to e m ­ h old s all the b ird s o f h eav en in h er h a n d "
a n ate "fro m in sid e ," b eco m e as it w ere a (G aston B achelard ).
so rt of representation w ithin the representa­ T hu s to lo o k a t these film s from a realist
tion. O bjects are p ro jected th rou g h the p o in t o f v iew or see th em as "m u sic a l ac­
m o vem ent w h ic h they e x p ress and w h ich com p an im en ts" is to m ak e th em seem a b ­
signifies them ; m o bility d istu rbs th eir ap ­ surd, seein g n o th in g m ore th an a sequ ence
p earance and tran slates th e d y n am ic aspi­ o f reflection s, m o vem en ts o f w ater describ­
ratio n o f a self-seek in g p e rfe ctio n , aspires in g th eir pattern s in a preestablished
tow ard a rep ossessed tranquillity, collects rhythm . Taking in to accou n t the "liqu id
itself and seeks a restin g p lace in th e eter­ q u a litie s" o f D eb u ssy 's m usic, on e m ight
n ity o f m ovem ent. w eil w onder w h y m o vem en ts o f w ater and
W ater b eco m es a m irro r o f N atu re con ­ n o t m ovem en ts o f som e other elem ent, w h y
tem plating h erself an d th e w orld is lik e a m o v em en ts o f "o b je c ts" and n ot m ove­
" h u g e N arcissu s th in k in g its e lf in to exis- m en ts o f ab stract shapes sin ce, in the final
te n ce ";46 fo r the id ea o f the m irro r im age an aly sis, fro m a strictly "lin e a r" p o in t of
o riginates in s p rin g w a te r-p e r h a p s also view , A rabesqu e en sol eventu ally becom es
the idea o f the soul, w h ich is n o m ore than p u re ab stractio n u sin g concrete elem ents.
its sp iritu al form . B ut in this in su b stan tial T h o u g h th is m ig h t allow th e film to have
m aterial, the im ag in atio n o f fo rm rem ains a n em otion al value o f its ow n and , if need
270 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

b e, stand o n its o w n w ith o u t th e m u sic, it I sh ou ld lik e to q u ote a cou ple o f pas­

is b etter to consid er it from th e oth er angle: sages w h ich I find rath er g ratify in g . W here­
as a k ind of sy m b o lic in terp retation o f th e as m o st critics sa w (or w anted to see) in
u n iv e rse in w h ich th e film m ak er chases the th ese e x p erim en ts n o th in g m o re th a n an at­
"rea l shad ow o f his im ag in ary n a tu re " and tem p t to create h arm on ies, A n dre B azin and
w h ere a m u sical rh y th m is registered co n ­ H enri A g e l - t h e p ro p o n en ts of "sp iritu al­
trib u tin g its ord er an d its tim e sense. ism " - w e r e th e only on es to p erceiv e in
F ro m th e pu rely film p o in t o f v i e w - au­ th ese im ag es a d esire to u n d erstand th e es­
d iovisu al h a r m o n y - w e sh ou ld really b e sen ce o f things.
talk in g on ly ab ou t Reflets dans l'ean and A r-
abesqne en sol, w h ic h are th e o n ly film s to It is precisely this rhythmic accessibil­
h av e achieved a deg ree of success (o r at any ity of matter which contributes most in
rate w h at I orig in ally set o u t to achieve), divesting it of its realism, in drawing out
of it a kind of abstract first principle com­
th o u g h I am d isap p o in ted th ey h ad to b e
pared to which material reality is of only
sh o t in b lack and w h ite w h ere co lo r w ou ld
secondary importance. A reflection shows
h av e p ro vid ed a w h o le ra n g e o f n u an ces
itself first and foremost as rhythm. Com­
d en ied to us. T h e oth er exp erim ents are ei­ pared with this essence, water is nothing
th e r on ly p artially su ccessfu l o r else, q u ite more than an accident. Just like the image
sim ply, failures.48 of the sky in water, the relationship of
N onetheless, w h atev er th e m e rits o r d e ­ idea to object is inverted. The perceptible
m erits o f th e film s th em selv es (and th ou g h world is merely the reflection and, as it
this ty p e o f film is boun d to b e a d ep arture were, the epiphenomenon of an essential
fro m th e n orm ), it is o u r firm b elie f th at the musicality. (Andre Bazin)
u n io n o f m u sic and im ag es w ill p ro v id e an The second piece leads us toward an
o p p o rtu n ity to d isco v er th e "d e lig h ts of understanding of this notion of fluidity
frenzied aband on, th e savage jo y o f sacred and, in Arabesque en sol, we see the con­
m ad n ess, and th e b ea titu d e o f D io n y sia n firmation of our intuition, a revelation of
p lea su re ," to u se M ario M e u n ie r's exp res­ a Platonic Idea of movement, a first prin­
ciple whose visible reality is merely the
sion w ith reference to O rp h ism and th e rites
e x t e ^ l appearance.. . . By divesting the
o f a n cien t G reece.
substance of all its incidentals, of every­
W e are d ealin g h e re w ith w h at is ob vi­
thing which does not belong to its es­
ou sly an obsessional, h y p n o tic art, a n al­
sence, Mitry brings us into to the world
m o st apocalyptic m eth o d o f forcin g N ature of Plato and Pythagoras. (Henri Agel)
to reveal h erself, fro m b eh in d h e r a p p ear­
an ces, d isco v erin g h e r su b lim e m ean in g in T h ey b o th u n d ersto od p erfectly th at I w as
an e m o tio n n o t received an d re flected b u t n o t try in g to m a k e a com m en tary to "e x ­
im posed and experien ced . A t th e sa m e tim e, p la in " th e m u s i c - a s critics w h o k n e w no
if ou r in te n tio n is to exploit the sim u ltan eity b etter t h o u g h t - b u t a m alleab le un iv erse
o f p ercep tion and, in a sen se, "fo rc e " th e w h ich , possessed by the mnsic, i.e., rhythm ,
sp e ctato r's con sciou sn ess, th is ca n h ap p en m ight th ereby assu m e a meaning, a cosm ic
o n ly if relatio n sh ip s are created in his m in d signification .
cap ab le o f p ro v o k in g thoughts b ased on It is tru e th a t o u r tw o critics interpreted
em otions and n o t im prison ing h is im a g in a ­ essence in its P la to n ic sen se and w ere there­
tio n in a fixed rep resentation b u t, on the fore ab le to see it (as w as th eir right) only
contrary, stim ulating it b y lettin g it w an d er in term s o f a m an ifestation o f th e "u n iv er­
b ey o n d th e ch arted paths. sal s o u l," th e p rin cip le on w h ich they b ased
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 271

their w h ole aesthetic stru ctu re, w h ereas, to rhythm but with our perception of stimuli
m y eyes, the "e ssen ce o f o b je cts" h a s m ore independently of the nature of the stim­
to d o w ith th e fra g ility o f ap p earances and uli. These laws are those of assimilation
d em onstrates the w ay o u r con sciou sness and distinction and may be interpreted as
the dynamic forms of the perceptual field.
w orks w h e n applied to the relativ ity of
(Les structures rythmiques)
p henom ena. H ow ever, in view o f th e fact
th at the P lato n ic Id ea is a p retty w ide­
spread notion, it is odd to th in k h o w the T h e rhyth m o f su ccessiv e m ovem ents
proponents o f M aterialism an d P ositiv ism therefore depends on ou r p ercep tu al capac­
kep t their d istan ce fro m it, fo r fear o f rec­ ities. In defining p o ten tial d istin ction s and
ognizing in it an id ealistic sig nification con­ assim ilatio n s, th ese capacities organize
trary to their d eep est con v ictio n s: w e see su ccessiv e stim uli in to conv enien t groups
only w h at w e b eliev e, and w e adm ire w h ich respond, a t th e level o f tim e, to the
som eth in g on ly if it flatters us. d irect form s o f the sp atial structures. The
p ro cesses of p ercep tu al schem atization in
Conclusions about Rhythm fa ct tend to org anize form s in sp ace and
tim e, into clearly d ifferentiated groups.
A s G ise le B relet w rote, "rh y th m is never P eriod icity is the m o s t obviou s charac­
self-generative; it is alw ays th e effect o f an teristic o f rh y th m , b u t it is n o t w h at rhythm
activity w h ich uses rh y th m as a reflection is. There can b e rh y th m w ith o u t recurring
o f itself, a duration b o th in tellig ible and patterns and w ith o u t strictly proportioned
re a l." A n d yet, th o u g h rh y th m is obviou sly relation sh ip s. B u t in this case, rhythm m u st
th e p rod u ct o f a p ercep tu al activity, g ro u p ­ b e tak en in its m o st g en eral sen se: o f tim e
ing d u ratio n s in to sep arate or in tercon ­ ev olv in g in a succession o f alternatin g and
nected form s, this activity can occu r only interrelated d urations. It is "o rd er in m o v e­
in certain circum stan ces. In oth er w ords, m e n t," to u se th e sim p lest P lato n ic defini­
rhythm is correlative w ith an organization tion, a fo rm w h ich allow s th e "co n tin u ity "
o f objects - a n d w ith a motor activity w h ich to d evelop and b eco m e organized in time.
uses rhythm to reflect its tru e self. In this sense, film m ay b e consid ered as
R h yth m ic stru ctu res are pregnant form s, a rh y th m ic developm ent: a con tinu ity al­
as the w o rk o f Paul Fraisse has d em on­ ternated b y th e tim e o f th e sequ ences, itself
strated. T h ey im ply a n ecessary form aliza­ alternated b y th e tim e o f th e shots. But, as
tion d ivid ed in to w e a k an d stro n g stresses Fraisse p o in ts ou t, "th e less constrictive the
and involve an effective distinction b etw een sen so ry d ata, th e greater the influence of
contrastin g tim es in the sam e w a y as assim­ th e perceptual processes and even attitudes
ilation tend s to supp ress or re d u ce th e tiny or p erso n ality o f the p erceiv er." N ow , the
differences b etw een tim es o f th e sam e kind. film im ag e, w ith the signification and o b ­
T h is a p rio ri fo rm exp la in s h o w rhythm s je ctiv e value o f its content, is ab ou t as con­
com e to b e created sp on tan eo u sly from iso ­ strictin g as an y th in g can be. There is, there­
chronou s tim e s (su ch as th e sou n d s o f a fore, n o sim ilarity b etw een film rhythm
train ru nning o v er a ra ilw a y track). and m u sical rhythm in volving relation­
Fraisse is even m ore p recise: ship s o f proportion and recurring patterns.
T h o u g h it is an organ ization o f p u re asso­
The laws governing the organization ciatio n s, a specific rh y th m can on ly involve
of rhythm are not specific to rhythm. They elem en ts w ith no precise signification (or
are not associated with the time nature of at least n o clearly defined objective qu ali­
272 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

ties) in th e fo rm ation o f th ese associations. o r a sy llable. The n o te or syllable is alm ost

S o u n d - a n d sou n d a lo n e -r e s p o n d s p er­ in stantan eou s (b etw een l/ S th and l/ lO th
fe c tly to th e se requirem ents. o f a second ), w h ereas ev en th e shortest
W h en rhythm involves concrete ele­ sh ot m u st last lo n g en ou g h fo r its content
m en ts w ith m ean in g o f th eir ow n, it be­ to b e perceived . Except w h en the film em ­
com es incapable o f sig n ify in g " b y itself" ploys a n effect o f visual percussion using
and end s up organizing significations. sh ots w h ose fo rm al con ten t is, fo r th at rea­
F raisse's exp erim ents p ro v e th at in all son , extrem ely sim ple, the shortest shots
c a s e s - a n d w h atev er th e t e m p o - t h e m u ­ are seld om less th an 1/2 second (tw elve
sical relationship b etw een sh ort beats and fram es). T h e d u ration o f sh ort sh ots varies
lo n g beats is alm o st exactly h alf (as in fro m 1/2 second to 3 seconds. L o n g shots
G reek and L atin poetry, w h ere it w as a rule - w h i c h g en erally last b etw een 10 and 40
o f th u m b , th ere being n o clea r d istin ction s e c o n d s - c a n e a sily b e lon g er th an a m in ­
b etw een m u sic and poetry, sin ce th e ir fu n ­ ute if th ey are establishing shots (the dura­
d am ental stru ctures w ere sim ilar). As a tion o f track ing sh ots does n o t com e into
con seq u en ce o f w h ich these relationsh ips this d iscu ssion , sin ce a track is m erely an
are alw ay s clearly p erceiv ed , sin ce they u n in terru p ted su ccessio n o f different
clearly differentiated b y th e p ercep tu al ac­ shots). N ow , how ever obviou s it m ay be,
tiv ity itself. the d ifferen ce b etw een a sh o t o f 3 0 second s
T o d ig ress fo r a m o m en t. C o m p a rin g vi­ an d an oth er o f a m in u te is intelligible rath er
su al and m u sical rh y th m , w e d escribed the th a n p ercep tib le-a t least in th e rhythm ic
m in u te relatio n sh ip s o f tim e p ercep tible to sense o f th e w ord, i.e., in a related d uration
the trained ear b u t im p ercep tib le to th e eye. w h ich is precisely perceived—especially
T h e relatio n sh ip s w e are referrin g to h ere sin ce the con ten t o f these sh ots, as w e have
relate to "rh y th m ic cells" form ed fro m tw o seen, h a s an effect o n th e im p ression o f the
o r three b eats (a stro n g b ea t and on e or tw o d u ratio n w h ich th e y produ ce.
w eak beats) lik e a fo ot in G reek o r L atin M oreover, thou g h, lik e th e o th er rhyth­
poetry. N ow , th e rh y th m o f a lin e o f poetry m ic arts, the cin em a con tain s only tw o
and , b y extension , the p o em itself is n ot b ea ts - long and s h o r t - th e m etric relation­
contained in th e iam bu s o r tro ch ee b y itself sh ip s are n o t com m ensurate w ith relation­
b u t in th e o rg an ization o f iam b u s o r trochee ship s o f intensity. In poetry, th e stro ng (or
w ith in th e phrase. It is th e sa m e th in g in stressed ) b ea t is id entified b y a lo n g , the
m u sic. W h a t w e w ere con trastin g w a s the w e a k b y a short: in m u sic also. In th e cin­
rhythm o f a m u sical phrase w h o se g lobal em a, on th e oth er hand, th e sh ot lasting
tim e, associated w ith th at o f a n o th er phrase, lo n g est is q u ite o ften the least in ten se and
reveals a d ifference w h ich m a y b e m in u te the percu ssive p o w er o f th e sh o rt sh o t (es­
b u t is p erceptible to th e ear, w h ereas a sim ­ pecially a closeup) is alm ost alw ay s capable
ilar difference w ou ld n o t b e perceptible to o f in crea sin g intensity. M oreover, it d oes n ot
th e eye. H ow ever, to con tin u e th e argum ent. alw ays fo llow th a t the sh o rt sh o t is exactly
It w ou ld seem th a t th e "sh o rt" b ea t is h a lf th e len g th o f the lo n g s h o t - o r that it is
th e b asis o f rhyth m ic com p ositio n b y rea­ in a n y w a y p rop ortion ate. T h e relative
so n o f its brevity, a sp on taneou sly per­ len g th o f sh ots becom es percep tible only
ceived d uration. A n d yet, th o u g h th is m ay th rou g h a n action to w h ich the tim e values
be true fo r m u sic, it is n o t fo r th e cinem a. are a b le to add a q u a lity - w h ic h , as often as
In p o in t o f fa c t, a sh o t c a n n o t b e com pared not, m erely serv es to extend the given
(p articu larly as a u n it o f tim e) w ith a note sig n ification . Since these can n o t becom e
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 273

p art o f a relatio nsh ip in d ep en d en t o f their stantly m odulated b y th e changes o f shot,

m ean in g , it follow s th a t relatio n sh ip s o f the visual progression takes on the appear­
tim e are w h at are d eterm in ed b y the expres­ ance o f th e "fr e e " cad en ces o f b la n k verse
sive requ irem en ts o f th e concrete d ata - (poetic prose). A n d the effect b ecom es m uch
even thou gh, in retu rn, th ey m ay a lter the clearer in the case o f m oving shots w here
p rim ary m eaning. R h y th m h ere is a fu n c­ th e con tin u al m o d ification o f th e field o f
tion o f these data and o f th e sig n ification s it view (and therefore th e shapes) creates a
is expected to assu m e through th is p ercep­ flu id and continu ou s "flo w ." In th is case,
tible organization. T h e co n strictin g natu re rh y th m d issolves in to a progression o f tim e
o f the im age m eans th a t rh y th m is n ecessar­ w h ose rh y th m s are entirely con trolled b y
ily subord inated to th e o b ject con tain ed in tran sform atio n s o f space.49 In th e cinem a,
it and the attitu d e o f th e perceiv er h a s n o - b ase d o n concrete data, assim ilation and
o r v ery lit t le - b e a r in g o n the w a y h e p e r­ d istin ctio n are assured b y th e represented
ceiv es its tim e fra m e, w h ich m ean s that in ob jects even m o r e - a s m u st b e o b v io u s -
the cinem a it is n o t so m u ch a q u estio n o f th a n b y th e len g th o f their representation.
rhythm ic stru cture as a stru ctu re o f rhythm . N everth eless, even in th e case o f tracking
That is w h y there is a n in fin ite d iv ersity a n d sh ots, there is a relative d iscon tinuity in the
m etric freed om in a series o f n on sign ifyin g con tin u ity o f the im ages, ensuring a certain
relationships. Film rh y th m , as w e hav e said, notio n o f rhythm .
is th e conseq u ence o f a n ecessa ry ord er W e h a v e se e n h o w th e p resen t is referred
rather th a n an o rg a n iz in g stru ctu re w ith back to w h atever is cap ab le o f b ein g d irectly
priority o v er w h a tev er it organizes. stru ctu red , i.e., to the "p ercep tu al field ."
R hythm in its tru e se n se is th e e ffe ct o f T h e d u ration o f th is presen t tim e is th e d u ­
the d iscon tinu ity o fb e a ts ordered accord ing ration o f ou r p ercep tion , itself im p ly in g -
to v ario u s relation sh ip s, w h ich m ean s that, an d in v o lv in g - o u r im m e d ia te m em ory:
w h en there is n o d iscontinu ity, there is no w h atev er is directly p erceiv ed supp orts
possibility o f rhythm . N ow , w ith film b e­ w h atev er is in th e p ro cess o f b ein g p er­
com ing closer and closer to the con tinu ou s ceiv ed an d ensu res a c o n tin u ity in th e per­
progression o f the n ov el fo rm (as w ell as ite ception. Yet there is a certain d iscontinuity
psychological d ev elopm en t), it is b eco m in g in th e perception o f sequences, since the "p er­
m ore and m o re u su al fo r relatio n sh ip s o f ception tim e " involves a series o f "m o ­
tim e to b e exp erien ced o n ly in te rm s o f m e n ts" fu sin g in to th e du ratio n in th e sam e
changes o f fram e and space. A n d th ere are w ay as th e "p ercep tu a l fie ld " d issolves into
m any d ifferent w a y s o f o rg a n iz in g film c o n ­ sp ace, each o f them en su rin g th at a hom o­
tinuity. geneous con tin u u m is m aintained .50
A s a rule, the con stan t cutting fro m one N ow , in th e case o f m o vin g sh o ts w here
shot to another establish es a k ind o f regu lar the cam era is slip p in g continually from one
b eat, like th e p en d u lu m o f a clock. T h e d i­ field to another, th e p erm anen ce o f the
versity o f th e relatio n sh ip s o f tim e an d the fram e em p h asizes the changes in the sp atial
intensity o f su ccessiv e shots m o d u late in content. T h is m e th o d o f continuous d escrip ­
various w ays this b asic feeling o f a ticking tion therefore p resen ts in itself a su ccessio n
clock, in ev itab le as th e sh ots cu t fro m one o f discon tin u ou s fo rm s (and therefore p er­
to the other. Film in itself cau ses a fe e lin g o f cep tion s). C onsequently, th e variety o f in ­
r h y th m -o n e w h ich is vague and im pre­ tern al stru ctu res d eterm in es w ith in a sh ot
cise. C onsequently, film rh y th m is th e effect seq u en ce, if n o t rh y th m exactly, th e n a t least
of a fu n d am en tal lack o f rhythm . C o n­ an obviou s rhythm ic m od u lation , w h ich is
274 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

w h at w e m ean t w h en w e said th a t a track ­ effects is increased w h en th ey are recurring

in g sh o t is a su ccessio n in w h ich ea ch fram e p attern s, su ch that the film m ay provide us
is, as it w ere, a d ife r e n t s h o t - i n th e sam e w ith a co m p le te rhy thm ic sen sation pro­
w ay as a circle is a succession o f straig ht d uced by th e sy n ch ro n ization o f ou r activ­
lines. ity w ith th e stim u li o f th e represented data.
B e that as it may, th e film effe ct con sists A p erfect exam p le (th ou gh associated
in lim itin g space and d u ratio n in a totally w ith a m u sical pro g ression w h ich increases
arb itrary fa sh io n , in ch o o sin g (or, to b e m ore still fu rth e r th e stre n g th o f these effects) is
exact, in "b u ild in g ") a sp ecial space-tim e ap p aren t in th e fam ou s seq u en ce o f the
fram ew ork , th e n establish in g (orienting) a G erm an cavalry charge in Alexander Nevsky.
continu ity b y m ean s o f th e org an ization of It is also w hat w e tried to achieve in the
a series o f d issim ilar fram es (or shots), i.e., film s w e have ju st been discu ssing. And
b y m eans o f a certain d iscon tin u ity revealed from the v ery first ap p licatio ns o f this strict
b y the rhythm . fo rm (Birth o/ a Nation, Intolerance, La Roue)
N everth eless, th is rh y th m m a y som e­ the assu m p tio n w as m ad e, as w e have seen ,
tim es assu m e the appearance o f m usical th a t film p ro g ression cou ld b e m odeled on
rh y th m b y fo fio w in g sim ilar stru ctures - m u sical progression. Yet th is ty p e of exer­
fu gue, and ante, crescen d o . Yet th e s e c o m ­ cise requires a quick-cuttin g techniqu e,
p o sitio n s requ ire sh o ts w h ic h are very specifically relevan t to th e expression of
short, i.e., no lo n g er th an three or fo u r sec­ rap id m o vem en t or clim actic m om en ts.
ond s, even th e lo n g est o f them . R ela tin g to A ll o f w h ich m ay b e sum m arized by
short durations, th e relatio n sh ip s o f tim e statin g , o n ce m ore, th a t rh y th m is deter­
are very clearly p erceiv ed , an d it is am az­ m ined by ch an g es o f shot, lo n g or short,
in g h o w o fte n th e short shots are exactly and without any a priori reason relative to ei­
half, or even a third , o f th e len g th o f the ther being given, th e tran sition from on e shot
lo n g e r o n e s - ju s t as in th e basic structures. to the n ext m ust b e ju stified by th e em otion
In this co n tex t, one m ay sp eak o f "v isu al it expresses or th e d ram atic m o vem ent it
rh y th m " in its tru e sen se, p articu larly sin ce h ig h lig h ts. It m u st rou se the a u d ien ce's at­
th e rh yth m ic, pu rely em otion al sig n ifica­ ten tion, con trib u te som eth in g new to its
tio n s alm o st alw ay s tak e preced en ce ov er aw aren ess o f the facts or actions b ein g rep­
th e signification o f th e co n te n t created , fo r resen ted and b e perceived as th e op position
th e m o st part, fro m p u re m o v em en t or re­ or association o f these facts or actions. It
cu rrent fleetin g im pressions. m u st h elp to "ta k e the action fo rw ard "
"W h e n a p iece o f m u sic con tain s recur­ w h ile m o d u latin g its representation and,
ring iso chron ou s p a ttern s o f stron g, i.e., consequently, its signification.
stressed, b eats, it gives rise to a motor activ ­ T h ere is a m arv elou s exam p le o f w hat
ity w h ich d ev elop s in sy n ch ro n ization w ith n o t to d o in this regard in the "forest track­
th e stro n g b eats o f a m u sical p erfo rm a n ce," in g sh o t" in Therese Desqueyroux. Therese
P aul Fraisse w rites. "E d u ca tio n an d an a r­ and Je a n are w alk in g th rough the forest
tistic sen se m ake it p o ssible fo r real m o tor talking as they go. The cam era tracks back,
m elo d ies to d ev elop a ro u n d th e fram ew ork p ick in g th e m up fro m the fro n t and fram in g
o f these syn ch ro n ou s m o vem en ts, as in th em fro m left to right. A fter a w h ile, /o r no
rhythm ic d ances or b a lle t" (Les structures apparent reason (d escriptive, d ram atic, or
rythmiques). N ow , in these form s of editin g, psy ch o lo g ical), the cam era crosses the line
the visual stresses act on o u r m o to r sy stem s and picks up th e m ovem ent from rig h t to
in the sam e w ay as they act o n ou r organ ic left. T h e n ag ain, after a w h ile (the length of
sensitivity and the stren g th o f these m otor tim e is u n im p ortan t), the cam era cuts back
 RHYTHM AND MOVING SHOTS 275

to the original position. T h ese ch ang es of B e th a t as it may, film —becau se it is an

axis are really d isconcerting, b u t it is the fact a r t—is alw ay s a lie. It presen ts us w ith a
that there is no reaso n fo r th e m w h ich "reco n stru cted " w o rld a n d , though it tend s
m akes them intolerable. O n e m ig h t sa y that to captu re essential tru ths, it d oes so v ia a
th e y are p u t there to relieve th e m o n oto n y serie s o f artifices w h ich th e im a g e, lik e the
o f a u n iform track in g shot, w h ich is absurd w ord, is incapable o f avoiding (though clearly
fo r tw o reasons: eith er the len g th of th e shot the artifices are different in either case).
is m ad e necessary b y th e requ irem ents o f the "T ru th " in th e cin em a consists in depart­
expression (the sig n ifican ce or lack o f sig ­ in g from th e prefabricated stru ctu res of
nificance o f th e ch a ra cters' conv ersatio n or tragedy and constructing a "p ostfab ri­
b eh av io r) in w h ich case th e length" o f the cated " w orld from reality. T he cinem a does
shot w ill not be apparent, or else the content n o t aim to set against litera tu re's discourse
does n o tju s tify the shot b ein g held too long, on the w orld its o w n d iscou rse with the
fo r th e n it w ill appear too long; in these cir- w o rld , as som e critics claim , as thou g h re­
^ ^ t a n c e s , it is advisable to cut as quickly as ality surrend ered its m y steries to the indif­
possible to another shot. T here is n o other ferent p assiv e ey e of th e cam era lens.
law in the cinem a, b u t it is obligatory; R ath er it presen ts a d iscou rse on th e w orld
From ev ery th in g we hav e said in these b u t establish ed w ith the percep tible data of
exam inations o f rh y th m ic form s, w e should an im m an en ce w h ich im m ediately b e­
b e better p laced to see th a t ap art from var­ com es tran scen d ed , m ed iated by the p er­
ious p assin g fash io n s and styles o r tenden­ sonal visio n o f th e d irector and by the
cies variab le accord in g to the director in form s w hich create differen t illu sions and
question, the school o f thought, the social d ifferent m ysteries. A n y exp ectation of cap­
clim ate, or e v en th e o p p o rtu n ity o f the m o­ tu rin g reality "o b jectiv ely ," in ou r view,
m en t, th e c in e m a - li k e lite r a tu r e -h a s tw o d em on strates either ig n oran ce or stupidity.
w ays of tran slatin g o r exp ressin g id eas or M ore than an y th in g else, the cin em a con­
em otions: prose and verse. tains a con stan t in terch an g e b etw een form
T h e m in u te o rg an ization o f m ovem ents and content. That is w h y (as w e shall see
w ith in a fram e, p lastic com p ositio n , rear­ fu rth er on) it is w rong to say that a film is
rangem ent o f space and tim e th rou g h the th e v isu al exp ressio n o f som eth in g w hich
resources o f editin g, p ercep tu al rhythm , al­ exists in d ep en d en tly o f i t - like p u ttin g an
ternation and recu rrin g p attern s are the id ea or a fact into im ages. It is rath er the
equivalent o f w riting in verse form. E isen- creation (or d eterm ination ) o f an idea, em o­
stein and Flaherty (am on g others) w rite in tion, or fact th rou g h a form an d by virtue о /
verse. O n the oth er h an d , tracking shots th a t fo rm alone.
w h ich reduce th e fo rm alization o f the W h en a film is m erely the im a g e o f som e­
fram e, the total field o f view w hose d ura­ th in g else w h ose value and m ean in g are in­
tio n b elon g s to th e ev en t rath er th a n to a d ep end ent o f the film form , i.e., indepen­
preconceived organization o f tim e, are the d en t o f the specific w ay th e y are expressed
equ ivalents of prose, h ow ever lyrical. A nd th ro u g h th e im ag es and sou nd s, th e n the
it is absurd to speculate as to w hich o f the film b eco m es nothing m ore than a vehicle,
tw o form s is the b e s t or m ore d esirable, h ow ev er in terestin g the subject m atter m ay
since they are each ap p rop riate to th eir con­ be. It is a m eans o f com m unication, no
tent and becom e valid only th rou g h the use lon g er an art fo rm —for art is creation and
m ade o f them . production rather than reproduction.
 v

Time and Space of the Drama

In Search of a Dramatic Structure m a n ce " film s w ere therefore scen es o f pres­

tidigitation, using th e stock-in-trad e o f the
F ro m F ilm ed T h ea ter to V isu al E x p ression c o n ju r e r - n o th in g m ore. Yet, b y trial and
error, M elies began to d iscov er and apply
W h en M elies first started to u se th e cinem a all th e laten t techniqu es o f th e cam era: sub­
for the pu rpose o f expression (around 1898), stitu tion b y stop -fram ing, double printing,
all h e co u ld do w as record a sp ectacle co m ­ lap d issolves, etc. added to those already
p letely in d ep en d en t o f th e record in g in ­ d eveloped in still p h o tog rap h y : su p erim p o­
strum ent. E verything w e n o w k n ow to be sition , m ask in g , m u ltip le exposure, etc. in
cin em a w as u n k n o w n . N o one d ream ed o f su ch a w a y that, after a cou p le o f m o n th s or
the techniqu es to b e d ev elop ed la ter on, so, film "m a g ic " b eca m e ad d ed to h is stage
since they h ad n o th in g to d o w ith the illu sion s and ev en tu ally to ok over from
m eans o f exp ressio n k n ow n a t the tim e. them com pletely.
In 1898, the cin em atog rap h w a s n o th in g T h e first h u rd le had been crossed: no
m ore th an an instrum ent fo r record in g and lon g er were film s m erely recordings o f in­
th en rep rod u cing m o vem en t b y m ean s o f d ep en d en t spectacles; the spectacles w ere
m oving pictures. T h e difference b etw een com p osed and organized w ith a view to
L um iere and M elies is m erely th a t the fo r­ their recording. H ow ever, "n a rrativ es" (short
m er recorded life "cap tu red fro m its very b u rlesq u e d ram as) soon cam e to take the
h e a rt" w hereas M elies record ed spectacles p la ce o f the little sketches. The film s becam e
com p osed fo r p o p u lar pleasu re. lon g er: fro m being only 250 feet, they devel­
N ow , fro m th a t tim e sp ecta cle inev itab ly op ed to 500 feet, 750 feet an d eventually
m ean t theater or theatrical representation 1,000 feet, i.e., fifte e n m in u tes' projection
- in the sam e w a y th a t veh icle m ean t coach tim e.1 A lth o u g h ad ventu re is closely con-
or h an som cab. So, ju st as the first cars w ere nected .w ith fantasy, the events w h ich it in­
h an som cabs w ith ou t the shafts for the horse volves requ ire a certain shap e, a m ise-en-
(follow in g the u tilitarian aesthetic o f the scen e, a seq u en ce o f even ts occu rrin g in a
h o rse -d raw n c a r r ia g e -d e s p ite th e ad di­ v a rie ty o f settin gs. T h e y th en b eco m e short
tio n o f an engine), th e first film s w ere sim ­ su ccessiv e tab leau x w h ose succession , sim ­
p ly "film e d " representation s - b u t n o t o f ilar to action s on the stage, is discon tinu ou s;
the theater, as is g en erally thought. M elies th e tran sition fro m action to action is h eav y ­
w as a m ag ician , n o t a film m ak er - and even hand ed an d th e set d esig n s are v ery crude,
less a d ram atist. T h ea ter fo r h im (the R obert lim ited to p ainted stag e cloths and flats,
H ou d in theater in h is case) w as m erely a w ith th e actors p erfo rm in g in fro n t o f the
platform fo r p resen tin g h is incredible con ­ cam era as though it w ere the footlights.
juring tricks, exp loitin g ev ery device his From this p erio d on, w h at w as record ed
equ ip m en t allow ed him . T he first "p erfo r­ on film w ere v ery sim plistic, theatrical
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 277

m ises-en-scene, to w h ich w ere ad d ed all T h e first p erm anent projection w as estab­

th e available tricks. F ilm created illu sion lished b y D ufayel on the sixth floor o f his
and com p osed a g en u in e fairy lan d , u sin g stores in order to "am u se the kids w h ile
painted stage cloths. T h is second hurdle th eir paren ts w ere sh o p p in g ." It w as a
(w hich M elies w as n ev er to cross) w as the sp ectacle fo r child ren. You s e n t y o u r chil­
reference p o in t for all (or alm ost all) the d ren to the C inem atograph as a rew ard for
film s produ ced b etw een 1901 and 1906, b eing good, b u t y o u did n ot go y o u r s e lf -
w h atever th e ir style. a n y m o re th a n y o u w o u ld go to the m u sic
D u rin g th is p eriod m o re and m ore film s hall. T h e on ly spectacle w o rth y o f interest
cam e to b e prod u ced . M e lie s, P athe, G a u ­ an d respect w a s and rem ained the theater.
m ont in France, V itagrap h , B io g rap h , E d i­ The circus and the m usic hall w ere places
son in th e U .S.A . p ro d u ced b etw ee n tw o w h ere y o u w o u ld b e asham ed to b e seen:
and te n film s a w eek. T h e C inem atog rap h a pleasu re fo r th e great u n w a s h e d -ig n o r -
set u p in m arkets and fairs an d th e traveling in g th e fact that, on ly fo u r or five hundred
"sh o w m e n " projected th eir show s in cafes years previously, H arlequin w ould have
in village squ ares, d ru m m in g u p the local trodd en the boards in pu blic places.
populace. E very sh o w com p rised ten or so C o m in g as an in tru sion in to an organ­
short film s (fa iry ta les, d ra m a s, com edies, ized w orld, th e cin em a w as also placed out
and burlesques) an d th e p u b lic queued up o f b ou n d s b y the self-rig h teo u s guardians
to see them . H ow ever, this p o p u lar enter­ o f p u blic m orality. Im itating the stage, try ­
tainm ent w as frow ned on b y righ teou s p eo­ ing to becom e spectacle, it m erely pre­
p le in th e m id d le classes w h o se t very little sen ted a caricatu re, an em p ty illu stration -
store b y the flickering im ages and sim ulated y e t at th e sa m e tim e it p ro v e d to b e a
actions, w h ich they d ism issed as noth in g form idable adversary. A la rg e section o f the
m ore than ch ild ish h ocu s-p o cu s. vau d ev ille au d ien ce sw itch ed their alle­
O n e m in u te ad m ired fo r its cap acity to giance to the cinem a. W ithou t b ein g ex­
reproduce liv in g , ep hem eral reality, h er­ actly ob viou s, the fu ture tech n ical d ev elop ­
alded as a n ew scientific to y or as an im ­ m en ts o f th e cin em a b eg a n to reveal
p ortant instru m ent o f in v estig ation , the them selves. T h e th eater seem ed un der
cinem a suddenly fo u n d itself relegated to threat. N ow , th e theater w a s an em in ently
b ecom ing a "u tilita ria n v eh icle" d evoid of m id d le-class sp ectacle, the artistic sym bol
any aesthetic aspiration. Its attem p t to de­ o f th e m id d le-class an d bourgeois m ental­
velop into sp ectacle w a s g reeted w ith u n i­ ity. People w en t to th e theater in the sam e
v ersal scorn. Yet, th o u g h w e ca n n o t h elp w ay as th ey w e n t to M ass, to sh ow them ­
b u t sm ile n ow ad ay s a t these first stu m blin g selves off as m u ch as to w itness a cere­
attem pts, the characteristic con tem p t w ith m ony; there w as as m u ch spectacle in the
w h ich th ey w ere treated is d isp ro p ortio n ­ au d itoriu m as o n the stage. T h e fact th a t
ate to their lack o f sop histication. It has film s h av e to b e projected in darkness
m ore to d o w ith vario u s com plicated social m ean t th a t all this parading u p and d ow n
facts w h ich w e can on ly d escribe very cou ld n o t tak e place, w h ich explains the
cru dely here. stro ng reaction ag ain st it. From the intel­
First and forem ost, the con tem p t w a s as­ lectual p oint o f view , the theater offered a
sociated w ith the fact that th e C in em ato­ choice o f spectacles: p hilo sop hical plays,
graph w as and rem ained a /airground w itty plays, lite ra ry p lay s; it w as an art.
spectacle - n o t the so rt o f p lace a w ell- T h e cin em a w a s n o th in g m o re th a n a peep
b rought-up y o u n g girl o u g h t to frequent. show . W h a t w ou ld beco m e o f th e theater
 278 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

if the cinem a to ok over? Literature and o f im portance. It th reatened n o t m erely a

d ram atic art h ad everything to lose. fo rm o f art b u t a w h o le w ay o f liv in g and
In fact, it w as n o t literatu re o r a rt w h ich th in k in g , o f w h ich the th eater w as the m ost
the cin em a w as th reatening b u t a certain im p ortant m an ifestation ; alm ost a culture,
con cep tion o f art as an established ritu al; in ev en perhaps a civilization. T h e w h ole idea
o ther w ord s, the m iddle classes them selves o f th e cinem a w as intolerable, and thu s it is
w h ose basic b eliefs, in the fo rm o f th eir aes­ sm all w o n d er the reaction s against it w ere
th etic n o tio n s, w ere b ein g u n d erm in ed b y so strong.
i t - w h i c h exp lain s th eir resistance. T h e re­ Yet, after M e lie s, th e cin em a found m ore
jectio n , ostracism , and co n tem p t lev eled at flexible form s, a m eth o d o f prod u cing nar­
the cin em a w as in direct p ro p o rtio n to a rative and a v isu al m eans o f telling stories.
fe a r of it, an in stin ctiv e fear, risin g fro m the B u t e v en so, sin ce it appealed to the p op u ­
un conscio u s, bey on d an y clea r exp lanation lace at large, its subjects w ere confined to
- w h i c h m ad e it ev en stro n g er and m ore paltry m elo d ram as an d k n ockabou t b u r­
d istu rbing. lesques sh ot against painted backdrops cop­
A p art fro m an y th in g else, th e v ery fa ct ied from provincial vaudevilles. T hough
th at it presen ts a duplicate o f liv in g reality em bellish ed w ith a clev er variety o f view ­
g ives the cin em a a distu rbin g, m y steriou s, p o in ts, film n arrativ e fo llow ed in the foot­
d iabolical character: it attracts, it dazzles, steps o f the theater in th e w orst sen se o f the
b u t a t th e sam e tim e it frightens. A lso, it w ord . A s fo r su b ject m atter, though it was
hap p en s in the d ark an d th e dark is the expressed visually, its con struction fo r the
sym bol o f all evil thoughts; it rouses a m ost p art defied the m ost elem entary rules
vagu e feeling o f g u ilt, anxiety, ev en eroti­ o f d ram atic structure.
cism in th e b ou rgeois m ind - w h i c h m u st T h e b est w ay o f d isab lin g an enem y is
b e supp ressed. A n d the fire in the Bazar de to m ak e h im in to an ally. S ince the C ine­
la C h arite d id ab so lu tely n oth in g to allay m ato g rap h (that m arv elou s record in g in­
fears; q u ite th e contrary. H ad it happen ed stru m ent) could d o no m ore th an m ake a
on ly a cou p le o f hu nd red y ears earlier, p o o r im ita tio n o f th e theater, w h y n o t do
L um iere m ig h t hav e b een b u rn ed a t the th e jo b properly and im itate it totally? As
stak e as a w itch: after all, th e fire itself long as it cou ld be lim ited to record ing a
m igh t have b een interpreted as a sig n from real p erfo rm an ce w ith real a cto rs a c tin g a
heaven! d ram a suited to its resources, i.e., w here
It w as a sim ilar fe e lin g w h ich cau sed the gesture and attitu d e w ould com pensate fo r
first m o torcars to be treated w ith d isap ­ th e absence o f w ords, an y dram a con ­
p ro v al and scorn. T h e y threaten ed to p u t an stru cted like a p la y m ig h t th en becom e art.
end to th e reign o f th e h o r s e - a p o ten t sy m ­ W ell, a t least it w ould b e record ing a w ork
b ol o f w e alth and b ou rg eo is aristocracy if o f art and art, i.e., "so v ereig n theater,"
e v e r there w as o n e ; th e ugly, m ech an ical n a ­ w ould have every th in g to gain. This n otio n
ture o f th e car also h ad so m eth in g d istu rb ­ excited v ario u s in tellectu als fo r a w h ile and
ing ab ou t it. A nd yet, tran sform ed into h u g e th e outcom e tu rned ou t to b e "film d 'a rt."
lim ousines, h orseless carriages v e ry q u ickly T h e p resen tation o f l'A ssassin at d e D u e de
b ecam e lu xu ry item s. W ith on e sy m b ol re­ G u ise in N o v em b er 1908 (script b y H enri
placing another, the horse w as forgotten L aved an, d irected b y C alm ette and Le
and the m otorcar em erged triu m p hant. T he B arg y w ith L e Bargy, A lb ert Lam bert,
cinem a u n d erm ined a w h ole structure o f in­ B erthe Bovy, etc.) w as a rem arkable success.
tellectual values arbitrarily graded in order T h e fairg ro u n d show , retu rned to the
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 279

straight and narrow, received its letters pa­ Though the middle class did not com­
tent on that day, as well as its first consecra­ pletely desert the cinema, it became merely
tion. Having become theater-in-motion- a tiny part of the audience. Nevertheless,
pictures, it had the right from then on to the initial impetus had been provided. Aim­
consider itself an a r t - a minor art, granted, ing now at the public, filmmakers contin­
but an art nonetheless. And what else could ued to delve into literature, and the public
it be with so much art in the directing, the followed.
set designs, and the acting? Going to the cin­ Despite its failure, its absurd ideas, its
ema - on which so many famous people obvious regression as regards narrative
had set the seal of approval - was no longer form reintegrated into relatively discontin­
beneath one's dignity. The bourgeoisie uous tableaux, the film d'art must be cred­
flocked to the cinema in such numbers that ited with being the only form up to that
ultimately, feeling that they had been el­ point to have seen the possibility of art in
bowed out of the business and seeing potted the cinema - even though its conception of
theater as the only possible commercial out­ art was the very antithesis of what the cin­
let for a "cultivated" audience, Charles ema could offer. However theatrical they
Pathe formed the Societe Cinematogra- may have been, Le Bargy's ideas taught the
phique des Auteurs et Gens de Lettres majority of the directors of the time how
(SCAGL) and Charles Jourjon (Eclair) the actors should be directed, how they should
Association Cinematographique des Au­ be placed in a set,2 how space should be uti­
teurs Dramatiques (AC a D). Not to be left lized, in short, how to "stage" their films
behind, Gaumont produced two series called according to principles valid for all films
Series d'Art and Films Esthetiques. From (remembering that cinematic language had
then on, art ruled the screens. Pathe opened still to make its appearance). In particular
the first comfortable cinemas (Omnia Pathe they taught directors how to construct a
and Royal Pathe, etc.) in fashionable areas, script according to a solid dramatic struc­
pompously described as Cinematographic ture, dramatic concentration being the only
theaters, and the studios themselves be­ suitable form for such short spectacles. The
came motion picture theaters. film d'art also got rid of the painted back­
Art was safe. Thereafter one could go and drops and instead used "built" sets, built as
see films without being ashamed. And the if they were to be used on stage, granted, a
sole purpose of the cinema then became the simple assembly of portable flats and rostra,
recording of masterpieces of the national her­ but, used in the right way, forming an ap­
itage, following the example of the film d'art. propriate dramatic space. These advances
It was not long before rot set in. The mid­ should not be forgotten (for they were mo­
dle-class public very quickly tired of these mentous) because they were based on a false
plays where actors waved their arms about conception—bearing in mind that at that
but did not speak, the leading lights of the time the art of the spectacle was conceivable
stage (chief among whom was Mounet- only with reference to the stage and under
Sully) declaiming in front of a camera which the auspices of the theater.
remained resolutely silent. An unfortunate Indeed, ever since, the cinema has re­
bankruptcy finally put it out of its misery. membered its debt to the theater, even in
With Paul Gavault taking over the business, films which go to the opposite extreme
the boulevard comedy replaced the classical from theatrical notions, using them as ref­
theater in films, still imitated from the the­ erence points to contradict or distort them.
ater but in a new method of staging them. As we said, genuine cinema was born in
280 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

chase film s. T h eir fran tic m o vem en ts re­ cance u n til m u ch later on , w ith G erm an E x­
quired changes o f sh ot an d therefore ed it­ pressionism ).
in g and v e ry soon a p articu lar rh y th m . Yet Th u s th e fa c t th a t it w as n o t protected
their form w as d evoid o f content. D ram a from th e contriv ances o f the stage and the
and m o vem ent n eed ed to b e u n ited and, rules o f classical d ram atu rg y did n ot m ean
fo r this to h ap p en, d ram a h ad to em erge th a t film w as a n y the less dependent upon
fro m the narrow confines o f the stage, from th e stage; it sim p ly m ean t th a t the stage had
ite su ffocatin g static "in te rio rs." b ecom e a circus. T h e p u blic w ould go and
The Italian cin em a w a s the first to try its see th e b u rn in g o f R om e as it w ould a hig h-
hand . From The Last D ays o f P om peii to Q uo w ire act or a lion tam er. M ay b e it w as no
Vadis (1 9 0 8 -1 2 ), h u ge s e ts a n d cou n tless great art, b u t it w as g enu in e spectacle. A lso
crow d m ovem ents shattered the lim its of the it w a s inspired b y B u lw er Lytton and Sien-
stage. T h e em phasis w as p laced o n sp ecta­ kiew icz; and the Italian film s lasted, som e
cle, ch ario t races, g lad iator figh ts, etc. A n d o f th em , as lo n g as an hour. T h ey really
yet, even h ere, escap in g fro m th e stage gave the p u blic its m oney's w orth. Sm all
m erely involved exten d in g its d im ension s w o n d er th a t the sh ort film s w h ich form ed
and avo id in g d ram atic stru cture, expan d­ th e bulk o f films p rod u ced at that period ,
in g it to the d im ension s o f a n arrativ e. In­ attem p tin g to con stru ct a d ram a w ith in the
stead o f actions restricted in tim e, there w as sp ace of a quarter of an hour, becam e less
a series o f tab leau x co v erin g quite an exten­ an d less popular.
sive period o f tim e, bu t each tableau w as W ithou t ever attem p tin g large-scale
"s ta g e d " as in the theater. T h e depth and sp ectacu lars, th e French cinem a also tried
d im en sion s o f the set ob v iou sly allow ed for to b eco m e an in d ep en d en t art, m aintainin g
a m u ch greater freed om o f m ovem ent; the a certain cu ltu ral level. C ap ellan i, Perret,
actors n o longer p erform ed "b e fo re " the an d P ou ctal ad ap ted n o v e ls -D u m a s and
cam era and indeed th ey acted w ith o u t pay­ H ugo in particular. B ut ad ap tin g a novel
in g m u ch attention to it at all. H ow ever, m ean t selectin g the m o st sig nificant or
these h u g e scenes had to be organized m o st v isu al ep iso d es, stag in g th e m as
som ehow , and fo r this th e Italian directors th o u g h in the theater, and lin k in g th e m to ­
took th eir in sp iratio n fro m painting. E v ery g e th e r w ith e xp la n a to ry titles. In other
setp iece w as com posed like a picture. T h e w ord s, film in g a novel m ean t m ak in g a
sh ap es o f th e set, th e b alan ce o f th e volu m es, p la y o f it. A n d sin ce the actors co u ld not
th e pattern s o f m o v em en t, ev ery th in g con­ sp eak , the m o tiv es o f th e characters h ad to
tributed to an ov erall p ictorial harm ony, im ­ b e exp lain ed b y title cards, w h ich through­
itated n ot alw ay s from the b est o f p ain tin g s; ou t broke u p the continu ity o f th e se­
ev en so, th e re su lts w ere u su a lly sp ectacu lar q uences. T h e im ag es did nothing more
fro m a p ictorial p o in t o f view . S in ce it w as th a n illu strate.
a stage sh o w th a t w a s b e in g film ed , the It is tru e th a t a great d eal o f care w as
quality o f th e im age w as o f p rim e im p o r­ ta k e n w ith th e set d esig ns (w h ich still re­
tance. A n d th e im age to ok p rio rity ov er the m ain ed theatrical); attem pts w e re m ad e to
story, ov er the dram atic a c tio n - g o in g so far c re a te "e ffe c ts "; exp erim en ts w ith lig hting
as to replace it w h en it w as in cap able of techniques w ere tried (by L eonce Perret in
"sig n ify in g " i t - w h i c h , it m u st b e said, w as p articu lar). B u t, th ou g h th e actors w ere
the case as often as n o t (this kind o f exper­ g iv en an o p p o rtu n ity to g ive th e im pres­
im entation not really achieving a n y sign ifi­ sio n o f a "n o n p e rfo rm e d " reality (despite
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 281

the fu nd am entally th eatrical actin g style), in flu en cin g th e g ov ern m en t th ro u g h its

th e b est these d irectors cou ld offer w as b u sin ess in terests. A n d then, fo r th e aver­
pretty m o v in g pictures based on stag e prin­ age A m erican, the theater, played in N ew
ciples. H ow ever, it sh ou ld b e noted th a t the Y ork or in B oston , did not represent th e cen­
plastic quality o f th eir im ag es ow es less to tu ries o f cu ltu re w h ich it w ou ld fo r the
the characteristics o f p ainting th an to those Frenchm an. A n art, y e s - b u t one like any
o f photography. T h is w as on e point in the other. C om ing from the theater, the direc­
French cin em a's f a v o r - in d e e d , the only tors and w riters d id n ot feel them selves
one at that stage. In G reat Britain and in called to a sacred m ission. Instead of tu rn­
Russia, D ickens an d W alter Scott, P ushkin in g to the th eater for advice, th ey turned
and Tolstoy, to o k th e p lace o f H u g o and their back o n it and in the direction o f life.
D um as. A s a sequ ence o f m oving b u t silent im ­
In th e U nited S ta te s ,w h e re th e film d 'a rt ages, th e cin em a could n ev er hop e to com ­
and th e Italian cin em a w e re the objects o f pete w ith th e theater or b e confused w ith
clo se study, a Life о / M oses w a s produced, it. In cap ab le o f presenting dialogu e, it
shot on th e beach es o f F lorid a against rather cou ld only d escribe. C onsequently, w hat
grand iose card bo ard sets and a n o less a u d ien ces saw were th in g s cap ab le o f b ein g
g ran d iose rep resen tatio n al style. N apoleon, d escribed , expressed in film i m a g e s - a c ­
W ashington, an d M a rk A n ton y all h ad the tion and m ovem ent. D isp en sin g w ith p sy ­
sam e treatm ent. M a n y o f these film s are d e­ ch olog y an d com p licated p lots (anyth ing
riv ed fro m stage tech n iqu es, to th e sam e e x ­ requ irin g d ialog u e), th e d ram a confined it­
te n t as in other cou ntries. B u t th e w a y the self to sim ple clear-cu t con flicts, adventures
A m erican cinem a differed from oth er na­ and chases. It w a s concise, cu ttin g ou t any
tional cinem as w as in the w id e diversity ted iou s exp o sition , subtle characterization ,
and hu ge n u m b er o f film s produced. T h is o r irrelevan t detail. T h is w a s h o w the cow ­
is an im p ortan t con sid eratio n , esp ecially in b o y s and Ind ians, cops and robbers, b e­
v ie w o f th e fa c t th at th e d ev elop m en t o f film cam e the first heroes of A m erican film .
in the States w as en tirely different. The Attack on Grand Rapids (1903), th e first
A s in Europe, th e cultivated classes film o f th e g en re w h ich , as w e said , contrib­
avoid ed th e cinem a. H ow ev er, th e A m eri­ u ted th e first n otions o f ed iting and narra­
can cinem a w as just as con cern ed to w in tive, lasted fo r a quarter o f an hour. T his w as
ov er the p riv ileg ed m in o rity as it w as to the len g th o f the averag e film rig h t u p to
im itate the theater an d create " a r t." S i n c e - 1909. D u rin g this p eriod , th e cinem a refined
proportionately - the public w as m uch larger its techniqu es; its lan g u ag e b ecam e m ore
in the States th an in other cou ntries, there flexible. A ctio n s and events w ere con­
w ould n ot hav e been the sam e stig m a at­ trasted ; p la ces and tim es were ju xtaposed;
tached to w orking fo r it; p a rticu la rly sin ce, tim e seq u en ces w ere in verted ; m em ories
in th e States, it w as th e people w h o repre­ w ere evoked; points o f view becam e m ore
sented the nation, w h ereas, fo r in stan ce, in an d m ore diversified . F rom 1909 onw ard, it
France it w as th e b ou rg eo isie, th e ru lin g becam e possible to sig n ify characterization
class.3 T h ere w as no ru lin g class in the and su g g est feelin gs. But to do this, film s
U .S.A ., u n less o n e cou n ts th e cou p le or so h ad to con tain m ore in fo r m a tio n -w h ic h
hundred m illionaires - f o r th e m o st p a rt m ean t th ey h ad to be longer.
self-m ad e m e n an y w ay - less o f a cla ss an d G riffith told sim ple stories, and the fact
m o re o f a b u sin e ss group con trollin g and th a t th ey w ere com preh en sible w a s a vali­
282 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N E MA

d atio n o f th e techniqu es u sed to tell them . tion of the script. It is a totally novel ap­
It w as a little early to talk in term s o f p sy ­ proach, completely distinct from the Eu­
ch ological d ram a, b u t th ese n arrativ e tech ­ ropean school.
The Americans noticed the potential
n iqu es are p erfectly obviou s. Film m akers
interest of facial expressions shot in
b egan to tell sim p le stories em bellished
closeup, and they exploited this to great
w ith n u an ces and d etails tak en from real
effect, sacrificing the set and the rest of the
life. A p p ly in g these m etho d s b u t soon background when they felt it necessary to
o v ertak in g B iograp h w ith m ore in terestin g show the public their actors' faces -e v e n
subjects, V itagrap h lau n ch ed a n ew series when they were relatively static.
called Scenes o f T ru e L ife. T h e len g th of Jerky acting put them off, and they
these film s w as extend ed from 1,000 to chose instead a style that was absolutely
2,000 feet, and cru d e episodes w ere re­ calm, almost to the point of exaggeration.
p laced b y little m elo d ram as taking th eir in­ With regard to the scrip t-w h ich in­
sp iration fro m s c e n e s o fe v e r y d a y life. T h ey cluded dramatic situations, pathetic ones,
theatrical o n e s-th e y made scenes as sim­
w ere sh o t o n sets faith fu lly im itated from
ple and uncomplicated as possible, trying
reality, th eatrical flattage being rep laced b y
as far as possible to get close to real life,
a cru de architecture. T h e actors stop ped
frequently building their stories out of
p erfo rm in g; th e y acted as th eir parts and nothing and contriving a happy ending.
th e situ atio n req u ired , ap p aren tly ig n orin g Such as it was, their method had a great
th e cam era, w h ich film ed th e m fro m d iffer­ deal to o ffe r-m o re than anything pre­
e n t points o f view u sin g su ccessiv e ch anges viously seen, and the popularity with the
o f shot, th e re b y associatin g m ovem ents public of the fi^ is was the ultimate proof.
and u n ify in g th e d y n am ism o f the action. . . . Projected onto the screen, the har­
T h e im p ressio n is g iven o f w itn essin g a mony and calm, well-thought-out acting
sce n e from re al life , cap tu red d irectly b y a gave everyone the impression that they
were watching real life.4
v isio n , end ow ed w ith ubiquity.
W ith G riffith, w ith the Scenes o f True
L ife, film m ise-en-scene once and fo r all re­ W ith su ch rap id p ro g ress, it shou ld have
placed theatrical m ise-en -scen e and re­ b ee n possible to d o m ore th an tell idiotic
m ained th eatrical only to th e extent that stories. Yet this w ould h av e required over
actors hav e to b e directed. C h a llen g in g the sixty m in u tes o f screen tim e and the film s
th eater in its b ib lica l and h istorical recon­ w o u ld h av e h ad to b e aim ed a t a m ore ed­
stru ctio ns, A m erican m ise-en -scen e becam e ucated aud ien ce. T o d o this w ould have
an "im ita tio n o f life " from th e m o m en t it b een com p letely d isp rop ortionate w ith the
started to d eal w ith contem p orary stories, com m ercial retu rn and , in any case, it
w h ere there w as n o n e ed to im agine, com ­ w o u ld hav e b ee n silly to risk losin g the
pose, or "c o n triv e " b u t m erely to observe. g en eral p u b lic, w hich com prised the vast
There w as less con cern to m a k e w o rk s o f a rt m ajority o f th e audience.
th an to m ake film s tru e to life . T h e revolu­ M a k in g lo n g film s w o u ld have been
tio n w as su ch that, tw o y ears later, V ictorin m u ch m ore exp ensive; failure w ould have
Jasset, o n e o f th e m ore p o p u lar F rench d i­ b ee n catastrophic. O n the other h an d , the
rectors, show ed his ad m iration: shorter the film s th e m ore that cou ld be
m ad e, sim ple stories w hich cou ld b e used
The American school differs from our to affect th e m orals o f th e p u blic (since the
own in three main areas: the use of the situations and ch aracters w ere alw ay s ste­
camera, the acting style, and the construc­ reotyp ed ). T h is purely social factor (gener­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 283

ally ov erlooked b y h istorian s o f th e cin­ in a com pletely d ifferen t d irection. It is n o

em a) w as w ith o u t a d ou bt th e m o st im ­ coincid ence th a t S tu art B lackton b eg an his
portant factor, since it m ain tain ed - r i g h t career in the cinem a b y directing Tearing
up to 1 9 1 2 - t h e tw o-reeler as the n orm in D ow n the Spanish F la g in 1897, ju st as the
A m erican films, w hereas in Europe b y 1910 w ar in Cuba w as being fought.
there w e re film s as lo n g as 3,000 feet. In 1901, M cK in ley h ad ju st b rou g h t
T h in g s did n o t ch an g e u n til th e ind ep en­ ab ou t the econom ic org anization o f the
d en t com p anies m an ag ed to b reak the m o­ country, b a sin g it o n the pow er o f the
n op oly o f the E d iso n Trust. T h e m ajority of trusts, w h en public d em onstration s against
A m erican film com panies w ere p art o f the it started to th reaten law and order. T h e
Edison Trust (M otion P ictu re P a te n t C om ­ tru sts could n o lon g er afford to consign this
p any). T h o u g h it w a s a private con cern, the p o w erfu l tool to a few artists and liberal
finance fo r its o p eratio n cam e from the b ig th in k ers w h o m ig h t u se it as a platform
banks. V itagrap h an d B io g ra p h w ere con­ ag ain st the p rin cip les w h ich ensured the
trolled b y the E m p ire Trust, a p ow erfu l in­ cap italist system , as P orter had d one (ad­
v estm en t com pany, in tu m controlled b y the m itte d ly in a v ery tim id w ay ) w h en he
R ockefeller and P ierp o in t M o rg an groups. show ed the p o o r con tin u ally op pressed by
E d iso n b elon g ed to G en eral E lectric - t h a t social in ju stice. T h e b u sin essm en therefore
is, to the sam e groups. V itagrap h and Bio­ d ecid ed to u se the cinem a in order to re­
grap h had pow erful connections w ith the tard, as lo n g as p o ssible, a d evelopm en t
gove^rnment. K o op m an , one of th e founders w h ich th ey consid ered d a n g e r o u s -u s in g
o f B iograph, w as related to th e M cK inley M cK in ley 's assassin ation as one o f th e pre­
family. A lb ert Sm ith, boss o f V itagrap h, w as m o n ito ry sym ptom s.
related to H u d so n M axim , th e arm am ents F o r this to h a p p e n , life h ad to b e repre­
k in g, w h o had vested interests in th e com ­ sen ted as co n fo rm in g to the trad itio n al m o­
pany. A n d so on. rality; th e people h ad to b e con v in ced o f the
C onfronted b y the grow ing su ccess of m erits o f th e p rin cip les w h ich oppressed
film s, these sleepin g partners b ecam e aw are them . Its p o w ers o f reason h ad to be stifled,
o f the social im p ortance o f th e cinem a and rem oved fro m im m ediate reality, or else the
b egan to beco m e c o n c e r n e d -a n d , w ith reality had to be d isg u ised w ith illusory
them , the elders o f the ch u rch es and orga­ q u alities d esigned to su g ar the p ill fo r the
nizations resp on sible fo r th e m aintenance m asses and show th em th a t an y attem p t to
o f public m orality. It soon becam e obvious ch an g e th e sy stem w a s a w aste o f tim e.
that film w as an i n s t r ^ e n t o f prop agand a G ilm o re, in ap p o in tin g E d w in P orter as
w hose consid erable p o w er w a s on a par th e d irector g eneral o f th e n e w E d ison stu­
w ith th e press, at least in resp ect o f th e so ­ d ios, had n o trouble a t ail in con v in cin g Por­
cial gro u p w h ich th e y m o st feared : th e p ro ­ ter to change the social orientation o f his
letariat. It n eed ed c a re fu l h an d lin g . film s. P orter w as only too ready to oblige,
It is n aive to th in k th a t L en in, p ro cla im ­ particu larly sin ce it w as n ot h is ideas w h ich
ing in 1917 the cinem a to b e th e "a r t o f the needed changing b u t h is m ethod. It w as not
p e o p le ," w as th e firs t to u n d erstan d th e p o­ a m atter o f sh o w in g the rich in a favorable
tential th a t film offered fo r actin g on the lig h t, n or o f san ctify in g those in pow er. It
m asses or to th in k that th e first films o f so­ w a s m ore a case o f sh ow in g riches as evil
cial p ropagand a w ere Soviet film s. The or im m oral an d "cro w n in g the w orkers'
A m ericans w ere very w ell aw are o f th e fact n ob le b row s w ith ro ses," illu stratin g little
long b efo re th e R ussians. B u t th ey u sed it h om ilies such as "rich e s are n o t e v ery th in g "
284 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

(The Need /o r Gold); " a th atched ro of and a ple. Strik es, in sp ired b y agitators in th e pay
h e a rt are m o re p re cio u s th a n a cold an d o fth e "B o ls h e v ik s," in ev ita b ly b ro u g h t m is­
lon ely p a la ce " (More Precious than Gold); e ry (An Anarchist, The Gra/fer, The Loa/ers).
"b e tte r to b e p o o r and goo d th a n rich an d In Capital versus Labor, a facto ry b oss's
w ick e d " (Plain Jane); " a n ill-g otten fortu ne d a u g h ter re ce iv e s the atten tion of a you ng
can o n ly lead to sham e an d m isery " (The officer and a young clerg y m an at th e same
Livingstone Case), etc. tim e. She can n o t m ake up her m in d w hich
Yet it w as n o t lo n g b efo re Porter, assisted o f th e tw o she loves most. A strike is de­
b y Searle D aw ley, m o v ed th e E d ison p ro ­ clared in the factory. T h e strikers, fired up
d u ction co m p a n y m o re in the d irection of b y ag itators, storm the b o ss's hou se. The
ad ventu re film s, tales from h isto ry and leg­ officer, w h o is in the h ou se at the time,
end. It w as th e Scenes o f True L ife w h ich ru shes off to fetch his regim ent. B ut the m ob
d id m o st to create th is p ro p ag an d a; indeed, starts to sm a sh w in d o w s and doors, b reak
th e series w as created for th e v ery p u rpose. fu rn itu re, an d threaten th e b oss and his
P retty so o n e v e ry film b ecam e a kind of daughter. Ju st as th e a n g ry m o b seem s
detailed serm on. read y to d o vio len ce, the clergym an arrives
N ot o n ly is w ealth a m irag e (All That and restores peace, m ed iating b etw een the
Glitters Is Not Gold), b u t all rich p eop le are boss and th e w o rk ers, g ettin g the w orkers
s elfish , m o n ey -g rabb in g , and im m oral (The a b etter d eal. T h ereb y h e earn s the b oss's
M iser's Fate, The Money-Lender), an d som e­ resp ect and th e y o u n g g irl's h eart. In other
tim es ev en th e av en g in g sw ord o f Ju stice w ords, gentleness achieves m o re than vio­
d escend s on th em (The M oney King). O n ly len ce; cap ital w ill accept the dem ands of the
sim ple fo lk hav e a clear con scien ce; rich w orkers if th ey are m ade peaceably and re­
p eople are h au n ted b y their gold (The sp ectfu lly; and con flicts b etw een m anage­
Dream о / Dan M cGuire). T h e h o p e w a s th a t m en t and w o rk ers are resolvable through
certain "d an g ero u s and im m o ra l" aspira­ th e im p artial m ed iation o f the chu rch and
tions in the m ind s o f the p eop le w o u ld be th e generosity o f the bosses.
diverted. S trik e b reak ers are treated w ith sy m p a­
T h e p olitical an im al w ith ad van ced id eas th y w ith o u t the film s' ever tak in g an overt
w as b o u n d to b e an u n scru p u lo u s corrupt stand against w o rk in g -class solidarity. In
profiteer. U n io n lead ers w ere sh ow n to be The Fox Is N ot a Coward, w e are in th e m id st
suspect. T h e p u blic h ad to b e con v in ced th a t o f a strike: the breth re n decide to la y d ow n
th e w o rk ers w h o fo llow ed th e lead ers of the their tools. O n e solitary w o rk er, after m u ch
proletariat w ere fo llow in g scou nd rels w o rk ­ sou l searching, d ecid es to go b a ck to w ork.
ing in their o w n interest. In Pete Wants a Job, H is ideas o f solid arity w ith his m ates have
P ete, fired from v ario u s jobs, tries h is hand n o t ch an g ed ; it is ju st th a t h e can n o t bear
at politics. H e organizes strikes. A s h e b e ­ the fa ct th a t h is w ife in d esp eration has had
com es m ore su ccessfu l, h e b eco m es in creas­ to p a w n h er w ed d in g ring, the o n ly thing
in g ly m o re p o w erfu l u n til h e b eco m es a left o f v alu e in th e h ou se. T o feed h is starv­
u n ion b oss, m o v in g in th e h ig h e s t circles. ing children, h e d ecid es to go back to w ork.
B u t w h en h e fin a lly b eco m es a m inister, he B u t h e is b lack leg g ed b y th e sh op stew ards
leaves in the lurch the w orkers w h o b rou g h t as scab labor hired b y the bosses. A bused,
h im to pow er. in su lted , ev en b eaten u p , h e rem ain s the
The idea th at w orkers h ad n o other rights ob ject o f con tem p t even w h en th e strike is
than those granted th em b y th eir em ployers over. O n e d ay the facto ry catches fire and
h ad to b e instilled in the m in d s o f the p e o ­ the fox b eco m es a hero. H e saves from cer­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 285

ta in d ea th o n e o f h is w o r k m a te s -th e one, m u tu al respect. V irtu e and w o rk w ere the

in fact, w h o had b een so extrem e in h is con ­ tw o essen tial con d itions o f m arital bliss: the
d em nation - and h e dies in the act. H is chil­ dow ry on th e one h an d and a steady job on
d ren are adopted b y the union, w hich honors th e other. A ll m arriages b etw een people of
his m em ory from that m om en t on: th e fox d ifferen t classes w ere b o u n d to end in d o­
w as n o t a cow ard. m estic m isery.
N evertheless, th e S ce n e s of True Life Her Romance tells th e sad tale o f a y o u n g
deal m ore p articu la rly w ith th e d efense of girl w h o m arries, against h er parents' wishes,
m id d le-class m orality and w ith the illustra­ a m u ch old er m u sic teacher. Their d ifficult
tion o f th e d om estic virtu es. M arriage w as and m iserab le life togeth er (the g irl's fam ­
to b e v enerated as a "u n io n in stitu ted b y ily refu ses to give h er a d ow ry) soon ends
G o d ." D iv orce w as u n accep table an d p o v ­ in the co u p le's sep aration . In the Firelight
e rty cou ld n o t b y a n y m a n n er or m ean s be show s a you ng cou n try girl leaving her
held resp on sible fo r d om estic conflict. The fa m ily to fo llo w a han d som e stran g er w ho
w ife w as sh o w n to b e d ocile and su b m is­ p ro m ises h er m arriag e and the bright lights
sive. H er p lace w as in th e h om e, and h er of the city. It is n o t long before h e leaves
role in life consisted e xclu siv ely in b rin g in g h e r strand ed , though. H er b ro th er is sen t to
up th e ch ild re n and p ro vid in g h o t m eals b rin g h er b a ck h o m e b efore she gets in to
for h er m an. A h o t supp er w a s the sy m b ol an y d eep er trouble.
o f conju gal bliss. If h e r h u sb an d w as sent P a ren ts' resp on sibility fo r th eir children,
to ja il, the w ife had to w a it p atien tly fo r ^ m th e d an g ers o f an u n d iscip lin ed education,
to co m e b a ck to h e r - w h i c h a lw a y s h ap ­ and , m ore especially, th e conseq u en ces of
p ened, th rou g h d iv in e intervention. Jeal­ filial d isob ed ien ce rem ained basic th em es
ou sy on th e w ife 's p art w ould o n ly lead to o f these film s. D ivorce and separation w ere
u n hap p iness (Jealousy and the M an); and the on ly presen ted in order to point o u t to ch il­
eternal triangle was alw ay s b ro u g h t about d ren the d isastrous conseq u ences o f m is­
b y "another w o m a n " - a gold -d igger or lady b ehav ior (Driven from Home); extram arital
o f loose m o rals (Madonna о / the Streets, Toys relatio n sh ip s in ord er to describe the m is­
о / Fate); or som etim es a jealo u s girlfriend , e ry o f u n m arried m others (Leah Kleshna);
alw ays rep entant a t th e end o f th e film , is or th e d ifficu lties facin g illeg itim ate ch il­
pard oned , as is rig h t and proper (His Wife's d ren hand icapped b y their lack o f a father
Devotion, Love and the Law). Tem ptations (The Foundling, The Evil That M en Do, The
and causes o f con flict w ere alw ay s exter­ Love о / Chrysanthemum). M arriages b e ­
n ally induced. tw ee n m em b ers o f th e sam e fa m ily or w ith
L ove w as n ev er sh o w n as sexu al b u t ex ­ alcoholics w ere regard ed in the same light
clu siv ely as a so rt o f sp iritu al com m union . (The Drunkard's Child, Stage-Struck Daughter).
It w as o n th e sam e lev el as filial love, b roth ­ Yet, h o w ev er h ein o u s h is sin , the un­
erly love, or love o f o n e 's country. T his type fortu nate in d ivid u al cou ld alw ays find his
o f love led to fulfillm ent and h ap p in ess, w a y b a ck to red em p tio n an d sta rt a n e w life
w h ereas a taste fo r ad ventu re an d risk led (The Way o/ a Transgressor, The Lost Sheep,
o n ly to misery. From Out о / the Shadow). M ost usually a bad
In an y case, love w as n o t seen as in d is­ m a n fo u n d his w ay back to the straight and
p en sable fo r en su rin g th e hap p in ess o f the n arro w th ro u g h th e love o f a good w om an
m arried couple. W h at w a s in d isp en sable (Salvation Sal, Honor о / the Family) or o f a
w as social equality, th e h u sb a n d 's courage, ch ild (Child as Benefactor, The Convict's Child).
th e w ife 's ch a stity an d docility, an d their Som etim es the h u m ble w o rk in g g irl's
286 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

p lig h t w as treated (N ellie, T h e B ountiful u p w ith an oth er w o m an. T h e child grow s

H ouse-M aid, N ellie T h e M odel, B erth a The up. O n th e d ay o f h e r m arriage, a tram p's
Sew in g-M achin e G irl). B ut it w as only to face ap p ears a t th e w indow . H e is allow ed
show the w o m an incapable o f taking on to com e in. A n d w e recognize th e father, w ho
w o rk not m ad e fo r her. T he Road to H appiness looks for a m om ent at the fam ily scene, holds
tells o f th e fortu nes o f a w a itre ss w h o falls ou t h is h an d fo r m oney, and th e n leaves.5
ill b ecau se sh e h a s b ee n w o rk in g to o hard. W h en Taft to o k o v e r th e p resid ency from
S h e find s h a p p in e ss b y m a rry in g th e so n of T heod ore R oo sevelt in 1908, the n ew policy
the farm er in w h ose hou se sh e h a s b e e n re­ to w ard iso lation ism h ad n u m erou s reper­
cuperating. A t th e sam e tim e, acts o f fem ale cussions on th e cinem a. P ropaganda contin­
heroism w ere n o t ignored. Som etim es they u ed to play its role o n the screen as it had
contrib u ted to film s d escribing sen sation al alw ay s done. F or the E d ison Com pany,
events, su ch as ship w reck s, fires, o r train E d w in P o rter an d G eorg e A . L essey repro­
derailm ents (The Land B eyon d the Sunset, T he duced various ep isod es from th e nation's
Lighthou se Keeper's D aughter). T he tw o latter glorious past: Stars and Stripes, The Star-
film s w ere p rod u ced b y E dison. S pangled Banner, T h e B attle o f Lexington, etc.,
A ll A m e rica n film s o f this p eriod (1908­ w h ile , at B io g rap h , G riffith , taking as his
11) fo llow ed the sam e k in d s o f them es. The subject an ep iso d e fro m th e W ar o f Seces­
Scenes o f True L ife are on ly exam p les o f the sio n , produ ced h is first m asterp iece in T he
ty p e o f film s being p rodu ced. Certainly, Battle. B ut th en V itagrap h also m ad e a point
this is exactly the so rt of film G riffith w as o f d em on stratin g its en th u siasm for serving
p r o d u c in g -d r e s s e d u p in a m ore tragic th e interests o f the n ation . P arallel to Van
fo rm , it m u st b e ad m itted. D y k e B rooke and G eorg e D . B a k e r's Scenes
T he R o ck y R oad tells th e story o f B en o fT ru e Life, Stuart Blackton and L arry Trim ­
C ook , an in telligen t and energ etic m an w h o b le w ere glorify in g A m erica, land o f liberty,
on e fine d ay decides to leave hom e. H e ar­ w o rk in g rou nd a w ell-tried them e: "P ic k up
rives in a d istan t to w n and finds a jo b in a p in s and y o u 'll end u p a m illio n aire": The
m ill. H is w ife an d ch ild set o u t to lo o k for Best M an W ins, F rom C abin B oy to K ing, A
him . A fter a series o f adventures, th e w ife S elf-M ade H ero, etc.; an d esp ecially extollin g
finds h e rself un able to cope w ith the needs b rav ery and patriotism in a n a ct o f heroism :
o f h er child and h a s h er adopted b y an oth er G eorge W ashington under the British Flag, Old
fam ily. The years go b y and th e fa th er be­ G lory, R ed Cross M artyrs, The B attle H ym n o f
com es a rich b u sin essm an and b y chan ce the R epublic, etc.
hires h is ow n d au g h ter as h is secretary. He S in ce th e A m e ric a n arm y w as a volu n­
falls in lo v e w ith her and they p la n to m arry. teer force and the cou n try needed a strong,
The m other m eanw h ile d iscov ers w h at has w ell-train ed arm y to d efend it, life in boot
h ap p ened , hu rries to the ch u rch , arriving cam p w as sh o w n as a bundle o f fu n or a
ju st in tim e, an d reveals th e aw ful tru th , fall­ n ever-en d in g ro u n d o f sp orts: A D a y w ith
ing d ead in th e arm s o f h e r hu sband . the Soldier Boys, T h e G irls in the Barracks, The
In T h e F a c e a t the W indow, a y o u n g m a n Sailor's Sw eetheart, H ero fr o m W est Point.
m arries an artist's m o d e l against h is fa th er's " Jo in th e N a v y and see th e w o rld a t the
w ishes. B u t life b eco m es im possible b e­ g o v ern m en t's e x p e n s e " and " J o in th e A rm y
cau se h u sb an d and w ife hav e h ad d ifferent an d en jo y th e ou td oor life" w ere the slogans
up bringings and therefore h a v e different o f th ese film s in w h ich th e cou rag e and loy ­
ideas and thoughts. In spite o f th e b irth of alty o f th e A m erican sold ier w ere glorified.
a daughter, the m an leav es h om e and takes T h e p o litical tren d s o f th e d ay w ere
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 287

reflected in m an y film s o f th e tim e: in 1913, p re cise id ea of w h a t it w as lik e to liv e a t that

U n iversal p rod u ced The M oney King, criti­ tim e). T h e tru th o f th e fram in g m ad e the
cizing the arm am en ts k in g s: a m u nitions crude artificiality o f th e m elod ram as seem
boss engineers th e b reak d ow n o f a peace tru e to life b ecau se every th in g appeared to
conference d u rin g a fictitio u s w ar in the hap p en naturally and because the audiences,
Balkans in order to p ro tect h is contracts used to the artificial, stagy w orld o f other
and safegu ard h is interests and busin ess. film s, w ere able th rou g h them to com e into
In 1915, p a rtly finan ced b y H u d so n co n tact w ith real life.
M ax im , V itagrap h pro d u ced The Battle Cry W e w o u ld n o t g o so far as to agree w ith
о / Peace, from a script b y H iram M axim . G eorges S a d o u l's observation 6 th a t V ita­
W ilson 's is o la tio n is m -w h ic h w a s close to g rap h p reced ed G riffith in th e use o f edit­
altering the ou tcom e o f th e w a r in E u r o p e - in g , exp loitin g th e variety and m u ltip licity
relied o n a strong an d po w erfu l nation: m u ­ o f shots, for th e sim p le reason that though
nitions had to b e m anufactured in order to th e first o f the Scenes o f True Life film s w ere
arm the U n ited States an d p rep are it for sh ot in D ecem b er 1907 (and therefore b e­
eventual attack, etc. fore G riffith 's first film s), it w as n o t until
W e shall co m e b a ck to th is p rop agan d ist N ov em ber 1909 th a t th e first w orthw h ile
featu re o f th e A m erica n cin em a still ap p ar­ film o f th e series w a s released, th a t is, The
en t e v en in co n tem p o ra ry film s; also to the Broken Violin. G riffith h ad alread y intro­
w ays in w h ich film s reveal th e social con­ d uced the techniqu es Sadoul m en tion s in
d ition s under w h ich th e y are m a d e - w h ic h his very sh ort film s. But the efforts o f Griffith,
m ore or less d eterm ine th eir content. B lack to n, V an D y k e B rooke, and George D.
T h e im p ortant th in g to un derstand from B a k er took p lace at m u ch the sam e tim e;
th is rath er revealing con sp ectu s is th at if fro m the evid en ce w e hav e, it seem s as
th e se sh o rt film s w ere realistic (at least th o u g h ea ch in flu enced th e other. It w ould
superficially) in order that th e y co u ld be b e w ron g to sa y th a t G riffith w a s entirely
m ore persuasive, th e fact th a t th e y w ere re­ responsible for the d isco v ery o f editing. It
alistic through th e u se o f n e w techn iqu es w ould b e equ ally w ron g to sa y th at h e w as
produced an en orm ou s step fo rw ard in the n o t responsible for it a t all.
d ev elop m en t o f th e cinem a. G ranted , w h at W h atev er th e case, n o o n e w ill d en y that
these short film s w ere reproducing is n ot a h u g e distance sep arated V itagraph and
so m u ch realism as "v e r is m " (th e sem ­ B io g rap h fro m th eir E u rop ean counter­
b lan ce o f tru th), as th o u g h rep ortin g reality p arts. E ven a t his best, L ou is F eu illad e in
in the r a w - b u t th ey w ere rin g in g a defi­ F ran ce cou ld d o n o b etter th a n im itate the
nite change and could q u ite easily pass for A m erican s three y ears later in his 1911 se­
actual scenes from real life. T heir contriv ed ries La V ie telle q u 'e lle est (Life as it is).
psychology, b en e fitin g fro m th e apparent W ith th ese sh o rt film s, directing, d esign­
realism o f the scen es, seem ed m u ch m ore in g , an d actin g b ecam e released from the
authen tic for th e fa ct th a t the im p ression of stran g leh old o f the stage. T h e apparent con ­
tru th had b ee n rein forced b y th e totally struction o f film h ad n oth in g m ore in com ­
n ew art o f ed iting and b y th e p erform ances m o n w ith th a t o f p lay s: shots and sequences
o f the actors d oin g th eir b est to b eh av e as rep laced the tableaux and the acts. Yet in its
th ey w o u ld in re a l life. con cep tio n the d ram a rem ained fu nd am en­
Even now adays, on e or tw o o f these ta lly tied to th e theater. G ood or b ad , true
am aze us w ith their sen se o f d eta il and ac­ o r false, it w as still "co n stru cted ," i.e., pre­
cu rate o b serv atio n (g iv in g us, m oreover, a m ed itated , dram a. It w as all directed and
288 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

d eveloped tow ard a precon ceived idea, an d tw o o r three tim es longer; all it need ed w as
the conv entio nal ethic g ov ern in g this co n ­ to increase th e n u m b er o f ad ventu res. A nd
cep tion w as n o t read y to change. T h e fo rm y et its success show ed th e w a y fo r film s
m igh t be flexible, th e action m ig h t b e true o v er 3,000 feet.
to life, b u t th e concept essen tially still b e ­ It is tru e th a t som e few w eeks earlier,
longed to the con cep t o f th e a trica lity - o n e V itagrap h had released The Life о / Moses, a
w h ich , m oreover, w a s to rem ain the basis five-reeler (4,500 feet). B u tth e film w a s m ar­
fo r all d ram a rig h t up to the en d o f th e silen t keted in fo u r parts, each o f them 1125 feet.
era and even beyon d. T h e fo llo w in g y e a r The Lady о / the Lake, pro­
N ev erth eless, even th o u g h th e d ram atic d u ced b y the sam e com pany, proved to be
stru ctu re o f th e film s w as m ad e to serv e a th e first film lastin g over an hour and a half.7
conv entio nal situ ation (even a d u ll story), H o w ev er, sin ce th e p u blic w a s not yet used
at least it had a freed om o f m o v em en t pre­ to film s o f th is len g th ; sin ce, in a n y case, n o t
v io u sly d enied it; and h o w ev er m u ch it m a n y w ere b e in g p ro d u ced ; and sin ce th ey
ow ed to the th eater, constructed d ram a w as w ere sh o w n o n ly in th e a te rs converted into
in fin itely m o re d esirable th a n th e total lack cin em as,8 on e o r tw o film m akers (follow in g
o f con stru ction in p reviou s subjects. th e exam p le o f V icto rin Jasset, w h o h ad es­
H ow ever, th e b rev ity o f these film s pre­ tab lish ed th e genre in 1909 w ith Les
ven ted th e film m akers fro m d eveloping a Aventures de Nick Carter) h ad th e idea o f tell­
situ ation in su ch a w a y as to g iv e it its ow n in g a story fo llow in g th e ad ventu res of a
pace. T hu s freedom at this stage w as on ly h e ro th rou g h a serie s o f short film s, e a c h o f
freed om o f form . w h ic h w o u ld d e scrib e a d ifferent episode.
T h e first con cern o f the in d ep en d en t p ro­ T h is w a s the b eg in n in g o f th e serial.
d u cers (h av in g to stru ggle against th e h e ­ S e lig d elivered th e o p en in g b road sid e in
gem o n y of th e Edison Trust, in ord er to w in th e fo rm o f The Adventures о / Captain Kate
o v er the p u blic and therefore the m arket) in 1911, and E d ison retu rned th e fire w ith
w as to extend as fa r as possible th e length interest: What Happened to M ary (Ju ly 1912),
o f th e show , to tell stories w h ich m oralized Who W ill M arry M ary? (Ju ly 1913), and
as little as p o ssible, and to im p art to events Dolly o/ the Dailies (January 1914), all three
the eb b and flow o f life itself. d irected b y W alter E d w in w ith M ary Fu ller
U n fortunately, th e cin em a w a s n o t su ffi­ as the star. E v ery m o n th or ev e ry tw o w eeks
cien tly m atu re to b e ab le to d ev elop ch arac­ a n ew film w ould d escribe n ew adventures,
te r p sy ch o lo g y in a n y d ep th or trace subtle k e ep in g th e audien ce in suspense fo r
pattern s around com p lex situations. O nce m o n th s o n end.
again, action to ok priority o v er d ram a. The T h e su ccess o f these film s w a s beyon d
first fu ll-len gth (2,700-foot) film w as The Life th e produ cing co m p an ies' w ildest dream s.
о / Buffalo Bill, p ro d u ce d b y P ie rce K in g sley So m u ch so th a t a jou rn alist, M ax A nnen-
and W illiam K raft fro m P ow ers P ictu res in berg, a form er head -of-sales fo r the Chicago
Ju n e 1910. P earl W h ite m a d e h e r d eb u t in Herald (a W R. H earst p ap er), th en in the
th is film , p la y in g op p osite P aul Panzer. T h e serv ice o f th e Chicago Tribune (a M cC orm ick
sp ectacle - a W estern, n a tu ra lly - had its in ­ p a p er), suggested to his b osses the idea of
teresting m o m en ts, b u t the film w as really a m ag azin e to b e p u blish ed conjointly w ith
n oth in g m ore th a n a series o f ad ventu res the exh ib itio n o f a film co m in g out every
tracing one o r tw o m o re o r less au then tic tw o weeks. A very clever idea, it w as worked
episodes in th e life o f C olonel Cody, alias on b y W alter H ow ey, ed itor-in -ch ief o f the
B uffalo Bill. T h e film cou ld ea sily h a v e b een Chicago Tribune, to g eth er w ith Terry R am ­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D RAMA 289

say, th e p a p e r's p u b licist an d film review er.9 o f g oin g to th e cinem a every w eek , thereby
O nce again it w a s Selig w h o lau nch ed th e h e lp in g to m ak e th e cinem a part o f th e cu l­
g en re w ith The Adventures о / Kathlyn, di­ tu re, th e y extend ed th e co n d itio n s o f film
rected b y F. J. G rand on w ith K a th ly n W il­ d ram a b y fo rcin g th e d im ension o f tim e
liam s as the star (D ecem ber 1913), soo n to in to the stru cture o f the narrative, a d im en­
b e fo llow ed b y Kim-Kip-Kop, d irected b y sio n w h ich gave it a m ean in g associated
R alp h Ince w ith F loren ce Turner (Vita­ m o re w ith th e n ov el fo rm th a n w ith plays.
graph, F e b ru ary 1914), and M illion-Dollar In d eed , th is fa c t w a s so obviou s th a t the
Mystery, d irecte d b y H aro ld H a n se l w ith p u blic o f th e tim e w as able to distinguish
Florence La B ad ie (Thanhouser, M a y 1914). b etw een "cin e m a tic p lay s," i.e., th e n orm al
H earst, rath er su rp rised b y th is success, ru n -o f-th e-m ill film s, and "cin em atic n o v ­
v ery q u ick ly cam e b ack w ith a serial pro­ els," i.e., the m agazines.
d uced b y E clectic-P athe, The Perils о / Paul­ It is tru e th a t th e d irectin g o f th ese film s
ine, d irected b y D o n a ld M acK enzie w ith w as som ew h at b eh in d th e times. M o st of
P earl W hite (February 1914). The success th em w ere in ferio r to th e w orst o f the Vita-
w as ov erw helm in g . T h e ov erall tak in g s graph film s around 1910, p articu larly since
ju m p ed b y b etw ee n 20 p ercen t and 30 p er­ th e y w ere ru sh jo b s, but the com plete lack
cent. T h e p u b lic lin ed up ou tsid e th e tick et o f v erisim ilitu d e in th e ir situations had a
o ffices and ev ery co m p a n y in th e b u sin ess kin d o f p o e try a b o u t it, w h ic h the Surreal­
started p ro d u cin g episodic film s. W ith ri­ ists cau gh t on to, as in the p o etry o f Pierre
v alry b oostin g produ ction, H earst an d M c­ Sou vestre's an d M arcel A lla in 's Fantomas:
C o rm ick soo n h ad th eir ow n p e rso n a l p ro ­
d u ctio n com p an ies: E clectic-W arton and . . . The traitor has stolen the diamond
Balboa, b o th d istrib u ted b y Pathe, w h ich in for the hundredth time. Pearl snatches the
the m eantim e had b eco m e the Pathe-E x- jewel holding a gun on him. She gets into
change C o m p an y th an k s to the ad d ition of a cab. The cab has been deliberately
planted. Pearl is thrown into a cellar.
A m erican capital. T h e tw en ty or th irty dai­
Meanwhile, the thief is trying to get into
lies o f th e H earst g ro u p an d th ose o f the
Pearl's house. Surprised by the newspa­
M cC orm ick group each brought ou t a m ag­
per reporter, he makes off across the roofs.
azine. It w as a kind o f gold ru sh o f episodic The reporter follows him, loses him and
film s. In 1914, thirty. B y 1915, as m a n y as in the Chinese quarter accidentally
fifty, am ong w h ich w ere The Mysteries о / bumps into the Man with One Eye who,
New York, The Red Circle, The M ask with White thus far in the story, has been a shadowy
Teeth, Ravengar, and The M ystery о / the Double figure.
Cross, d irected b y L ou is G asnier, Jo se p h Eventually, he finds the cellar where
G old en , D esm o n d Taylor, H ay es H unter, Pearl is imprisoned. He is about to set her
G eo rg e B. S e itz or F itzM au rice, w ith P earl free but . . . The thief who has given him
the slip has followed down to the cel­
W h ite, R u th R olland , G race D arm o n d ,
lar, unknown to the jo u ^ lis t. When he
M ollie K ing, P aul Panzer, C reig h ton H ale,
finds our heroine out cold - having blown
etc., from m ag azines b y C h arles W G od ard ,
up the building with an explosive which
A rthur B. R eev es, R a y Stringer, M arie has only recently been invented -sh e is
C o relli, P ay so n Terhune, e tc.10 tied up and relieved of the diamond by
Clearly, these film s d id v ery little to ad ­ her quick-fingered adversary.
v a n ce th e a rt of film , b u t th e y did p la y quite It is action-packed. And, whether we
an im p ortant role. A s w ell as the fact th a t like it or not, we are gripped by it. No
th e y stim ulated the p u blic to m ak e a hab it time for argument or thought. This is the
290 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

kind of spectacle the twentieth cen t^ y sort of refinem ent-all other aspirations
deserves.11 being outside the compass of its techniques.
The narrative development of the maga­
A psychoanalysis of these films would zine marks a move toward freedom which
reveal the mythology of which they were proved fruitless because it was based on
the ephemeral reflection, a popular social thin air.
mythology to which they owe most of their Between 1910 and 1914, the continued
success. Wehave only to compare the French development of independent production
magazines: association of criminals and companies meant that films became pro­
bankers, vindication of society, sense of jus­ gressively longer, from 1,800 feet to 3,600
tice and the law (Fantom as, L es Vampires, feet, or almost one hour's running time.
Ju dex); the German magazines: lust for With Zukor focusing attention, with his Fa­
power, spirit of domination, doctrine of mous Players, on stars of the stage and then
might is right (H om unculus, H erein d e r W elt); on genuine film actors after the failure of
the Danish magazines: hypnosis and hallu­ the stage actors, the fashion came back full
cination, vague evil powers (G ar-el-ham a, circle to adaptations, particularly since
T he M ysterious Mr. X ); the American maga­ these longer films required a sustained dra­
zines: struggle to gain control of diamonds matic action, and what better material for
or an incredible inheritance, rags-to-riches, this than plays in the repertory?
trials where loyalty triumphs through en­ Now, in order to avoid stagy structure
ergy, the spirit of initiative, the boldness and and make films more true to life, the writers
courage of the hero or heroine (T he M ysteries began to develop the “in-between bits," giv­
o f N ew York, The Queen's N ecklace, etc.). They ing as much importance to the subplots as
contain a kind of typology which merits a to the main plot, which produced a much
deeper study, especially in view of the fact woollier, vague construction, a total ab­
that their expression seems to lie at the very sence of dramatic relief, and interminably
heart of popular mythology. However, we boring exposition to explain what did not
shall leave this to future sociologists of the need explaining. The dramatic events, the
cinema. whole purpose and basis of the film, became
For the first time, then, these films intro­ submerged in a lumpy porridgelike con­
duce the notion o f time (not psychological struction.
duration, of course). But with them the “time Then came the first great films directed
of the drama" is turned into the “time of by Thomas Ince.12 Working for an indepen­
the narrative," a linear development which dent company, New York Pictures, Ince had
replaces the relative concentration of the formed in October 1912 a production group
theater. However, this method of narration called Kay-Bee (the phonetic transcription
took a long time to catch on. It was really of the initials of the financial backers, Kessel
used only in episodic films to guarantee the and Bauman). He set up the group in the
succession in time of a series of adventures, West, in the San Fernando Valley just out­
always seen and described “from the out­ side Hollywood, and his ambition was to
side." Since the psychological inner world make Westerns, dramas, and comedies using
had yet to be included within the capacities the natural setting of the region.
of the cinema, the drama still had much to Reworking the principles of the Scenes
gain from being compact, concise, and pre­ of True Life but on a much larger scale and
cise. It was only by following this direction with subjects less conventionally melodra­
that the film art could hope to attain any matic, he attempted to establish a kind of
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 291

b alan ce b etw een form and content, betw een itself in m o st cases incapable o f h an d lin g
the m eans o f exp ressio n an d th e d ram atic the v a st su b jects d em and ed o f it.
requ irem ents o f th e story, im p o sin g on the In ce fo llow ed in G riffith 's footsteps,
latter values and con d ition s sim ilar to those profited fro m h is d iscov eries, and, confin­
o f classical d ram atic stru cture. L ik e th e di­ ing h im self to th e careful application o f w h at
rectors o f V itagrap h , In ce tried to m ove h e h a d learned, to ok off, so to speak, in the
aw ay from theatrical directing. Y et h e had op p osite d irection. A ccep tin g th e form es­
recou rse to the stru ctu re o f th e dram a as tab lish ed b y G riffith an d m ak in g n o at­
th e sou rce o f h is ow n structure, w hich at tem pt to refine it, h e consid ered the m eans
th e sam e tim e h ad n o th in g w h atev er to do a t h is disposal on ly inasm u ch as th e y pro­
w ith a n y a sp ect o r fo rm o f stage represen­ vided h im w ith a cry stal-clear form o f ex­
tation. H is w ork, w h ich m ay b e seen as pression entirely th rou g h m otion pictures.
com p lem entary to G riffith 's, seem s n o w to In sp ite o f an a lrea d y exten sive vocabu­
b e a kind o f d ram atizatio n o f reality, using la ry and an ad van ced sy n tax , it w as still
reality itself. im p o ssib le to sig n ify characters in any
G riffith w as led , a lm o st forced , to create depth or su g g est any kind o f subtlety. The
a language w h ich w ould allow h im to ex­ slig h test h in t o f ch aracter m o tiv atio n re­
press h im self to the lim its o f h is genius. quired the use o f lon g -w in d ed explanatory
H is them es w ere rath er cru d e a n d sim plis­ titles. N ow , using im ag es to illu strate titles,
tic at the start o f h is career, sin ce h e w as w h ich w as the on ly w a y th e action o f the
able to convey w h at h e w an ted only through film cou ld p rogress, obviou sly had very lit­
form s w h ich th em selv es w ere cru d e and tle to d o w ith cinem a. In bad film s there
sim plistic. A s th e y began to d evelop, so h e w ere so m an y titles th a t it w o u ld b e m ean­
w as ab le to elev ate h is to n e and express - in g less to refer to them in term s o f con tin u ­
at lea st at th e h ig h p o in t o f h is career in ity; b u t in th e b etter ones it w as often the
1 9 1 9 -id e a s w h ich becam e increasingly case th a t titles w ere n ecessary to translate
m ore am b itiou s, h is fau lts b ein g confined th e dialogu e. T hu s to b e able to inclu d e the
to his ra th er antiqu ated n otio n s and the ex­ title, th e continuity o/ the shot h ad to b e in­
cessive sch em atizatio n s b rou g h t ab ou t as terru pted. S in ce the film w as shot to allow
m uch b y th e fo rm al restrictio n s o f a tech­ fo r th e titles, th e sh o t fo llow in g a title did
n iqu e still b e in g d ev elop ed as b y th e re­ n o t n ecessarily hav e to m atch th e sh o t im ­
ceptive cap acities o f h is aud ien ce. N ot­ m ed iately p reced in g it; and this w as so b e­
w ith stan d in g, the very fact th at he did cau se the title to o k the p lace o f events
create his ow n la n g u a g e m ean t that be­ su p p osed ly happening a t th e sam e tim e. It
cause the lan g u ag e w as breaking n ew w a s therefore im possible to cu t the title out,
ground, it w as co n tin u a lly tow ing behind b eca u se it w ould create a "ju m p cu t."
it ideas fo r w h ich it had b een conceived. In c e a n d h is collaborators a lw a y s cu t the
W ith th e excep tion p e rh a p s o f Broken Blos­ title in between shots in such a w ay that if
soms and True Heart Susie, w h ich a re his ev e r th e titles w e re cu t ou t o f th e film , n o r­
m ost su ccessfu l film s, th e effect o f this w as m al chang es o f sh o t w ould be left. E ven so,
that h is richest and m ost com p lex film s, in ord er to lim it th e n u m b e r o f titles, Ince
such as Birth о / a Nation an d Intolerance, are w as carefu l to choose situation s and general
flaw ed in the la c k o f an y co n sta n t b alance ideas w h ich n eed ed v ery little d evelop­
b etw een fo rm an d con ten t. H ow ev er re­ m ent, a t th e risk o f appearing occasionally
m ark ab le it m ay b e in a h istorical context, ra th er too succinct. H e lim ited the title to
the form , still w et fro m th e m ould, show ed th e role o f indicator, u sing it m erely to lin k
292 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

sequences and place events. Without under­ trying to redeem her past. However, the
estimating the importance of character psy- young man's strait-laced parents oppose
enology, he attempted to place his characters the match and the girl goes back on the
in situations where subtleties of character­ streets. A marriage without parental ap­
ization were superfluous to an understand­ proval was unthinkable in view of the or­
ing of their drama. He suggested their de­ thodox morality of the time, which would
velopment as much by condensing time, have seen a match like this as an offense
implying the causes of the developmentbut against virtue. Thus, though the subjects
co^^im g himself to its effects; but as a gen­ may appear nowadays stilted and melodra­
eral rule he preferred to describe characters matic, it was this hypocritical morality and
who defined themselves through their ac­ the bigoted notions of bourgeois mentality
tions in a clearly defined, concise conflict. that Ince and his main scriptwriter, Gard­
The narrative had to be developed with ner Sullivan, were criticizing through their
a certain flexibility to give the audience the films. When we think of the Scenes of True
impression of watching a document taken Life, we realize how remarkable was the
from lif e - o r at very least an "im age" of progress which Ince made.
life—instead of a plot contrived for obvious The Regenerates (R. B. West, 1916) devel­
ends. Though it meant giving back to film ops the argument that those who reach po­
an unavoidable structure, Ince had to be sitions of power by flouting laws and ethical
sure he was not losing any of the benefits principles are the very same people who de­
of the cinema, its capacities for capturing fend them most readily once they feel them­
life "from within life itself." selves protected and supported by them.
Psychological developments are inter­ The Outrage (R. B. West, 1916) attempts
esting only insofar as they help to reveal to proclaim women's rights in a "man's
the motives behind the characters' actions. world" where, all too frequently, they are
Since this kind of analysis was beyond the victims of their own trust and credulity.
scope of his resources, Ince concentrated en­ Illusion (Charles Miller, 1916) develops
tirely on reducing facts to their bare mini­ the idea that the apostles of this new mo­
mum. He centered the drama on a few very rality, which supposedly frees mankind
precise motivations, keeping the subplots from mundane social conventions, practice
or unstressed elements in the background, what they preach only when this serves
evoked or suggested by various carefully their own interests or feelings. As soon as
chosen allusions, deliberately removing they have to suffer from the emancipation
anything which did not propel the action they have been extolling, they are quick to
forward. He achieved thereby an extreme complain but disguise their selfishness be­
conciseness but also, inevitably, an exces­ hind the respect due to the customs of mod­
sive schematization of his social dramas. em civilization and established principles.
Of these, A Gamble in Souls (directed by The Sorrows о/ Love (R. B. West, 1917) de­
Scott Sidney)13 was one of the first films to fends the social rights of the deserted mother
develop a thesis in a valid cinematic form. and her illegitimate child.
The realistic lighting, the authenticity of the The influence of the "message play,"
sets, and, more especially, the living quality which had such success in the theater be­
of the acting gave the impression of true life tween 1900 and 1915, is quite obvious—so
drama. The plot concerns a young painter much so that in 1918 French critics, im­
in love with a saloon girl who poses for pressed by the breakthroughs of Cecil B.
and who, tired of her cheap existence, is de Mille's 1915 film Forfaiture (which was
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 293

m erely an a p p lica tio n o f In c e 's m ethods) p rem e m anifestation o f art, n o th in g m ore

p roclaim ed it as b ein g "a lm o st as good as th an a tran scrip tion o f cu rrently p o p u lar
B ern stein ." co n cep ts ty p ical o f th a t particu lar p eriod in
In fact, B ern stein , B ataille, B rieu x, Porto- history. O n e h a s o n ly to reread articles in
R iche, and even P ierre Frondaie, C harles the con tem p orary press or th e occasional
M ere, and K istem aekers and th eir A m eri­ p o em s o f Je a n A icard or E d m ond R ostan d
can im itators D avid B elasco, C yrus T. o r lo o k at the p ain tin g s and sculptu res sup­
Brady, H ector T u rnbu ll, and P au l A rm ­ p orted b y th e artistic establish m en t o f 1914!
strong, provided a sou rce o f considerable H ow ever, th e W esterns, the film s in­
insp iration fo r th e cin em a o f th e tim e. sp ired b y th e W ar o f Secession, and one or
E v ery o n e o f these film s w o u ld a ffe ct us tw o dram as (w h ose d ocu m en tary quality,
even n ow ad ay s, if on ly the characterization in h in d sig h t, is rem arkable) w ere in an other
w ere a little m o re subtle. Yet, all too often, league a lto g e th e r -T h e Italian, fo r instance
the characters are forced, the situation s ex­ (d irected b y Sco tt Sid n ey in 1914). The film
aggerated, an d th e con seq u en ces distorted show s a n Italian im m igran t just o ff the boat
ou t o f all proportion. It is n ot so m u ch the in N ew York, try in g to look a fter h is family.
facts as th e w ay th e y are organized w h ich In spite o f th e d ou ble d ealings o f an A m er­
lacks v erisim ilitu d e. E very th in g verges on ican w h o w an ts to sw allow up h is busin ess,
the m elo d ram atic in o rd er to extract m ore he m an ag es to stan d u p fo r h im self and
m ileage ou t o f the m essag e, b u t the n e t re­ op en up a stall in a B ro o k ly n street m arket.
su lt is th at the m essa g e loses its effect. The The p ro lo g u e, w h ich tak es place in Venice
film m aker, an xio u s to prove th e point, does a m o n g th e gon d oliers, has th e feelin g of
n o t fo llo w h is ch aracters; he "d ire c ts" them . p astebo ard ab ou t it, the artifice o f th e old
H e m akes them behave in a w ell-d efined ty p e of cin em a (but w ith th e odd hu m orou s
m anner, in su ch a w a y th a t h o w e v e r true touch). Y et as soon as w e g et to N ew York,
th ey m ay be, th e y ap p ear as "ch a ra cte r d ow n in th e streets o f B rooklyn, th e w hole
id eas," actin g o u t th eir place in the thesis th in g changes. W e h a v e tru th, th e m anifest
instead o f w o rk in g freely tow ard th e reso­ au th en ticity o f "life in the raw ." C ertain se­
lution o f th eir d ram a. quences pave th e w ay fo r Von Stroh eim 's
We sh o u ld p o in t ou t th at in 1915 th e gen­ Greed and others. In particu lar, th o se w here
eral cin em a-g oin g p u b lic w as n o t really th e im m ig ran t is w an d erin g th rou g h the
used to this k ind o f film -p a r tic u la r ly since Brooklyn streets looking fo r th e m an w h o
w h at w as b ein g used w as images, n ot w ords. d ou ble-crossed h im are rem iniscent o f The
C onsequently, th e exp ressio n o f th e ideas Bicycle Thief, th irty years ahead o f its tim e.
had n ecessarily to b e su p p orted , bolstered In th e W esterns, it is n o lon g er a question
up. "R e d u cin g th in g s to th e ir esse n ce " ap­ o f contrastin g different social cond itions or
plied n o t on ly to th e d ram atic stru ctu re bu t criticizin g o p p ressive law s (th em es w h ich
a l s o - a n d u n a v o id a b ly -to th e very su b ­ requ ire a certain am ount o f subtlety) b u t of
stance o f the dram a. b rin g in g individuals into con flict in short,
It m u st b e said m o reo ver th a t th e naive v iolen t, brutal dram as, exploiting the rela­
sym b olism so m etim es u sed w as n ot a ch ar­ tionsh ip o f th e characters w ith th eir b ack ­
acteristic o f In ce's film s o r G riffith 's - or in­ ground s, o f g lorify in g b a sic b u t p ow erfu l
d eed the cin em a as a w h ole. It w as m erely feelin g s b y m ean s o f an exem plary action.
the application, lock, stock , and b arrel, of W h ereas th e social d ram as w ere based
an ou t-of-d ate p ictorial a rt consid ered even on elem en ts sim ilar to th e "m essa g e play,"
then in m ediocre cultural circles as the su­ the W esterns and ep isod es from th e W ar of
294 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

Secession had a great d eal in c o m m o n w ith en cin g the m a in action and the dram a itself,
the short s to r y - m a y b e ev en w ith poetry. seem o ccasion ally to have n o oth er purpose
It is true that poetry, i.e., narrativ e poetry, th a n to produce im ages o f this k in d through
in contrast w ith n ov els, m u st lim it its e lf to w h ich th e d ram a is transfigured. A s Louis
precise facte, to a linear action, to arche­ D ellu c w rote a t th e tim e, "N o t so m u ch vi­
typal heroes (M asferer, R oland, Siegfried , sual d etails together w ith p sy ch olog ical de­
etc.), th e valu e o f the p o em tran scen d in g tails, b u t the tw o together sublim ated b y
the story itself in th e tran sp osition o f the anoth er e le m e n t-p o e tr y ."
facts, in the q u alities o f th e w ords them ­ O n e m ay say th a t in p lace of th e prem ed ­
selves and in the rhyth m s o f th e verse. For­ itated , con triv ed m o ral intentions o f the
mal q u alities, all o f them , w ith their equiv­ m essage film s, there is som eth in g w hich is
alents in film in the d ram atic m o vem ent not intended b u t w h ich is revealed as the film
and rhythm o f th e im ages. d ev elop s, som eth in g w h ien the film m aker
T h e d ram a serves as a p retext fo r the is aw are o f and with which he composes but
evocation o f an atm osphere. It attem p ts to w h ich h a s n o t b ee n artificially composed. This
d escribe characters on w h ich the b rev ity o f is h o w th e living qualities, the direct, tangi­
th e action and con cisen ess o f th e n arrativ e b le tru th o f the film s, becom es added to their
con fer a v ivid n ess w h ere, otherw ise, they intentio n, and w h a t w as denied in other
m igh t b e to tally u n in terestin g (unless, of film s ap p ears h ere in all its pow er and n ew ­
cou rse, th ey are developed in m u ch greater found splendor.
psychological depth). T he film develops only It is, for instance, a stream sp ark lin g in
tragic situations. T h e characters are less in­ th e su n d o w n in a p ea cefu l v a lle y w hile,
teresting th an their dram a, and they are fu rth er upstream , w e kn ow there are tw o
aw are o f w h o th ey are on ly b y v irtu e o f m en b a ttlin g to the death on the riverbank.
the dram a. A fte r th e fig h t (w e d o n o t a ctu a lly see the
T h u s b y em p h asizin g th e im p ortan ce of ou tcom e), o n ly o n e o f th e h o rse s returns. A
the backgrou nd as a con d itio n in g influence w a ter b o ttle and a revolv er hang ou t o f a
and m ak in g it the m o st im p ortan t character h a lf-o p en h o ls te r an d th e b a g o f gold (the
in the d ram a, Ince w as able to p are d ow n cau se o f the fight) d an g les from the ripped
h is narrativ e to the level w h ere it con fers a saddle.
tra g ic g ran d eu r on so m e o f h is W esterns. A S o m e o f th e s e film s - t h e finest o f them
p o e try h itherto u n k n ow n in th e cin em a (at - a r e ch aracterized b y a kind o f som ber,
th is p o in t it w as n o t even certain that the d esp e ra te Id ealism . S in ce all feelings are
cin em a w as cap ab le o f it) em erges on to the p resen ted in their raw state, it is d ram a in
screen: a lyrical force created m ost u su ally its grim n ak ed n ess, m isery w ith o u t reason,
b y th e ch o se n m e an s o f expression or su g ­ life turned u p sid e d ow n to find th e richest
gestion, b y the con stan t a tten tio n to telling fru it and fin d ing a t th e end o f it all only
d etail, b y a tech n iq u e w h ich , in these film s, futility, or n o th in g at all.
proves to be the basis o f a cinem atic cod e. T h e m o st interesting o f W illiam H art's
T h e su p eriority o f th e s e film s, su ccess­ first W esterns are The Bad Luck о / Santa Inez
fu lly com bin in g m y th and reality, fiction an d The Fugitive, b o th produ ced in 1914,
and tru th , and th e fa ct th a t som e o f them from short stories b y B ret H arte,14 directed
have not, so to sp eak, ag ed , is essentially b y R eg in ald B ark er and C ecil Sm ith.
due to d etails w h ich assu m e a resonance, T h e first tells the story o f the lead er o f a
like w ord s in a p oem . The tiny, incid ental g an g w h o co m es d o w n fro m the m ountains
m iscellanea, the su b sid iary action s influ­ w ith his b and o f d esperad oes. T h ey attack
 T I ME A N D S P A C E O F T H E D R A M A 295

a stagecoach, w rea k h av oc on a sm all W est­ h e w o u ld continu e gam bling. W h ite w ith

ern tow n, d em olish th e local saloon, rape ang er, h e ru shes round to the girl w h o got
th e girls, and leav e as th ey cam e, stop ping h im d run k, shoots her lover dead, beats h er
to raid a n u m ber o f ran ch es o n their way. up , and then, throw ing h er across h is sad­
R io Jim , how ever, takes w ith h im the m em ­ dle, d igs h is spurs in to h is h orse and m akes
ory o f a w o m an - a dancer in the saloon - a g etaw ay in to th e desert.
w h o g av e h e rs e lf to h im w illin g ly in order T h e y ears go by. R io Jim , w h o h a s m ad e
to save h e rself fro m m ore violen ce and , at a slav e o f th e fo rm er b a rro o m queen, is at
least p artia lly to h elp p ro tect the p roperty h ea rt still a sim ple sou l, read y to exten d his
o f the com m unity. hatred to all w o m en and indeed to the w hite
The second h as som e o f th e virtues of race in general. H e b eco m es the lead er o f a
the short story fo rm ab ou t it, b ein g short g a n g o f b a n d its o f ali co lo rs, and h e robs
and poetic. R io Jim , a g am bler and badm an, w agon trains, living off his spoils and spread­
falls in love w ith a d ancer in a saloon. He ing terror w h erev er h e goes. O ne day the
protects her against the advances o f a group lead er o f a w agon train o f im m igrants and
of drunken M exicans. Surprised and m oved p rosp ectors w h ich has lost its w ay com es to
b y this su d d en act ofb ra v ery , sh e gives h im h im to a sk fo r h is help and protection. Rio
th e ro se sh e h as b e e n w e a rin g . M eanw hile, Jim , h is desire fo r ven g ean ce still unsatis­
Jim discovers som eone ch eatin g in a p o k er fied, refuses to help h is blood brothers; he
gam e. H e pu lls a g u n an d k ills th e m an. w ill n o t ev en g ive w ater to th eir children;
H elp ed b y th e dancer, h e m ak es h is escape, even w orse, h e abducts th e w o m en and
but, convin ced h e is n o t guilty, h e returns g ives th em to h is m en. H ow ever, a you ng
and w aits fo r th e sheriff in h is office. T he girl dares to g o into th e b a n d its' cam p by
sheriff arrives an d arrests h im . T h e tw o h e rself to b eg fo r m ercy. A t first the ch ief
m en rid e to the n ext to w n , w h ere the sheriff shou ts h er d ow n , lau g hs in h er face an d re­
intends to hand h im o v er to b e tried. Cross­ fu ses to b e d isarm ed b y her p erseverance.
in g the desert, they are attack ed b y a band T h e n sh e b eg s the b ad m an in th e n am e of
o f Ind ians. T h ey d efend th em selv es to the h is race and sim ple hu m anity. R io Jim , sur­
death. T h e fo llow in g day, the bodies o f the rou n d ed b y h is h alf-breed renegades, sud­
m en are found, Rio Jim sm iling w ith the d en ly sees w h ere h is d u ty lies. R isk ing his
rose in his hand. life, h e saves the w h ite w om en, find s food
T hese first efforts w ere to lead eventually fo r the w a g o n train, and acts as their guide.
to The A ryan, (d irected b y R eginald B arker T hen, w ith o u t accepting their thanks, after
and C ecil S m ith in 1916), w h ich is the first a last farew ell, the m an o f th e op en range
m asterpiece o f the genre. R io Jim , a p lain s­ rides off into th e desert, alone.
m an, is retu rnin g w ith his m o n ey b e lt fu ll T h e attitu de o f th e film m akers in this
of gold dust. H e w alks in to th e saloon o f the dram a is ob viou s; leaving aside details
first tow n h e com es to. T h e card sharps w h ich su d d en ly assum e a trag ic m eaning,
think th ey see easy p ick in g s in the sim ple such as the b u ck et from w h ich Rio Jim
giant. H e is persu ad ed b y a salo on girl to d rinks a ladle o f w ater w h en h e refuses
take a d rink; h e gets d ru n k and is forced to w ater to th e thirsty w agon train. B essie's
gam ble. H e w akes up th e fo llow in g m orn­ look , th e sp ark lin g w ater, an d R io Jim 's in­
in g w ith a hango ver and realizes th a t h e is d ifference, the w h ole traged y is there con­
ruined. A t the sam e m o m en t, h e h e a rs that tained in a single fram e w ith water in the
h is m other h as d ied , n e w s th at had b een foregroun d. Sim ilar elem ents com e up
kep t from h im th e previou s even in g so that th rou g h o u t the film, enriching the im ­
296 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

pressionistic sy nthesis o f an essentially de­ velop s in to an idea w h ich stran g ely tran­
scriptive action. scen d s the act or object beh in d it. It is there­
F or it is w o rth rem ark in g that, w ith Ince, fo re quite norm al th at "sig n ifica tio n "
the significant detail is n ever "tra n sp o se d ," sh ou ld b e th e b asic elem ent in a fo rm of
as it is w ith G riffith . T h e closeu p w h ich iso ­ cod e w h ich ten d s to exte n d or in crease the
lates th e d etail, rem o v in g fro m it every ­ im portance o f events: the ep ic code, th e very
th in g b u t its q u ality as an ep hem eral sign, code used b y G riffith an d b y E isenstein.
can really b e applicable o n ly to ep ic film s "E x p re ssio n ," on th e oth er h an d , is fo r
or su bjective analyses, to an y th in g m o re or th e m o st p a rt g lobal and continu ou s. It de­
less d irected tow ard tran sform in g reality rives fro m th e ob jects them selv es, relates to
in to sym bols. N ow , In ce rem ains objective the ob jects, an d o n ly tran scen d s their im ­
th rou g h o u t h is films. W here h e con cen­ m ed iate m ean in g in order to influence the
trates o n th e immanent rath er th an the tran ­ d ram a o f w h ich th e y are part. A ssociation
scen d en t, h e uses what things say rather than is therefore alw ay s concrete: o f objects w ith
what they are made to say. T h e sig n ifican t d e­ objects, actions w ith actions, facts w ith
tail is captu red to g eth er w ith th e u niverse facts, o f every con ceiv ab le relationsh ip be­
o f w h ich it is part. Its v alu e d ep end s exclu ­ tw een objects, actions, and facts bu t n o t ob­
siv ely o n th e particu lar p o sition g iven to it jects, action s, or facts w ith ideas.
in th e fram e. W h e n W illia m S. H art d rink s from the
T h at is n o t to say th at th e sig n ifier in ladle in fro n t o f the y ou n g girl h e refuses
these film s is coexten sive w ith th e signified to help, th e un derlying signification does
b u t th at the m ean in g is im m an en t w ithin n o t extend beyond th e ev en t to w h ich this
the ob jects them selv es, that it evolves from action is related . It is the o n ly p ossible idea
them quite spontaneously. T o p u t it m ore w h ich could b e m o tiv ated b y su ch a situ­
sim ply, Ince does not signify; he expresses. ation (su m m arizin g and expressing it). In ­
In fa ct, th e "sig n ific a tio n " d eriv es from stead o f sh ifting con stan tly from the par­
the concept rath er than the objects: ideas are ticu lar to the g eneral, as in the ep ic, Ince
what is signified; objects are what is expressed. stays w ith in th e sp ecifics o f a sin gle com ­
N ow , w ith Ince, the ob ject assum ing valu e plete dram a. H e does n o t tran scen d con ­
as a sig n alw ay s b eco m es th e sig n o f an crete facts. H is con cepts are im m anent in
im m ediately tan g ible concrete reality con­ th e objects them selv es; h e characterizes
tained within the limits о / the drama. T h e sy m ­ th e m b u t d oes n o t tran scen d th em .15
b o l n ev er extend s b ey on d th e facts. It T h is is therefore q u ite clearly th e cod e of
achiev es (and th e n o n ly o ccasion ally ) the th e sh ort-story w riter - if n o t altog eth er that
level o f a con cep t o n ly to the exten t th a t the o f th e novelist. A n y ly ricism th ere m a y be
facts them selves reflect it. com es from th e s e fa c ts o r th eir d irect asso ­
W e hav e seen th a t film sig n ification - i n c ia tio n and n o t from so m e ethical or m eta­
contrast w ith w h a t it is in v e rb a l exp res­ physical extrapolation.
sion - d o e s n o t d ep end o n a convention . It In ce 's film s, th e n , are a d efin itiv e d ep ar­
is evanescent, con stan tly differentiated , bu t ture, n o t o n ly from "th ea trica l sta g in g " bu t
alw ays and n ecessarily associative. It relates also fro m th e theatrical structure o f dram a.
to a (generally isolated) detail, associated Ince rejected th e d ram atic con stru ction ap­
w ith a w hole, an d op erates through th e pro­ propriate to stage representation and used
cess of d istin ction an d assim ilatio n (exam ­ in stead a con stru ction suitable fo r film ex ­
ple: th e p ince-nez in Potemkin). pression. H e can thu s be said to b e th e real
Thu s, d ep end en t o n a concrete fact, it d e­ creator o f cin em atic d ram atic structure.
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D R A M A 29 7

In fact, a p a rt from o n e or tw o rare ex­ p o se in d o in g this w as in flu en ced b y th e fact

ceptions, all silen t film s o f a n y v alu e w ere th a t h e d id n o t actu ally direct m o st o f the
co n stru cted and d ev elop ed accord in g to films for w h ich h e w as responsible. These
principles generated b y the short story . . . notes on paper w ere h is on ly guarantee that
and, com e to that, a great m a n y talkies, too the film w o u ld b e sh ot to h is specifications.
- a t least up to th e p resen t d a y (the notio n A n d , g en erally sp eak in g , one m a y sa y that
o f fiction tim e sin ce th e n g iv in g a n ew m ean­ if G riffith was th e first to give th e cinem a
in g to film , that o f th e p sy ch o lo g ica l n arra­ th e n o tio n o f m on tage, i.e., sym bolic significa­
tive, w h ich is w h ere th e future o f au d io­ tion created b y ed iting , In ce was the first to
visual exp ressio n appears to lie). Yet th is con trib u te the p recision o f a shootin g script.
w as m ad e possible o n ly th ro u g h th e exten ­ E ven so, it w as n o t u n til talkies that the
sion o f representation t i m e - w h i c h now a­ u se o f th e sh oo tin g script b ecam e w id e­
days m a y last an y w h ere from n in ety spread , a lth o u g h o n e or tw o d irectors, such
m inutes to tw o, three, or even four hours. as F ritz L an g an d M u m a u , fro m 1912 on­
For exactly th e sam e reason th at it is im ­ w ard , d ev eloped the script to the stage
p ossible to d o ju stice to a com p lex n o v e l in w h ere ea ch shot in th eir film s w as plotted
thirty p ag es, so fictio n tim e in th e cinem a ou t b efo reh an d . T h e exp ressio n ist aesthetic,
can n o t b e d ev elop ed in a n h o u r and a half. based on the plastic qualities of the im age,
A s lon g as the d uration o f the sp ectacle was p lay ed an enorm ous part in forcin g th em
confined w ithin these arbitrary lim its, it w as to m ak e this k ind o f preparation.
the stru cture o f th e sh o rt sto ry alone w h ich T h o u g h th e stru ctu re of th e short sto ry is
w as capable o f refin in g film to a n y degree. com p letely different from th at o f tragedy, it
W h at is m ore, so th a t th e m ise-en-scene m u st b e ad m itted th a t th ey both d evelop a
cou ld con form w ith th e required cond i­ precon ceived a ctio n . T h e s h o rt sto ry contains
tions, it b ecam e im perative to prep are it b e­ its situ atio n w ith in v e ry tig h tly con trolled
forehand. F ro m 1909, scripts b eg an to be lim its and im poses on it a d ev elop m en t pro­
w ritten . T h e ov erall stru ctu re o f th e film d uced b y these lim its and b y th e d ram atic
w as establish ed in a cou p le o f pages, serv­ m ean in g it is m ad e to assum e. C h aracters
in g as a "g u id e " to th e d irector; b u t th e film are n o lo n g er " d irected " as in the m essage
w as com posed sp o n tan eo u sly accord ing to play, b u t ev en ts are orientated (or selected)
th e insp iration o f th e m om en t. T h e "sh a p e " tow ard a p articu lar ultim ate purpose. Every­
o f the film , its rh y th m or its to n e (if indeed th in g d ev elop s in a single direction. R e­
w e can speak o f su ch q u alities in film s b e ­ duced to those elem ents w h ich advance the
fore 1912) had to d o w ith the w a y it w as action and h elp the dram a along, the story
edited. T h is w as th e w a y G riffith w orked. can o n ly m ove forw ard , tow ard its proper
W h en o n e consid ers th a t In toleran ce, an ex ­ conclu sion.
trem ely com p licated film , w a s sh ot w ithou t A t tim es th ese lim its are ir k s o m e -b u t
an y other referen ce th an th irty or so scraps on ly w h en the duration is w h at explains the
o f p ap er w h ich w ere a n aid e-m em o ire for characters a n d situations. The dram a, su s­
h im , it is am azin g ju s t h o w m u ch actu al tain ed b y th e psychological m otivations
creation w as d one o n th e stud io floor. w h ich control it, th e n tend s to burst
A ssisted b y G ard ner Sullivan, In ce w as th rou g h - t h e sh ort story b ecom es a n ov el
th e firs t to constru ct a film "o n p ap er," to (unless, h em m ed in on all sides, the action
anticipate the w a y th e film w as to b e shot, rem ain s confined and becom es dislocated).
to prepare w h at now ad ays is called a sh oo t­ On th e other h a n d , insofar as events con ­
ing script. T h ere is n o d ou bt th a t h is p u r­ tained in space and tim e are w h at deter­
298 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

m ine a sh ort d ram a and , p articu larly in so ­ th eir p reord ained cou rse, th rou g h an "e n ­
far as d u ration plays n o p art in exp lain in g clo sed " structure, through this "constructed"
the characters, w h ich are p resen ted rath er dram atic structure, th a t the film (both silent
th an analyzed , these lim itations serve as a an d talk ie), in spite o f the external trap ­
s u p p o rt gu aran teein g the con trol and re­ p ings o f th e sh o rt story form , takes its der­
fin e m e n t o f the film . S ince p sy ch olog ical ivation fro m theatricality, i.e., from the
d u ratio n w as o u t o f th e q u estio n fo r silen t concep t o f trag ed y interpreted as an aes­
film s (by reaso n o f th eir p ro jection tim e), it th etic principle.
is obviou s that these lim its, e v en this pre­ C lassical trag ed y enfold s the d ram a and
m ed itation , w ere ab solu tely vital, w h ich cu ts ou t every th in g b u t th e facts w h ich
m ean t that, th o u g h expressed visually, the m ore or less d eterm in e it. In stead o f follow ­
d ram a rem ain ed in th e grip o f theatricality. in g events b y d ev elop in g alongside them ,
By d ram a lim ited in sp ace an d tim e, w e the facts are con sid ered from a single p a r­
d o n ot m ean dram a n ecessarily obeying ticular m o m en t in tim e. T h u s w h a t m ay be
the three unities. H ow ever varied its loca­ seen as th e con seq u en ce o f ch o ice appears,
tions and h o w ev er extend ed its tim e scale, th ro u g h th is d istorted view (or lim ited in
the film d ram a fo r the m ost part rem ains tim e), as th e inevitable conseq u ence o f a
b rief and com pact, fo r its duration is n o th ­ seq u en ce o f ca u ses o f w h ic h this is th e pre­
in g m ore th an a period o f tim e, a container ordained conclu sion.
rath er th an a d eterm ining factor. In fact, ev ery h u m an action appears to
If w e take the exam ple o f The Birth o/ a b e inevitable on ce it is rem oved fro m the
Nation, w h o se action d ev elo p s ov er a p eriod p a ssin g o f actu al tim e and placed in a "m o ­
o f sev eral m o n th s,16w e ca n see th a t th e n a r­ m e n t" w h ich cry stallizes all its con se­
rative com prises a series o f seq u en ces, q uences. T o retu rn again to the throw o f the
w h ich are m erely slices o f tim e. T h ey are dice w h ich w e m entioned in connection
"m o m e n ts," each in flu en cin g th e o t h e r s - w ith D eterm in ism , w e see th a t it appears
b u t tim e its e lf is and rem ains m erely a con­ th a t on ce th e d ice stop sp in n in g , everything
cept. P resented lik e this, d u ration is m erely m u st necessarily and in ev itab ly tu m out
signified. We see its effect b u t w e n ev er fo l­ th e w ay it does, fo r the sim ple reason that
low its developm en t. "F ictio n tim e " and this is th e w ay it has tu rned out. O n the
psychological d u ratio n d o n o t appear u n til oth er h an d , if w e con sid er th e sim ple place
m u ch later in the h istory o f th e cinem a. k ick in football, nothing allow s us to know
T h u s, regard less o f w h eth er or n o t it is ex ­ w hat th e con seq u en ces will be; th e result is
te n d ed in tim e or space, the dram a is alw ay s un pred ictable.
com pact. It is a m o m en t or a su cce ssio n of T h u s th e tran scen d en ce w h ich character­
m om en ts, a place, a sim ultaneity or a suc­ izes trag ed y is th e p rod u ct n o t so m u ch of
cession o f p laces, b u t ev ery th in g con trib ­ the co n ten t as such (w hatever tra g ic m ean­
utes to the expression o f a d ram a seen as the in g it m ay have) as o f th e effect o f th at kind
re v elatio n o f ch ara cters b ro u g h t to g eth e r in o f structure. B oth o f them are m u tually inter­
a g iv e n situ atio n or series o f situations. d ep en d ent. Tragedy requires a structure to
It is th rou gh th is rig id fram ew ork , re­ b rin g ou t its trag ic qualities, as w ell as to
quiring th e ch osen events to w ork th em ­ reveal p ersp ectiv es stretching b a ck into the
selves ou t, associatin g and corresp o nd ing past. The tig h ter th e space and time su r­
w ith each oth er accord in g to a clev erly co n ­ ro u n d in g th e cru cial m o m en t, th e m ore the
ceived organization and requ irin g th e m ore dram a g ain s in its fu n d am en tal in exorab il­
or less p red eterm in ed ch a ra cters to fo llo w ity, w h ich m ean s th at the m ost b an al event,
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D R A M A 299

treated in this w ay, m ay ach iev e the stature cap ab le o f b a sin g its expression o n a rela­
of tragedy. C onversely, th e w id er and m o re tiv e d om in ation o f duration. O bviously, the
d iversified th e sp ace-tim e fram ew ork , the research es in to rhyth m w ere bound, b y the
less in ev itab le d estin y w ill seem , sin ce free­ en d o f th e silent era, to have produ ced a
d om o f choice opens up new p o ssibilities certain k n o w led g e o f th e v a lu e s o f tim e b u t
in to the future. tem po a n d rhythm , though dom inating tim e,
T h is is h o w m o st film s appear. T hough d o so o n a strictly fo rm al basis. T hey allow
only very rarely do th e y h a v e th e tau thess fo r a structuring o f th e expression bu t n ot
o f tragedy, th e ir d eliberate constru ction en ­ fo r th e con cep tio n o f th e substance o f the
closes the d ram a w ith in a sim ilar structure. objects expressed.
T h o u g h freer in space an d tim e, this stru c­ N ow , this d om in ation o f tim e ,s e e n as the
ture n ev erth eless rem ains cond itional; its fu n d am en tal elem en t o f th e d ra m a , control­
very freed om is predeterm ined. H ow ever ling th e w ay the characters d evelop w ithin
excellen t th e film - a n d m o st often becau se th e narrative an d as th e source o f substruc­
o f its e x c e ll e n c e - it reveals a fun d am ental tu re o fa n y potential p sy ch olog ical analysis,
a rtificia lity ,a conv entio n w h ich m ay b e in w as the m ost d ifficult th in g to achieve at the
harm ony w ith th e v isu a l content o f th e content l e v e l - i n th e sam e w ay as dynam ic
scene b u t is in co n trad ictio n w ith the feeling u n ity w as the m ost difficult th in g to achieve
o f freed om and ob jectiv ity n ecessary fo r a t th e fo rm al l e v e l - w h ic h is w h y the cin ­
tru th and the concrete existen ce o f th e film. em a , the art о / time o r ra th er th e art o f the
The doctrine o f th e th ree unities is ju sti­ relatio n sh ip s o f sp ace and tim e, w a s, first
fiable on ly in term s o f tragedy, b u t its ori­ and fo rem ost (w e h a v e said it b efo re and w e
g in is con n ected w ith th e orig ins o f theater shall say it ag ain ), an art o f space.
itself. M oreover, since spectacle is spectacle It w as p rin cip ally th e characteristics o f
and n o t read in g , th e aud ien ce's attention s p a c e —settin g , location , an d set d ressings
m u st alw ays be k ep t at the alert th rou g h - w h i c h w ere th e essen tial sig n ifican t ele­
th e u se o f a sin g le fo cu s o f interest. A re­ m en ts in th e d ram a. A nd if it can b e said
tu rn to th e ru les w as th erefore n o t m erely th at, after theater, the a rt w h ich m o st influ ­
a w h im o f p lay w rig h ts b u t an internal enced th e cinem a w as p ain tin g , it is only
structural im perative. H aving lost their becau se p ain tin g is th e art o f com p osing a
usefu lness to the actual dram a, to its m eta­ p ic tu re o r org an izin g sp ace w ith in a fram e
physical m ean in g , th e ru les nevertheless so th a t th e p ic tu re is e x p ressiv e th rou g h
offered the m o st suitable structure fo r p re­ its stru ctures and harm onies. N onetheless,
cise and con cise exp ressio n in th e theater: w ith o u t ev e r b ein g su b ject to the rules of
a u n iq u e architectu re su b ject to th e law s of painting, it w as through th e interpretation
theatricality and shutting th em inside a very o f space, th rou g h th e organization o f m o ve­
strict fram ew ork. m en t and objects w ith in a fixed fram e that
It w as therefore q u ite u n d erstan d ab le silent film s gained th e greater part o f their
th at th e y shou ld b e ap p lied to th e cin em a, expressive pow er.
w h ere the n o tio n o f d ram a gained som e L eav in g to o n e sid e fo r a m o m en t the
value fro m th em and w h ere it w as clear elem ents introd u ced b y editing, i.e., objects
th a t th e relativ e b rev ity o f th e "rep resen ta­ tu rned into s ig n s o r sym bols w h ich , though
tio n tim e " ben efited from su ch a structure. part o f a m ore or less theatrical d ram atic
Yet it is n o less tru e th a t b y tu rn in g tim e stru cture, g av e the cin em a its ind ep en ­
in to a m ere sp an o f tim e, film m ak ers w ere d en ce, one m ay say th at it w as th rou g h nat­
forgettin g that th e cin em a is th e o n ly art ural settin g s, through th e u se o f locations,
300 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

that film turned its back on verbal signifi­ tion would show nothing more than an arti­
cation and stage expression. ficial development of a theoretical action
Beyond the simple fact that space was built around imaginary characters. How­
real and not represented - a "field of view" ever cleverly assembled, the result would
whose limits were simply those of the h ^ ^ m still be uninteresting.
e y e -th e location shooting of L'Arrivee d'un This apparent realism ("social" realism,
train or La Sortie du port shattered, from the if you lik e -sin c e it is entirely associated
outset, the fetters of stage representation. with how the West was won at the end of
With no other signification to impart, the the last century)17 keeps the thematic struc­
image conveyed the direct signification of ture of its films safe from the artificiality of
reality: it "presented" the world, with all its the theater. And it is through a similar kind
tangible qualities, its true nature. of realism - very much a superficial kind -
Liberated from the painted canvas in that silent films present the illusion of liv­
which Melies had imprisoned it, the camera ing reality, despite their stilted plot lines.
at first required nothing of the location but Though "contrived," the drama appears to
its fram e-occasionally a frame for emo­ be perpetually open-ended. Essentially the­
tions, it is true, but which was nothing more atrical, it is able to transcend the theater
than a setting. Indeed, the only rhythm in through its mise-en-scene, its setting and its
Westerns was the rhythm of galloping storytelling, whose conciseness and com­
hooves and the only poetry was the marvel­ pactness depend on a structure similar to
ous scenery. Scenes set in the Far West might that of the short story.
just as easily have taken place in any other This was the structure which Victor Sjos-
place (wherever attacks on stagecoaches trom and Mauritz Stiller were to develop
and outlaws might be imagined). (from a lyrical rather than a dramatic theme),
On the other hand, with Ince, the action injecting into it a finesse characteristic of
became inseparable from the positive geog­ the best silent films. From being a "charac­
raphy of the drama. In his best films, the ter in the drama" in Ince's films, the back­
valleys of Wyoming or Colorado, the plains ground was to become, with Sjostrom and
of Arizona, the deserts of New Mexico, in­ Stiller, the reflection and symbolic expres­
cluding of course the jobs characteristic of sion of the feelings of the characters.
each area, fur trapper, prospector, lumber­ We have seen how the symbolism of the
jack, or cowboy, do not merely provide local set was the distinguishing feature of Ex­
color for the adventure; theyactually create it. pressionism (which followed soon after).
The drama belongs to the Far West Yet, though their intentions were similar,
which, though supplying the story with all their techniques were utterly different;
its movement, color and scenery, does so in doubtless because the things they expressed
a totally natural way. The characters' behav­ were also different in their meaning.
ior, the characters themselves, are unimag­ Expressionist symbolism derives essen­
inable in any other setting. They exist only tially from the /orms and structures of the
in terms of their environment and the time image, from its plastic organization, far
they live in; they are perfectly in harmony more than from its pictorial composition.
with the atmosphere and the area, as well Reality is reorganized and recreated through
as with the morality produced by the con­ a studio set which composes the universe
ditions of life of that particular area at that of the drama, w h ic h -b e it imaginary
particular time in history. A similar dra­ world, fantasy world, or nightmare world
matic structure transposed to another loca­ - is always the world of a tortured, guilty
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 301

conscience. It is a trag ed y o f d esp air in a W e m en tion ed in a p reviou s ch ap ter that

b otto m less pit. T h e d estin y o f th e Weltan­ in exp ressionist film s - a n d m ore esp ecially
schauung hangs over m en's consciences w hile th o se w h o se "re a lis tic " subjects d erive from
the Unwelt crushes and oppresses them . obsessional fa n ta s ie s -e v e r y th in g seems to
T h e settin g th e n is, as it w ere, the dis­ h a p p en in a w orld w h ere the air is thicker
p ro p o rtio n ately extend ed p ro jection o f the and the s k y seem s to h a n g w ith an aw ful
dram a sy m b olically "e x p re sse d " b y its ar­ w eig h t, in a w orld b o th real an d unreal,
chitecture. Yet th is architecture acts on the w h ere th e u n rea lity rem ains a t ground
dram a like a p arab olic m irror: th e set level, part o f m atter itself, a w orld b oth
reflects b a ck onto the characters their hid­ d ark and lig h t, w h ere the lig h t itself help s
d en con scien ces o f w h ich it is the expres­ to suffocate th e characters.
sion, in su ch a w a y that, d om inated b y their T here is n o th in g o f this in these Scandi­
reflected con scien ces, m u ltip lied to infinity, n av ian film s, w h ere ev ery th in g is clear and
the characters seem to b e a t the m ercy of a b rig h t an d sun-d rench ed . F ar fro m feelin g
w o rld en fo ld in g th e m in its sp id e r's w eb. guilty, th e ch a ra cter's con science is contin­
T h e d ram a ap p ears as th e m an ifestation of u a lly try in g to find itself, to reveal itself in
a D estin y w ritten in th e U n iv erse, th e con- the d ig n ity o f an act o f free w ill, in actions
cretizatio n o f an essen ce, a n un conscious w h ich , w h ile th e y m a y triu m p h over b ig ­
act accom p lish in g w h a t th e in -itself o f a oted m o ral principles, still retain the ab­
g u ilty conscience dictates. solute con sciou sn ess o f th eir rectitude.
Take an ap p aren tly realistic film su ch as T h o u g h g u ilty in the ey es o f the law or in
The Inform er, a film en tirely con ceived and resp ect o f this kind o f obligation, M an never
com posed accord in g to this aesthetic p rin ­ stop s p ro claim in g h is in nocence and sincer­
ciple. O n e can see th a t th o u g h th e action ity, th e p u rity o f h is in ten tio n , g iv in g proof
takes place in d ark n arro w alley w ay s, in o f h is arrogance. O n the contrary, fa r from
d irty hov els and cella rs, it is o b v io u sly b e ­ being im p rison ed o r d om inated , M an d om ­
cau se these Sin n F e in m em b ers o n th e ru n inates the situ ation w h ich fru strates him ,
are h id in g, b ecau se it is easier fo r th e m to and th is sam e fru stration w h ich speaks vol­
m ake their escape b y n ig h t under cov er of um es ab ou t h im is m erely an additional
d arkness and fog. B u t this settin g also sta tem en t o f h is freed om and rights.
reflects th e sta te o f m in d o f th e inform er. T h e ov erall im p ression one gains from
The d ark alleys, d in g y w alls, and g listen ­ these film s, therefore, is o f op en sp aces, the
ing streets prefigure, in a sy m b olic way, his in vig oratin g fresh n ess o f the open air, car­
crim e, b efore h e h a s even com m itted it. ry in g fra n k n ess w ith it w ith all the fo rce of
T h e y prep are th e g ro u n d fo r it w ith a kind a w in d , d riv in g d ross and v ain g lo ry before
o f blind, in ev itab le d eterm inism . T h e th ick ­ it. T h e location is n o longer m erely a settin g
ness o f the fog, w ith th e streetlig hts d if­ to serve as a fram ew ork fo r an adventure,
fracted th rou gh it, reflects the im p ene­ a n atm osphere con sisten t w ith the thoughts
trability o f his m ind, h is m en tal con fusion , o f a character, a place to in flu en ce certain
h is d elusion. The cellars and ro om s w ith vague and disordered m o ral attitu des; it is
their low ceilin gs are oppressive w ith the the instru m en t o f a them e, a vitality, a p as­
w eight o f h is rem orse and th e narrow al­ sio n reflected in its still w a ters and leading,
ley s or cu ls-d e-sac close round h im w ith as it ech oes en d lessly b ack and fo rth , to­
the in exorab ility o f th e p u n ish m en t w h ich w ard a kn ow led ge o fth e universe. T h e aw e­
aw aits him . T h e ov erall im pression is in sp irin g sp lend or o f N atu re does n ot exist
sticky, viscous, dense. exclusively to provide splendid im ages but
302 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

also to create a d ram a w h o se stark u n tam ed cause o f th eir m isfortune. B u t love proves
w ild ness p roclaim s feelin g s w h ich it glori­ stronger. W h en the w o m an is cau gh t ou t in
fies to the heavens. a storm , th e m a n com bs th e m ountainsid e
For, in tru th, it is n ot ju s t the location en d lessly lo o k in g fo r her. W h en fin ally he
w h ich is im p o rta n t; it is N atu re herself: the find s h er, n ear death, buried u n d er a sn ow ­
elem ents, w ind, snow , fire, and cold w hich d rift, exhausted , h e to o stretches ou t to die
com m u nicate friendship or anger to M an, b esid e her. A n d the snow g en tly covers
w h ich b eco m e th e sym bols o f h is vitality, th em w ith a pu re w h ite w ind in g-sheet.
h is desires, an d his fears. T h e th ree p arts o f th e film - th e farm , the
Ind eed , in tu ition lend s objects a po w er m o u n tain , and the loneliness in th e s n o w -
- o f th e sam e order as th e fe e lin g s w h ich w h ic h m ig h t seem to b e o f a theatrical con ­
it experien ces. T h e art then con sists in cre­ struction, in fa ct look m ore like the stanzas
atin g a u n ity b etw ee n N atu re an d an e le­ o f a poem rath er th an th e acts o f a play. In
m e n ta ry state o f m in d , to th e p o in t w here a n y case, it is o n ly through th e changes of
N ature is able to su g g est th a t state o f m ind location , ju stified by th e d ram a, that the di­
directly. N atu re "e x p re sse s" th e trag ed y visions becom e noticeable; how ever, w hat
w ith o u t co n fin in g it. Instead o f an en closed is m issin g (as alw ays) is a sense o f tim e
un iv erse w h ich stifles th e h eroes, sh arp p assin g . A s alw ay s, it con sists o f "m o ­
ed ges w h ich w o u n d th e m , the op en h o ri­ m e n ts" lin k ed to g eth er b y su ccessiv e edit­
zon extend s th eir action s, exp ressin g op ti­ in g m echanism s. Yet, sin ce th e film is n o t so
m ism w ith in the d ram a w h ich grips them . m u ch p sy ch olog ical as lyrical, th is has
T h e v e ry an tith esis o f th e tortured set de­ about as m u ch im p ortance as it w ould in a
signs o f E xpression ism and th e contriv ed poem . O th er con sid eratio n s a p a rt, The Iliad
sy m b olism o f lin es and vo lu m es and th e is equ ally d iscon tin u ou s; as are The Aeneid
m ean in g o f ob jects, the n atu ral location is and V ictor H u go's La Legende des siecles. The
the expression o f elem en tary forces, the essen ce lies in the rad ian ce o f the characters,
m eaning o f ob jects an d o f their form . T he in the natu ral locations tran sfigu red b y the
im p ression ism w h ich it reveals is free from w arm th o f th eir love, in th e "p o e try " o f the
all constraint. ru shing stream , the m o u n tain , and the snow
The Outlaw and His Wife (1917) w a s the (w hose sy m b o lism is so ob viou s th a t there
first m asterp iece o f th e genre. F leein g from is n o need fo r us to d iscu ss it here).
a d isap p roving com m unity, a fa rm er's Sn ow also fo rm s the sym bolic b ack ­
daughter, p rev io u sly w ea lth y a n d re­ grou n d and settin g fo r The Treasure o/ Arne
spected, and her lover reach th e high (1919), w ith th e lo n g fu neral p rocession
m o u n tain s o f Iceland . T h e years go by. D is­ th rou g h th e icy w astes w h ich ends the
covering their h id in g p lace, th e m ay o r of film . N ot to m en tio n to con su m in g flam es
the village, form erly in love w ith the y ou n g of Trial by Fire (1921), in w h ich a you n g
w o m an, relen tlessly track s th em dow n, w om an su sp ected o f ad u ltery un intention­
w ith all th e greater zeal th at th e m an is ally cau ses h er h u sb a n d 's death. A trial b y
w an ted b y the law. A s th e y m ak e th eir es­ fire w ill p ro v e b efo re G od w h eth er or n o t
cape, their d augh ter falls d o w n a rav in e she is guilty. T h is story, w h ich tak es place
an d is drow ned. H ow ever, th e y m an ag e to in F lo ren ce in th e fifteenth century, pro­
evad e their pursuer. T aking refu g e in a little vided a m arvelou s op p ortu n ity fo r this
hu t, th ey ek e out th eir d ays an d , little b y film , to g eth er w ith The Treasure o/ Arne, to
little, their love t u ^ to a m u tu al hatred , be th e m o st p ictorial o f all Scand in avian
each co n d em n in g th e oth er fo r b e in g th e film s: con trasts o f lig h t and shad e, deep
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 303

chiaroscu ro, th e con tin u al h a rsh n e ss o f the terrified h e r w ith its violence. N ev er w as
contrast tran slates th e m o ral austerity o f fear m ore n atu ral or m ore obviou s than in
the su b ject m atter. Like th e sea in Terje this terrify ing relation sh ip b etw een the
Vigen and th e sn ow in The O u tlaw an d H is w om an and the w in d , and never has tragic
Wife, fire d om in ates the film , the in stru ­ greatness been p rod u ced w ith su ch m oving
m en t o f red em p tio n and purification ; bu t sim plicity.
its settin g an d plastic com p ositio n also T h is film is a lo n g w ay from the theatri­
play an im p ortan t part. T h e in flu en ce o f cal n o tio n o f tragedy. It is organized in the
E xp ressionism , itself in flu enced to b eg in fo rm o f a narrative (in th is respect, w e shall
w ith b y the Sw e d ish cin em a, is obvious. see fu rth er on h ow im p ortan t V on Stro­
It w as n o t u n til T he W ind, directed in the h e im 's and K in g V id o r's influences were),
U n ited States in 1927, that S jo s tr o m -a n d b u t th ere w as an oth er trend, d eveloping in
indeed the w h o le o f th e Sw ed ish cin em a - p arallel w ith Sw ed ish cinem a, an im p or­
found, in th is m ag n ificen t film , th e ultim ate ta n t trend , w h ich w as to lead th e cinem a
expression o f th eir achievem ent. A fter an back in to th e clutches o f theatricality.
exhau stin g jo u rn ey across th e A rizon a des­ Stro n g ly in flu en ced by the K am m erspiele
ert and an u n h ap p y sta y w ith d istant rela­ and th e th eo ries o f G eorg e F u ch s, w ho
tives, a y ou n g o rp h an g irl arrives at a ran ch w an ted to see a retu rn to p u re theatricality,
ow ned b y a w este rn fa rm er she h as agreed to a rig id fram ew ork b o u n d the three clas­
to m arry. T h ere, in a log cab in , isolated in sical un ities, C arl M ay er attem p ted to apply
the m iddle o f a dry, arid plain, w here the these id eas to th e cinem a. A lso a ro u n d this
w in d blow s ceaselessly, and alone w h en p eriod (1 9 2 1 -2 4 ), any film in ten d in g to de­
the husband sh e d o es n ot love is aw ay w ith velop a p sy ch o lo g ical dram a or a n idea o f
his cattle, sh e is terrorized , frightened out "so m eth in g existin g in tim e" inevitably
o f her w its b y the w ind buffeting the cabin cam e up ag ain st the p ro b lem o f h av in g to
and raisin g v io le n t san d storm s. O n e day a u se titles. T h e scien ces o f ellip sis and abbre­
gentlem an o f fo rtu n e trie s to rape h e r; she viation w ere still at an elem entary stage,
kills him. H av in g ov ercom e h er fears and an d sin ce the ru n n in g tim e o f a film im ­
her ow n w eak n ess th ro u g h a su d d en ener­ posed a lim ited d ram atic fram ew ork, an y
getic b u rst o f action , sh e g o es ou t into the rem otely com p licated d ram a fo u n d itself re­
w in d - w h ic h h en ceforw ard she is able to d uced to a skeleton . F ro m this po in t o f view,
brave thanks to her lib eratio n and the love the cinem a had n o t progressed m u ch be­
o f h er hu sband . yond w hat it had been in 1914.
There is n o d ra m a in the tru e sense o f To m ak e a refined film u sin g th e avail­
the w ord (except p erh ap s fo r the b rie f trag­ ab le m ean s o f expression, th at is, a com ­
ed y o f th e rap e); rath er there is a so rt o f pletely silen t film , w ith o u t titles, in w h ich
dom ination o f the character b y th e w orld th e im age stood b y itself, cap ab le o f signi­
around h er, a d ram atizatio n o f th e natu ral fy in g everything w h ich n eed ed signifying,
location risin g fro m a crisis caused b y the m ean t prod u cin g once ag ain a short dram a,
initial conflict b etw een th e y ou n g w o m an circu m scrib ed in tim e an d space, requiring
and th e w orld, a p an ic sy m b olizin g both n o dialogu e. Carl M ayer w as therefore ex­
the fear w h ich h er hu sband instills in her hum ing p rin cip les form alized b y Thom as
and h er o w n frigidity. A n d N atu re in this Ince ten years earlier. B ut instead o f u sin g
film is able to indicate p a ssin g tim e b y m ea­ sim p le d ram as, h e w an ted to in clu d e E x­
su rin g the d ev elo p m en t o f the character, p ressio n ist-ty p e sy m b o lism in h is film s.
whiTh i t form s in its ow n im ag e, h av in g The traged ies o f th e F a r West, w here the
304 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE M A

action w as sufficient to exp lain the ch arac­ stead o f sig n ify in g id eas b y p u tting them
ters, gave w ay to a ty p e o f p sy ch olog ical into pictu res, w o rk ed out a w ay o f letting
traged y signified b y th e settin g, b y m aterial the im ag es su g g est the id eas th rou g h a na r­
objects, b y th e Umwelt. H ow ever, sin ce this rative w h o se con trol and artificiality have
k ind o f signification n eed ed to b e applied m ore in com m on w ith the im aginative re­
to d ram as w ith o u t w ord s, th e m otivations alism o f p o etry than th e arbitrary p sy ch ol­
w ere in ev itab ly those o f new sp ap er h e a d ­ o g y o f a falsely realistic "slice o f life ." By
lines, headlines w hich im m ediately assum ed m ak in g th e film artificial, h e sav ed it from
the realistic ap p earan ce o f "slic e s o f life ," artifice, in th e same w ay as G riffith saved
w h ose extrem e realism bord ered on a kind Broken Blossoms fro m b ein g m elod ram atic
o f theoretical n atu ralism , a clich e d eriv in g b y b asin g h is p o em o n a m elod ram a.
fro m p u re theatricality. A lo n g w ith E isen stein , M u rn a u w as in
In this "r e a lis m " the (com p letely con­ effect th e o n ly film m ak er in th e silent era
trived) "re a lity " is cap tu red in its m o st "s ig ­ cap ab le o f elev a tin g th e art o f m otion p ic­
n ifica n t" d etails, an d th e facts, reduced to tu res to its u ltim ate expression. A p art from
their essence, are organized in v iew o f the The Last Laugh - a m asterp iece of film theat-
expression; objects appear as signs, w h ich r i c a li t y - h i s a rt derives b o th fro m E xpres­
m eans that th e great m ajority o f these film s sio n ism and Im p ressio n ism , tw o appar­
are fab ricated in order to express through en tly con trad icto ry m ethods w h ich h e w as
im ages ab stract m oral o r social id eas; and a b le to com bine into a superb synthesis. Far
noth in g, as w e h av e said, appears m ore arti­ fro m sh u ttin g h is characters insid e a set, it
ficial and false th an th is w arp ed reality, co n ­ is th e natu ral location in his film s w h ich pro­
ceived solely fo r the purpose o f fu lfillin g a v id es the overall to n e an d delivers the di­
p recon ceived intention. m ensions o f space to the feelings it expresses.
N evertheless, w e m u st recog n ize th a t A g a in st the Scand inavian d irecto rs' su n­
th o u g h th e Kammerspiele film is th e u lti­ d renched ly ricism an d w h ite m agic, h e sets
m ate exp ressio n o f screen th eatricality, it is h is o w n dark gloom y w orld w h ere th e p u r­
so o n ly in th e v isu al sen se. In fa c t, thou g h p o se o f n a tu re is to express th e inexpress­
the conception , construction, and them atic ible, th e su p ernatu ral. T h o u g h h is sym bol­
organ ization o f the su b ject m atter - t h e ac­ ism , lik e th a t o f the Scand inavians, is a
tu al dram atic s tr u c tu r e - a r e entirely d e ­ s y m b o lism o f objects, these ob jects alw ays
riv e d from th e theater, the w ay the concep t bord er o n the tran scend en tal. In The Outlaw
is treated, the sig nification o f th e d r a m a - and H is Wife, fo r in stan ce, th e m ountain
how ever arb itrary an d th e o r e tic a l- a r e en ­ w h ere the m a n an d w o m an tak e refuge is
tirely derived fro m th e cinem a. It is the the sy m b ol o f g ran d eu r and isolation and
h e ig h t o f artifice p resen ted u n d e r the gu ise th eir tragic effo rt to ov ercom e th eir fate and
of o b jectiv e concrete reality. the sn ow is th e sym bol o f purity and re­
In this respect, M ayer w as w ith o u t a dem ption . H ow ever, th e general nature of
doubt th e g reatest E u rop ean scrip tw riter at these sy m b ols is b ro u g h t d ow n to specifics.
the end o f the silen t era, th e greatest p e r­ O n th e oth er h a n d , in Dawn, th o u g h the
h a p s s in ce Ince, for, th o u g h in con cep tion sw am p s sy m b olize the h e ro 's state o f m ind,
essentially theatrical, h e steered the dra­ the p o w er o f a d estru ctive and sham eful
m atic stru ctu re o f h is film s tow ard a g en u ­ love, b y the sam e to k en th ey becom e the
inely cin em atic expression. H is associatio n sym bol o f h is sp iritu al decline, his w eak­
w ith M u rn au led to The Last Laugh, a m a s­ ness and h is dow nfall. A s in the Sw ed ish
terp iece fo r th e reaso n th a t M u rn au , in­ film s, N atu re is the im ag e o f the internal
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 305

d ram a; it reflects a s ta te o f m in d . B u t, as in h is c r i m e - a crossing w h ic h tak es p lace in

the G erm an film s, it b eco m es an idea, a con ­ an exterior w h ich , th is tim e, is en tirely real:
cept, an "e s s e n c e ." L et u s refresh ou r m em ­ a la k e s k irte d b y d a rk forests, p in e s an d
ories as to the th em e o f D aw n : firs, an exterio r w h ic h a p p ea rs b o th w ild
A lad from a villag e, sed u ced b y a and m agnificen t, h u g e y e t suffocating. The
stranger o n v a ca tio n , d ecid es to k ill h is w ife: seco n d p a rt b eg in s w ith th e tram ride dur­
he con ceives th e id ea o f ta k in g h e r to the in g w h ich the young m an tries to w in back
to w n o n the oth er sid e o f the lake and faking h is w ife. T h e film su d d en ly b eco m es a k a­
an accident. H ow ever, h e hesitates during leid oscop e o f tin y im p ressionistic touches
the crossing; the w ife h a s tim e to realize w h ich translate th e h ap p in ess o f the you ng
w h at is h ap p en in g a n d starts to scream . The couple as w ell as the m a n 's sim p lem ind ed ­
terror o f the m a n 's w ife is enough to b rin g n ess (at h eart still a sim p le co u n try boy)
h im ro u n d and m ak e h im realize th e enor­ an d th eir d eligh t in th e dazzling ligh ts of
m ity o f h is crim e. Stricken w ith rem orse, he th e big city: a studio city, stylized, b u t on ly
tries to con v in ce h is w ife w h o m h e had en ou g h to b rin g ou t its m agical appear­
p lanned to m u rd er th a t h e h ad fallen prey ance, its w ealth and its hustle-and -bustle.
to a sud d en in ex p licab le urge. T h e w ife is T h e n there is th e retu rn and th e E xpression­
convin ced that she m u st have b een m is­ ist sty le is resu m ed w ith the storm breaking
taken and h e r tru st in h im is slo w ly re­ as n ig h t b eg in s to fall. T h e film has been
stored. R eu nited , th e y d isco v er together the criticized fo r this su d d en break in tone, but
d eligh ts and m arv els of th e city, like a hon­ it is quite d eliberate and is contained in
eym oon couple. But w hen they are ready to ev ery fram e o f the film: tw o dark alm ost
return, n ig h t has already fallen; a storm sy m m etrical ep isod es (th e b o a t crossings)
breaks ou t as th e y are cro ssin g the lake. The and , in b etw een , a ch an g e into a m a jo r key:
boat capsizes. T h e y o u n g m an m anages to the b rief spark o f happiness o f the tw o
sw im to safety. H e ru n s to th e village fo r young peasan ts.
help. Sadly, all that is left floating on the T o d escribe th e e x e g esis o f th is film , one
surface o f the lake is a b u n ch of reeds. L ater of the fin est in the h isto ry of the cinem a,
on, fish erm en p u ll ou t th e b o d y o f the w ould requ ire a m in im u m of tw en ty pages.
you ng w om an. T h o u g h th e y o u n g w o m a n 's b o d y is found
T h is film , w h ich is the sto ry o f a m a n 's at daybreak, the daw n b elon g s sym bolically
"d a w n o f aw aren e ss," is d ivid ed in to three to th e aw ak en in g o f the y ou n g m an 's co n ­
parts. T h e first tak es p lace in th e m ist and science. T h e p ro g ression o f the film , its
m u rk o f the sw am p s: a "r e a l" exterior to slow an d gradual stylistic tran sform ation,
w h ich the stud io realism , w ith its d im d if­ the tran sition fro m e a rly m o rn in g m ist to
fuse ligh tin g , lend s a sy m b o lic and ly rical m idday su n , fro m the sw am ps to th e tow n,
transfigu ration in the p u rest E xp ression ist w ith the su n retu rn in g the follow in g m orn­
style. T h e stra n g e r attracts th e peasant. H er in g , b reaking o v er the m ist-covered rushes,
ro le is n o t ju s t th a t o f a sed u ctress b u t that is a taste o f w h at the film has to offer.
o f an aggressive w ill, an evil pow er w h ich It is all sym bolic but w ith o u t th e signifi­
dom inates and bew itches the m an. T h o u g h cation b ein g con triv ed ; it em erges quite n at­
he reacts v iolen tly w h en she suggests that urally, along w ith the objects them selves:
h e kill his w ife, h e lets h im self b e sw ayed the aw aren ess o f the crim inal act is accom ­
and, inspite o f him self, becom es g u ilty in p an ied b y a flock o f w ild d ucks taking off,
intention. The p art end s w ith the b oat ap p aren tly carry in g a w ay with them the ef­
crossing w h e n th e m a n b eco m es aw are o f fects of a spell cast in thick and stick y m ud.
306 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE M A

In the passage fro m fo re st to tow n, th e tram cau se o f sorrow : th e la test virg in conse­
ride achiev es th e jou rn ey o f a n aw ak en in g crated to th e gods o f the tribe has died and
consciousness, a conscience fin ally revealed. fa te has ord ain ed that R eri sh ou ld take her
T he m an, surprised in h is d ou bts a n d w eak ­ place. Sacred from th a t m o m en t on, the
n ess, su d d en ly com es to realize h is p o w er; young w om an is d eclared "ta b o o ."
h e w in s b a ck h is y o u n g w ife. T h e d a y in H ow ever, M atahi carries R eri a w a y -
tow n b eg in s w ith their w itn essin g a m ar­ h u m an lo v e is stron g er than h er love o f the
r i a g e - their own b y p r o x y - w h ile , later on, gods. O n Tahiti, w h ere th e y ta k e refu ge, the
nature com p letes w h at th e husband h ad for p ro cess o f civ ilizatio n h a s alread y begu n;
a m om en t w anted to d o - w h i c h brings th ey n eed m o n ey to survive and, to that
fa ce to fa ce w ith th e h orror o f h is actions, end, M atahi becom es a pearl diver. H is only
also b y proxy. jo y is to retu rn ev ery even in g to R eri in
W h eth er this is E xp ression ism in th e true their hu t. But one day the w itch d octor
sense or Im p ressio n ism , one can sa y w ith com es to th e island and find s the you ng
clear conviction th at th is film is one o f the w om an. Sh e has rem ained a virgin in the
m od els o f the art o f sig n ify in g through as­ ey es o f th e gods and m ust follow h e r des­
pects o f th e extern al w o rld . A s in M u m a u 's tiny. O n h is return, M atahi find s her gone
other film s, th e cou rse o f e v e n ts seem s to be and ru sh es after her. H e tries to sw im after
the fu lfillm en t o f an o b s c ^ d estiny o r th e ca n o e ta k in g h is w ife aw ay from him ;
m etap h ysical fatalism . Yet, far from b ein g a b u t, ex h a u sted , h e d ro w n s as th e b o a t gets
m an ifestation o f n aiv e sp iritu alism , th is is farth er an d fa rth er a w a y and eventu ally
associated w ith th e fa ct th a t th e lo catio n s d isap p ears ov er th e horizon.
sy m b olize a c o n c e p t at th e sa m e tim e as It is n o t a film to b e regard ed as som e
th e y reflect a state o f m ind. T h e exp ressio n ­ k ind o f eth n ic d ocu m en tary: if it w ere, the
ist m eth o d is revealed in th e w a y th e states film w ould seem rath er rom anticized . In­
o f m in d "e x p re sse d " b y the settin g reflect stead , it is th e exp ressio n o f a social them e
o n the c h a r a c t e r s -w it h th e reserv ation th a t in th e g u ise o f a fiction al story. T h e lovers
h av in g g en u in ely b eco m e the Weltanschau­ escape to find h a p p in ess ou tsid e the duties
ung, th e settin g assum es th e ap p earan ce of im p osed o n th em b y the religious beliefs
a universe. Thu s ob jects w h ich seem to be and superstitions o f a p rim itive tribe. D es­
su b ject to b o th the u n iv ersality o f th e n a tu ­ tiny, h o w e v e r - i n th e fo rm o f the law s of
ral lo catio n and the u n iv ersa lity o f the c o n ­ th e t r ib e - p r o v e s strong er and forces them
cept ap p ear as th e co n c rete exp ressio n o f a to su b m ission or d eath. R ed u ced to its sim ­
un iversal destiny. T h is is ap p arent in film s p le s t expression, the n arrativ e is th a t of
such as Nos/eratu (1922) an d Faust (1926). classical tragedy: m an 's stru ggle to protect
It is a ls o p resen t in M u rn a u 's oth er m as­ h is freed om from restriction and oppres­
terpiece, Taboo (1931). A m o n g th e islan d s of sion; b u t it is difficult to refer to traged y
the Pacific O cean , th e island o f B ora-Bora sin ce th ere is n o con flict in th e true sense
sh elters th e sim p le life o f th e n ative people. o f the w ord . It is a love story w ith an u n ­
T h e n o tio n s o f good and evil are m ean in g ­ h a p p y end, that is all. T h e tragedy lies in
less to them , and life takes its cou rse as if in the stark ness o f th e expression , in the sim ­
th e G a rd e n o f E den. M atah i an d R e ri love ple g ran d eu r o f this lyric poem .
one another. T here is d an cin g to celebrate T h e re fu sa l to surrender, th e expression
th eir fo rthco m ing union. B u t the arrival of o f revolt (intuitive con sciou sn ess), replaces
the w itch d octor fro m a n eig h b o rin g islan d , th e "d a w n o f a w a ren e ss." T h eir love and
in stead o f b rin g in g exp ected h ap p in ess, is a their freed om are the y o u n g couple's on ly
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D RAMA 30 7

reasons fo r living. T h eir free w ill is in con­ id ence o f p sy cholog ical duration in th e si­
flict w ith the cerem onies an d superstitions len t cin em a - e x c e p t fo r on e or tw o film s
o f th e t r ib e - w h ic h , in em bryo, are th e w h ich w e sh all e xa m in e furth er on, w hich
caste and class sy stem s o f m ore organized show th e intrusion o f th e tim e fa ctor on the
societies. Yet M u m a u 's trag ic realism finds screen.
expression, in this film also, in a story T h e d ev elo p m en t o f th e sile n t cinem a -
w hose d evelopm en t takes on the appear­ w h ic h w as v ery r a p i d - w a s m arked b y the
an ce o f fate, w h ich , "a s flies to w an ton fo rm ation o f a cod e rath er th an an art.
b o y s ," kills th e m fo r its sport. The m eta­ T h o u g h m a n y superb film s, w ell w orth y of
physical m eaning w h ich critics like to see th e n am e o f art, em erg ed fro m this period ,
in M u rn au 's film s h a s n o other basis. th e average p ro d u ctio n d eriv ed from a code
W h en th e w itch d o cto r fin d s R eri in the w h ose h ard -w on facility o f expression h ad
hut, no one has seen him com in g. A ll w e see n o o th er p u rp o se th an to tell facile stories.
is a shad ow passing ov er R e ri's face as she T he cin em a, w h ich sk illfu lly d escribed sit­
sleeps. She w ak es u p an d sees him . T h en w e u atio n s and action s an d w a s capable o f sig­
see h im , stan d in g o v er her, th e im age o f h er n ify in g id eas an d su g g estin g feelings, w as
inexorable destiny. Later on -to w a r d the end still incapable o f d eveloping a story, h a n ­
of the f i lm - w h e n M atah i reach es th e b oat d lin g even ts, blend in g different tim es and
carry in g R eri aw ay fro m h im and m ak es a p laces, fo llow in g ch aracters, losing them ,
grab fo r th e m o o rin g ro p e, th e w itc h d octor fin d ing th e m a g a i n - w i t h th e style o f the
sim p ly tak es a k n ife an d cu ts the line: des­ novelist. It w as alread y better equ ipp ed
tiny h as spoken. M atah i, exhau sted , sw im s th a n literatu re (w hich copied its exam p le in
a fe w m ore d esp airin g strok es and then sinks this respect) to m ove easily th rou g h tim e
as the canoe gets fa rth er an d farther aw ay and s p a c e - b u t in ord er to place even ts and
from him . B azin p o in ts o u t in on e o f his es­ describe th em , n o t to analyze th e m or draw
says: "T h e fact that th e boat enters fram e on p sychological con clu sion s w ith a sim ilar
the left of screen id en tifies it a b so lu tely w ith freed om . Its art, a v ery real o n e, w as as yet
destiny and M u rn au in n o w ay distorts the con fin ed to th e m ethod o f expression rath er
strict realism o f the film 's natu ral settin g ." than the valu e o f w h at m u st b e expressed
In fact, M u rn au d o es n o t d isto rt the realism to sig n ify b ey on d m ere facts, to achieve a
becau se the way things are presented is the d eep er resonance, w ith th e exception, natu­
only reason th e y p o ssess th eir d istu rbing rally, o f th e few m asterpieces w h ich w ere
and supernatural appearan ce. D estin y in able to reveal the exten t o f the cin em a's ca­
Taboo is n o m o re th a n th e exp ressio n o f a p ab ilities in this respect.
social order, a tan g ible reality, n o t th e rep­ In an y case, th e cin em a d escribes and ex ­
resentation o f a superior essence sittin g all­ p oses fa r m o re than it "reco u n ts." Though
pow erfu l in a h ea v en so m ew h ere control­ the restrictions o f the theater had b een re­
ling h u m a n life. H is film displays a sy m ­ m o ved , the cinem a continued to find suit­
bolic structure in w h ich "e s s e n c e " expresses able structures fro m w ith in the theater,
an "e x iste n ce " w h ich it m erely reflects b u t w h ic h g u aran teed its produ ctions their sta­
in su ch an u n u su a l y et natural w a y th a t ou r b ility and strength. It cou ld achieve its epic
im aginations op en o n to vistas o f th e su p er­ qualities on ly in frescos, h ow ever, and its
natu ral w h ich are sh eer poetry. ly ricism in the short story. It required a sim ­
Thus in spite o f a certain fiction-type n ar­ ple action, a linear developm ent, a com pact
rative apparent in film s su ch as The Wind, fram ew ork : the silent cinema may have been
Dawn, and Taboo, there is absolutely n o ev­ able to control space, but it had no control over time.
308 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

W ithou t m ak in g a com p lete list, w e d w ellin g on w h a t w ere n o m ore than plays

shou ld m en tion that the m o st significant and m usicals film ed at a tim e w h en the
"d ra m a s" d erive from p u re theatricality: cam era seem ed m erely an in stru m ent for
Forfaiture, M ater D olorosa, L a F ete espagnole, record ing son g s and dialogue, b u t it is w or­
T he Cabinet o f D octor C aligari, T he Golem, El th y o f n o te th a t the first m asterpieces b e­
D orado, The P han tom Coach, W ay D ow n East, lon g in g com p letely to the cin em a in their
Fievre, Le R ail, Torgus, Vanina, T h e Shadow m ean s o f expression and signification also
Puppeteer, T h e Street, T h e Treasure, N ew Year's belon g ed com p letely to the th eater in their
E v e, T h e Last Laugh, Variety, Lulu, M a ster o f c o n s tr u c tio n - in spite o f a certain m o bility
the H ouse, The P assion o f Jo an o f A rc, etc. in tim e an d space im possible to reproduce
L yrical film s w ere able to avoid th eatri­ o n s t a g e - f i lm s like: T he B lu e A n gel, T he
cality only insofar as they based their aes­ T hreepen n y O pera, Street Scene, Le M illion,
th etic on the signification o f natu ral scen ery M , and m an y others beside. T h o u g h w on­
o r objects inclu d ed w ithin the sp atialization d erfu l, H allelu jah the H ills, the first lyrical
o f the dram a. T h e action evolves sm o o th ly m asterp iece o f talk in g pictu res, is still a
in space, b u t tim e, un less it is o f sh o rt dura­ th row b ack to th e d iscon tinu ou s construc­
tion, is alw ays con d en sed in to a n o tio n a l tion o f cin em a 's early d ays, w ith each se­
outline. S u ch is the case w ith T he Italian, T h e q uence (outstan d ing in term s o f its internal
C ow ard, Terje Vigen, T h e A ryan , Thirst fo r rhythm ) rem ain in g iso lated from the rest
G old, The O utlaw an d H is W ife, C arm en o f the a n d w ith titles used to m ak e th e lin k ("A n d
K londike, Son g o f the S carlet Flow er, T h e Trea­ Z eke becam e a preacher," "S ix m onths later,"
sure o f A rne, B roken Blossom s, True H ea rt "T h e y ears rolled b y ").
Susie, C overed W agon, Trial b y F ir e , W itchcraft T h e u n io n b etw een theater and cinem a
through the A ges, T h e T hree Lights, N osferatu, - w h i c h seem ed desirable at the t i m e - w a s
T he O ld H ouse, C rainquebille, T h e G irl I Loved, on ly (app aren tly) achiev ed in A m erican
Visage d'enfants, The Chronicles o f the G rey com ed ies starting to appear around 1930
H ouse, Faust, M other, Scarlet Letter, D aw n, w h o se w it seem ed p erfectly suited to the
T he W ind, River, L onesom e, D ocks o f N ew York, freed om offered b y the cinem a. Yet, though
W hite Shadow s o f the S ou th Sea, E arth, etc. th ey ig n ored the th eatrical ru les w h ich
A n d it is still the co n tro l of space w h ich m ight h ave paralyzed the freedom o f m ove­
ensures the m agn ificen ce and epic force of m e n t o f the com ed ies, these film s did retain
film s su ch as T he B attle o f G ettysburg, T he th eatrical dialogue, leav in g th e cinem a re­
Birth o f a N ation, Intolerance, J'A ccuse, The sp on sible fo r telling the story. T he effect
C overed W agon, The N ibelu n gen , Strike, The w as th a t in stead o f b ein g en cu m bered b y a
B attleship P otem kin , O ctober, The End o f St. rig id construction expressed visually, they
P etersberg, N apoleon , T he G eneral Line, w ere film s constructed w ith a freedom
Turksib, etc. w h ich w as a t tim es b reath tak in g b u t w here
W ith talkies, th e storytelling becam e m ore the m ost im portant elem ents, i.e., the
flexible, m ore h om og en eo u s, sp eech pro­ ch aracters' feelin g s, th o u g h ts, and states of
vid in g the lin k ag e b etw een seq u en ces and m ind , w ere expressed verbally: cinem a at
thu s allow in g th e m o bility o f tim e to be the level o f d ram atic stru cture, but theater
m ore easily m an ip u lated , in volvin g b o th at th e lev el o f expression.
tim e and space. B u t instead o f m o v in g M an y o f th ese com ed ies w ere delightful.
closer to narrativ e, the cin em a to o k the op­ A sm oo th and superficial character devel­
p ortun ity to m ak e a positive m o v e back to op m en t (but character d ev elop m en t none­
the theater. There is very little p o in t in theless) is d iscern ible through the quickness
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 309

o f th e v e rb a l exch an g es. T h e b est o f them , rew ard in g . H ow ever, co m ed y d id n o t sud ­

p resen ting real characters in contriv ed situ­ d en ly m ak e its d eb u t w ith th e in ven tion of
ations, d isgu ised w ith th eir w it and repar­ talkies. T here w ere innum erable film s of
tee th e film ed theater w h ic h w as th e essence this ty p e during the tw enties, and their or­
o f their p ro d u ction . S tan d in g as m o d em ig ins w ere n ot (as w as generally assum ed at
fairy tales, th ey sh ow ed the w ay to a new the tim e) in th e theater o f M au rice Donnay,
cinem atic e s s e n c e -e s p e c ia lly since the im ­ A lfred C ap u s, or R ob ert de Flers.
ages, w h en th ey w ere em p loyed to signify, In p o in t o f fa ct, lig ht com ed y is b ased on
d id so w ith a gen u in e subtlety. w itticism s d eriv in g fro m w ord play. At the
D oes any o f this hold up n ow ad ay s? Pre­ tim e of the silen t screen (th ough titles w ere
cious little, in tru th. New York Miami, per- u s e d - o r rather ab u sed ), it w as n ot possi­
h a p s -u n d e n ia b ly a d eligh tfu l film . The b le to b a se a com ed y on dialogu e. O nly
others are in tolerable b eca u se of their inces­ ch aracter situ ation s of a visu al nature could
san t ch atter and situ ation s w h ose artificial­ b e exploited. N ow , A m erican m u sic-h all
ity is su ch th a t the irony p resen ted as social com edy, like H u n g arian com edy, is based,
criticism e ith er strik es th e w rong n o te or as in vaudeville, o n /acts rath er th an words.
falls com p letely flat. T h ere is v ery little kick It w a s fro m this ty p e o f theater th a t all these
le ft in this h ead y brew , w h ic h v ery quickly "s ile n t" or "s p e a k in g " com ed ies w ere de­
lost its sparkle, w h ereas film s like The Blue rived. It is easy to fo llo w th e progression.
Angel and M seem ag eless - allow in g fo r the B efore h e arrived in th e U .S.A . in 1924,
fa c t th a t their stru ctu res se e m a little dated L u b itsch h a d b e e n stro ng ly influenced by
com pared w ith m o d e m film s, b u t their m an y differen t factors. H e h ad b ee n a di­
ideas are still rem ark ab ly fresh. rector d u ring the period o f th e g reat histor­
O n ly g en u in ely k n ock ab ou t com edies ical reconstru ction s, settin g great store b y
h ave kep t their y o u th , com ed ies in w h ich th e Ita lia n p ro d u ction s of the tim e (1919),
the absurd ch aracters, im plausible situa­ a n d h a d th en d irected a n u m ber o f rath er
tions, and b reath less rh y th m h av e p riority stilted com edies, b efo re h e cam e in to con­
over th e d ialogu e, w h ich is red uced to ver­ tact w ith M auritz S tille r's com edies. These
bal n o n s e n s e -film s lik e Madame et son w ere as lig h t as h is w ere heavy. T h e Sw ed­
clochard. A lso, satirical com ed ies w h ose sat­ ish director w as the initiator o f th e genre
ire com es n o t ju s t fro m th e d ialog u e or im ­ (or so it appeared ), an d Lubitsch w as to
ages b u t fro m th e ir con stan t association. rem em ber this.
W h ereas in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, fo r in­ W h ile d irectin g d ram as glorifyin g m an
stance, th e verbal exp ressio n is con stan tly and n atu re, such as Song о / the Scarlet Flower,
alternated w ith th e visual exp ression, in Shooting the Rapids, and The Vengeance о /
L u b itsch 's film s the visu al an d the verb al Jacob Vindas, S tiller w as m ak in g com ed ies in
react w ith one another, th ereby d eterm ining a to ng u e-in-cheek , satirical vein - n o t a b l y
a p erp etu al deviation fro m th eir original Karlek och journalistik (1916), Thomas Graals
m eanings. basta film (1917), Their Firstborn (1918), In the
E ven so, A m erican com ed y cau sed film ­ Hope о / Happiness (1920). N ow , In the Hope о /
m akers to constru ct th eir film s w ith m u ch Happiness w a s an ad ap tation o f Ferenc
greater freed om , to g ive them the "a p p ea r­ H ercz eg 's Silver Fox, and h is other com edies
an ce o f n a rra tiv e ," w ith o u t k n o w in g (or w ere sim ilarly inspired b y plays.
b ein g ab le to k n o w ) h o w to p ro v id e them If th ere w as a E uropean in fluen ce, it w as
w ith the m eaning and fu nction s o f the th a t of Stiller and th e H u n g arian s distilled
novel. In this respect, its influence p roved th ro u g h L ubitsch. It is also an extraord i­
310 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

n ary fact th at th e v ast m ajority o f p la y ­ g re a t d eal easier. S e x , flirtin g, a n d adultery,

w rig h ts and screenw riters o f A m erican p reviou sly fo rbid d en o n the screen, could
com ed ies to w ard th e end o f th e sile n t era n o w b e tackled , if n o t op en ly a t least in an
w ere H u n g arian s; in particular, L ajo s Biro, obliq u e w ay w h ich len t itself perfectly to
H an s K raely, and M elch io r Len gyel. D o u b t­ irony. C om ed y o f m an n ers suddenly started
less b ecau se o f th eir ab ility to create h u m o r to take off, and w e m ust pass over the
th ro u g h situ ation rath er th a n w ord s, they A m erican com ed ies of the tw en ties to give
w ere m o re o r less d estin ed to express th em ­ the credit fo r orig in ality to the com edies
selves through a visual m ed iu m . H ow ever, p ro d u ced in th e thirties. O f course, from the
satirical or n o t, A m erica n com edy w as n ot p o in t o f v iew o f d irectin g skill, th ey cannot
b o rn until L u b itsch, and its orig ins are to be com p ared , bu t the "m eth o d ” is there,
be found n ow h ere bu t in th e U nited States. p ro v in g m erely h ow clum sy w ere the be­
Its crad le w as th e sam e as th e sh o rt "re a l­ ginners.
istic” d ram as: V itagraph. W ith th e co m ed ies acted b y M a y A llison,
W hereas slap stick saw th e lig h t o f d ay at H arold L ockw ood , E thel C lay to n , Bryant
B iog rap h w ith W allace M acC u tch eo n 's W ashbu rn, etc., th e A m erican cin em a took
chase film s, d ev elop in g th ro u g h th e C h risty o n a totally differen t appearance. T h e sen ti­
C om edies to its p erfect fo rm in M ack m en tal spark so b elo v ed o f M ary Pickford,
S en n ett's film s, com ed y itself to o k th e place M iles M inter, and Ju n e C ap rice grad ually
o f Van D y k e B roo k e's Scenes o f True L ife in g av e w ay to a tart, ton g u e-in -ch eek ty p e of
th e sh ap e o f G eorg e D. B a k er and Jam es h u m o r, still inoffen sive b u t fa r fro m inno­
Y ou n g's Scenes o f C om ic L ife. N aturally, cent. W ith M a d g e K ennedy, C o n stan ce Tal-
sin ce th e se film s dep end o n th e com ic ra th er m ad g e, V ivian M artin, V iola D ana, and
th an com edy, th ey are as n a iv e as th e y are Shirley M ason, the w ith-it college girls
cru de, y e t situ ation com ed y alread y show s eclip sed the sim ple v illag e girls in their
itself d ev elop in g in sh o rt film s su ch as Love S u n d ay b est; and th e chrysalis opened, re­
an d the S uffragette (1919), lead in g onto the vealin g th e "fla p p er,” th e sem i-virgin of
d raw in g-room c o m e d ie s -s h o r t playlets, 1925 illu strated b y Joan C raw ford , Phyllis
p o k in g fu n at social h ab its an d cu stom s - H aver, and Clara Bow.
d irected b y Sid n ey D re w and h is w ife from H ow ever, it is to C ecil B. d e M ille's first
about 1915 onw ard. com ed ies th a t w e should look fo r their style,
C ertainly th e ob jects o f th eir satire w ere loosen ess o f tone, and pace rare in the cin ­
clich es beyon d th e reach o f irony. There w as e m a u p th a t p o in t. It is fashionable these
no risk o f offend ing a n y b od y an d on ly a fool days to lo o k dow n on C ecil B. d e M ille. Yet,
cou ld th in k th a t a criticism o f su ch in sig n ifi­ b esid es th e fact that h e w as superb at h a n ­
cant taboos cou ld in an y w ay b e risqu e. Yet, d lin g crow d scen es, th ere w as a period w hen
though these films attacked principles w hich h e had m ore th an m ere talent: an in n ate gift
n o one in his rig h t m ind cou ld have tak en fo r v isu al exp ression, a n acu te sen se o f ob­
seriously, th eir au thors w ere w o rk in g g e n ­ serv ation o f tin y d etails w h ich m ade him
u in ely in the d irection o f satire. T h ey o n e o f th e m o st o rig in al film m ak ers o f h is
learned to use ellip sis an d innuend o, and day. .
w h en it becam e possible to find m ore inter­ C ritics g en erally ignore the social com e­
estin g topics to lam p oo n , th e fo rm h ad al­ dies w h ich h e directed b etw een 1918 and
ready b een prepared ; it on ly needed filling. 1922, from scripts b y h is brother. T hey also
A fter th e F irst W orld War, th e resu ltin g ig n ore th e fact th a t h e treated these su b­
social and m o ral revo lu tio n m a d e th in g s a jects, consid ered ob scen e a t th e tim e, with
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 311

a n incisiveness a n d su b tlety w ell ah ead o f it b u t to return to h e r hu sband , w h o a t least

h is tim e. H ow ever, th e p ictu re is a little can assure h e r o f h is constan t affection.
clouded: th o u g h th e co m ed y is sm ooth and O bv io u sly th e film does n o t p ro be very
su b tle w h en it concerns th e ch aracters' b e­ deeply. Yet, fo r th e first tim e, w e hav e a
havior, w h en it com es to their th in k in g or co m ed y m a d e ou t o f t h e thousand n ig g lin g
dream in g, th e "v is io n s " h e con jured up are, every d ay th in g s, in tim a te d etails som e o f
in a w ord, p ed estria n and p ro v id e a fore­ w h ich are ra th er n ea r th e bone. O bjects
taste o f th e w orst that d e M ille w as to pro­ (signs o r sy m b o ls w ith In ce and G riffith)
duce. Fortunately, they ca n b e isolated as becom e sketches to in d icate a p assing
superflu ous trim m ing; b u t it is od d to think th o u g h t, a state o f m in d , a w ay o f life, and
that a film m ak er is capable o f including in to d escribe th e characters in fin e detail
the sam e film such bad taste and such w h o se psychology, th o u g h sim ple, has the
finesse. D e M ille is u n iq u e in th e h istory of rin g o f tru th ab ou t i t —th o u g h th e to n e is
the cinem a. of a sophisticated comedy. T h e action, w hich
W e are con cern ed h ere on ly w ith the m ight ju s t as easily be that o f a play, re­
part o f h is w ork (a con sid erab le part) w hich v eals - e v e n tran slates th e tone of stage
show s h im in a good light, in order to see com edy, b u t it d isgu ises an y "th eatrical
w h ere th e fam ous "L u b itsc h to u ch ” (and con stru ctio n " through its exp ressio n , w hich
even th e su b tleties o f Public Opinion) origi­ rem ains v isu al alm ost throughout, an d its
nated. It is q u ite p ro b a b le that the influen ce freedom o f m ovem ent, w hich already points
o f W illiam d e M ille, a w riter o f talent, re­ th e w ay forw ard to th e fu ture styles of
sp on sib le fo r th e scrip ts o f m o st o f th ese com edy.
film s, w as d ecisiv e, fo r h is o w n film s have T o realize h o w fa r th e cinem a h ad d ev el­
a valu e p ercep tibly equ al to that o f his op ed up to 1920, all o n e w ou ld n eed to see
b ro th e r's, at least in th e ir b ad taste. T h eir is The Birth о / a Nation or Intolerance, w h ich ,
to n e is slig htly m o re d ram atic. B e th a t as it a t the level o f editing an d rhythm , repre­
may, w e sh ou ld rem em b er Old Wives /o r sen t th e h ig h est achiev em ent o f m o tio n p ic­
New (1918), M ale and Female (from th e p lay tu re s; or Broken Blossoms or True Heart Susie,
b y J. M . B arrie, 1919), D on't Change Your sh o rt m elo d ram as tran sform ed b y th e lyri­
Husband (1919), Why Change Your Wife? cism an d sen sitivity o f th e director; o r else
(1920), an d Something to Think About (1920), The Outlaw and His Wife, th e first stud y of
starring G lo ria Sw an so n , w ith E llio tt D ex ­ m an ag ain st N atu re; th en T hom as Ince's A
te r o r T hom as M eighan. Coward to see th e first trend s d eveloping
T h ese film s h a v e n o t fad ed h a lf as m u ch tow ard a n arrativ e an d D on't Change Your
as th e m ajority o f 1930s ta lk in g com ed ies. Husband to follow th e progress o f a tech­
D on't Change Your Husband is th e h u m oro u s niqu e w h ere th e exp ression , b eco m in g el­
story o f a w o m an o f th e w o rld w h o sud­ lip tical and allusive, tried to describe ch ar­
d en ly find s that she can n o t stand any lon g er acter psychology.
h er h u sb an d 's carelessness, a n n o y in g h a b ­ In this ord er o f ideas, th e m asterpiece of
its, and scruffiness. Sh e leaves h im fo r a m an the w h o le o f th e silen t cinem a m u st be,
w ho treats h e r lik e a l a d y - s h e finds h im w ith o u t a d ou bt, Public Opinion. For, though
irresistible. B ut, w h en they get to k n o w each G riffith, Ince, and later on Eisenstein estab­
other, the sa m e th in g h ap p en s all ov er lish ed th e b asic stru ctures o f film significa­
again. T h e h an d so m e hu nk proves ju st as tion , it m u st n o t b e forgotten th at film s are
scru ffy and an n o y in g as h er first h u sb a n d — m ad e n o t ou t o f shots an d relationsh ips of
n o t only th a t, h e is a b oor. N o th in g else fo r shots b u t above all else ou t o f scen es w h ich
312 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

interlock w ith each other and fo rm the con ­ p u rely b y ch an ce, h er old b oy frien d , w ho
tinuity o f th e narrativ e, a t th e sam e tim e as is scraping a liv in g selling h is paintings.
th ey g u aran tee it. A ll film sig n ification de­ Sh e asks h im to d o a p o rtrait o f her and,
p en d s on this architecture w h ose con cep ­ eventually, d ecid es to start h er life w ith
tion, theatrical as it w a s a t th e start, evolved him all over again. T hrou g h another m is­
as w e hav e seen in the d irection o f th e short u n d erstan d in g , Je an kills h im self in de­
story, d ev elop in g th e d ram a in to p sy ch o ­ sp air com in g ou t o f a n ig h tclu b w h ere
logical analysis. M arie is d in in g w ith h er lover. W eary o f
F ro m th is p o in t o f view , P u blic O pinion h er life o f luxury, M arie retires to the cou n ­
m a rk s o n e o f th e m ost im p o rtan t d ates in try w ith th e m o th er o f her eternal love.
th e h is to ry o f the cinem a: th e first stu d y o f In k eep in g w ith th e attitudes o f the tim e,
m an n ers w h ere th e ch aracters' a m b ig u ity there is still a considerable elem en t o f m elo­
w as expressed in a sp ecifically film ic w ay dram a in th is s t o r y - i f n o t in th e facts, then
and w h ere th e ch aracters, d esertin g their at lea st in th e w ay th ey are assem bled
close cou sins in th e theater, are tak en fro m (hap py coincid ences, m isu nd erstand in g s,
real life. etc.) b u t w e receive the im p ression that the
In previou s psy ch olog ical film s (w ith the d irector w as n o t try in g to tell a story for its
exception o f the com ed ies o f M auritz Stitler ow n sake. H e u ses it as an argu m ent to lin k
and C ecil B. de M ille and o th er ex cep tio n a l to g eth e r a series o f circum stances through
d irectors su ch as Ja m es Young, H a rry B eau ­ w h ich th e tru th o f th e ch aracters can b e dis­
m ont, and C larence Badger) th e exp osition played .
o f th e d ram a w as en gineered m ost usu ally H e re a r e a few exam ples:
th ro u g h th e u se o f lo n g exp lan ato ry titles. - A t the v e ry b eg inning , w h en M arie
N ow , Public O pinion, in d ev elop ing the (E d na P u rv iance) is at th e station w aiting
sketches w e hav e ju s t b ee n describing, sig­ fo r Je a n to arrive, it is nighttim e. We see her
n ified doubts, second thoughts, an d other on th e p latfo rm , in the sh ad ow s w aiting for
sim ilar self-exam in atio n s w ith a n art n ever th e train. W h en finally it com es, all w e see
previou sly achieved . C om pression, ellip sis, are th e reflections o f th e carriag e w ind ow s
m etonym y, allu sion m ad e th e ir co n sp icu ­ o n th e ground an d on h e r face. T h e reflec­
ous ap p earance on th e screen to serv e the tio n s slid e b y , th en com e to a stop. M arie
p u rp ose o f th e n arra tiv e psychology, n o t fo r w alks away, ou t o f shot. T h e reflections start
som e theatrical fancy. P u ttin g to one side to m o ve again. S h e h a s g on e.19
th e hum anity, subtlety, an d au th en ticity o f - W h e n P ierre R ev el (A dolp he M enjou)
th e ch aracters, P u blic O pinion w a s, in the visits -M arie in h er apartm en t, th e ir rela­
w ords o f Theodore H uff, a kind o f "a d ­ tio n sh ip is m ad e v e ry clear from th e m o­
van ced m an u al fo r directors and produ cers m en t h e fetches on e o f h is h and k erchiefs
in cinem atic te ch n iq u e."18 fro m a ch est o f draw ers.
T he story o f the film is q u ite sim ple: tw o - W h e n M arie in v ite s h e r fo rm er b e ­
y o u n g p eop le, M a rie and Je a n , w h o se p a r­ tro th e d to th e ap artm en t, sh e is unable to
e n ts d isap p rove o f their relatio nsh ip , d e­ con ceal the fact that she is a k ep t w om an
cide to elope. Through a m isu n d erstan d ­ w h en , as sh e look s fo r a dress w h ich he
in g , M arie think s that Je a n h a s jilted h er w an ts h er to wear, a m a n 's collar and cuffs
and sh e leaves b y h erself. W e find h e r som e fa ll out o f th e closet.
years later. T h e k ep t w o m a n o f a m an -of- - W h e n Pierre co m es to th e apartm ent
the-w orld , she leads a life o f lu x u ry and an d realizes that Je a n is there, h e sucks w ith
pleasure. O ne d a y she h ap p en s to m eet, feig n ed sen su ality a chocolate w h ich he
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 313

takes from a b ox h e h a d g iv en h er th e p re­ sig h t ju s t b elow th e b o tto m fram eline). We

viou s m o rn in g ; h e offers th e b o x to M arie, d ed u ce th e sh ap e o f h er b o d y th rough the
arenly suggestin g: "p erh ap s the g entlem an m o vem en t o f th e m asseu se's h a n d s - a n d
n ext d oor w o u ld lik e one, to o ." also through th e m o vem ent o f h er eyes,
- W h e n M arie visits Je a n in h is stud io w h en another frien d arrives. F ro m then on,
an d he offers h er a cu p o f tea, th e cru m pled all th e action an d chatter offscreen is regis­
and stained n ap k in gives h is situation aw ay tered o n the m a sseu se's face, w h ose m im e
im m ediately. is w o rth y o f C h ap lin him self.
- W h e n M arie, in her even in g clothes — W h en Je a n m eets P ierre and M arie at
preparing to go ou t w ith P ierre, quarrels the n ig h tclu b (hav ing sen t h er a m essage),
w ith h im , com plaining th at sh e is n ot th e tw o m e n sh ak e hand s. P ie rre invites
happy, h e p la y fu lly fond les the p earl n e ck ­ h im to tak e a seat b esid e h er, offers h im a
lace round h e r n e c k w h ich h e h a s giv en her cig arette a n d lig h ts it, a s frien d ly as can b e ,
som e few days earlier. F u rio u s, she tears it b u t at th e sa m e tim e slip s in to h is pocket
off and throw s it ou t o f the w indow . Pierre th e m essage addressed to h is lover.
sits d ow n sm ilin g to h im self and starts to — Finally, in the last seq u en ce o f th e film ,
p lay th e saxo p h on e (w hich h e has b een a fu lly lad en h ay cart is m ak in g its w ay
p lay in g w h ile sh e h a s b ee n g ettin g ready), slo w ly up a co u n try road. O n top o f the
ignoring this tem p er tantrum . H ow ever, hay, a y o u n g v illag er is p lay in g the accor­
d o w n in th e street, a p a ssin g tram p picks dion. Sitting b esid e h im is M arie, surrounded
u p the necklace. M arie, o n ed ge, tells P ierre, b y th e ch ild ren she look s after o n th e farm .
w h o calm ly carries o n p lay in g his saxo­ O n the sam e road b u t d riv in g in th e o p p o­
phone. M arie ru sh es d o w n in to the street site d irection som e d ista n ce aw ay is a b ig
after the tram p, fro m w h om sh e snatches M a rm o n t (the C ad illac o f its day) w ith
the necklace and th en , o n reflection, gives Pierre R ev el an d a frien d insid e. T h e friend
h im a sm all rew ard , retu^rning as fast as she says: "W h atev er becam e o f M a rie ?" Pierre
can to the apartm en t and , in her haste, shrugs h is shou ld ers. H e d oes n o t know
b reak in g one o f h e r heels. S h e h o b b les into and d oes n o t care. T h e car p asses the h ay
the ap artm en t an d P ierre b u rsts ou t lau g h ­ w agon and continues o n its way, w h ile on
ing. She throw s th e sh oe a t him . the other sid e o f the road the cart m oves
- A f t e r an e xp la n a tio n w h ere sh e tells slow ly aw ay in to th e d istance.
Pierre that it is Je a n sh e rea lly loves, P ierre's It is tru e th a t th ere are too m a n y titles,
exp ressio n show s th a t h e d oes n o t b elieve b u t the im age is n o lon g er d ep en d en t on
her. Sittin g o n h er b ed , she tells h im again: th e text. In fact, it is th e reverse: the text
" I love h im ." H e lea n s ov er an d k isses h e r calls u p the im age w h ich evokes th e v isu al
on the forehead: "V ery good , I 'll see y o u fo r expression.
dinner tom orrow n ig h t." C h ap lin w as alread y u sing these stylistic
—The follow in g m orn in g , M arie is b ein g devices in h is sh o rt film s, b u t at that stage
m assaged, stretched ou t o n a tab le covered n o d ram atic film h ad b ee n able to exploit
w ith a tow el. A frien d arrives. T h e m as­ them . Public Opinion proved th a t the cin ­
seuse im p assiv ely continu es w ith h er w o rk em a w as n o t m erely ed iting and rhythm
w ith o u t ap p earin g to tak e a n y n o tice o f but, m ore particularly, w ritin g , scripting,
w h at th e w o m en a re saying. H ow ever, b y con ceivin g . C h ap lin realized th a t d irecting
h er attitu de, h er reflexes, w e k n ow th a t she a film w as not, as in th e theater, m e re ly the
has n o t m issed a sin gle w ord . She p u lls the "s ta g in g " o f a w o rk w h ose valu e preexisted
tow el aw ay an d M arie is n a k ed (out o f its rep resen tation b u t the fo rm alization o f
314 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I N EMA

a subject g ain in g its action, valu e, an d generally thought, especially since it ex­
m eaning o n ly fro m its form alization . tends beyond what is normally described
pejoratively as "filmed theater.".. .
If we take the view that the theater is
T heater a n d C in em a
the art specific to drama, we must ac­
knowledge that its influence has been
We w e re p resen t a t th at m o m en t in h is­
considerable and that the cinema is the
to ry w h en talk in g p ictu res th rew ev e ry ­ last of the arts capable of escaping that
th in g b a ck in to th e m eltin g pot. T h e fa ct influence. But if this were so, half of liter­
th at it b ro u g h t w ith it verbal sign ification s ature and ^ree-quarters of produced
tried and p erfected ov er m an y y ears (and would be merely extensions of the theater.
thereby a facility o f expression) m ean t that So perhaps the problem should be ap­
fo r m an y film m akers there w as n o p oint in proached in this way: that it arises only
trying to sig n ify w ith im a g es w h e n it w as in connection with an actual theatrical
so m u ch easier to d o th e sam e th in g w ith production, not with the actor but with the
text.20
w ords. T h at explains th e spate o f literal re­
co rd in g s o f sp ectacles w h ose intrinsic
valu e preced ed th e film process. H ow ever, T h is is the essential point. For, though
it w as n o t lon g b efo re the screenplay re­ the effect o f th e th e a te r's influence w as ap­
placed the film ed play and relied o n the cin ­ parent in th e m ajority o f film s b efore 1940,
em a o n ly fo r its m o vem en t an d its ab ility this in flu en ce w as lim ited to the dram atic
to b e e v ery w h ere a t once. structure. W e h av e seen h o w silent films
Ju s t as in the e ra o f th e silen t film (but in sh ow in g sig n s o f "th ea trica lity " w ere no
a n even m ore ob viou s w ay ), the cinem a less visual in their tech n iqu e and their
b ased itself o n the theater. T h o u g h it al­ style. T h e sam e is tru e o f th e m ajor film s of
low ed a freed o m co n tra ry to the ru les o f the the th irties, w hich show ed th e w ay ahead
theater, it expressed itself th rou g h dialogu e; fo r th o se w h o asp ired to a film ic rath er than
and th o u g h it m an aged to u se the im age as a verbal expression .
a signifier, it relied o n the theater to provid e O n th e oth er h an d , m o st o f th o se w h o
th e b a ck b o n e o fits d ram atic stru cture. W h at th o u g h t they h ad m an ag ed to avoid the
h ap p en ed w as th a t in stead o f th e aud ien ce theater fo u n d them selv es even m ore
h av in g to read th e text, th ey cou ld h ear it. In d eep ly en trenched in the text, w h ich they
o n e sen se , it w as all q u ite pred ictable: the tu rned into th eir basic m eans o f expression.
fact that d ialogu e cou ld be heard m eant that For, th o u g h th eatricality rem ain s the fo u n ­
the im ages cou ld d evelop according to a ho­ d a tio n o f d ram atic art (regard ing a "tra g ic
m ogeneous continuity. O n the other h and , m o m e n t" p referab ly d irected b ack w ard in
the verb al co n ten t, b ecau se o f the facility of tim e to w ard a past o f w h ich it is the present
its expression, to ok priority o v er the v isu al co n seq u en ce), it is still p o ssible to avoid
content. th e a trica l exp ressio n , ev en w h e n u sin g it as
It m igh t b e appropriate therefore to begin reference - t h e p erfect exam p le is M arcel
this section b y agreeing wholeheartedly w ith C a m e's L e Jou r se leve. H ow ever, w h en the
B azin (som ething w e are n o t alw ay s in ­ verb al exp ressio n b eco m es necessary (espe­
clined to do) w h en h e w rites, in one o f h is cially w h en it b eco m es dialogu e) it is n o t
b etter essays: possible to avoid the theater, sin ce this is
p re cise ly h o w th e th e a te r creates significa­
It is clear that the association of theater tion. True, it is n o t ju st th e d ialog u e w h ich
and cinema is older and closer than is gives a play its q u ality ; there are m any
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 315

other factors. Yet n o p la y c a n exist in w h ich th e scope o f d ram atic art w ill b e extend ed,
sp eech does n o t provide the expression and its rhy thm s altered b y this new m in or art
p u r p o s e -s in c e th e v e ry m ed iu m o f the w h ich h as placed itself a t its serv ice." For
theater is w ord s. T h a t is the w a y it w as seen P agnol, though replaces theatrical
b y p layw rig hts w h o , from th e outset, en -scen e, it m u st b e m ad e to serve the
thou ght o f talk in g p ictu res as ju st another d ram a, i.e., th e speeches. W e shall see later
/orm о / theater, i.e., an oth er m e th o d o f ex ­ o n to w h a t exten t th is is p ossible, since, in
p ressing and sig n ify in g through the text, a th e cinem a, "th e art o f rep resen tatio n ," ev­
m e th o d un fettered b y th e d em an d s an d d u ­ e ry th in g is possible. F ilm can represent
tie s im p o se d b y th e stage. anything and everything and, as Pagnol
M arcel P ag n ol w a s ap p aren tly m isinter­ sees it, can q u ite easily be noth in g m ore
preted (perhap s deliberately, w h o know s) th an an original w a y o f b rin g in g ou t the
w h en h e w as q u oted as saying th at th e cin­ q u alities o f a play con ceived (or not) fo r
em a "should con fin e itself to p h o tog rap h ­ th a t p u rp ose. In w h ich case m ise-en-scene
in g th eater." H o w ev er m isguided h e m ay becom es m ise-en-film . Yet it is n o t cinem a
have b een , h e could never have b ee n so in the aesthetic and sem io lo g ical sen se of
foolish as to m ake a rem ark like that. O n th e w ord . T h e c in e m a - m u s t w e com e out
th e other hand : "T h e art o f th e theater is and say it ? —is not ju s t an art o f represen­
b e in g re v iv e d in an oth er fo rm and w ill tation: it is also an art o f creation. M ise-en-
b eg in to e n jo y a n un p reced en ted success. scene, in th is respect, is n o t representation
. . . A n ew field is o p e n in g u p fo r th e p la y ­ b u t n arratio n and sig nification th rou g h a
w rig h t an d w e sh a ll sta rt to see p rod u ctions certain fo rm of representation. T h is is w hat
w h ich n ot even Sop h ocles, R acin e, or m akes it ecriture, a form ation o f relation­
M o liere could hav e d ared to atte m p t." A n d ships and associatio n s rath er th an m ise-en-
w h en h e ad ds, "th e ta lk in g film is th e a rt scene.
o f d istribu ting, record ing, and b road cast­ To sa y th a t a film is n o t cin em a is m erely
ing theater," h e is n o t referring to "th e a tri­ to observe that the m a in signification s con ­
cal stag in g " or sp ectacle b u t d ram atic art tained in i t - c o n c e r n e d w ith character,
- the substance n o t the rep resentation . For ch aracter psychology, or in tellig ibility of
him , d ram atic stru ctu re finds, in th e shape the d ram a - d o not d ep en d so m uch on v i­
o f th e cinem a, an oth er possible /ormaliza- sual or au d iov isu al stru ctures as on another
tion. A n d th o u g h th e "ta lk in g film , b rin g in g techniqu e deriving directly from th e the­
n ew resources to the cin em a, m u st reinvent ater, literatu re or p ain tin g for w hich film
th e theater," it is b ecau se it can (and m ust) m erely serves as a recording device. T h a t is
create a d ram atic art p ro p ortio n ate w ith its n o t to sa y th a t cin em a c a n n o t an d m u st not
resources. M o reov er, P ag n ol g oes o n to b e used fo r the p u rp oses o f b rin g in g out
p o in t ou t th at "T h e p lay w rig h t m u st elim ­ the valu es o f verbal expression b u t that
inate fro m h is scrip ts all th eatrical co n v en ­ film , in th at case, is b ein g used fo r pu rposes
tions w h ich, o n the stage, are u n avoid able w h ich are n o t its ow n , aesth etically sp eak ­
b u t fro m w h ich th e n e w m ean s o f exp res­ ing. W e d o n ot d en y th e resultin g spectacle
sion frees u s ."21 th e rig h t to b e interestin g or valid , m erely
We a re bou n d to agree w ith these obser­ the rig h t to take expression for granted.
vations. W here w e b eg to d iffer is w h ere E very th in g w h ich is printed is n o t n eces­
Pagnol sees cin em a m erely as the film ing sa rily d eriv ed fro m literature. It is also true
o f a d ram a w h ose sig n ification s are (and th a t every th in g projected on to a screen and
rem ain) essen tially verbal: "th is m ean s th at p a rt o f th e cinem a in the sen se o f a m eans
326 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y I N T HE C I N EMA

o f reprod u ction o r com m u n ication is n o t as T h e fa ct is that Jean so n 's film (apart

a d efinitive ru le d eriv ed from v isu a l e x ­ fro m th e sto ry w h ich gives it a cin em atic
pression, i.e., from th e art o f exp ressin g and appearance) is b a se d en tirely o n ite text. T h e
signifying through m o tio n pictures. d ialog u e is w h a t lead s th e action forw ard,
N ow , M arcel P ag n ol b eliev es th a t the cau ses the ch aracters to behave as th e y do,
cin em a can o n ly "p ro d u ce film s con ceived an d explains their m o tiv a tio n s -a n d in
and th o u g h t ou t b efo re the p ro d u ction pro­ sh o rt h old s the w h ole film together, even
cess b egins, w o rk s existin g ou tsid e itself." the ran d om n ess o f the plot th rou g h the ran­
T h is gross error, un d erstand ab le in 1915, d om ness o f the w ords. T h e im ages are there
forgivable in 1930, is to ta lly inexcu sable m erely to p la ce th e dram a w ith in a visual
now ad ays, in view o f th e fa ct that the sole con text. T hu s th ere is noth in g to distin­
pu rpose o f this record ing in stru m en t is to gu ish ^ i s original script from an ad ap ta­
con stru ct film s w ith n o m ean in g o r exis­ tio n , sin ce, th o u g h it is developed as a film ,
tence ou tsid e th e creative a c t - t h e film ­ it is conceived as a play. O n the oth er hand,
m a k e r's in ten tio n h av in g even less con n ec­ C o cte a u 's film , w h ich rem ains predom i­
tion w ith th e finished film th an the d esign n a n tly th eatrical b eca u se w ords are the
o f a n ov el w ith the com p leted w ork. m ost im p ortan t elem ent in it an d retains a
It is tru e th at ^ i s d efin ition applies o n ly theatrical aspect fro m th e fact th a t C octeau
to a sm all h an d fu l o f film s am o n g th e total d eliberately d id n o t a lter the stru ctu re o f
output. Sin ce th e g reater p a rt o f the cinem a h is play, at least takes im agery an d visual
com prises ad ap tation s, it is clear th at, in sig n ification in to a c c o u n t-s o m e th in g Lady
these cases - l o n g b efore the film in g pro­ Panama fails to do. It co u ld n ev er b e said
cess s t a r t s - t h e r e is th e presence o f a w ork th a t b ein g constructed as a p la y it is con­
w ith its ow n existence an d also a value ceived as a film , b u t at least th e im a g ery in
com p letely independent o f th e finished th is ^ m d oes m ore than m erely present
film . It is a m atter o f k n o w in g w h e th e r the characters in a context, illu stratin g the dia­
significations d eriv in g fro m th e lite ra ry logue: it d oes g iv e th e film a meaning.
fo rm s are tran sp o sa b le in to th e cinem a, T o establish the p recise d ifference (and
w h eth er it is p o ssible to g o b a c k to b asics, h ere w e m ig h t seem to b e ju m p in g ahead),
recreatin g th e m th rou g h c e rta in v isu al w e m a y sa y th a t the tw o film s hav e on e fea­
fo rm s, o r w h ether, on th e o th er h an d , the tu re in com m on , in th a t th e y b o th introduce
cin em a in th a t case is (o r sh o u ld be) n o th ­ u s to speaking ch aracters liv in g a dram a
in g m ore than the p resen tation o f a dram a w hose exp ressio n a n d com p rehen sion are
w h ose intellig ibility is w h o lly contain ed in verbal. In Je a n so n 's film , how ever, th e action
ite v erb al expression. is determined b y the d ialogu e. In C o cteau 's
The q u estio n is a n im p ortan t one, p artic­ ^ m , o n th e oth er h an d , th e w o rd s are the
u larly sin ce it th row s lig h t n o t m erely o n the consequence o f a n action to w h ich the im ag­
problem o f ad ap tation b u t a lso o n how one ery provid es a g enu ine authenticity. In the
consid ers film in th e first place, since u lti­ form er, v isu al d ev elop m en ts are introd u ced
m ately w e m ay w ell w o n d er in w h a t w ays aro u n d th e w ord s w ith o u t ad d in g to their
a w o rk con ceived sp ecifically fo r the screen , sig n ification o r th e ir m ean in g ; in the latter,
such as Lady Panama, is m ore cinem atic (or film is u sed to b rin g ou t the qualities o f a
less theatrical) th a n a p la y p u t on to d ram atic w o rk in cap able o f b e in g repro­
s u ch as Les Parents terribles. In d eed , taking d u ced o n th e stage. is M arcel P agnol's
a closer look, th e latter appears a great d eal th eories (o r ideas) tak en to th eir ultim ate
m o re v isu al th an th e form er. conclu sion. A n d w e can see th a t th ey are o f
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 31 7

valu e w h en w e con sid er th a t film s su ch as o n ly o n th e literary qualities o f a te x t w h ose

Laurence O liv ie r's H am let an d O rson th eatrical qualities are perceptible on ly to
W elles's M acbeth, though th e y d o n o t share th o se w h o are sp ecifically look in g fo r them .
the sam e aesthetic p rin cip le, a t least derive W h en w e stu d y R acin e w e analyze h is p o­
from sim ilar conception s. e try n o t th e p lay s as p lay s (th ou g h it is
Before w e b eg in to exam in e th e extent to help ful to k n ow som ething about th e dra­
w h ich it is p o ssib le to a d a p t a w o rk o f the­ m atic requ irem ents in flu encin g th e w ay the
ater to the screen, that is, the extent to p lay s w ere w ritten). H ow ever, on ly a very
w hich th eatrical sig n ification s are tran s­ sketchy k n ow led g e o f these requirem ents
form ab le in to film signification s (assum ing is n ecessa ry to b e able to appreciate the
that it is p o ssible in th e first place), it w o u ld q u ality of th e p o e t r y - a n d all serious stud ­
seem n ecessary to id e n tify (or try to d o so) ies o f d ram a con cen trate o n this aspect ex ­
th e sp ecific q u alities o f th e theater. clusively. We hav e alread y m en tion ed th e
From w h at w e h a v e seen thu s far, it is fact th a t R acin e an d C orneille (and e v en
clear th at th e p rin cip le o f th eatricality b y M oliere) w ere d ram atic p o ets rath er th an
itse lf is n o t su fficien t to d efin e th e essence p la y w r ig h ts -o r , to b e m ore accurate, th ey
of theater. A s a con d ition o f trag ed y (th ough w ere greater p o ets th an p lay w rig hts, in
perhaps n o t o f th e tragic) it is one o f the con trast w ith Shakespeare. W h ich is w h y
bases o f d ram atic structure, b u t it extends they, rath er than Shak esp eare, are stud ied
b ey on d the scope o f the actual art o f th e the­ in ou r seco n d ary schools. It is th eir language
ater because it is just as easily applicable to w h ich is analyzed an d n o t the reason for
a literary or cin em atic w o rk w h o se form that lan g u ag e - the dram a. There are p len ty
and exp ressio n have ab so lu tely nothing in o f tran slations o f Shak esp eare, th e read er
com m on w ith it. Q u o tin g B azin , w e pointed w ill b e thinking; w h y sh ou ld Shakespeare
ou t th at th e essen tial p oint d oes n ot lie in b e reserved fo r E n g lish classes? W ell, the
the text, in the dialogue. T h is is true, b u t it fa ct is that ev en in E n g lan d Shakespeare
d oes n o t exp lain the exact natu re o f th e the­ ap p ears v e ry little o n school curricula - a
ater, since the novel also uses sim ilar verbal great d ea l less, at a n y rate, than S h elley or
form s w ith o u t d eferrin g in th e le a s tto these B y ron.22 A n d th e reason is sim ple: th e lan­
stage rules. W h at w e m ean , th erefore, is a guage o f S h ak esp eare's plays is archaic.
specific q u ality in d ialogu e, con ceived and T here is an oth er reaso n , h o w e v e r -p e r -
org anized w ith a v iew to certain cond itions. h a p s an ev en m ore con v in cin g one: stud y­
T h ese con d ition s are th o se o f the "rep re­ ing Shakespeare m eans stud ying the theater,
sen tatio n ." Ind eed , th o u g h a play is ex­ and the b est w ay of d oin g this is to act out
pressed an d sign ified in term s o f w ords, this th e p lay s an d p rod u ce them , actu ally com ­
expression can on ly ach iev e its full m ean in g in g to term s w ith Shakesp eare the d ram a­
through a rep resentation fo r w h ieh it h as tist. In oth er w ords, Sh ak esp eare's p o etry
been conceived. is con tain ed in h is d ram a, w hereas R acin e's
A w o rk w ritten fo r th e stag e p o ten tially is p red om in an tly in h is verse.
contains, in its w riting, q u alities ev en tu ally Bazin p o in ts ou t in h is essay: " I f w e are
produ ced on stage, b u t these qualities re­ allo w ed to p ru n e P hedre d ow n to its action
m ain im p licit and d o n o t b e c o m e liv in g re­ and rew rite it according to narrativ e needs
alities u n til th e y are acted an d p ro d u ced on o r cinem atic dialogue, in th eo ry w e w ould
a stage. The re ad er's im ag in atio n is able to fin d ou rselves in th e h y p o th etical situation
conju re u p the spectacle, b u t w h en h e is . . . o f th e theatrical red u ced to the dra­
read ing his ju d g m e n t is brou ght to b ea r m a tic ." B u t th in g s are n o t that sim ple. O b ­
318 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

viou sly a traged y lik e Phedre is cap ab le of b u t to h elp th e au d ien ce con stru ct around
b ein g expressed in form s th a t are p u rely th em the im aginary w orld th e y suggest. For
narrative or film ic. B u t th en th e d ram a M ithrid ate' s arm o r, N e ro n 's toga, and the
w ou ld b e com p letely different. It w o u ld as­ w o rld around them exist in the text, con­
sum e a to ta lly d ifferen t m ean in g , revealin g tain ed b y th e w ord s th e y utter, b y w hich
n e w p ersp ectiv es b eca u se , in b e in g d iffer­ th ey are defined - w h ich could never b e the
ent, the m ean s o f expression w o u ld b e ex­ case w ith the d ialog u e o f a n o v e l or film.
pressing different thing s, n o t th e sam e T h at leads us to sa y o f M arcel P ag n ol's
things in a d ifferent way. p lay s (even th o se o f Je a n G iraud ou x) that
W e shall see that this very p o in t - w h i c h th e y are n o t t h e a t e r - as film s w ith too m uch
critics still find d ifficu lty in accepting b u t d ialog u e are d escribed as n o t b ein g cin­
w h ich is o f fu n d am en tal i m p o r ta n c e - is a em a - b e c a u s e M arcel P a g n o l's dialogue,
sou rce o f e rro r and con fu sion in b rin g in g a m e a ty and p u n g en t, is liv in g spontaneous
w o rk o f fiction or theater to th e screen. d ialogu e w h ich d oes n o t in an y sen se sig­
A d ap ters b eliev e it is a m atter o f tran slating, n ify in th e theatrical sen se of th e w ord. It is
tran sferrin g as it w ere from on e cod e to an ­ d ialogu e b ro u g h t to the stage rath er than di­
other (both codes b ein g th e sam e expres­ alog u e о / the stage. It is too direct to b e the­
sio n - t h e verb al code), w h ereas it is in fact atrical, too verb ose to b e cinem atic, and
a m atter o f tran sferrin g fro m o n e fo rm to th ereb y reveals a double in com p atibility
another, i.e., tran sp osin g or reconstructing. w ith these tw o contrad ictory form s fo r h av ­
T o red uce Phedre or a n y oth er tra g ed y to in g tried to assim ilate them both. G irau-
its d ram atic fo u n d ation d oes n o t m ean d o u x 's texts are also preem in ently literary.
m erely stripping it of its theatricality (as T h e y are v erb a l artifices of th e m o st extrem e
Bazin b eliev es) b u t red u cing it to its m oti­ b rillian ce an d subtlety, b u t th ey describe
v ation s, its basic argu m en t, cu ttin g ou t (or patterns aro u n d the characters instead of
rem ov in g) a ll its expressiv e qu alities, i.e., d efin in g and sig n ify in g them . T h e y never
d en yin g everyth in g w h ich m ak es it w h at it succeed in becom ing identified w ith the
is, everyth in g w h ich gives it its valu e and actor; though h e m ay sp ea k the lines, h e can
m eaning: its very /orm. N ow , th is fo rm n ev er em b o d y them . T h a t b rin g s us to the
w h ich is th eatrical is w h o lly co n ta in ed in "p rese n ce o f the a cto r" - w h i c h is w hat
th e text, less in th e litera ry or p oetic q u ali­ gives th e verbal sig n ification its w hole
ties o f th e text (contribu ted b y th e p o et) m eanin g.
th a n in a m u ch m o re su b tle q u a lity con­ F o r H e n ri G ouhier, "w h a t d efines theat­
tained in these oth er q u alities (contribu ted ricality in its essence is the im p ossibility of
b y th e d ram atist). sep arating the action from the actor. T h e
C la ssica l traged ies ca n b e p la y ed again st stage p ro d u ces ev ery k in d o f illu sion ex­
a b ackgrou n d no m ore elab orate th an a cu r­ cept the illu sio n o f p re sen ce" (L'Essence du
tain. C reon can b e costum ed in a tuxedo and theatre). T hese id eas are d ebatable. B azin
it w ill pass unnoticed, since the w ord s h e to ok issu e w ith th em and there seem s little
speaks provid e th e evid en ce o f h is class, his p oint to add to h is rem ark s, especially since
personality, and h is clothes - as m u ch as his this "p re s e n c e " seem s as obviou s on the
thoughts or h is actions. A n d if M ith rid ate screen as it is on the stage. Yet, in the cin­
w ears arm or, if N ero n w ears a toga, if em a - a s w e h a v e said ov er and over again
Berenice and Titus are sh ow n speaking in the actor, in stead o f m o vin g w ith in a space
front o f b u ild in gs m ad e o f p la ster o f P aris, serving m erely as a fram ew ork , is actu ally
it is n o t to ap p eal to som e sen se o f realism part o f a space "c o m p o se d " w ith h im as
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D RAMA 319

one o f its elem ents; h e is in clu d ed w ithin b e ind icated w ith a p a u s e - " d e a d tim e ." It
it. T h e essence o f th e cinem a, apart from the m u st b e ad m itted th a t such pauses d o exist
m obility o f its p o in ts o f view , is w ith o u t a in the theater, b u t they are very short, since
d o u b t con tain ed in this in tim a te u n io n be­ any period o f silen ce quickly b ecom es b or­
tw een the h u m a n beings an d the w orld ing. T h e acto r d oes n o t think his speeches;
they live in. A ll the elem ents contained in he says them . A t least th e im pression g iven
the field o f th e ca m era -s c e n e r y , setting, is th a t th e th o u g h t is su d d en ly tu rned in to
objects, characters -c o n s t it u t e a u n ity of sp eech a t the very in stant it occurs. T h e
form in w hich and th rou g h w hich they are th o u g h t process, w h ich norm ally precedes
ind issolu b ly lin ked together. It is this im age sp eech , is therefore p resen t during the pro­
o f space w h ich en su res "p re se n c e " in the cess о / speaking, in such a w ay th a t the
cinem a w h ich, ev ery tim e th e film is pro­ w ords b eco m e a reality th rou g h th e actor
jected, revives a reality w h ose very unreal­ sp eaking them . T h e feelin g is n ot expressed
ity seem s m ore "r e a l" th a n th e reality of or tran slated by th e w ord s; it is created by
w h ich it is th e im age. th e m . "T h e h e ro ," R oland C a illo is w rites,
In th e theater, th e p resen ce o f th e a cto r is " is constan tly b e in g revealed to him self
a physical p resen ce. T h e actor liv es in the and to the audience in a con tin u al tran s­
same sp ace as th e a u d ie n c e - b u t n ot in the figuration o f h is in n er being. . . . W h en
sam e w orld. N ow , con trary to w h at hap­ M acb eth conju res up a w orld fu ll o f sou nd
pens in film , th is w o rld is a n artificial world. and fury, h e is actually co n ju rin g it up, like
T h u s the acto r is ab le to isolate h im self from a w izard , su rren d erin g to h is v isio n s as if
it, since there is n o lin k (other th an pu rely h e w ere h allu cin atin g : the im agery does
im aginary) b etw een h is ow n p h y sical real­ n o t so m u ch d escribe the w orld o f h is en ­
ity and the unreality o f the set representing v iro n m en t as the state o f m ind w h ich con ­
h is w orld. C onsequen tly h e is able to focus ju res it up . . . . E loqu en ce o f this kind is
the au d ien ce's attention exclu sively on him ­ incantatory, creatin g a w orld w h ich , so to
self; particu larly sin ce h is "p re se n c e " is not sp eak, tak es sh ap e on th e surface o f the
ju s t a p h y sical p resen ce; it is also the presence w ords an d gives them th eir reality. The
о / the drama in th e fo rm o f the presence о / the w o rld o f tragedy is revealed in th e speeches
speeches. So if p resen ce in the cin em a is the and is su blim ated b y th e m ."23
form al u n ity o f character and world, in the In th is p ersp e ctiv e, there is o n ly a d iffer­
theater it is the fo rm al u n ity o f actor and ence o f lev el b etw een traged y and drama.
speech, sp eech in physical form . T he actor in In can tation chang es places w ith exposition,
the theater is n o t acting a p a rt; h e is assuming b u t th e d ram a is still contained in the
a set o/speeches, i.e., h is ch a ra cter d efin ed by w ord s in su ch a w ay that the essence o f
the text. th eater d oes n o t really resid e in th e "p res­
T his m ean s th a t ju st as w ith film tim e, ence o f the a c to r" so m u ch as the presen ce
tim e in the th eater has n o con n ection w ith o f the sp eech es tu rn ed in to action b y and
real tim e. It is generally assum ed th a t a th rou g h th e actor, i.e., th rou g h w h om this
scene la sts as lo n g as it w o u ld "in rea lity " specific quality potentially con tained in the
becau se the tim e it tak es to say th e w ords w ord s finds expression. A n d it does so only
or m ake the gestu re is th e sam e on the stage on a stag e, in a p ro d u ction w h ich "rea liz e s"
as in life. T h at is as m ay b e. H ow ever, this th e p la y w rig h t's intentions.
is to ignore the "th in k in g tim e " preced in g T h eatrical d ialogu e is all th e m o re in ­
th e sp eech or actio n w h ich is n ot repre­ com patible w ith th e cinem a fo r b ein g
sented on the stage. T h in k in g tim e w ould obliged to express everyth in g, w hereas film
320 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

d ialogu e m u st on th e con trary ten d to w ard once an idea is given precedence over an image,
non significance, i.e., to w a rd an expression the image becomes redundant, /or the reason
in volved w ith w h a t is h ap p en in g on the that the image, as a means о / expression, is
screen b u t n o t in volved w ith an y tran scen ­ created /o r the purpose о / suggesting ideas - or
d ence. W h en tran scend en ce exists, it m ust a t least d ev elop in g th e n arrativ e w ith a
b e confined to th e im ag es exclusively. v ie w to w h a t is b ein g exp ressed a n d w h ich
T his n ecessity is related less to th e fact m u st assum e m eaning on ly th rou g h the ex­
th a t sp e ech in th e cin em a m u st n ecessarily pression. T h e film im age perform s in the
and d efin itiv ely b e su b o rd in ate to th e im ­ cin em a exactly th e sam e fu n ction w ord s do
ages fo r th e reason that the cin em a is based in th e theater. A film m a y b e consid ered as
o n visual con ten t than to the fact there is a a p lay ; its "c o n te n t" m a y b e b a se d on a
con stan t d e-sy n chronization o f tim e. A s w e con cen tratio n o f different tim es a n d spaces
have said, sev eral pages o f d escrip tion are - p r o v i d e d th e form s an d m etho d s o f sig­
necessary to describe th e con ten t o f a sin gle n ify in g are th o se o f film. O n th e other
shot. T h e h ero tellin g us h e is tired is m erely hand, though the role o f th e im age in film
repeatin g w h at is p la in ly v isib le in h is face, is sim ilar to the role o f w ord s in a play,
in the w a y h e is stan d in g or m o v in g - w it h b ecau se its p o w e r is com p letely different,
a cou p le o f second s ad ded on fo r us to re­ th e v isu al "d e v e lo p m e n t" o f a piece o f the­
alize the sign ifican ce o f w h at is b ein g sig n i­ ater ca n n o t h elp b u t d isto rt it. It is n ot pos­
fied. T h at explains w h y th e re is a constant sib le to s ig n ify w ith im ag es w h a t can be
d issociation b etw een th e tim e o f the visual sig n ified w ith w o rd s a n d v ic e versa.
expression w ith its com p arativ ely rap id M oreover, th o u g h tim e in th e theater is
rhythm s an d th e m ore g rad u al rh y th m o f th e "tim e o f th e sp e ech e s," tim e in th e cin­
sp eech . W ords, w h e n th e y a re n o t being em a is n o t (as som e p eop le seem to think)
used to support im ages, w h en th e y are ex­ "th e tim e o f th e a ctio n "; it is a tim e related
pressive in their own terms, crip p le the film , m ore to perception. Theatrical reality is an
w eig h d ow n its rh y th m . If a len g th o f tim e understood reality ; cinem atic reality is a per­
w ith o u t sp eech is in tolerable in th e theater ceived r e a lit y - w h ic h m eans th at the pro­
becau se it is "em p ty ," a len g th o f tim e con ­ cess o f in tellection is different in each.
tain in g on ly sp eech is in tolerable in th e cin­ In th e th eater, th e au d ien ce m em b er is
em a fo r the reason that th is len g th o f tim e on e o f a group o f p eop le b ro u g h t together
"stu ffed w ith w o rd s" b eco m es excessively b y com m on consent, and th e representa­
long. tion , p resu p p osin g a certain com plicity b e­
In n orm al life th is k in d o f dissociation is tw een acto r a n d au d ien ce, u n fo ld s as a kind
im perceptible, n o t m erely b ecau se w e act o f ritual. In d iv id u al p articip ation is as it
and speak freely b u t also b eca u se events w ere a reflection o f th e collective reaction.
occu r with us. In th e cinem a or th e theater, C o m m u n icatio n exists a t the level o f reason,
they o ccu r in fron t o f us a n d are d irected u n d erstan d in g , e sp ecia lly in v iew o f the fact
in to a series o f sig n ification s. T h e solu tion th a t a play presents th o u g h ts com plete in
therefore is to g iv e th e te x t an d th e im age them selves. T h e au d ien ce is alw ay s consid ­
entirely different roles to p e rfo rm , m ak in g erin g p rev iou sly org an ized thoughts. The
their signification s complement ea ch other, p la y w rig h t has alread y d o n e th e thinking.
react w ith e a ch o t h e r - a n d n o t to alternate T h e cin em a, o n the oth er h an d , denies
th em or m ake th em coincide. all com plicity. T h ere is n o m ore "co m m o n
D irecto rs in th e cin em a m u st start w ith cau se" b etw een a cto r a n d au d ien ce th an
a p rin cip le w h ich w e b eliev e to b e basic: b etw een th e m an in th e street a n d an o b ­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 321

server. T h u s every th in g ap p ears genuine w e m u st l e ^ to see, to k n o w h o w to inter­

b ecau se there is n o pretense. T h e aud ien ce p ret th eir m ean in g through w h at th e y show
is w itn ess to a d ram a w h ich in n o w ay - j u s t as w e m u st learn to read in ord er to
seem s to hav e b e e n m ad e fo r it. It is there th in k around w ords. T h e sam e is true o fN a -
b y chance; it ob serves an d b eco m es in­ tu re in w h ich th e u n tu tored m in d sees on ly
vo lv ed to th e extent th a t it a llo w s itself to com m on p laces, w h a t every on e has seen or
beco m e involved . h eard b efo re - w h ereas e v e n a little applica­
Each individual audience m ember, m ore­ tion w ill rev eal a w ea lth o f con tin u ally re­
over, is alone, b y h im self, looking at the n e w e d m ean in g s an d m arvels.
w orld p resen ted to him . Yet this iso lation In b rief, w e are present a t th e perform ance
d oes n o t sep arate th e ind ivid u al from the o f a play, w h ereas w e go to see a film w hich,
group. H e d oes n o t com m u n icate w ith his as w e h av e seen, is a presentation m ore than
fellow s, b u t h e sees an d feels with them , if a representation.
n o t like them. A k in d o f un derlying con­ In th e th eater, w e w atch ("listen to ") liv­
n ectio n is e stab lish ed b etw een audience in g characters ob jectiv ely an d p hy sically
m em bers sh u t u p w ithin their o w n con­ p resen t w h ereas, in the cin em a, w e "p roject
tem plation. A k in d o f in tersu b jectiv ism re­ o u rselv e s" on to a liv in g sh ad ow w h ich a b ­
places the ob jective u n an im ity of the sorb s o u r cap acities fo r dream ing. T h e au­
th e a te r -w h ic h is less con sciou s b u t w ith ­ d ien ce becom es th e su b ject o f w h at it is
ou t a d ou bt m ore p ro fou n d . C om m u nica­ seeing: it d u p licates itself an d w atch es it­
tion exists at the level o f feelings and self liv in g an im aginary existence. It is ob­
fascination. serv er an d ob serv ed b o th at the sam e tim e,
W hereas a p la y is u n d ersto od , a film is a consciou sness b eco m in g consciou s o f its
p erceived , accord in g to a continu ity in o w n subconscious b u t rem aining free to re­
w h ich th o u gh t, n o longer circum scribed m ove itse lf an d break th e spell.
and defined b y w ord s, is ab le to d evelop ex­ W ith v e ry little exag g eration (a m atter of
p lorin g m a n y d ifferen t potential avenues. p erson al taste), one m a y sa y that, in the
The circle is n o t closed , as in th e th e a te r; it cin em a, th e aud ien ce is alone before the
b eco m es exten d ed in an ever-w id en in g sp i­ w o rld in the sa m e w a y as the m ystic is
ral. F ilm d o es n o t req u ire its a u d ien ce to a lo n e b efo re G od . T h e cin em a thu s m a y b e
th in k specific th o u g h ts b u t to refine reg ard ed (p o ten tially a t a n y ra te) as a m ys­
th o u g h ts w h ich rem ain d elib erately vague. tery, in the ab sen ce o f religion. It is cosm ic
It requires th e h e lp o f th e a u d ien ce, asking in th e d eep est sen se o f the w ord , fo r if the
it to con trib u te som ething o f itself, som e­ th ea ter is a n in can tation w h ose p u rely ver­
th in g to b e d igested - a series o f relation­ bal m agic represen ts M a n 's d ialogu e w ith
ships an d m ysteries to b e un raveled . H ow ­ G od, the cin em a provides a platform to ob ­
ever, lik e N atu re, alw ay s th ere to b e seen, serve th e m agic o f reality. It lets u s into its
film d oes n o t ob lig e us to ^ ^ k . It is im ­ secret n o t th rou g h a n arb itrary and con v en ­
m ed iately chang ed , tran sform ed b y m ove­ tional represen tation b u t through an image
m ent. It allow s us to th in k w h a t w e like, о / the world w h ere reality w avers at the m ar­
w h ich is w h y m an y o f us stop th in k in g g in s o f its likenesses. D ialogu e is n o longer
w h en w e go to th e cinem a, b eliev in g that heard ; it is experienced.
n eith er film n o r film art ca n stim ulate It is clea r n o w th at th e p ro blem o f ad ap­
thought, th at th e cin em a is a p assiv e art; tatio n is n o t a p ro blem a t all. It is insolu ble
w hereas, in fact, it is q u ite th e reverse. H ow ­ in th e w a y it has b een interp reted so far,
ever, in ord er to th in k around th ese im ages, sin ce it is im p ossible to tran slate verbal into
322 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N EMA

v isu a l m ag ic, sin ce th e ir m eaning s, p er­ et la tentation Shakespearien n e2 quite rightly

sp ectiv es, and g en era l o u tlo o k are rad ically p o in ts out:
different.
O bv iously there is no d ifficu lty in ex­ though the representational resources at
p ressin g visu ally the tragic m ean in g o f a his disposal were limited, Shakespeare
could be relied on to extend to the limit
tra g e d y —Phedre, E lectra, C in n a —b u t the
the visual qualities of his speeches whose
very fact o f exp ressin g it v isu ally gives it
dramatic power so often depends on the
another signification. It is n o longer R acin e's, function of the words, their rhythm and
E u rip id es' or C o rn eille's trag ed y b u t an­ arrangement, to produce in the mind's
other traged y on th e sam e th e m e —a creation eye of the audience, a rich progression of
n o t an ad aptation. T o b e faithfu l to R acine imaginary film im ag es.. . . In the e t e ^ l
is to b e forced to illustrate h im ; and th ere­ struggle between showing and telling
fore falsify h im , sin ce to replace h is verses which has plagued the history of the the­
w ith im ages is to d estroy the m ea n in g of ater almost from the beginning, it would
his w ork, red u cin g it to a n argu m ent w ith seem that both Shakespeare and the cin­
n o greater or lesser valu e than a new sp ap er ema, following each of these contradic­
tory terms, have resolutely ignored the
head line. O n ce again th e o n ly solu tion is to
fact that a contradiction exists and have
keep th e orig in al p lay in tact and "s ta g e " it
increased the dramatic essence by bringing
using th e resources o f th e cinem a; b u t that together both showing and telling into a
is to plund er film techniqu es fo r the ben efit single integrated unity.
o f the th eatrical expression . A s B azin poin ts
ou t, "th e sp ecific co n trib u tio n o f the cinem a U nfortunately, though a p arallel m ay be
can on ly b e d efined in this co n tex t as an draw n b etw een a "lin g u istic art w hich, like
excess o f theatricality." S hak esp eare's, succeeds in giving the words
It co u ld b e arg u ed th a t classical theater th e m ag ical p o w er o f the im age and a n im -
(w hich w e b rou g h t in to the arg u m en t d e­ agistic art w h ich, lik e the cin em a, succeeds
lib erately so as to p rove th e p o in t) achieves in g ivin g th e im ag e th e suggestive pow er
its u ltim ate goal in its w ords. Shakespeare, o f w o rd s," it is a parallel b etw een tw o con­
o n the other hand , uses w ord s n o t as a n end trad ictory p ro c e sse s—a com p ariso n serv­
in th em selv es b u t as a m ean s to an end. In in g m erely to em p h asize their b u ilt-in
h is p lay s, th e sig n ification d eriv es fro m a antag onism . In fact, Shakesp eare d oes n ot
fiction w h ich is n o t confined m erely to its create a n "in teg rated u n ity " b etw een show ­
v e rb a l quality. In other w ord s, th o u g h R a ­ in g and telling b u t b etw een tw o form s
cin e and C orneille e x p ress a n in terio rity d e ­ w hich invite associatio n in order to pro­
fin e d and lim ite d b y w ord s, Shakesp eare duce a com p lem en tary sig n ificatio n —as
creates w ith w ord s a u n iv erse co n tain in g h a p p en s in the talk in g cinem a. In Shake­
th e feelin g s h e expresses. H e is d y n a m ic (a speare, the visual is a fu n c tio n o f telling; it
quality h e shares w ith th e Sp an ish p la y ­ exists w ithin the w ord s (th ough con tinu ally
w rights), w h ere as th e others are static, an d released, lik e scen t fro m a flow er): the
it has often b e e n said th a t h ad h e lived in im age depends on the verb al expression. O n
th e tw en tieth century, h e w o u ld h a v e b een th e oth er h an d , in a g oo d film it is the tell­
a film m aker rath er th a n a d ram atist. W e are in g w hich is within th e im ag e or w h ich de­
w illing to accep t t h i s - w i t h the p ro viso p en d s on a visual exp ression , in w h ich,
that w e shou ld rem em b er th a t h is m a ster­ con trary to ap p earan ces, Shakesp eare is
pieces are p lays and n o t film s. ju st as anticin em atic as R acin e or A eschy­
H enri L em aitre, in h is stu d y L e C inem a lus. O n e m ig h t ev en say th a t it is the m ost
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 323

ap p aren tly v isu al fo rm s (th is is true o f the only very occasionally, how ever, for, though
A m erican novel) w h ich have least in com ­ the film sta g in g provides a fram ew ork of
m o n w ith the cinem a, sin ce th e v isu al is au th en ticity to the tragedy, it tend s to strip
contingent o n a n on visu al exp ressio n and is the w ords o f th eir tran scen d en tal significa­
n o t a fa c t b u t a concept. tion. T h e v e ry fact th a t it gives the p la y 's
T h is is ob v iou s, p articu larly in film s h e ro a concrete existen ce m eans th a t th e n o­
w h ich m ig h t b e exp ected through th eir sub­ tio n o f tim e overturns verbal transcend ence
ject-m atter to b e m o re cinem atic: fairy tales. w ith in th e potential o f experien ced reality.
C ou ld an y th in g b e b etter suited th a n the And w ith o u t ever ceasin g to be tragic, the
cin em a fo r creatin g an im a g in a ry w orld - tragedy becom es a dram a; from b ein g m eta­
fo r tran slatin g A M id su m m er Night's D ream, p h y sical, th e m o tiv atio ns o f the characters
fo r exam p le? W ell, in fact, the opposite is becom e p sy ch olog ical.
true. P rod uced b y M ax R einhard t a t the W h erea s tim e in th e th e a te r is essen tially
D eu tsche Theater, th e w o rk was pure fairy th e tim e o f the w ord , i.e., th e speeches, in
tale b ecau se it w as based on the resources th e cin em a, a n y tim e n o t supp orted b y a
o fth e th eater an d realized in the p erspective con crete a c tio n is a d ead w eig ht. Thinkin g
o f th e stage. D irected o n film , also b y M ax in th e cin em a is a fu nction of reality, the
R einhardt, w ith a b rea d th unrealizable on transcend ence a fu n ction o f im m a n e n c e -
the stage and w ith the aid o f various film the exact opposite o f w hat happen s in the the­
techniqu es su p p osed to p ro v id e a visu aliza­ ater. T h at explains w h y it is im p ossible to
tio n o f Sh ak esp ea re's fa n ta sy w o rld , the m ak e a tran sp osition o f fo rm from one to
w hole illu sio n collap sed . A choice has to be th e other. N o t on ly are th e valu es o f an other
m ade: eith er a g en u in ely film ic fan tasy order b u t th e y act in diam etrically opposite
w orld is established , an u n reality w h ich directions.
on ly th e cin em a can p r o d u c e - in w hich T h e o n ly a v e n u e le ft, therefore, is an a rt
case Sh akesp eare is trad u ced , in th a t the o f rep resentation w h ic h con sists in stag in g
fantasy w orld thus created is n o lon g er as­ a p la y u sin g th e techniqu es o f th e cinem a,
sociated w ith its verbal expression, w ith a ccep tin g m eanw h ile that th is w ill autom a­
term s involving a forest painted o n stage tically m e a n a loss to the original p lay in
flats and d o n k ey h e a d s m a d e ou t of card- tran scen d en ce b u t a g ain in im m anence
b o a r d - o r else th e p la y is respected (w hich and that, th o u g h th e resu lt m a y be a film ,
is w h at Reinhardt d id , gam bling on th e spec­ th e w o rk w ill alw ay s rem ain essentially
tacular cap acities o f film ) an d it is au tom at­ theatrical.
ically d estroyed b y an absu rd cardboard F ilm reality, in con stan t conflict w ith a
fairyland totally o u t o f place in the cinem a. m etaphysical transcendence expressible only
L au rence O livier an d O rso n W elles, the in w ord s, op ens onto social-ty p e values,
on ly valid ad ap ters to date, u nderstood this rep resented b y objective an d concrete rules
o n ly too w ell. T h e y tu rn ed th eir b ack s on g ov ern in g th e b eh av io r o f th e characters.
ad ap tation and used th e cin em a m erely as T h e tragic th e n assum es a n e w appearance,
a n e w m eth o d o f staging. realistic ra th er th an conceptual. It belongs
T h e m a in in terest lies in th e exten sion of to a collective im perative w h ich oppresses
tim e, n o t p o ssib le o n the stage. T h e p la y is or lim its in d iv id u a l freed om o f action, to the
enhanced b y a n u m b e r o f m o m en ts w here struggle betw een these tw o basic require­
th e characters d o n o t speak b u t act and m en ts an d to th eir resolution in a satisfac­
think in su ch a w a y th a t w h at they say is to ry stability.
explained b y their behavior. T h is happens T here is th erefore n o p u rp ose in looking
3 24 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

fo r in sp iratio n in p la y s w h ose su b ject m at­ tan ce o f a flu id ecritu re w h ic h u p to th en it

ter and m otivations are outm oded and w hich, had n o t b een ab le to develop a n d , m ore es­
being th eatrical, can find th eir m ean in g and pecially, a representation tim e capable o f in ­
ultim ate objective o n ly in w ords. teg ratin g a relativ ely con sisten t duration.
Ju st a s a n o v el cou ld n ev er b e w ritten in
L iteratu re an d C in em a th irty p ag es, so th e expression o f th a t sam e
n o v el could n o t b e expected to b e en com ­
A ll the sam e, w e shou ld n o t fo rg et th at, p a ssed w ith in th e space o f sixty m inutes'
th o u gh the cin em a is a cod e, a n ecr itu r e, ex­ ru n n in g tim e. T h is lim itation, im posed on
pression in th e cinem a con sists in sig n ify in g film fo r m an y years, w as the reason it stuck
w ith a reality alread y end ow ed w ith m ean ­ to th e norm s o f th e short-story form . T h e
in g o f its ow n. A certain reality is presen ted b etter film m akers su cceed ed in creating an
as existin g w ith in a certain sp ace and fo r a a esth etic p rin cip le from this lim itation in­
certain tim e. In o n e w a y or another, it is a stead o f u sin g ab su rd d ev ices to try to over­
spectacle w h ich is b ein g com posed. com e it (w e saw h ow episod ic film s w ere
T o d irect a film is to organize a serie s o f able to fill in tim e o n ly b y using action for
elem en ts stag ed fo r th e p u rp o se o f certain action's ^sake). T he m odel provid ed b y the
an ticip ated sign ification s; w h ich m eans th eater of a relativ ely concentrated struc­
th at the cinem a can b e ecritu re o n ly to the ture w as p erfect fo r k eep in g the dram atic
e xten t that it is first a spectacle. p rogression w ith in the lim its necessary for
T h is d efin itio n p laces th e cin em a exactly its best expression: im p arting th e m axim um
m id w ay b e tw e e n th e a te r an d literatu re, in­ a m o u n t o f inform ation in the m inim u m p e­
sofar as it has features o f b o th incorporated riod o f tim e.
w ithin it; b u t it also clearly in d icates th ose T h e refinem ent o f m eth o d s and tech­
areas w h ere it is d ifferen t from them . n iqu es o f v isu al exp ressio n , th e arrival o f
B ecause its expression d ep end s o n the th e talk ies, th e extension o f projection tim e
s ta g in g o f an action to b e d ev elo p ed , the (from 60 to 90 an d then to 120 or m ore m in­
cin em a w as m o n op o lized , at th e b eg in n in g , u tes o f ru n n in g tim e) gave th e cinem a the
b y directors from th e theater, or else w as o p p ortu n ity to free itself from the stru c­
placed un der the protection o f th e all-p ow ­ tures o f th e th eater and m ove p ro g ressiv ely
e rfu l theater. We sa w h o w film ed theater fu rth e r tow ard an exp loratio n o f tim e itself.
w as ab an d o n ed o n ly to b e replaced b y sto­ W e k n o w that the first film to fo llow
ries told in im ag es d om inated b y th e sam e ch a ra cter d e v e lo p m e n t-in d u c e d b y social
cau se-and -effect stru cture o f d ram a and b y an d en vironm ental in flu en ces (an analysis
its in ev itab le progression tow ard a h a p p y m ad e p o ssible o n ly th ro u g h th e represen­
or u n h ap p y ending. tatio n o f a h om og en eo u s d u r a tio n )-w a s
T raged y n o t o n ly b en efits fro m b e in g cast E ric Von S tro h eim 's G reed, sh ot in 1924
in such a m old: it is its p recon d ition. Yet the fro m F ran k N o rris's nov el. T h e original
cinem a h ad ab so lu tely n o n eed o f this kind version w as to h a v e run fo r eig h t h o u rs, in
o f stru cture - esp ecially sin ce it rem ov es the tw o p a r t s - b u t it w as n e v e r edited. W ith a
ev en t from the flow o f tim e w h ich , sin ce it n u m b er o f s c e n e s h a ck e d ou t o f i t - a g a i n s t
is p o ten tially cap ab le o f d oin g so, it sets it­ th e d irecto r's w i s h e s - t h e version th a t w e
s e lf the task o f exp lorin g or tra n sla tin g . This know today, cut dow n to four hours, in­
capacity, contained w ithin its v ery n atu re, clu d es a n u m b er o f title card s, there to ex­
rem ain ed at th e hy p o th etical lev el, h o w ­ plain th e m issing scenes. 25 But this does n ot
ever. To im p lem en t it, it requ ired the assis­ alter the fa ct th a t th e film is a m asterp iece -
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 325

th e first scre e n m a ste rp iece in n o v e l form . h e r hum anity. T h e dram a tran scend s m ere
T h e fact th at the film w as a ^ ^ im g point n a tu ra lism , b u t this is n o t th e reason it w as
in the h isto ry o f th e cin em a is reason for us an im p ortan t film . G reed w as above all the
to d evote a few w ords to it. first film w ith a g enu ine duration: a feeling
M cTeague, a ro u g h d iam on d w ith a o f tim e p assin g . E ven com pared to m odern
h eart o f g o ld , w o rk s in a g o ld m in e and p ro d u ction s, it is on e o f those rare film s
lives in p en u ry w ith h is m other. O n e day w h ere th e characters are in a perpetual state
h e leav es th e area in ord er to learn a real o f evolu tio n .
p rofession w ith a trav elin g d entist. H e sets S tro h eim 's realistic intentions are evi­
up practice in Sa n Fran cisco and prospers. d en t righ t from the start in the fact th at the
W ealthy, h e m arries Trina Siep p e, a G er­ film w a s sh ot in th e actu al locations w h ere
m an im m ig ran t's daughter, h av in g w on th e action is su p p osed to tak e place. M ore­
five thousand d ollars in a sw eep stake, over, th e characters and their obsessions
m ak in g T rina's p reviou s b o y frien d (M ar­ are n o t p ath o lo g ical od d ities. T h ey are
cu s Schoulder) m ad w ith jealousy. N ow , h u m an b ein g s id entified w ith the environ­
M cTeagu e is not p ro fessio n a lly qualified; m e n t w h ich m akes them w h at they are and
h e is reported to the au th orities b y Schou l- is th e basic cau se o f their m o ral defects. It
der and h e h as to sh u t d ow n h is practice. is a p erfect rep resen tatio n o f the po verty
H e is o u t o f w o rk an d Trina, alw ay s thrifty, afflictin g the proletariat an d low er m iddle
b eco m es pen n y-p in ch in g . H e g e ts d run k classes in a large u rb a n agglom eration (San
and b eats h er regularly u n til o n e d ay he Francisco) aro u n d th e tu rn o f the century.
goes too far and k ills her. H e escap es w ith T h e m isery M cTeagu e feels in b ein g o u t o f
the savin gs th at Trina h a d b een keep in g w o rk an ticip ates th a t o f The B icycle Thief.
h id d en fro m h im . M arcus sets off after him . H ow ever, th e ^ m 's realism is in fact a sub­
T h ey h av e a show d ow n in the m iddle o f a je ctiv e realism intensified b y Stroh eim 's
d esert w ith th e su n b ea tin g d o w n o n them v e ry strong tem peram ent, occa sio n a ly going
rem orselessly. M cTeagu e k ills M arcu s b u t so far as to caricature his ch a ra cters' beh av­
n o t b efo re M arcu s h a s m an ag ed to slip a ior. F or in stance, T rina's thrift b ecom es a
p air o f h and cu ffs o n ^ m . T h e k e y to the m o n strou s o b session ; s h e starves and
hand cuffs be lost in th e stru ggle and freezes herself to death, fin ally sleeping
M cTeague is fastened to th e corp se o f his n a k ed o n gold coins w h ich sh e lays o n her
enem y. H e drags it beh in d h im fo r several p allet. Lust, greed , v iolence, and passion
m iles u n til h e falls d ow n exhau sted to die. th rou g h o u t th e film cu t through illusion
The fact th a t a g rea t m a n y seq u en ces and and preju d ice. S ocial taboos, incapable o f
seco n d ary characters w ere cu t m ak es cer­ con tain in g th e v io le n ce o f a m a n pulled
tain p assag es com pletely in com p reh en si­ th is w a y an d th at b y the contrad ictions o f
b le, esp ecially sin ce th e K erk ow -M aria and society, are con tin u ally b rok en b y scandal,
M iss B a k er-O ld G ran n ie pairings w ere sup­ m u rd er, blasphem y, dream s and m adness,
p osed to h av e a b earin g o n th e d ev elop m en t p assio n and d eath.
o f the M cTeague-Trina p airin g and g ive the O n e ca n sa y th at b efore G reed, p sy ch o l­
film the solid ity o f the n o v e l's constru ction o g y in th e cinem a w as rather cru d e (psy­
lack in g in th e projected version. It be th e ch olog y p resu p p o sin g a d evelopm en t in
story o f a couple becom ing estranged, hu m an tim e). In G reed, the characters start to get
beings d egrad ed b y poverty, an d lo v e that o n each o th e r's n erves, irritate and provoke
has turned to d u s t T rina's lust fo r gold , an each other, becom e jealo u s, reveal each
obsession w h ich little b y little robs h er o f all o th e r's secrets, escape into is o la tio n -a n d ,
 326 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

eventually, w hen b rou g h t fa c e to fa ce edy, to v e rb a lism —i f n o t alw ay s to theatri­

again, k ill each other. E ach character sinks cality. W e had to wait sev eral years before
deeper and deeper into his ow n isolation, an effort to d e-d ram atize the cinem a w as
despair, ob session , or hatred . T im e show s m ade, a definite m ove tow ard th e m ean in g
itself in the d estru ction it w reaks. A nd by o f th e n arrativ e and to stru ctu res borrow ed
details u n d erg o in g m inu te changes: objects fro m th e novel. H ow ever, to con ceive a film
p lay an en orm ou s p art, an d th ere are no "as a n ov el" is on e thing, to adapt a piece
tw o shots in w h ich the characters and ob­ o f literatu re is quite another; so m u ch so
jects are the sam e. T here is nothing re­ th a t th e resu lt is g en erally contrary to w hat
m o tely sim ilar b etw een the y o u n g girl at is expected.
the start o f the film and th e old h a g at the T h e apparent sim ilarity betw een film and
end , u g ly and full o f w ick ed little w ays, the n o v el in their resp ectiv e progressions
b etw een the h an d som e confid ent M cTeague (d evelopm ent o f tim e, n arratio n o f a series
at the b eg in n in g and the p a u n ch y old soak o f m ore or less chro nolog ical events, etc.)
at the end , ou t o f b reath and vom iting. T h e p ro v id ed th e stim u lu s fo r film m akers to
ind ications o f atm o sp h eric cond itions are b rin g w o rk s o f fictio n to th e screen , in the
also quite rem arkable. S tro h eim succeeds same w ay as the apparent sim ilarity betw een
in m ak ing the d ifferen t h ou rs o f th e day their d ram atic stru ctu res had prom pted
perceptible accord in g to the seaso n or th em to p u t plays on to film .
m o n th o f the year. T h e d irection w e h a v e ju s t described
Instead o f a theatrical (in th e d ram atic (the extension o f th e representation tim e)
sen se) cinem a, Stro h eim created an art of sh ou ld h a v e p r o v id e d - o r so it see m e d —
narrativ e and a realism o f d u ration and an op p ortu n ity fo r m ak in g m o re perfect
ov ertu rn ed all the popular ten ets o f the and m ore precise ad aptations o f the great
tim e. T h e film has som e ob viou s faults. w o rk s o f fiction. L eaving aside fo r the m o­
T h e re is evid en ce, in so m e parts, o f a rath er m en t th e d ifficu lties o f organizing the con­
naive use o f sym bolism , follow in g the con ­ ten t in a genuinely film ic way, w e sh all see
tem p orary cin em atic cliches; b u t they are th a t th is never in fact h ap p ened , for the
u n im p ortan t details. T h e w o rk ov erall w as sim ple reason th a t it is ju st n o t possible.
tw e n ty years ah ead o f its tim e in term s of A d ap tatio n to b e g in w ith (w hether o f
exp osition and d ev elop m en t o f plot, if n ot p lay s or n o v e ls) w a s n o m o re th a n a guar­
its m etho d s o f sig n ify in g (th ou gh its sig­ antee o f q u ality w h ich the repu tation o f the
nifications are in h eren tly con tain ed in the w o rk adapted w a s supp osed to lend the
au then ticity o f th e facts). T h e m ed iation fitm . The cin em a 's cla im to be art depend ed
achiev ed th ro u g h these facts is a conse­ o n th e a m o u n t o f art in jected in to it.
quence o f their d irect m ean in g and n o t an T h o u g h d istorted b y th e tran slation, the
ed iting tech n iqu e o r pictorial com p ositio n o rig in al w o rk retain ed its potential pow er
- a s w as th e case in th e m ajority o f pic­ even w h en it w as b ein g caricatured , im ­
tures at th e tim e. In the w h ole o f the sile n t pressing the stam p o f its qu ality on the film
cinem a, it is th e on ly exam p le o f realistic it inspired , g iv in g it the necessary aesthetic
expression and exp ressio n o f tim e (though w arran ty b u t inevitably p o in tin g u p the
K in g V id o r's The C row d is com parable to it con g en ital in ferio rity o f an art totally de­
in several r e s p e c t s - b u t th e n on ly a t a rel­ p e n d en t on it.
atively m in or level). A t first, b eca u se th ey w ere very short,
We saw h o w talkies established their ad ap tation s w ere n o m ore than recordings
credentials at th e s ta rt b y retu rn in g to c o m ­ o n film (generally m ediocre in all respects:
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 327

d irecting, a ctin g , set d esig n , etc.) o f various n o v e l adapted. Th ese, how ever, are rare ex­
fam ous h istorical e v e n t s - a k ind of cru de ceptions. M oreover, if they are outstandin g,
illu stratio n sim ila r to th e new sp ap er com ic it is o n ly because o f th eir u se o f p arallel
strip. H ow ever, if w e pass ov er these first seq u ences, i.e., seq u ences exp ressin g som e­
fa lte rin g steps an d m o v e o n to the film s of th in g en tirely d ifferen t from th e specific
the tw en ties (and, m oreover, th e m ajority c o n ten t w h ich w as their starting point.
o f talk in g film s), w e notice that th e ad apta­ Ind eed , w h eth er o f plays or n ov els, ad­
tio n o f a n o v el alm o st alw ay s con sisted in a p tation s start fro m the absurd principle
red u cin g it to th e d im en sio n s o f a sh o rt th a t th e values signified exist in d ep en ­
story, o r to its b asic p lo t lin e, strip p in g it o f d en tly o f the exp ressio n w h ich presents
its q u a lity as a n o v e l, its density, its sen se th em to the a u d ien ce's eyes o r ears. In the
o f tim e. con text o f a single sy stem o f signs (the
In th e b est o f th e m , it w as a d ig e st o f sam e lan g u ag e or code) th is m a y w ell hold
the events o rg a n iz e d in to a d ram atic se ­ true. B u t w h en cu ttin g from one system to
quence, ju s t like a p la y in th e theater. The another, the values are b ou n d to change.
flow o f tim e w as therefore con g ealed in to Since the significations are d ep en d ent upon
a succession o f "m o m e n ts" and the char­ th e p a rticu la r sy stem ad op ted , th e sam e el­
acter p sy ch o lo g y w as tran slated b y an em en ts tak e o n totally different m eanings
overabu ndan ce o f w ords w h ic h d ep rived an d th e n atu re o f the th in g s signified b e­
th e im ages o f the little th e y h ad left to say. com es to tally altered.
E verything w a s red u ced to its essence and It is p ractically sp eaking im p ossible to
o n ly the skeleton rem ained . T h e im ages, express in w o rd s w h a t Leon ard o da V inci
w h ich d id n o m o re th a n d escrib e and lo ­ expresses with fo rm and color in T he Virgin
cate th e action, reflected a con ten t orga­ o f the R ocks. O b v io u sly th e p a in tin g can be
nized in v iew o f a series o f literary sig ­ d escribed , its con ten t su m m arized , its sig­
nifications; b u t, b ein g d ep en d en t o n th e nification s listed , and its aesthetic or
fo rm w h ich gave th em th e ir m ean in g , they m etap h y sical co n seq u en ces analyzed . A t a
cou ld m ake th em selv es fe lt o n ly th rou g h stretch, it is even p o ssib le to cap tu re in
th eir absence. Trim m ed d ow n , p ru n ed , and w ord s the sig n ification s w h ich it constructs
bow dlerized in this way, all th a t rem ained - b u t n o t to signify the sam e thing, to create
o f the n o v el w as a sk etch y m o vem en t d i­ id en tical sig nifications, achieve w ith a ver­
rected tow ard a p recon ceived purpose. In bal exp ressio n th e latent con ten t m ak in g it
sh ort, fro m a rich an d com p lex w o rk , a m e­ w h at it is. D ep en d en t o n a m ed iation, i.e., a
diocre p lay was d raw n , an d from th e p la y w a y o f interp retin g and stru cturing the
an even m o re m ed io cre film . w o rld , this valu e can e x ist o n ly in term s of
These are the fau lts, on e m ig h t say, o f a th e fo rm w h ich creates it and gives it ite
m eth o d b ased o n theatrical thinking. It is m ean in g: th e inform ation sp ecifically con ­
n o t in conceiv able th a t th ere sh o u ld b e an veyed b y p a in t in g - t h a t p articu lar p ain t­
ad ap tation m ethod o f the sa m e stand ard as ing. A n y oth er m ean s o f expression d escrib­
an art able to sign ify n o t ju s t the p assag e of ing o r say ing the sam e thing is b o u n d to give
tim e b u t also the attend ant ch ang es in char­ th a t sam e th in g a differen t m eaning, a d iffer­
acter m otivation. A n d it is tru e th a t certain e n t signification. Baudelaire (in L es P hares)
adaptations hav e produced film s w h ich , w as o n ly able to tran slate an em otion al
w h ile m ain tain in g a h ig h level o f cinem atic equ iv alen ce, relating m ore to a style th a n to
tech n iq u e, hav e succeeded in tran slatin g at a p a in tin g - a n d th at w as Baudelaire.
least o n e o r tw o o f the m ain ideas o f the T o tra n sp o se a w o rk fro m o n e m ode of
328 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN THE C I NE MA

expression into another, to adapt it, is to time change its development, transform its
assume that there is an equivalence be­ data, alter its structures, as thoughthe spirit
tween the signifieds, overlooking the dif­ and the letter were two completely separate
ference between the significations - squar­ entities able to be superimposed or dissoci­
ing the circle. Not only do signs or symbols ated, when it is quite obvious that both of
used in different expressions have different them constitute a body of facts, expressions
powers o f expression or signification but they and significations whose interdependence
also have different ways of appealing to is always apparent. To betray the letter is to
the consciousness. They are not perceived betray the spirit, for where else does the
in the same way; the mental processes spirit exist but in the letter?
which they conjure up do not operate in The only possible solutions are these: Ei­
the same way; their conceptual perspec­ ther you follow the story step by step, put­
tives are not the same. ting it into images while taking care not to
Thus to try to transpose literary meth­ build significations through some purely
ods of expression into cinematic ones is literary device, in order not to express any­
nonsensical. Whichever way he ^ ro s, the thing alien to it; attempting to translate not
adapter confronts the same d i l e ^ ^ . Ei­ significations (since they exist in the words)
ther he remains true to the letter: he follows but whatever is signified by the words. Film
step by step the progression of the novel, then stops being creation and expression
the chain of events, in such a way that it and becomes representation and illustra­
remains completely intact; even so, the fact tion. Or else you forget your duty to the au­
that these events are being expressed visu­ thor and start from scratch, giving a totally
ally means that there is a difference in what different progression and meaning to his
is being signified from the novel, a distor­ original subject matter. You create your own
tion of its meaning determined by a literary personal work from the author's using the
expression which alone conforms with the original merely as inspiration. But then you
author's original intention. Either way, he forfeit your right to refer to the original.
is continually forced to betray the novelist In the first case, the film may be more
with the very elements he uses to tell the than a simple collection of im ag es-b u t it
story, believing all the while that he is serv­ is never more than a vehicle. With the
ing them. Or else he remains faithful to the significations removed, the adapter is free
"spirit" of the novel, i.e., he tries to express to compose with meaningful images, i.e.,
similar ideas or feelings using different images which at the level of the set, light­
means. Inevitably, however, he finds that he ing, plastic structures, characters' behavior
has to upset the continuity of the novel, and action, create a general impression con­
change the information, the circumstances, forming with the impression the words set
the characters; and here too he ends up out to evoke. In other words, at the level of
betraying the author's intentions. To men­ the m ise-en-scene-i.e., the composition of
tion adaptation in this context would be a the dramatic space—the adapter creates the
breach of confidence, for the film, whatever world suggested by the novel, its atmo­
its other merits, has nothing whatsoever to sphere, its context, and then ^ ts is recorded
do with the original work which it claims by the camera. It is a signified, interpreted
to reflect. reality that is recorded: the quotient, as it
It would need some rather strange rea­ were, of the verbal significations insofar as
soning to believe that it is possible to remain they are limited to description.
true to the spirit of a novel and at the same This is an art not to be underestimated:
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 329

a n art o f effacem ent, renu n ciation, scru pu­ th e w o rld of th e n o v el in to im ages. In eith er
lou s fid elity to the o rig in al w o rk and, case, the cin em a can o n ly record a w orld
th o u g h incap able o f tran slating th e d eeper w h ich is alread y si^gnified, act as a vehicle
m ean in g s an d p ro v id in g aesthetic equ iv a­ fo r it. W h en it attem pts (alm ost alw ays u n ­
len ces (for th e reasons w e h av e ju st e n u ­ su ccessfu lly) to sig n ify th e sam e th in g s, it
m erated ), at least cap ab le o f produ cing a cannot help b u t clash w ith the m ethods of
w o rth y reflection. th e p lay w rig h t or the novelist.
T h e m o st n o tab le su ccesses in this genre T h is said, there is n oth in g to stop the
have been D av id L ea n 's film s ad ap ted from film m ak er from u sin g a p la y or novel as in­
G reat E xpectations a n d O liver Twist. The im ­ spiration. B u t if h e totally tran sform s the
ag es seem to ju m p rig h t o u t o f the p a g e s of o rig in al w o rk , the m o st b a sic honesty re­
th e novel and, h ere an d there, it is possible quires th a t h e should n o t h id e beh in d its
to recognize little flash es o f D ick en s's style title an d u se its rep u tatio n to en han ce his
an d m anner. ow n. H e m u st tak e resp o n sib ility fo r h is
A t a h ig h er lev el w e fin d L e Jou rn al d'un w ork. La F on tain e o ften h a d recou rse to
cu red e cam pagne. A n d y et, ap art fro m certain A esop's fables. H e d id n o t tran slate them .
equivalences o f tone an d sp irit b elong in g to H e b o rro w ed th e o d d th em e, hom ily, or an­
the im ages (th ough B resso n occasionally ecd ote b u t o n ly in o rd er to create h is ow n
com es close to sig n ify in g w h at B em an os p erson al w ork. W h en w ritin g L e Cid, C or­
h ad in m ind), it is th e text w h ich shines n eille d id n o t stoop to adapt G u ilh en de
through. T h e im a g es, contin u ally recessed C astro or e v e n th e R om ancero, e v en thou g h
from th e th o u g h ts th e y supp ort, create the h e w as obviou sly inspired b y them . R a­
atm osphere, the context, d escribe the facts, c in e's P hedre is as d istin ct from Euripides'
d o n o t su g g est a great d eal (appropriately H ippolytu s as h is t le c tr e is from Sophocles.
enou gh) an d re ly o n th e com m en tary to L iterature abound s w ith exam p les o f this
lo o k into th e soul o f th e p r ie s t - w h o , m ore­ k in d , b u t never has a w riter w orthy o f the
over, exp loits it to tell his story. T h e n o v el's n a m e claim ed to ad ap t th e w o rk o f a p red e­
m eaning con tain ed in th e w o rd s is fo u n d in cessor, and sin ce a n u m ber o f film m akers
the verb al ap p aratu s o f the film ;sm a ll w on­ w ith th eir cu stom ary m o d esty com pare
der. O n e m ig h t say that th e im ages add to th em selv es to R acin e or Shak esp eare, there
the text, exte n d it, illu m in ate it; b u t that is is n o th in g to stop t h ^ d oing likew ise.
the m o st o n e could exp ect w h ile they re­ W h en th a t hap p ens, th o u g h th e y m ig h t be
m a in faith fu l to th e v erb a l significations. d ig g in g o v e r th e sa m e groun d as Tolstoy or
T h e im ages in clu d e b u t d o n o t tran slate the D ostoyevsky, Flau b ert or Z ola, or som e
verbal significations. To have created visual other lesser w riter, w e m ig h t b e able to think
significations w o u ld h a v e b e e n to c re a te a o f them as g en u in ely creative. P rovided, of
different film , to u se a different structure, cou rse, th ey h av e th e com m on m o d esty and
different situations. M a y b e it w o u ld have h u m ility to indicate th eir sources.
b een p o ssib le to p resen t sim ilarities, b u t it A d ap tatio n n ow ad ay s is n o m ore th a n a
w ou ld never b e th e novel and certainly com m ercial venture. T h e cinem a n o longer
n ever Bernanos. T h e p ersp ectiv es w o u ld n eed s to h id e b eh in d the resp ectability of
h av e b ee n co m p le te ly different. literatu re, as it d id previou sly; y et a large
Ju st as th e ad ap tation o f a p la y (if the m ajority of th e cin em a-going p u blic still
intention is to resp ect it) is in ev itab ly re­ think s th a t if a m asterpiece is b ro u g h t to
duced to film in g th e o rig in al play, so the th e screen, the film is a t le a st assured o f a
ad ap tation o f a b ook is red uced to p u ttin g b a sic q u a l it y - a s thou g h th e qualities o f a
330 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

m asterpiece cou ld b e tran sferred b y a sim ­ o n e - e x c e p t in th e w a y w h ich Z ola de­

p le m ech an ical process! scribes an d w ith th e characters h e presents,
Film p rod u cers b a n k on th e p u b lic's cre­ w h ose v e ry existen ce depends on the tim e
dulity and could not care less about w hether in w h ich th e y live and on their backgrou nd.
or n o t their ad ap tation s are tru e to the T h is ty p e o f ad ap tation is ev id ence once
novel. A ll th ey n eed is the title. A s lo n g are a g a in o f a stupid m iscon cep tion w hich
the p u b licity p o sters read "H e n ry Fond a con sists in th in k in g that th e d ram atic ac­
and A u d rey H ep bu rn in W ar and Peace," tion , the su b stance o f the novel and the
th e y can go ah ead an d sh oo t w h atev er they ch aracters, are p erm an en t valu es incapable
like, since it is certain th at it is n o t War and o f b ein g distorted, easily tran posable from
Peace th at th e p u blic w ill w an t to see b u t one in frastru ctu re to another. Yet the struc­
H e n ry Fon d a in h is latest role. tures w h ich g ive th e n ov el its h u m an sig­
H ow ever, th is ty p e o f film h a s v e ry little nificance, its p sy ch o lo g ical authenticity,
to d o w ith w h at w e are d iscu ssin g here. So d ep en d on th e infrastru ctu re on w h ich it
let us lea v e it fo r w h a t it is w o rth , p a u sin g is based . W h e n th is is rem oved , it becom es
m eanw h ile o v er th e oth er m eth o d o f ad ap ­ a m ere abstraction, a hy p o th etical dram a
tation, w h ich co n sists in transposing in time w h ich h as n o real value.
a w o rk o f fiction, retain in g th e o rig in al T here is n o th in g to sa y that a sim ilar
structure and fo llo w in g its d ev elopm en t. d ram a co u ld n o t con ceiv ab ly tak e place in
T his type o f ad ap tation bord ers o n lu n a cy m o d e rn tim es. B u t it w o u ld presuppose
or im becility. In e ith er case, it sh ow s a pro­ other circu m stances, a n altog eth er different
found con tem p t fo r th e o rig in al w o rk w h ich state o f m ind, an d th e associations o f a so­
it exploits, or else a com plete lack o f u n d er­ ciety different in every w a y from the soci­
stan d in g o f its ch aracteristic qualities. e ty o n w h ich Z o la 's novel is based . C on se­
W h en a d irector ad ap ts Therese Raquin q u en tly a d ram a o f th is k in d w ou ld bear
fo r the screen, fo r in stance, h e is n o t con ten t n o relation to Z o la 's novel. al the intention
m erely to tran sform its deepest m eanings is to change the w hole infrastructure, there
using h is ad ap tation, he m u st also b rin g the is n o p u rp o se in search in g fo r it.
action up to date. O b v io u sly h e retains the T h e sam e could b e said o f a n y novel. A
situations, the m o tiv e s—w h ich th e new n o v el b reath es life in to som eth in g m ore
con text d oes not alter p articu larly — and he th a n m e r e abstractions: ov erlap p in g in tim e
reintrod uces th e characters as th e y are w ith and space, the characters w h ich it presents,
their p erson alities and m en talities intact. th eir custom s and th eir d ram a, cannot be
A n d on this b asis con tem p oraries o f Ju les rem ov ed from their con text excep t b y los­
G rev y are su p p osed to b e liv in g in 1960. in g their authenticity, th eir value and their
H ow ever, from th at m om en t, all cred ibility m eanin g.
is lost, sin ce the h e ro e s' state o f m in d is "E v e ry su b je ct," G o eth e w rote, "d ictates
characteristic o f the m ann ers and preoccu­ to its au th o r its id eal corresp o n d in g fo rm ."
p ations o f th e p ro vin cial m iddle class A pred eterm in ed con ten t c a n fin d its per­
around 1880. fect expression o n ly in a form w h ich has
im fact, ou tsid e th is con text, Therese also b een p red eterm in ed , in other w ords,
Raquin stops being Therese Raquin and b e ­ in an art ap p rop riate to th a t con ten t an d
com es m e re ly a d ram a w ith tw o lovers get­ th a t form .
ting rid o f an u n w anted hu sb an d and being N atu ra lly a sin g le con ten t is capable of
torm ented w ith rem orse, a situation w h ich gen eratin g m an y d ifferent m eanings. But
could hap p en an y w h ere a t a n y tim e to an y ­ these are d eliberately contriv ed m eanings
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RA M A 331

w h ich control th e fo rm in p ro p ortio n to the w ith a film totally u n con nected w ith the
extent they d e p e n d o n it. A sin gle con ten t w o rk w h ich inspires it, it is p aten tly n ot
m ay b e treated in a hu n d red different w ays the case w ith an adaptation. A w o rk o f art
and each one w ill g ive it a different m eaning. - b e it a play or a n o v e l- c a n n ev er be
W e are in com plete ag reem en t w ith Jean regard ed as ra w reality fo r th e sim ple rea ­
D om archi w h en h e w rites: son that it is n o t raw rea lity b u t an inter­
p reted , m ed iated reality. It is im p ossible to
We are bound to admit that one can
ign ore the form , since it is the form o f the
only be true to the deepest inspiration of
w o rk w h ich gives it its p o w er and its
an established work of art by creating a
m eaning . N o th in g e x ists o u tsid e the con­
new work, a new genre which, by the
text o f th e f o r m - e x c e p t perhaps an inten­
mere fact that it uses a different tech­
nique, explains the authentic meaning tion, o r ra th e r a them e a llo w in g th e inten­
which that work had for us and which, tion to show itself. T o red uce a w ork o f art
far from betraying the original meaning, to its them e is to d en y its existen ce as a
only makes it deeper. When, for instance, w o rk o f a rt, s in ce , a t th at le v e l, it exists
M^urnau made his cinematic translation of only poten tially, as a collection of p o ssib il­
Moliere's Tartuffe or Goethe's Faust, the ities w h ic h th e a u th o r can select or discard
expressionist code he used might seem in co n stru ctin g h is w ork.
superficially to be a misinterpretation of If h e ch o o ses to ex p ress th e sam e th in g
the theatrical background of these two
as th e nov elist, th e ad ap ter is b o u n d to be­
plays. But, in fact, he reveals the hidden
tray th e fo rm o f the novel; and if his inten­
content of the plays which demand plas­
tion is to resp ect th e form , th en h e is forced
tic equivalents in their own way as effec­
tive and compelling as those seen in m erely to p u t in to pictures a w o rld w h ich
theater.26 is alread y signified, instead o f creating his
ow n signification s. D irect tran sp osition is
It is q u ite obvious th a t if the intention is a n im possibility. A s R ene M icha so rightly
to sig nify so m e th in g d ifferent, to discover p o in ts out,
the sam e "h id d en co n ten t" in d ifferen t p er­
spectives and in a d ifferen t co n tex t, then
the code o f an art is inseparable from the signs
th e ad ap tation p ro b lem d oes n o t arise. We which reveal it. To alter the forms or col­
w ou ld m erely p o in t ou t th a t in th at case it ors of a painting is to destroy it or create
is n o t adaptation, since a d ap tin g a w o rk is another painting; to put a poem into dif­
a m atter o f tran sp osin g it w h ile preserving ferent words is to distort it or make a new
its m ean in g and sig n ification s; otherw ise it poem. It would seem that a work of art is
is a d ifferen t th in g altogether. It is alw ays as perfect (or "finished," as Baudelaire
possible, it is ev en d esirable, b u t it is n o t b y described it more simply) as it needs to
avoid ing p ro b lem s that th e y a re resolved. be: because, once it is "finished" there is
B ela B a la sz h ad said (in D er Geist des nothing more that can be done to it with­
out its being damaged. Valery draws an
Fi/ms) that th e ad ap ter "m u s t u se th e ex­
antithesis between the life of the spirit,
isting w o rk m erely as sou rce m aterial, re­
"which is a power of transformation con­
gard in g it from th e sp ecific angle o f its stantly in action," and "the composition
form as a w ork o f art, as though it w ere of a work of the mind, which is something
raw reality; h e gains noth in g b y con sid er­ which is finished." The rough draft of The
in g th e fo rm alread y co n ferred o n th at re­ Idiot which Dostoyevsky scribbled down,
ality." Y et it is clear th at th o u g h th is m ay the revisions he kept making even after
b e tru e ifi d ealin g w ith a to tal recreation, the first edition of the book had appeared,
 332 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I N E MA

all these contradictory pieces of text are w o rk s, w ords becom e im ages o f som ething
theveryim age of the creative mind before w h ich is n ot "co n tro lle d " b y them. The de­
the work has been completed. They show scrip tion s do n ot try to recreate b u t to pro­
that the novelist was exploring every con­
vide a n accurate photograp hic record o f the
ceivable direction his hero could follow,
event.
that he was actually living the life of his
N everth eless, ev en w h en this d escrip ­
hero through all these little anecdotes and
finally using language alone to create tiv e literatu re is b ein g tran sp osed in to ^ m
him. Limitless freedom hand in glove im a g es, th ere is an inev itab le con trad iction
with a rigid discipline: psychological in­ based o n th e v e ry natu re o f th e tw o m odes
vention eventually yielding to the uni­ o f expression. In th e n o v el a d escrip tion is
verse of words and syntax. (Cinema et b u ilt up grad u ally; ob jects appear little b y
litterature) little th rou g h con secu tiv e sen ten ces. In the
cinem a th e y are p resen ted all at o n ce, in
Yet it w o u ld seem th a t a d a p ta tio n — such a w ay that th e rhythm is d iffe ren t—
tran sp osition w o rd fo r w o rd , q u a lity fo r th e d ev elop m en t a s w ell. R e s u lt s - m a y b e
q u a l i t y - i s p o ssib le fo r a certain ty p e of even i n t e n t io n s - in literature p ro ve to be
n ov el, w ith n o oth er p u rp ose th a n to d e­ n o m ore than starting points in the cinem a,
scrib e events w h o se existen ce, th o u g h im ­ w h ich is w h a t is b eh in d G od ard 's rem ark:
aginary, tend s to b e lim iting. "T h e n u isa n ce in w ritin g is n o t kn ow in g
T h e p ro blem o f tran sp osin g the action w h eth er to sa y 'as I w en t o u t it w a s rain in g '
n o v el in to film im ag es is con sid erab ly re­ o r 'it w as rain in g w h en I w en t o u t.' In the
d uced fo r th e sim p le reason that th e w ord s cin em a, it is v e ry sim ple: the two things are
are n o t u sed fo r th e p u rp ose o f exp ressin g sh ow n together at the sam e tim e."
or recreatin g , as in literatu re, b u t of evok ing A s f o r sa y in g th a t film can v isu alize the
an d th e n d isap p earin g b eh in d the im ages im ag es of the n ov el w h ich read ing g en er­
w h ich th e y elicit. W ords ca n n e v e r b e said ates in th e re a d er's m ind, w h at could be
to exh au st th e ir role in co m m u n ica tio n b e ­ sillier! B esid es th e fact that m ental im ages
cau se it is n o t a m atter o f com m u n icatin g d ep en d on the ind ivid u al reader, they exist
b y a n y m eans available b u t o f presen tin g a t the level o f con cep ts, w hereas film lm -
th e situations as p recisely an d com p letely ag es are concrete data. W h a t in the cinem a
as p o ssib le in ord er to m ak e it a p p ear to the corresponds to the m en tal im ag e is the idea
read er th at h e is seeing th e situ ation s di­ gen erated b y an association o f im ages, not
rectly. This kind o f w ritin g requires a great th e im ages them selves.
deal o f art, b u t art w h ich w o u ld b e b etter A s w e h a v e sa id , th e film im age prevents
d escribed as b ein g "o u tsid e lite ra tu re ," us fro m im ag in in g th e reality w h ich it p re­
e v e n th o u g h it find s its p u rp o se and expres­ sen ts to u s. W h a t it d oes is force u s to im ag­
sion in words. T h e style o f these n o v els can in e with th e reality, to d iscover relationships
som etim es b e ou tstan d in g ; it certa in ly en ­ and sig n ification s in it. In th e cin em a, the
dow s w h at it d escribes w ith a definite color o b ject d oes n o t reveal th e concep t directly,
and presen ce, b u t th e facts, e v e n ts, an d ac­ y e t it con stan tly refers b a ck to u s. T h e con­
tions it d escribes are in d ep en d en t o f the cep t is accessible o n ly through the den sity
form , w h ich m erely serves to su g g est them o f reality, in oth er w ords, th rou g h a certain
to the re a d er's m ind . Such are th e n o v els of represen tation o f th a t reality, an in d ivid u al­
W alter Scott, D um as, Jules Verne, Ja ck L o n ­ ized , p articu larized reality, consid ered from
d on, Jam es O liver C u rw ood , S tew art E d ­ a sp ecific p o in t o f view and presen ted in a
w ard W hite, O w e n W ister, etc. In these c o n te x t w h ich g iv e s it m eaning.
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 333

Ju st as th ere is n o f o r m a l - o r indeed organization o r arran gem ent o f situations

s tr u c tu r a l-s im ila r ity b etw ee n the verb al to reveal th e characters, th eir p sy ch olog ical
code and th e film code, so there is n o sim ­ m ak eu p , th eir am biguity. Th u s a n open
ilarity b etw een th e con cep tu al im ag e and w o rld takes the p lace o f the closed w orld
the im age p rojected o n the screen, and no o f old er film s and , as w ith the n arrativ e, the
sim ilarity eith er b etw ee n reality "p resen ted p ro blem consists in introd u cing an un lim ­
as an im a g e " an d reality su g g estin g and ited d u ration into a lim ited structure.
fo rm in g that im age. W h ereas th e sh ort-story w riter can g o di­
" I f I w ere ask ed to illu strate th e cin e­ rectly to the h eart o f the m atter, the nov elist
m atic code as I im ag in e it," R e n e M icha m u st "ta k e a stroll d ow n life 's highw ay."
goes on, T h e d ev elop m en t o f a n o v e l is slo w and
s in u o u s - li k e a river. A p recise, com pact
fiction reflecting aform which reflects it in its n ov el su ch as L a Princess de C/eves rm m ore
turn, a human truth incarnate, I would lik e a lo n g short story th an a nov el, since
quote a scene from The Magnificent Amber-
creative freed om m ust b e allow ed to flow
sons: Joseph Cotten arrives at the Amber-
a t its ow n p a ce in order th a t it should have
sons' mansion where Dolores Costello is
tim e to stop and offer a p ersp ectiv e, a dif­
waiting for ^ m . Between them, a beauti­
ful glass door, a huge hallway with a feren t p o in t o f view.
grand staircase leading down into it; and Before w e com e o n to con sid er to w hat
then, all of a sudden, Trm Holt, who does e xten t a film m ay b e con structed like a
not want his mother to follow Joseph nov el, w e sh o u ld p o in t o u t a few irrecon­
Cotten, pushing his mother aside. Some­ cilable d ife re n c e s .
one walks up to Dolores Costello and W h ereas sp a ce in th e literary w o rk re­
speaks to her. TTim Holt runs up the stair­ m ains conceptual, d u ratio n is experienced
case to his aunt who scolds him for his intensely, sin ce the texture o f the nov el, the
behavior. In a single moment, the camera,
ch ain o f circu m stan ces, th e ch aracter d evel­
like a whip, brings the protagonists of the
o p m en t all d ep en d o n it and con stru ct it as
drama together, stays on them and then
the sam e tim e as th ey d ep en d o n it.
leaves them. The narrative knot is tied, at
the same time as the code. The Amrmr- T im e p lay s (p o ten tially a t a n y rate) an
sons' home is also captured - or rather the eq u ally im p ortan t role in th e cinem a, b u t it
staircase: the gigantic hand carrying them is alw ays the d u ratio n o f something, o f a re­
to rebirth or death. (Cinema et litterature) ality w ith a n objective and geographical lo­
cation. T his sp atial reality m u st n ecessarily
O n that n o te w e en d ou r exam in ation o f p reexist the d u ratio n o f w h ich it rmth e su b ­
ad ap tation and its hy p o th etical p roblem s, ject. N ow , the in ertia o f this space, w h ich at
ad d ing th at film is b eg in n in g to ap p roxi­ the sa m e tim e confirm s th e v a lid ity o f the
m ate the stru ctures o f th e n o v el, in th a t it tim e relatin g to it, m ak es it d ifficu lt to exer­
is n o w capable n o t o n ly o f sig nify in g the cise a n y real control over it. In oth er w ords,
p assing o f tim e b u t also o f m a k in g the au­ tim e in a n o v el is con structed with words. In
dience experience it. th e cin em a it rm constructed with facts. The
A s in the n ov el, film presen ts u s w ith no v el con ju res u p a w orld , w hereas film
characters involved in a series o f events puts us d irectly in con tact w ith a w orld
w h ose associations are n o t cu t an d d ried w h ich it organizes according to a certain
b u t v ariab le, g en eratin g significations story line. The novel is a narrative organized
w h ich can n o t stand b y them selv es and into a wor/d; the cinema is a wor/d organized
w h o se d u ratio n exten d s b ey on d th e m ere into a narrative.
3 34 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

M oreover, space and tim e in the cinem a a n extern al im pression o f tim e. T h e percep­
fo rm a con tin u u m com parable w ith the real tion o f tim e, even su bjective tim e, presup­
space-tim e con tin u u m (com p arable b u t n ot poses a certain ob jectification relatin g sp e­
sim ilar), a w hole u n alterab le b y any u n ilat­ cifically to th e past. T h u s o n ly b y an act of
eral act o f consciou sness (affecting space or m em o ry are w e able to perceive tim e p ass­
tim e). It is p erceiv ed as a con tin u ou s flux, ing , an y d irect p e rce p tio n n e cessa rily b ein g
as a w orld b o th ch a n g in g and p erp etu ally o f a state w h ich w e m u st relate to a p revi­
p resent. In th is global flux, th e re is n o past ous state if w e w ish to m easu re its effect
b ecau se it n o lon g er e xists (th o u g h it m ig h t or to a spatial or chron om etric reference if
b e p resen t as an im m ed iate m em ory) and w e w ish to k n ow its duration.
n o fu ture b ecau se it does n ot y et exist. A s T h e p sy ch olog y o f d u ratio n is a p sy ch ol­
w e h av e observed , in th e cin em a, as in real o g y o f m em ory. N o art is b etter suited th an
life, on ly th e presen t exists: a presen t, h o w ­ the cinem a to h an d le th e effects o f mem ory,
ever, w h ich is forever look ing forw ard to s in ce actu alization and p resen tification are
the fu tu re. W h at w e are actu ally p erceiv in g th e m o st tan g ible e v id e n ce o f its v ery e s­
in th is record ing o f th e fu tu re as it develops, sence. H ow ever, as w e h a v e said, subjective
o f the p resen t as it occu rs, is n o th in g m ore d u ratio n is n o t so m u ch real as a feeling of
th a n space, space in m otion. A n d w e are d u ration and ob jects recollected in a m em ­
unable to p erceiv e its d u ration b ecau se it is ory are on ly ever interpretations, m ental
the sam e as ou r perception, d ev elop in g and im ag es; th ey are certainly n oth in g lik e the
ch an g in g w ith i t - w i t h us. objective im age w h ich the cinem a alw ays
In the cin em a , as in re a l life, w e a re u n ­ p resen ts (h ow ever m u ch th e represented
able to perceive duration actu ally "ta k in g reality is tran sform ed ). T h e cinem a cannot
p la ce ," ex p e rien ce it as su ch (u nless w e are capture this feeling o f "in te rio rity "; nor, for
b ored b y the spectacle). T h e action carries th a t m atter, can th e nov el; b u t at least liter­
u s alon g w ith it: w e perceiv e it as actio n , as ature is able to d isgu ise th e fact, sin ce the
m o v em en t, and n o t as tim e p assin g (th ough fiction created b y w ord s rem ains a fiction
w e do retain a n otio n or a n aw aren ess o f the and th e m en ta l im ages conjured up b y the
t i m e - o f som eth in g taking p lace over a p e­ reader coin cid e - f o r h im - w i t h the m ental
riod o f tim e - w h e n w e relate th e m o b ility im ag es o f th e h ero in su ch a w ay that he
o f ch an g in g circu m sta n ces to the im m ob il­ can im agine him self in th e h ero 's place,
ity o f th e sp atial referents). O bjectiv e d u ra ­ th in k in g , rem em b ering , and feeling as he
tio n exists o n ly w ith in th e p erm an en ce of does. H e im ag in es h im self projected into
m y relationsh ip w ith th e w orld, w h ich can th e h e ro 's existen ce as h e com pares h im self
o n ly b e revealed in an a ctio n actu ally h ap ­ w ith h im , com p osing h im accord in g to h is
p en in g in the presen t tense. T h e im pression ow n m en ta l com position. A t least h is m ind
I receive is o f a su b stance rem ain in g u n ­ is in a position alw ay s to fu lfill him .
changed in a fo rm w h ich changes. T h e n o v el, in con trast to film , m akes al­
W e c a n p erceiv e d u ration - o r feel its ef- low an ce for a un ilateral act o f consciou s­
f e c t s - o n ly w h en it h a s b e e n experien ced, ness. E v ery th in g is con stru cted for and in
i.e., w h en w e con sid er a past reality fro m term s o f the d u ration . T h e ch aracters, set­
the m o b ility o f an action in w h ich w e are ting, an d scen ery im agined b y the reader
involved. I am able to m easu re m y self are con stan tly su b jected to th e n eed s o f this
th rou gh m y actions on ly b y relatin g m y sense o f tim e. Reduced to th e necessary au­
p resen t se lf to a self w h ic h n o lo n g e r exists, thenticity o f a specific location and context,
consid ering m y self fro m th e stan d p oin t of space rem ains con cep tu al; in other w ords,
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D RAMA 335

the n o v e l conju res up a w o rld w h ic h ap ­ g ible (if n o t revealing all its significations)
p ears and con stru cts itse lf aro u n d a d u ra ­ as th is p ro g ression d evelops. W h atev er the
tion recognized as true. M oreover, the narrative sty le, it m u st alw ays express the
action o f the novel is alw ay s registered in m axim um a m o u n t o f in form ation in the
the p ast tense, even w h en the sty le sets it m in im u m p eriod o f time (though the tim e
in the present. It is alw ays a reality w h ich m ay b e m ade to stretch to th e length o f a
has happened, n o t in the process o f happen in g: nov el). T h a t is th e v ery obviou s reason w h y
it m u st necessarily alrea d y exist fo r th e n o v ­ in th e b eg in n in g th e cin em a w as considered
elist to b e ab le to describe it. A t least, fro m the stan d p oin t of theatricality and cul­
though it is alw ay s co n stru cted w ith the tivated according to its law s.
nov elist's w ord s, from the re a d e r's p o in t of A s w e h a v e said, th e cinem a is an ecriture
view it is already com plete. So that th e reader w h o se term s are the elem en ts o f spectacle.
(constantly rep resenting h im self as a ch ar­ W h ich m eans that if it in ten d s to satisfy the
acter into w h ose in n er life h e p rojects h im ­ ru les o f th e n ov el fo rm as w ell as th e re­
self) feels as th o u g h h is p resen t self (the quirem en ts o f its ow n form , to achieve any
reader is aw are o f b ein g a reader) is recall­ k in d o f su ccess it m u st first o f all satisfy the
ing a p ast se lf (th e h ero a c t i n g - o r hav in g ru les an d requ irem ents o f spectacle.
a c te d -d u r in g the cou rse o f th e sen ten ces) T h o u g h it is a llo w e d to extend itself, to
and this objectification, w h ic h e sta b lish e s a en com p ass actions ev olv in g through v ari­
distance in tim e, in v o lv e s a feelin g o f ex p e­ ous d ifferen t levels, in tim e as w ell as space,
rienced duration, su p p orted b y th e re a d er's th o u g h it is capable o f avoid ing th e stric­
o w n self-ju d gm en t (or ju d g m e n t o f h is tu res o f d ram atic concentration , it is in ca­
double). In th e cinem a, on th e o th e r hand , p ab le o f avo id in g th e p ro cess o f centration.
th e aud ien ce m em ber, in associatin g h im ­ H ow ever m a n y tim es it g o e s o ff o n a tan­
self w ith the hero, is alw ays "in the pro­ gent, a film m ust con stitu te a w ell-d efined
cess" or "o n the p o in t" o f actin g w ith him ; g lob al unity, i.e., w ith its axis an d orienta­
his m ental p ro jection is in the presen t tense tion n o t n ecessarily centered on a fin al end
- w h i c h explains w h y th e cinem a captu res or p u rp ose b u t on a final m eaning. It denies
th e atte n tio n m ore readily, w h y it presents this ob lig ation on ly a t th e risk o f d ivid ing
a m ore lifelike reality, b u t also w h y dis- th e a u d ien ce's a tten tio n , th ereby destroy­
tantiation in tim e is im p o s s ib le - o r , a t any in g the interest it claim s to present.
rate, difficult. T h at said , th e re is n othing to stop a film
O n th e o th er h an d , th e au d ien ce m em b er fro m d ev elop in g like a n ov el, assu m in g its
w a tch in g a film b ein g p rojected is u n able to stru ctures and p rog ression, diverging from
refer back to w h at has gon e b efo re as a the m a in p lo t lin e, tellin g a story w h ich de­
reader m igh t flip b a ck a cou p le o f p ag es to scribes th e ch aracters' feelings as they react
reread a chapter.27 G ranted , one ca n see a to tim e and c irc^ n sta n ce , rath er th a n e n ­
film m ore th a n o n ce (and , w h en it is a goo d com passing a b rie f dram a, a tem porary cri­
film , th is is e v e n essential for, ju s t as it is sis, w illy -n illy w eav in g the th em es o f a
im possible to assim ilate th e w h o le expres­ tragedy. W e w o u ld m erely p o in t o u t that
sivity o f a p oem or sym p hony read ing or sin ce the m ethods o f sig n ify in g are n ot the
hearing it on ly once, so it is im possible to sam e, th e processes cou ld n o t b e expected
assim ilate the w h ole o f a film a t one view ­ to b e th e same. It is n o t a qu estion o f im itat­
ing), b u t the progression o f the film rem ains in g th e n o v e l b u t o f cap tu rin g (lik e it b u t in
th e sam e how ev er m a n y tim es one m ay see a d ifferen t w ay ) a ce rta in d en sity o f tim e , a
it. Film narrativ e m u st therefore b e in telli­ d u ratio n w h ich ensures, deepens, an d d e ­
336 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T H E C I NE M A

fines in its m an y d ifferent p ersp ectiv es the n ica tio n , a p articu lar w ay o fb rin g in g to th e
p sychological authen ticity o f the ch aracters k n ow led g e o f e v ery o n e in fo rm a tio n w ith
in th e film , a duration w h ich safeguards an in d ep en d en t existen ce. W e w o u ld m ain­
their fre e will o r end ow s th em w ith a cer­ tain, o n th e oth er h an d , th a t fo rm is w h at
tain illu sion o f freedom . It is a q u estio n o f p ro vid es th e su p p ort, th at the p lot lin e is
fo llow in g th e ch aracters' log ical d ev elop ­ m erely a p retext fo r b rin g in g closer together
m en t through situ ations w h ich are alw ays elem ents capable o f h av in g m eaning.
variable, su b ject to th e v ag aries o f chance, Take, fo r instance, the exam p le o f a w ell-
to the un exp ected , instead o f d irecting m ad e film lik e L a Strada. W e can sa y that
th e m , im p rison in g th e m in th e straitjacket th e p lo t consists o f th e events w h ich b rin g
o f a d ram a w h ich alw ay s seem s contrived , u s in to co n tact w ith the characters Fellini
sin ce th e hand o f th e w riter is all to o p la in ly h a s ch osen , th e series o f experien ces w h ich
visible. N o t th e h a n d o f sty le, w h ic h is the F ellini m ak es th e m liv e th ro u g h and w h ich
evidence o f creation, b u t th a t oth er h an d reveal th em to u s as m u ch as to them selves.
w h ich m an ip u lates th e d ev elo p m en t and T h e su b ject is w h a t arises fro m these events.
creates su ch a rig id b alan ce th at in stead o f In th is in stan ce, it is the realization w h ich
expressing life it stifles i t - a n d th is is the strikes Z am p an o w h en, in d ifferen t to G el-
core o f the problem . so m in a 's feelin g s, to G elsom ina h erself, he
su d d en ly b eco m es con sciou s of w hat he is
m issin g w h en she is n o longer there, of the
Content and Form im p ortan ce of an ap p aren tly in significant
h u m an b ein g , o f th e w ealth o f h er h u m an­
The Im p o rta n c e an d V alu e o f ity w h ich h e h as lost. T his su b ject m ay be
th e S u b ject M a tter su m m arized in a s in g le p h ra se : "w h e n you
m iss som eon e, th e w orld is a n em p ty
T here is n o fo rm al tech n iqu e w h ic h w ill p la ce ." Z a m p a n o 's traged y is th a t h e is too
e v e r m ak e a film co m p le te and effective if late an d th a t th e un iverse, d evoid o f m ean ­
th e fo rm d oes n o t b rin g ou t th e q u alities of in g , closes in o n h im inexorably.
th e con ten t w h ich ju stify it and fo r the ex­ T h e su b ject, th en , is w h at som e people
pression o f w h ich it is made. T h is is a self- call th e "m o ra l o f the story," a p h rase really
evident truth. Y et m a n y p o p u la r m iscon ­ applicable o n ly to didactic film s, film s w ith
ceptions an d con fu sion s hav e b e e n b u ilt a m essag e, film s w h ose obviou s intentions
u p ; and , to erad icate th ese, w e m u st once pred eterm in e the d ev elopm en t and ou t­
again re^turn to ou r basic d efinitions. com e o f th e plot. M ean in g in this ty p e of
In th e first place, w e sh o u ld d istin g u ish film h a s n o g enu in e b asis, sin ce the arbi­
b etw ee n plot line and su bject m atter, in d icat­ trary natu re o f the situations alm ost alw ays
in g the essential difference betw ee n tw o el­ p o in ts up the artificiality o f th e precon cep­
em ents g enerally th o u g h t to b e one and th e tion. T h at is w h y w e w o u ld p refer to say
sam e. M o st p e o p l e - a n d m a n y c r i t i c s - b e - th a t the su b ject o f a film is its hidden con ten t:
lieve th at th e su b ject o f a film is its plot. N ot w h atev er is signified throu gh ou t th e film
becau se the p lo t is consid ered as th e essen ­ w ith o u t ev er b ein g exp lained in so m an y
tial p u rp ose o f the film b u t b ecau se th e y see w ord s and w h ich g ra d u a lly takes sh ape in
it exclu sively as th e su b stratu m on w h ich th e con sciou sn ess o f the audience.
the significations are based . T hu s th e story "C o n te n t" in th e b road est sen se is, there­
line b eco m es m aterial to be sign ified an d the fore, b o th plot lin e and su b ject m atter. It is
form is seen m erely as a m eans o f co m m u ­ th e com bin ation o f facts w h ich h a v e becom e
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAMA 337

significant and not the story reduced to its lacks, and one is led to wonder therefore
bare bones or to its nonfonnalized intentions. what is meant by perfection. Presumably it
Form is the structure given to the ar­ means the pictorial or plastic beauty of the
rangement of these facts with a view to ex­ imagery, the freedom of an independent
pressing what they would not be able to rhythm, the perfect application of a tech­
express without it; it is what would give nique which, not being governed by an
the facts a totally different meaning were inner necessity, merely demonstrates its
they to be formalized in a different way. own futility - except in a case where beauty
Style is merely the way this formal arrange­ and perfection, detached from the mediocre
ment is constituted in respect of what it has story, serve as vehicles for a few ideas. In
to signify. which case, though expressing a content
Though there is no common denomina­ alien to them, they still necessarily signify
tor, no similarity whatever between words something. The danger lies in the fact that
and what they describe, images can exist the story, though no more than a pretext,
only in terms of the things of which they inevitably refers, through its very existence,
are the image. Thus we can say (as we have to significations within its immediate con­
already) that the film image is reality pre­ text. The pretext must therefore be valid
sented as an image, the "ghost" of a content and capable of integrating these incidentals
which survives in it as a form, the content into its structure, since the inconsistency
being in a certain sense "everything which between the inconsequential story and the
is represented" to which the representation ambitiousness of the themes embroidered
gives a meaning. So there is no distinction - around it always damages both of them.
and less in the cinema than anywhere else The absurdity of the story becomes all the
-b etw een content and form: the one can more obvious; also the futility of a message
only exist through the other. based on nothing. The French cinema of the
Nothing is more absurd than this dis­ twenties (the so-called avant-garde) had to
tinction, which is the jumping-off point for contend with contradictions of this type. It
all the formalist squabbles in art, i.e., that is not hard to imagine how Paul Valery's
the values under consideration can refer L a Porteuse de pain might have looked.
only to themselves or to some purely hy­ Thus the content is conditional on the
pothetical "in-itself" for a criterion of abso­ work through which it is revealed. Yet, ac­
lute judgment. Bourgeois realism and knowledging once and for all that no genu­
Marxism are at the root of this distinction ine art can exist which is not the expression
(though for very diferent reasons) and, of an idea or feeling (or anything valid from
oddly enough, find common ground in this one point of view), it is obvious that ^ ts
naive idealism. content must and can only be communi­
The concept of art for art's sake or form cated through a form. It is only through the
for form's sake is merely the logical conclu­ agency of a form that the audience can be
sion of various misinterpretations of aes­ led to discover the thoughts of the film­
thetic principles. In this perspective, beauty maker, to share his feelings and emotions.
and harmony are held to stand on their For the f il^ ^ k e r , the idea must always in­
own. It is true, the plastic arts justify this vite the form, since, as long as it is not for­
conception to a certain extent, but in liter­ mulated, the idea remains only a vague
ature or the cinema it is quite meaningless. intention or plan. For the audience (or
A perfect form applied to a threadbare reader), it is the form which invites the idea,
story will never give it the substance it being its only perceptible manifestation.
338 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

T h o u g h the form i s co n stan tly subord i­ pression , creation. In th e cin em a, th e sym bol
n ate to the in ten tio n s o f the m essage, it is ca n b e h a v e o n ly lik e a sig n in virtue o f its
obvious th at th e intelligibility, value, an d relatio nsh ip w ith an oth er sym bol. Since the
m ean in g o f th e m essag e d ep en d e n tirely o n d irect m eaning o f the im age is inherent in
th e fo rm al q u alities w h ich p resen t it to be w hat it represents, it is inseparable from
seen o r heard . T h e idea is therefore, in its this represen ted datum and this datum is
turn, d ep en d en t on a fo rm w ithout w h ich inseparable from th e m ean in g it assum es
it cou ld n o t e x i s t - n o t ev en fo r th e film ­ th rou g h th e representation.
m ak e r w h o m easures h is in ten tio n s b y the Be th is as it may, d ep th in the con ten t is
form s h e gives th em , th rou g h w h ich and w h a t d eriv es fro m th e w o rk , w h a t appears
b y w h ich th ey appear. T h at is w hy, if it is (w hich m ust b e obviou s and therefore not
fo olish to ju d g e a film so lely on th e m erits c o n te n tio u s -e x c e p t a t th e level o f th e ideas
o f its form s, it is ju st as rid icu lou s to ju d g e expressed). To sa y th at som eth in g is ex­
its con ten t in d ep en d en tly o f the p a rticu la r pressed is to s a y that it is m ade perceptible
value th e co n te n t assu m es th ro u g h its form , th ro u g h a form . R eal d ep th lies in know ing
o n w h ich the m eaning o f th e film as a h o w an d why, b y w h at d ev io u s m ean s the
w h o le depends. idea is p resen ted as su ch , an d th erefore in
T o th e p h ilistine, fo rm is tech n iqu e, the k n ow in g w h a t th e appropriate form is for
u se o f m aterial capable o f tran slatin g a p re­ th e needs o f such a m eaning.
d eterm ined con ten t existin g p rev iou s to the A n y d iscu ssion ab ou t content is prom pted
p articu lar m e a n s o f expression . C ontent by the film w h en it p ro m p ts a d iscu ssion
and fo rm are associated as con ten t an d con ­ about itself, i.e., ab ou t th e sig n ified con sid ­
tain er (the w ord con ten t in th is context ered e n tirely fro m the view p o in t of its asso­
m eaning w h at it says) solely as a requ ire­ ciatio n s w ith a pred eterm ined m eth o d o f
m en t o f com m u n ication , th e p articu lar sig n ification .
m eth o d b ein g m erely one v eh icle fo r the M arxist th e o ry h old s th a t it is possible
m essag e am o n g m a n y others. In d ep en d ent to cap tu re th e con ten t d irectly in its "c o n ­
and heterogen eou s, th e y ca n th u s b e stu d ­ crete an d p o sitiv e " reality, tran scend in g the
ied b y them selves, on th eir o w n term s. fo rm , w h ich is seen m erely as a vehicle.
It w o u ld seem that ^ t s n o tio n o f sep a­ N o w , sin ce a c o n ten t is o n ly presented
ration is d ue in larg e part to a m isin terp re­ th rou g h a form , to consider it ou tsid e the
tation o f th e exp ressiv e q u alities o f a w o rk co n tex t o f th a t form , in abstract, in evitably
o f art, th e sy m b ol b ein g seen as th e sam e leads to pu re form alism . It is to see the con ­
th in g as a sign. In fact, the relationsh ip be­ ten t as an "in -its e lf," to in terp ret its m ean­
tw een sig n and signified is purely arbi­ ing as an ideal free fro m th e m aterial form s,
trary; th e ob ject exists in d ep en d en tly o f the w h ich enable it to b e understood . Form al­
sign w h ich represents it. T h u s rig h t fro m ism exists h ere in spirit if n o t in th e form s -
the start th ere is a d istin ction , a heterog e­ w h ic h m a k e s it e v e n m o re insidious.
neity, b etw een the sig n and the signified. If th e id ea as sueh is disregard ed in fa v o r
N ow , th is d istin ction , a characteristic of o f th e w o rk , th e co n seq u en ce is a series o f
com m u n ication codes based on the exten­ g en era liz a tio n s w h ich h a v e n o th in g to do
sive natu re o f th e sign, is u n fortunately ap­ w ith the artistic aspect. O n e cou ld argue
plied to aesthetic system s b a se d on the u n til th e cow s com e h om e as to w h eth er a
in ten sive natu re o f the sym bol. Though, g irl h as th e rig h t to m a rry h e r fa th e r's m u r­
like com m u n ication codes, it m a y signify, d erer w ithout feelin g the n eed to refer to Le
the aesthetic effect is first and fo rem ost ex­ Cid. Indeed, if that h ad b een the sole p u r­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D RAMA 339

pose of that particular play, there w ould rect. P resenting itself as th e natu ral expres­
have b een n o n eed to w rite it, sin ce it is not sio n o f a w orld and its objects, it m u st ap ­
the responsibility o f art to p rove, m erely to p ear as th o u g h a v eil w ere b ein g lifted , re­
show. O bv io u sly the au th o r h a s th e rig h t to sig n in g itself to a sp on tan eity d evoid of
b e p artisan , to reveal his p o in t of view , b u t artifice (sim p licity alw ay s b ein g the ulti­
th is m u st b e p resen ted as testim o n y n o t as m ate in contrivance).
a serm on. A s a rule, a n y sep aration o f con ten t and
Ind eed , th o u g h th e w o rk o f a rt m ay take fo rm is the con seq u en ce of a lack o f artistic
it up on itself to express v alid tru ths, the prob­ k n o w led g e or (w h ich is alm ost th e sam e
lem exists in creatin g a fo r m both necessary an d th in g) a d eliberate desire to m ak e art in to
su itable fo r g iv in g the chosen idea its com pleted a v eh icle fo r valu es com p letely alien to it.
m eaning, enabling it to becom e fu lfilled in an S u ch is th e case w ith th e firm ly established
origin al signification, an d, a t the sam e tim e, n otio n that fo rm shou ld tend tow ard the
turning a potential reality into an actual reality. m inu te and p erfect reprodu ction o f reality.
For the artist obliged to provide the m es­ A dm ittedly, it d oes n o t ap p ly eith er in the
sage w ith ev e ry o p p ortu n ity to achiev e ite theater or in literatu re (based on abstract
fu llest exp ression, it b oils d ow n (eventu­ sign ification s), b u t it has a trem end ou s ef­
ally) to the on ly viable an d solvable aes­ fect o n p ain tin g , w h ich, for several h u n ­
thetic p ro blem in the area o f expression: the d red years, represented A rt w ith a capital
problem o f fo rm . T h is is really w h at is m ean t A fo r th e ru lin g classes. Su b su m ed in to th e
w h en critics som etim es say th at in art the categ ory o f th e "p o rtra it" (w ealthy people
form is m ore im p o rta n t than th e content. h a d th e ir lik en esses m ad e - w h i c h h a d to
"M o re" does n o t refer to a qualitativ e value b e e x a c t - t o enhance th eir im ag e o f them ­
associated w ith a fo rm al "in -its e lf" b u t to a selves), th e w hole o f art b eca m e consid ered
specific q u a lity con n ected b o th w ith the in th is light. T h e d ecad en t acad em ism of
con ten t and the fo rm , sin ce th e con ten t ex­ the end o f the last century, w h ich w as
ists, insofar as it has an eviden t m eaning, foun d ed on this con cep tion and continu ed
only th rou gh the fo rm w h ich expresses it. to h old sw ay in official circles o f art right
A n d th e fo rm m u st n e cessa rily dom inate u p to the end o f the F irst W orld War, did
the co n ten t, if o n ly to co n tain it; if it extend s little to help. N ow , a w o rk o f art is n ot
beyon d the form , it loses itself, since there ju d ged b y h o w faithfu lly it represents real­
is n o th in g there to m ake it p ercep tible and ity. A s Pierre F ran castel (am ong others)
therefore im agin ab le. points ou t, "th e p o in t o f a rt is n o t to create
It is m o re ob viou s th an e v e r th a t for a m anag eab le likeness o f th e un iverse; it is
b o th the au d ien ce an d th e critic (w hose job to explore it, to in vestig ate it in a n e w w ay:
is m erely to receive and to ju d g e) the ques­ it is a m e a n s to kn ow led g e a n d expression
tion as to w h ich is m ore im p ortant, content m ixed in w ith a ctio n ." There ca n b e no
or form , shou ld n o lo n g er arise. The w ork other reason to exp lain w h y m odern p ain t­
o f art is a w hole w h o se valu e can be esti­ in g re m a in ed m isu nd erstood fo r so long
m ated only in term s o f th e b alan ce and (though it has n ow developed an even m ore
h arm o n y o f its elem en ts, in term s of the u n iv ersal snobbery).
clo se integration o f a con ten t an d a perceptible A s w e know , a rt fo r a rt's sa k e is th e con­
fo rm . H ow ev er m e d ia t e d - o r d ep end ent sequence o f a friction b etw een the artist
on a m ed iation (id eas, a u th o r's view point, and the w orld h e lives in. Starting w ith
m ethod of d escrib in g or sign ifyin g) - t h e p ain tin g (painters h a v in g b ee n forced , as a
p erfect w o rk o f art m u st appear to b e di­ reaction, to cu ltivate form fo r fo rm 's sake),
340 A E S T H E T I C S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN T HE C I NE MA

^ t s friction grad u ally sp read t o th e realm je c t," th is k in d o f d istin ction is im possible

o f ideas. Prevented fro m g ivin g free e x ­ fo r th e spectator, since b o th are essentially
pression to un orthod ox id eas, a u th o rs took alien to him .
refuge in th e ir im a g in a tio n or in a n y pre­ fro it is to b e u n d ersto od , th e subject m u st
te x t w h ich aUow ed th e m to tran slate th eir n ecessa rily b e isolated from the ob ject, fo r
anxieties in to stru ctures a n d form al h arm o­ w h ich reason the ob ject m u st b e established
nies sym bolically signifying "e te rn a l" val­ as a con crete fact; an d this is achievable in
ues. A s w ell as b ein g a refu ge fo r th e artist, n o b etter w a y than b y u sin g concrete reality
fo rm alism is th e u ltim ate exp ressio n o f as a starting p o in t from w h ich an d relative
conventional t ^ ^ ^ g (bou rgeois or other­ to w h ich th e sp ectator is able to gain a per­
w ise), searching fo r absolu tes as h y p o th et­ spective. It is relative to a real field o f co m
ical as th ey are illusory, a process o f th in k ­ that I k n o w Van G ogh 's m ind , style, thoughts,
in g w h ich a ^ ie v e s its fu lfillm ent o n ly in and feelin g s, v iew in g th e interpretation
th e id ealization o f a reality in h arm on y w h ich is th e subject o f h is painting an d re­
w ith its n eed s, in the glorification o f a re­ m ains so in respect o f the concrete object.
a lity faith fu lly reprodu ced , "m o re b eau ti­ A ssociation s b etw een fictio n an d reality, b e ­
fu l" th an tru e r e a lity -s o m e th in g w h ich tw een rep resentation an d represented , are
can b e (ind eed is) on e o f the fu n d am en tal w hat allow u s to m ak e ju d g m en ts and en ­
features o f the cin em a, o f th e photograp hic able us to und erstand . N ow , sin ce there is
im ag e, b u t w h ich co u ld n ev er b e th e p u r­ n o such d istan ce in abstract painting, the
p o se or b asis o f paintin g. In this sen se, su b ject p resen tin g itself as ob ject can no
b ou rg eo is fo rm a lism is d irectly associated lon g er b e ju d g ed excep t b y reference to it­
w ith M arxist fo rm alism , fo r w h ich th e o b ­ self. T h e p ain ter alone is cap ab le o f evalu­
je ctiv e content, th e sy m b o l o f socialist re­ atin g the m ean in g o f h is w o rk (assum ing
alism , is the on ly one accep ted as true and there is one). A s w e h a v e a lrea d y said (and
v alid , the iron fo u n d ry or b la st furnace w h a te v e r the claim s to th e con trary ), ab­
m erely rep lacing th e p iano lesso n or n ude stract p a in tin g is noth ing m ore th an a pretty
w om an. b u t purposeless p attern o f shape an d color
If in d eed fo rm a lism con sists m erely in b eca u se, in b ein g a "s u b je ct," th e object
seein g or cu ltiv atin g o n e a sp ect (co n ten t or fin d s its ow n ju stifica tio n w ith in itself. It
form ) o f a w o rk o f a rt, in p u liin g its ele­ raises itse lf as m u ch to the p osition o f an
m ents ap art w h en clea rly th e y hav e no im a g in a ry ab so lu te as to o n e o f absolu te im ­
valu e excep t tak en as a whole, th e re is as agination .
m u ch fo rm alism in a co n ten t w ith o u t a rt as T o d o t th e i's a n d cross th e t's (perhaps
in an art w ith o u t content. u n n ecessarily ) a n d to d ism iss, once and for
The "s u b je c t" o f a p a in tin g is n o t the all, ^ t s absurd d istin ction betw een content
scene it represents b u t w h at it offers to ou r a n d fo rm , w e h a v e o n ly to con sid er th e ex­
ey e s, ou r em otion s, o u r in tellect, th rou g h am p le o f an ob ject red u ced to a photo­
its interpretation o f th e w orld. It is obvious g rap h ic im age. T h e p h o tog rap h er is faced
that abstract p ain tin g derives from fo rm al­ w ith three possibilities: (1) T h e ob ject is
ism , in th at its form s display n o th in g m ore beautiful in its ow n right. T h e p hotog rap h
than an ov erp ow erin g subjectivity. Ind eed , records it, attem p ting to b rin g ou t as m u ch
in ab stract art th e su b ject a n d o b ject m erge as p o ssib le its in trin sic beauty. It is a m eans
into one an oth er rath er than b ein g id en tical ' o f rep ro d u ction com m u n icatin g som ething
to o n e another, fo r even th o u g h fo r the w h ich preexists the photograp h w hose
p ain ter the su b ject is p resen ted "as an ob­ qualities are com p letely alien to i t - a f u n c ­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T HE D R A M A 341

tional a rt w h ich d o e s n o t reflect a n y artistic b u t fr o m its presen ce w ithin a fo r m —a specific

creation. A s a p h o tog rap h ed object, the form .
con ten t is insep arable fro m th e im age but, T h at is th e w h ole secret o f the w o rk o f
as a real object, it m a y b e p erceiv ed inde­ art. T h e aesth etic quality, th a t ex tra quality,
p en d en tly o f the photograp h; aesthetics is m easured by the d istance sep arating the
p lay s n o p art in its representation. (2) The represented from its representation, th a t is
ob ject (interesting or n o t) is u sed m erely as (to u se an exam p le from p ainting ), th e dis­
a them e for a p icto ria l com p ositio n , allow ­ tance sep aratin g the o rig in al o b je c t - i t s el­
in g fo r the d istrib u tion o f d ifferent planes, em en tary m eaning, its specific em otional
lines, volu m es and th e p la y o f lig h t and q u a litie s - fr o m th e m ean in g and valu es it
shade. U sin g shap es fo r effect, th e p h o tog ­ acq u ires from its representation.
rap h er is ap p aren tly ab le to exp ress a qual­ T his is w h at w e m ean w h en w e speak o f
ity; b u t w h atev er th a t quality, it is bou nd creative fo r m . O b v io u sly the fo rm does not
to b e alien to th e m ean in g o f th e object, create th e represented ob ject or th e story
w h ich is eclipsed b y the exp ressio n fo r being told; it does n o t create the content.
w h ich it is m erely a pretext. T h ese features T he valu e o f th e subject, i.e., the valu e o f
are n o t entirely devoid o f con ten t sin ce they w hat is expressed or signified by an object or
d o express som eth in g b u t, su b ject to th e in­ story w ithin a fo r m , therefore relies on it
d iv id u al in terp retation o f th e p h o tog ra­ com p letely, p ro v id ed , on ce a g a in , th a t the
pher, the ob ject expressed rem ains in the o b ject or story is n a tu ra lly p red isp o sed to
sphere o f potentiality. A ll co n tact w ith real­ w arran t or su g g est these significations. O n
ity is l o s t - w h ic h is form alism in its truest th e other h and , th o u g h the fo rm d oes n o
sense. (3) Instead o f rep ro d u cin g the object m ore th a n com m u n icate sig n ification s or
as it is or com p letely d iscard in g it, th e p h o ­ em otion s alread y in clu d ed w ith in th e rep­
to g rap h er en d eav ors, th ro u g h effects o f resented ob jects, it itse lf can cels o u t the aes­
lig h t and sh ad e, e m p h a siz in g o r u n d erstat­ th etic facto r as exp ressin g n o th in g w h ich
in g certain fo rm s and shapes, to b rin g ou t w as n o t th ere in th e first place.
the o b ject's essential q u alities, to translate H ere a g a in , an exam p le fro m th e sphere
th em . H e sh o w s us th e o b ject in a n un u su al o f painting w ill g ive us a clearer idea o f
lig ht; h e reveals fo r u s its secrets or its hid ­ w hat th is question really involves. Take
d en m ystery. In so d oin g , h e discovers a tw o p ain tin g s d issim ilar in all respects,
n e w signification, a n e w b e a u t y - b u t in the su ch a s D a v id 's The O ath o f the H oratii and
d irection o f th e o b je ct's o w n reality. In other a C ezanne still life.
w ords, the p lastic q u alities ob tain ed with it In the form er, D avid is illustrating a
d o n o t see m in d ep en d en t o f it, a c tin g as it scen e from leg en d . H e presen ts us w ith a
w ere b y them selves. F a r fro m eclip sin g the p erson al visio n and com p oses itw ith a p ic ­
object, th ey becom e fused w ith th e qualities torial th em e w h ich h old s o u r interest. T he
it had originally, so that, au g m ented b y m eticu lou s org anization o f line and shape
these n e w qualities, it ap p ears th rou g h gives th e event a classical, one m ig h t say
them as th o u g h th ey w ere em anating from R om an , rig id ity .th e re b y d eveloping the
it. It is tru e that hen ceforw ard th e "c o n te n t" d eep er m ean in g o f th e represented action.
w ill alw ays b e in sep arable from its form , O n th e oth er h an d , it m a y b e said that, in
since it is fro m the fo rm that it gains the so d oin g, th e p ain ter is m erely d eveloping
qualities it lacks inherently o r w h en it is a b o d y o f establish ed sig n ification s, b ased
sep arate fro m its form . H ow ever, it d oes o n literary sem antics, w h ich h a v e alread y
n o t g a in these qualities fro m its fo rm alone acq u ain ted u s w ith the su b ject and ex­
3 42 A E S T H E T IC S A N D P S Y C H O L O G Y IN TH E C IN E M A

hausted all the possible perspectives. In most part, entirely through that initial emo­
other words, the meaning established tion. Accepting its documentary value
through the form of the painting is in­ (which is undeniable), Nuit et brouillard
significant compared with the meaning it (Night and Fog) can be criticized on these
already possessed at the start. There is an grounds: it is too easy to move an audience
aesthetic factor at work in the painting, but with concentration camps and gas cham­
it carries very little weight, notwithstand­ bers, with all the horrors of war. Certainly
ing the qualities of the painting as a paint­ the film does not dwell on this exclusively;
ing, i.e., its technique. It is a literary ite qualities lie in the subtle way we remem­
concept, a wholly verbal idea "put into pic­ ber these horrors. Even so, it relies a little
tures," more than an idea produced by the too much on an a priori emotional re­
image. sponse; the game has already been won. O n
Cezanne, on the other hand, takes three the other hand (and to give Alain Resnais
apples, places them in a fruit bowl, and his due), it is a much greater artistic
puts the whole thing on a white tablecloth. achievement to have been able to move an
Admittedly, the signifying and emotional audience merely by wandering through the
value of the apples is relatively small just bookshelves of the Bibliotheque Nationale,
mundane o b je c ts -to begin with. But then, as he did in Toute la memoire du monde.
through the effect of form and color, the We are back to the fault of formalism as
painting assumes a meaning—and one expressed in Eisenstein's more extremist
which is not merely formal, for the apples views, particularly his pretensions to a
are indeed taken at their face value, i.e., as cinedialectic based essentially on montage.
objects formalized in a certain way to be­ Ideas determined in this way become alien­
come affective and meaningful. The art in ated from the content, exploited merely to
this case is complete because the form be­ build abstract signs whose meaning has no
comes creative-creatin g a whole system of direct link with what the images represent.
values, if not the represented object itself. At Now, in the cinema, form is not an abstract
the opposite extreme from abstract art, it is design using film merely as a picture puz­
not the subject presenting itself as an object zle. It is thought incarnate; thought which
but the object becoming a subject. Or, to be informs us of its presence, which appears,
more precise, having become a subject, the tells us what it is, what its purpose is, using
object is built up with all the subjective val­ real (in the dramatic sense) events as refer­
ues relating to it through a representation ence points. It can manifest itself in a con­
which is the work of art. crete way only through concrete facts and
The painter who moves me with a box its primary function is to ensure the narra­
of matches, a fruit bowl, or a mandolin is a tion of these facts.
much greater artist than one who moves In a general way, as we have seen, Eisen-
me with a naked woman, since, for all the stein based the meaning of montage upon
obvious reasons, through the appeal that an emotional shock produced by the colli­
such a representation makes anyway, he sion of two images; and upon fragmentary
would have to be a pretty poor painter not representations whose sum and juxtaposi­
to move me with such a content! tion awakened in the audience's intelli­
It is a criticism to be leveled at a great gence and emotions a final synthetic image,
many films (good ones at that): that they a symbolic idea, the very idea which ob­
move the audience with a story or facts sessed the filmmaker himself.
moving in themselves and do so, for the It is certain that the accidental juxtapo­
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 343

sition o f ob jects w ith n o ap p aren t associa­ supp ort o f a n arrativ e, v isu al sy m b ols are
tion , th e in te n siv e natu re o f significations, m ean in g less o r else beco m e lifeless con v en ­
and the con d en sation of id eas produ ced b y tio n a l signs.
e m p h asizin g ce rta in sp ecific d etails exert a T h e n arrativ e d ev elop ing events accord­
trem end ou s em otion al in flu en ce. N on eth e­ in g to the in terp lay o f con n ections and as­
less, thou gh these poetic im ages becom e in sociatio n s b o th logical an d chronological is
a sense the "e m o tio n a l in carn atio n o f the w h a t con stitu tes th e literal m essa g e o f the
th e m e ," the idea m u st not m ask th e reality film . T h e "sig n ify in g c e lls " b e in g con ­
w h ich generates and su p p o rts it; it m u st structed (th rou gh m ontage o r som e other
n o t b e im p osed b y the a rb itra ry association fo rm o f structure) w ith the actual elem ents
o f tw o im ages, b y con triv ed relationships, o f this n arratio n , it is these same images
b u t m u st prove itself to b e th e consequence w h ich in a n y film are b o th d escriptive and
o f ob jectively reported facts. sym bolic.
N ow , in E ise n ste in 's view , th is idea, this E m ploying th e term in olog y o f H jelm -
em otional shock, is co n trasted w ith a de­ slev and th e sem io lo g ists (very illum inat­
scription o f actu al reality foUowing a dra­ in g in this con text), w e w ou ld say, w ith
m atically organized narrative line. H ow ­ R oland Barthes:
ever, one can see in The Battleship Potemkin
(his m o st g en u in e m asterp iece) th a t the
We know that a system which annexes
sym b ols are always th e con seq u en ce o f the signs from another system in order to tum
facts d escribed and in d irect association them into signifiers is a system of conno­
w ith them . tation; we might say, therefore, that the
The im ag e b ein g essen tially th e sig n of literal image is denoted whereas the sym­
w h at it reveals (gestalt sign or analogon), w e bolic image is connoted.
saw th at in the cin em a - t o th e e x te n t that The signifiers of connotation, which
the signified is lim ited to th e represented we shall call connotators, are formed by
actions o r fa c ts —" sig n ification and sig ni­ the signs (signifiers and signifieds to­
fied are o n e an d the sa m e ." W e also saw gether) of the denoted system: of course,
more than one denoted sign may be as­
that, through an ep h em eral relationsh ip,
sembled to form a single connotator-
film im ag es becom e charg ed w ith a new
provided that it has a single signified of
m eaning , p ro v ision al bu t n o less apparent. connotation; in other words, the units of
Sig n ifyin g som eth in g other than w h at they the connoted system are not necessarily
reveal (albeit th rou g h w h a t th ey reveal), on the same scale as the units of the de­
th e y act in the sam e w a y a s linguistic signs, noted system; large sections of denoted
w h ich is h o w w e cam e to sa y th a t in the discourse may comprise a single unit of
cinem a, rea lity becom es th e elem ent in its the connoted system. . . . However it
ow n n arration. Y et, a t the sam e tim e, w e "dresses up" the denoted message, the
pointed ou t th a t th e im ages possess this connotation never contains it completely:
there still remains "part of the denotation"
sign value o n ly as a n accessory. B y th em ­
(indeed, there would be no discourse if
selves th ey sig n ify n oth in g . W h at deter­
this were not so) and, in the final analysis,
m ines the d escrip tive valu e o f a n im age is
the connotators are always discontinuous
the general m eaning o f th e story, and this
"erratic" signs, naturalized by the de­
is alw ays b y m e a n s of th e relationsh ip s of noted message which conveys them. As
facts w hich it reveals. T hu s a film entirely for the signified of the connotation, it is
com posed o f a series o f m etaphors o r sy m ­ characteristically general, global, and dif­
bols is to tally inconceiv able. W ithou t the fuse: it is, if you like, a fragment of ideol­
344 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

ogy.. . . These signifieds are in close com­ fication, its d eep er m e a n in g -in d e e d , b e­
munication with culture, knowledge, and com es the m ean in g o f the n arrativ e b y re­
history; it is through them, so to speak, v e a lin g ite persp ectiv es.
that the world penetrates the system; in C onsequently, th o u g h it is tru e th a t the
short, ideology is theform (in the Hjelmslev
sig n ify in g cells (or u n its o f m ean in g ), lik e
sense) of the signifieds of connotation,
th e n a rra tiv e tech n iqu es, m u st m old them ­
whereas rhetoric is the form of the con-
selv e s to a co n tro llin g stru ctu re o f tim e,
notators themselves.28
it w ou ld b e w ron g to assum e, as does
Briefly, th en , a con n oted sy stem is one Claude B rem ond in th e con clu sion o f h is
w hose lev el o f expression is itself form ed stu d y o f th e "n arrativ e m e ssa g e,"29 th a t the
b y a system o f signification. In this sense, "se m io lo g y of th e n arrativ e m u st b e d ev el­
all art is a connoted system and all artistic op ed b efo re, n o t after, th e sem iology o f the
exp ressio n is th e effect o f a connotation. n arrativ e te ch n iq u es." H e clearly h a s a
W h ich o f cou rse d oes n o t m e a n that all co n ­ p o in t (a d ebatable one) w ith regard to lit­
n o tatio n is an ae sth etic effect, for, as Barthes eratu re, w h ich w o rk s w ith sig n s w h ich are
goes on to indicate, "so c ie ty is constan tly formed and fixed, but n o t w ith regard to
developing secon d ary system s fro m th e film , w h ich m u st create its sig ns as it goes
basic system w h ich supplies it w ith h u m an alon g , each tim e d ifferently fro m before.
language, and this d evelopm ent, so m e­ B rem on d g oes on: " if n arrativ e is turned
tim es obviou s, som etim es d isg u ised and in to visio n b y b eco m in g film , tu rned into
rationalized , com es v ery n ea r to fo rm in g a w ords b y b eco m in g a novel, tu rned in to
g enu ine historical an throp ology." gesture b y b eco m in g m im e, etc., these
B e th at as it may, sin ce in th e cin em a tran sform ations d o n o t affect the structure
sym b ols (connoted sym bols) assum e their o f th e narrative, w h ose signifiers rem ain
m ean in g on ly in resp ect o f th e events the sam e in each c a s e ." B u t o f cou rse they
w h ich serve as an ch o r points a llo w in g do! T h ey d o affect the stru cture o f the n a r­
th e m to b e interpreted, it is clear th a t the rative (perhaps n o t its in fra s tru c tu re )-
literal m essag e is necessary su p p ort an d th a t w h ic h is w h a t w e h a v e s p e n t the last few
n o in tellig ib le sy m b o lic m essag e cou ld ch ap ters trying to prove.
exist w ith o u t it. In the cin em a, th e sig n ifiers are alw ay s
H ow ever, th o u g h th e in tellig ib ility of v isu al o r au d iov isu al, th a t is ob v iou s; b u t
the story dictates the expressive form s w hich th o u g h th e ir material is th e sam e, their forms
sig n ify it, one could n ev er d ed u ce fro m this are not. T h ey d o n o t exist a p riori b u t are
th at this intelligibility has already been contingent. F orm ed in term s o f a specific
formed b efore being expressed b y th e form s. co n ten t, existin g th em selves in term s o f spe­
T he stru ctures are organ ized accord in g to a cific associations and , w h at is m ore, a
lo g ic and chro n olog y w h o se pu re p o ten ti­ sp e cific sty le, th e y are a lw a y s different, i.e.,
ality form s the ideal o r in ten tio n al in fra ­ "fo rm e d in a different w ay ." A d d ed to that,
structure o f the n a r r a t iv e - it s p u rp ose th e u n its o f m ean in g are alm ost alw ays
- b u t it is b y b eco m in g fo rm alized that com posed o f heterog eneou s elem en ts (im ­
they give it a pretext fo r existing, m aking it a g es, w o rd s, sou nd s) w h o se in ternal artic­
appear as it is and can on ly b e th rou g h their u lation s are in fin itely variable. O n e cannot
agency. O riented b y th e d ev elop m en t o f the help but see th a t th o u g h reality controlled
story, b y the articu lations o f th e narrativ e, b y th e film cod e is in d ep en d en t o f the code
the m ean in g o f the con n otation s in flu en ces insofar as it is reality, this is n o t so insofar
the literal m essag e an d g ives it its fu ll sig n i­ as it is represented reality (d epen dent on a
 TIME A N D SPACE OF T H E D RAM A 345

representation). S in ce it is possible to fo r­ self. T h is w o u ld b e the sam e as fo rcin g con ­

m alize significations in m yriad w ays crete facts in to a preestab/ished structure
(though the style o f the in d iv id u a l film re­ w h en the stru cture ou g h t to b e established
quires that only one b e u sed ), it w o u ld seem b y th e ap p aren tly un m otivated d ev elop ­
that there can b e as m a n y d ifferen t signi- m e n t o f th e facts. S u bjective interpretation
fied s as p o ten tial signifiers (or w a y s of sig ­ in the cinem a is given a m ore secure fo u n ­
nifying). It h as alread y b e e n said: the sam e d ation w h en it is b ased o n the objective (or
story told by tw o d ifferen t d irectors is q u asi-objectiv e) d ev elop m en t o f the con ­
b ou n d to tu rn o u t differently. T h e m ean in g tent. W h ich , o f course, ca n b e entirely su b ­
o f the narrativ e, its p ersp ectiv es, n ecessar­ jective in itself. It is possible to p resen t a
ily beco m e altered. em oth er w ords, the con ­ con cep tu alized w o rld (script, set, situa­
noted sig n ification s o f th e su b ject depend tion s, etc.), b u t the way in w h ich it is p re­
on the w ay they are prod u ced . sen ted m u st appear as a relationsh ip w h ich
It is o b v io u s th a t n arrativ e and exp res­ h as n ot b een con triv ed or prepared before­
sive techniqu es are su b ord in ate to the n ar­ h an d . A cou p le o f concrete exam ples w ill
rative, since th e w h o le effect d ep en d s on illustrate th is m ore clearly.
the associatio n s w h ich its d evelopm en t in O n e exam ple is a sequ ence from Variety
time creates. H ow ever, th e units o f m ean­ (a fam ous film fro m the end o f the silent
in g are fo rm alized b y these techniques. p eriod ), and fo r convenience w e shall refer
A n d sin ce th e n a rra tiv e d eriv es its d eeper to the ch aracters b y th e acto rs' nam es. Em il
m ean in g exclu siv ely fro m the conn oted sig ­ Jan n in g s, a fairground acrobat, h a s tak en in
n ifications, it fo llow s th a t th e sem iology of an d m a rrie d L y a de Putti, teach in g h e r the
the narrative d ep end s o n tech n iqu es w h ich, tricks o f h is trad e. W ith W arw ick W ard, a
p aradoxically, are su b ord inate to it: a spe­ fa m o u s trap eze a rtist, as their partner, they
cific code is formed fo r the expression and com­ p erfect a sen sation al trick. T h e trio b ecom es
prehension o f a story, bwt the intelligibility of a star attraction. M eanw hile, W arw ick Ward
that story depends on theforma/ qualities of that is not insen sitiv e to the charm s o f h is pretty
code. partner. T h e feelin g is m utual, and w h en
T h e ru les co n cern in g the order of shots the occasion presen ts itself, she b eco m es his
w ithin th e n arrativ e are those governing m istress.
d ram atic structure (either n arrativ e o r d is­ T he seq u en ce in q u estio n tak es p lace as
cou rse) ap p lied to the cinem a, sin ce it is th ey g ive a p erfo rm an ce in a large B erlin
also a m atter o f en su rin g the intelligibility m u sic hall. T h e previou s scen es h av e led us
o f the story w ith respect to th e d ram atic to b eliev e that ad ultery is in the air. A fter
or p sych ological m o tiv atio n s w h ich it their tu rn (on stage), all three com e forw ard
involves. Yet the ord er o f sh ots is also con ­ to take their bow , th en step b a ck as the cu r­
d itioned b y th e m eaning the film m aker in­ tain is low ered . T h e a u d ien ce's enthu siastic
tends to g iv e to th e associated conn ota­ recep tio n calls th e m b a ck fo r an en co re and
tions. The o n ly ru le w h ich applies in this th ey b ow to th e applause. M ean w h ile, the
case is to ensu re th a t the significations ap­ stage m anager, ob v iou sly in a hurry, low ers
pear as th e n atu ral expression o f things. It the curtain. W arw ick W ard and Lya de P utti
is im perative that th e ev en ts an d th eir d i­ step back, b u t Je^nnings does n o t see their
rect m ean in g sh ou ld n o t be forced in to an al­ action an d rem ains on stage receivin g the
o gies, com p ariso n s, or m etap h o rs, w h at­ ap p lau se u n til th e cu rtain com es dow n,
ever need there m ay b e to em p hasize ideas leav in g h im stan d in g there b y him self.
m o re or less h id d en b e h in d th e d ram a it­ It is a trivial incid en t, a p u rely an ecd otal
346 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

fact. A n d y et th is accid ental low erin g o f the floating d ow nstream . In relation to its con ­
cu rta in is seen fro m the sid e w ith th e cam ­ text, this fin al shot assum es an extraordi­
era tilted up, so th a t th e lo w e rin g is show n n a ry sign ificance. It is n o longer an isolated
as a knife cu ttin g an im agin ary thread and v ictim w e are seeing ; it is th e actu al conse­
p lacin g L ya de P u tti and W ard W arw ick on q u en ces o f the w a r assem bled in to a single
on e sid e and Emil Jan n in g s o n th e other. vision, a n im ag e o f d esolation , silence, and
T h at sam e evening , Lya d e P utti and W ar­ death, a n absurd death carried b y the indif­
w ick W ard w ill be in each o th e r's arm s. feren t and all-p ow erfu l current.
Th ro u gh th e m ean in g it assum es, the W ith in these im ag e relationsh ip s w hich
im age b eco m es a sy m b o l, ev en th o u g h its organ ize the d escrip tion into sym bols, w e
p u rp ose is m e re ly to d en o te, q u ite sp ecifi­ should d istin g u ish betw een comparative (or
cally, a co n crete fact. Yet, th o u g h it may be a n alog ical) relationsh ip s and associative re­
interpreted as a sy m b o l, this is n o t o b lig a ­ latio n sh ip s. T o d o this, w e m u st once again
tory, an d th e sp ectator w h o fails to catch the re fe r to tw o exam p les w h ich , in th eir objec­
allu sio n w ill still b e ab le to u n d erstan d tiv e con ten t, are quite sim ilar: the breakup
w h at follow s. T h e co n n o ta tio n is im plicit, o f the ice in G riffith 's Way Down East and
n o t exp licit (w hich it m u st n ev er be),30 y et it the b reak u p o f th e ice in Mother.
gives the situ atio n a re so n a n ce an d d ep th In th e first film , L ilian G ish (banished
w h ich end ow th e film w ith its q u ality and from h e r fa th e r's farm for retu rnin g one day
style. O b v io u sly the sy m b ol d oes n o t tran ­ w ith a child , ab an d o n ed b y th e fath er w h om
scen d the signification o f th e con ten t; all it she refu ses to nam e) m akes h er w a y across
does is g iv e th e sig n ification an accen t; it is cou n try in th e m id dle o f a snow storm .
less a sym bol than a m etaphor. It has been Blinded b y th e blizzard, sh e falls fa in tin g on
said that there ca n b e n o such thing in the the fro zen su rface o f a river w h ich a t the
cin em a as m etap h o r in th e strict sen se; a sam e tim e is b eg in n in g to b reak up and
m etap horical im a g e can on ly b e th e effect carry h er dow n stream . Settin g ou t after her,
o f a com parative association or allu sion. We a v illa g e lad in love w ith her saves her from
w ou ld say, u sin g the ja rg o n o f sem iology, certain d eath by ju m p in g from ice floe to ice
th at it is an index, in the sen se th at thou g h floe.
the film m aker m a y or m a y n o t in ten d the T h e re are n o sy m b o ls h e r e - e v e n less
signification, the fact th a t it is id entified th a n in V ariety- m erely a sim p le m etaphor­
w ith an action, a con crete object, m ean s th a t ical allusion, a n index. T h e parallel editing
it m u st b e interp reted b y the audience. Far w h ich alternates b etw een the b o d y of the
from b ein g ap p lied or tack ed on, th e conn o­ y o u n g girl being sw ept dow nstream and
tation is the produ ct o f a specific form o f the the hero setting off after h er creates a dra­
d enotation. It therefore d ep end s o n it, as m atic "s u sp e n s e " at the sam e tim e as the
lon g as the m ean in g o f th e d en otation de­ a ssociatio n o f a natural crisis (the ice b reak­
p en d s o n it. T h eir correlation is obviou s. in g up) an d a dramatic crisis (Lilian G ish 's
W e m ay recall th a t D ov sh en k o u sed this flig h t and the d ang er facin g her) suggest a
stylistic device in Earth, giving it a m uch co m p ariso n w ith a p rog ression e d ite d in
w ider m eaning, i.e., a genuinely sym bolic cou nterpoin t. T h e tw o events are associated.
m ean in g . A n d there is a sim ilar exam p le in N eith er o f th em in volves the other or the
Paisan (directed b y R ossellin i), w h en, a t the o th e r's signification. A nd y et this associa­
end o f the film , a fter the g u n b attle in the tio n calls up m en tal im a g es w h ich are sym ­
sw am p, there is a shot show ing, w ith o u t b olic. R ejected b y a self-righteou s society
b ein g obviou sly contriv ed , a d row ned m an an d h er ow n relatives fo r h av in g given free
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E D RAM A 347

expression to her love, Lilian Gish, in the parallel editing is based on various com­
depths of despair, is literally an "orphan of parative associations: the river breaks the
the storm." And here we have the social stranglehold of the ice just as, in their own
victim becoming a real victim; the disinte­ way, the striking workers are, for the time
gration of her morale is identified with the being, breaking through the resistance of
disintegration of the natural phenomenon. the tsarist forces. Yet these images very
Nature herself seems to be siding against quickly take on a symbolic signification,
her, thereby reinforcing the cruelty of her through a kind of allusive association, pass­
destiny. ing from the particular to the general. They
It is not our purpose to judge whether become, as it were, the "image" of the rev­
or not such a melodramatic reinforcing de­ olution in progress: the revolutionaries
vice is successful (though, it must be admit­ have failed for the time being but the rev­
ted, it is a well-realized sequence, achieving olution continues despite the setback.
a genuine grandeur even in its excess) but is a genuine metaphorical substitution -
to consider an effect of language, a form of like the last image in Paisan -w h ereas in
expression. Way Down East there is merely a syn-
As in Variety, the subject becomes ap­ tagmatic confrontation: metonymy rather
parent through the concrete facts but is not than metaphor.
limited to the actual story; a whole series Oppositional relationships involved in a
of significations radiate round it, which it causal progression are potentially comic,
does not exhaust, even th o u g h -a s in Va­ often through the enormity of their rela­
r ie ty - the sole purpose of the significations tionships. Such is the case in Modern Times
is contained in the final purpose of the (the naval yard episode) when Charlie is
drama. And it is clear that in contrast with ordered by the petty officer to fetch a wedge
what certain psychologists have all too eas­ and he brings the nearest one to h a n d -
ily concluded, the film image is not an ob­ which happens to be supporting a prop,
stacle to the imagination but in fact stimu­ which in tum happens to be supporting a
lates it. Obviously we are not able to ship under construction. The effect is that
imagine what is presented to our eyes, Charlie is the cause for the premature
since we are in the process of perceiving it, launching of the unfinished vessel, which
but we can exercise our imagination if we sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Here
use these relationships in their immediate again, the symbol is not contained in the
context as starting points; and indeed that concrete image but in the mental image
is precisely what we must do if we wish to suggested by their relationship: the facts
understand the meaning of the connota­ imply the hero's ineptitude and absent­
tions when these depend on one feature of mindedness, but their relationship implies
the represented objects. The film provides the enormity of the effects compared with
material for thinking as well as for seeing the triviality of the causes. It is not in the
and not only about what is being seen but signifier that the symbol exists but in the
also with it. signified.
If we now turn our attention to Mother, Once again - a n d we cannot over­
we have already seen how Pudovkin inter­ emphasize this point: if the attitude of the
cut the images of the strikers marching reader is to interpret a suggested reality
down the Mail alongside the Neva with im­ and suggested ideas through a series of
ages of the Neva carrying packice breaking conventional signs, the attitude of the spec­
up against the arches of the bridge. This tator in the cinema is to interpret, through
 348 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

a perceived reality, ideas which are sug­ hand, is quite definite: everything is real.
gested rather than signified, film significa­ After a while, the child accompanying the
tions being necessarily vague and impre­ two heroines goes into the corridor and
cise. The events described by the narrative looks out of the window. What does he see?
merely form the basic substance of the film, An interminable line of goods trains loaded
its elementary level of intelligibility. The with tanks. The country is at war, we are
associations deriving from the arrange­ led to a ssu m e-o r else the army is on ma­
ment of these effects must be understood - neuvers. But the sisters get off the train at
and understood instantaneously. Whereas the next station and we quickly realize that
reading requires time for thinking, the cin­ it was nothing to do with war or military
ema depends on immediate understand­ maneuvers. The images are there merely to
ing, without which we cannot hope to es­ create, in an arbitrary and premeditated
timate the importance of the message. We way, the impression of uneasiness and neu­
confine ourselves to the represented objects rosis characteristic of the rest of the film,
without understanding the meaning of the which the film continues to contrive in ex­
representation; we believe we have under­ actly the same way.
stood, whereas we have merely been fol­ Now we are in a large cosmopolitan hotel,
lowing the progress of a succession of a place where you would expect to see a
events making up a story. lot of people; but the corridors are empty,
Before we examine what this story as though the sisters are the only visitors
should be (or rather could be in its relation­ there, in a hotel whose dimensions suggest
ship with the subject), we must draw atten­ at least a hundred bedrooms. The more in­
tion to false significations, or rather falsely dulgent among us might deduce that it is
cinematic significations. presumably in order to create a feeling of
There has been considerable comment, solitude and desolation. Fair enough; but
mostly adverse, about literary cinema. Now, what is the basis for it? The child playing
a literary film is not necessarily a film in these corridors, where he never meets a
adapted from a play or a novel, any more soul, nevertheless keeps running into a
than it is a film in which there is a lot of troupe of deformed dwarfs who are giving
talking. In the latter, the film is simply ver­ a performance in the town. It is quite log­
bal, whatever the literary merits of the text. ical that they should come and go in the
A film is said to be "literary" when its hotel where they are staying but com­
significations are preestablished, i.e., when pletely illogical that they are the only peo­
they rely on concepts, not on facts. We have ple we see. They are there merely to sym­
the example of Ingmar Bergman's The Si­ bolize, through their deformity, the de­
lence, which, as the perfect film of its type, pressing, neurotic nature of the world and
embodies everything which should be fo r no other reason. There are no maids in
avoided. It is not that it is a bad film; from the hotel, no porters, merely a decrepit
the point of view of the production, the di­ doddering old waiter who, as might be ex­
recting, it is a very skillful film, but from pected by now, symbolizes death and who
the perspective of creation and expression, naturally enough shows the child images
it is the perfect example of anticinema. of catastrophes and burials. Then we have
At the start of the film we are in a train one of the sisters masturbating while down
compartment; at least this is the impression in the street a tank which has been rolling
we have, since the setting is established in through the town completely on its own
a very vague way. The action, on the other comes to a halt, coincidentally, right under­
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 349

neath the windows of her bedroom. No to expression, since the latter relies entirely
need to mention the sexual symbolism of on the former, we are not breaking new
the tank's gun pointed in the direction of ground. Anyone who has gone to the trou­
the bedroom, but why on earth should that ble of pondering the subject will know this.
particular tank be rolling through the The purpose of this study is not to contrib­
streets on its own, except to create its petty ute new ideas or personal opinions on each
effect and to symbolize symbolically a succeeding page. As well as the personal
symbolic menace? Etc. opinions (which we recognize are present
One can see how frequently these signi­ in abundance), our aim is to define as
fications are applied. They are concepts put clearly and accurately as possible the im­
into pictures and introduced into a story de­ plications of various problems in order to
veloped in respect of these concepts; be able to suggest ways of solving them. To
whereas signification should be the conse­ be aware of a problem is already an ad­
quence of the events and appear in a way vance, but to give a clear and precise justi­
both logical and natural. fication or explanation is an even bigger
Lastly, we would point out that the step fo rw ard -at least that is our opinion.
whole symbolic structure of this film is of We believe we have demonstrated exactly
an oneiric nature. Everything which ap­ how expression is governed by the narra­
pears arbitrary and false in the film would tive, how the subject is controlled by the
be perfectly acceptable if it were a dream dramatic action. All we need to know now
or, as Bergman himself has described it, a is how the cinema can avoid being filmed
legendary story. Yet, however theoretical it theater or a novel in pictures and be film in
may be, reality is presented in The Si/ence all senses of the word.
for what it is. The intention is to give us the
impression that we are living in a night­ The Dramaturgy o f Fi/m
mare - which is all well and good; but then
it is not possible, even with that pretext, to During the twenties, Jean Epstein wrote,
introduce the logic of dreams into the de­ "I dream of films where nothing much
velopment of concrete facts without losing happens," and a number of critics followed
contact with actual reality the two struc­ him by saying, "We must put an end to
tures being unconformable. Which puts us anecdote. The ideal film is one without a
well and truly into the realm of literature.31 subject." And yet, despite their misleading
And the problem is not so much one of rhetoric, these theoreticians were not advo­
realism or lack of realism as of a way of cating doing away with the subject, merely
using signification contrary to the tech­ the p/ot /ine, at the time considered to be
niques of motion pictures, which (as we the only possible subject matter. It was not
have said repeatedly) do not consist in so much a matter of abandoning stories as
illustrating concepts, introducing preestab­ of elevating a theory into a be-all and end-
lished symbols or ready-made ideas into a all of film. em Jean Epstein's films, some­
drama, but in moving an audience with thing was always going on, except of
concrete facts through which ideas are ex­ course whatever it was which brought the
pressed, with or without metaphors, sym­ people flocking to the cinemas of the time;
bols, or metonymies. and the fact that the idea was taken up
Thus, when we say that denotation al­ again by Zavattini in 1945 proves that the
ways precedes connotation or, more sim­ aim of the theoreticians of 1925 was not far
ply, that narration is necessarily previous removed from those achieved by Italian
 350 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

N eorealism -the difference being that a the narrative" is limited, these actions
similar capacity for capturing reality was "could be continued."
not possible at the time. Stripped of the It is obvious that the criteria and aes­
complications of a story line which was no thetic canons used to judge the perfection
doubt restrictive but at least rang the of the work could never be the same in both
changes, the "slices of life" (as they were cases. In the classical meaning o f the word, the
called) produced by the avant-garde never perfection of a work is contained not only
went further than a well-directed natural­ in the harmony of a content and a percep­
ism, interesting enough when it did not de­ tible form -u sin g Hegel's formula applica­
generate into banal triviality. ble to all g en res-b u t also in the constant
Whereas commercial producers were balance of its parts, taking into account the
presenting subjects reduced to a cliched an­ human interest of the things signified. This
ecdote, the avant-gardists were working notion of perfection goes back to the
with structures intended to be significant Greeks. It is the translation, the perceptible
but having nothing or very little to signify. expression, of a particular conception of the
It seemed that if one had something to ex­ Universe, a static, closed Cosmos at the
press, it had to be via a story. center of which was Man. Confronted by
We believe we have reached the point such a universe, where the future was
where we can quite clearly identify the merely an eternally recurring pattern, the
basic conditions of the film code. It is not only qualities capable of expression were
montage (in the narrow sense of the word) the transcendent and immutable qualities
or indeed any specific form but a very gen­ of the essences governing and controlling
eral principle governing relationships and as­ the world of appearances.
sociations considered in their expressive mani­ Whereas previous generations were pre­
festations, however they are produced. occupied with the problem of space, our
Associations, then; but associations o f own is dominated by the problem of time,
what? It is this we shall endeavor to define i.e., speed and movement, change. Instead
by studying the signified as opposed to the of time being crystallized in a representa­
significations, the forms of the narrative as tion of space, it is the spatial representation
opposed to those of the expression. From which has become just one link among
now on, we shall try to establish an aes­ many in the chain of Time. The static equi­
thetic of the content in its relationship with librium of proportion has thus been re­
the aesthetic of the form, leaving the film placed, as a basic element, by the dynamic
code to one side in order to concentrate on equilibrium of rhythm, no longer related to
the motivations which support it. a geometric space but to a continuity, a de­
Film narrative is a discourse organized velopment, a continuum. No longer does
with perceptible objects but with a view to equilibrium lie in repose but in movement.
a drama involving a beginning, middle, Now, the cinema, which is the art of time
and end - a duration. We have seen that the par excellence (space being a mere composi­
two art forms capable of conveying a fact tional fram e for time), is always judged ac­
as well as its moral or social consequences cording to the principles of the stage.
are tragedy (which presupposes a dramatic Critics generally latch on to the internal
situation pivoted round a central point) balance of the film, i.e., a static balance, for,
and the novel (which allows the develop­ though the apparent dynamism of the film
ment of one or more actions toward a com­ may be obvious, the dynamism of the sub­
mon conclusion). Given that the "time of ject may remain inaccessible-at any rate
 TIME A N D SPACE OF THE D RAM A 351

incomprehensible in its creative action, in a consequence, the cinema was allowed to

the power it receives from the modalities of breathe its magic only in order to revive
an action "in progress." tottering old ideas. Ideas and feelings dat­
Because it was spectacle, the cinema was ing back as far as the Second Empire were
placed, as we have seen, right from the very thus restored to a sort of ghostly existence,
beginning under the aegis of the theater. At to which the dynamism of expression pro­
that stage, it could only be considered as a vided a new power, bringing unsupported
vehicle suited for transmitting a preestab­ fiction into the broad daylight of concrete
lished work (if not an actual stage produc­ reality. Naturally we do not mean films
tion), since, except for the fact that it was which deliberately evoke the behavior and
made up of moving images, the specific ca­ manners of a bygone age but those (the vast
pabilities of film were unknown. However, majority) which attempted to describe a
as quickly as these were discovered they were contemporary drama and which, for that
put to work in the service of a composed reason, found themselves completely out of
dramatic structure and, in a certain sense, touch with reality.
diverted from their proper development. At any rate, whatever the content of
We have seen that the paths of theatri­ these cinematic dramas, they were always
cality, though leading film away from its "constructed" (sometimes well, sometimes
true nature, were in fact essentially worth­ badly) with a view to an internal balance.
while, providing a steady, reliable, and The dynamism of the imagery followed the
well-tried structure, a guide as it were for jerky movements of the action, which in
ite first few halting steps, particularly since fact became absorbed into the static time of
the duration of the spectacle prevented it an inexorably dosed circle. The fatal knot
from straying from the well-trodden paths. was tied. At its very worst, the art of film -
However, arriving late on the scene, full film dramaturgy - was no more than the art
of potential promise, the art of the cinema of turning circles.
could do no more than ape its elders and True, there have been many great films
betters. And to do this, even those who held fashioned from the closed structure. It is
it in high regard instead of querying ite not a question of rejecting them out of
methods tried to adorn it with all the glo­ hand or dismissing their undeniable qual­
ries of its predecessors. Endeavoring to find ities. Besides, far be it from us to deny the
laws and solid principles, they claimed considerable aesthetic pleasure to be
they were helping the newcomer not to find gained from the notion of balance which
ite way but to find a position at the right came from it. It is like a feeling of rest and
hand of Art. Yet these principles had al­ fulfillment completing the tragic move­
ready been abandoned by contemporary ment and carrying it through to its final
painting and theater. resolution. It remains to be seen whether
As we know, academic rules always lag this aesthetic pleasure takes precedence
behind living art. They obstruct it insofar over the authenticity of the actions, over
as they try to submit the current forms to an awareness of an active duration, over
principles established from previous forms an analysis of characters subject to the va­
applicable only to them. In other words, garies of an action "in the process of taking
they presuppose the permanence of forms place." This is not our view. At least it
in an unchangeable society, thereby basing seems to us that these structures derive
their aesthetic criteria on metaphysical con­ specifically from the theater, from the per­
cepts which can be traced back to Plato. As spective of the stage acting as a receptacle
352 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

w h ose lim its h ap p en to coin cid e perfectly d estroy th e feelin g o f a u t h e n tic ity -a feel­
w ith theirs. T h e cinem a m u st and alw ays in g w h ich th e cinem a m u st p reserve at all
w ill u se th em as in sp iration, particu larly cost, how ev er essentially m ed iate it m ay be.
fo r film s o f a tim eless n atu re o r d ealin g D o e s th is m ean th at th e cinem a m ust
w ith a m ore or less concep tu al reality. d iv orce itself from trag ed y if it is to b e au ­
F ilm s such as Ivan the Terrible and Alexander thentic? I d o n o t w ish to quibble, b u t Trag­
Nevsky are p erfect illu stration s o f this. It ed y b road ly interpreted a s T heatricality is
w ill alw ay s b e p o ssible to con ceive great o n e th in g , th e meaning of traged y is quite
film s startin g fro m a principle n o t alto­ another. It is th e structures o f the form er
g eth er alien to th e cin em a w h ich th e cin ­ w h ich th e cin em a m ust avoid if its pu rpose
em a is ab le to satisfy q u ite rem ark ab ly ; b u t is to cap tu re a liv in g reality ra th er than the
th e fact rem ains th a t w h a t m ak es film sp e­ tragic con d ition s o f e x is te n c e -w h ic h it is
cial b elo n g s to a c o m p le te ly d ifferent quite cap ab le o f cap tu rin g in th eir concrete
sphere. m an ifestation s w ith o u t ev er h av in g to p ro ­
T h e typ e o f d ram atic d ev elop m en t best d u ce a th eoretic, ab stract representation.
suited to th e textu re o f film is o n e occu rrin g For, in a p lay w ritten fo r th e theater, not
o v er tim e in a w o rld w h ere th e un certain only d o es Fate m ore or less d eterm in e the
p rogress o f b ein g s and th in gs is con stan tly a ctions o f th e h eroes b u t, a t th e com posi­
governed b y duration. T h e cinem a, w h ose tion al level, these action s are alw ay s p re­
progression is w edded to th e process of d eterm ined . To fu lfill the ru les o f g o o d th e­
tim e itself, w h o se seq u en ces are capable of ater, th e resolu tion o f a dram a m ust be
arran gin g any n u m b e r o f ellip ses, is the u n d ersto od from th e b eg inn in g . T h at is
o n ly art ab le to produce a concrete, living w h at p ro d u ces th e fe e lin g o f artificiality,
im pression o f tim e p assin g , experien ced in p erfectly in k eep in g w ith the perspectives
its living, active reality. O n c e ag ain, d eter­ o f th e s t a g e - re-presentation - b u t entirely
m inism find s itself ov ertak en b y probability. ou t o f p la ce in th e cinem a, w h ich provides
From then on it is no lo n g er a ca se of a direct presentation of things. C inem atic
b alan ce d ep en d en t on sy stem atic coord i­ artificiality, w h ich exists in th e w ay the
nates. H ow ever, a d ifficu lty ev en greater w o rld is p resen ted , m u st n ot d isto rt or per­
th an th at ev er-elu siv e b a la n ce is constan tly v e rt th e facts it p resen ts or, at least, give
changing. N ow , in th at it is sp ectacle, film u s th e im p ression th at these facts w ere
m u st c o n tr o l-d y n a m ic or n o t - t h e vital artificially prepared an d assem bled to
b alan ce w h ich it fin d s in th e p erfect h a r­ b eg in w ith.
m o n y o f its associations an d th e evid en ce A s R olan d C aillois ob served som e years
o f th e situations. ago, "T rag ed y fo u n d n ew exp ressiv e p o w ­
It is cle a rly th e re a so n w h y closed stru c­ ers in th e cinem a. O n e is even led to w o n ­
tu res o ffer a certain g u arantee, p articu larly d er w h eth er th e tragic visio n o f ou r
sin ce th e y are in tu n e w ith th e relatively m o d ern w orld is n o t m o re forcefu lly and
static n atu re o f static shots, th e m ean s of m o re accu rately p ortray ed in its cinem atic
expression specific to th e silent cinem a — ra th er th a n its theatrical fo rm ."32 W e are
a n d also th e talkies of th e 1930s. Yet n o one con v in ced o f it. Tragedy in ou r tim e is no
w ill d en y that h o w ev er credible, w orks like lo n g e r defined b y Antigone o r Prometheus,
The In fo rm er-ev en S tag ecoach-revealed and it is to b e expected th a t an uneducated
th e ir artificiality m o re clearly fo r b ein g the audience, i.e., incapable o f placing these
v ery b asis of their perfection. It fulfilled a d ram as in th eir historical context, is likely
g enu ine n e ed , b u t th e artificiality tend ed to to b e bored b y them . T h ere is far m ore of
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 353

th e trag ed y o f ou r tim e in M and You Only d ram a, an d if th ere is less visible artificial­
Live Once, e v e n in a a H itch co ck thriller, ity in th ese film s th an in (for exam ple) The
than in Sop hocles o r E uripides. T h ey are in Informer, it is becau se th ey are associated
direct contact w ith it. w ith a traged y con v in cin g in a n o th er way.
M oreover, You Only Live Once (Fritz In a n y case, m elod ram a is alw ays a q u es­
Lang, 1937) r e d is c o v e r s -a n d r e n e w s - t h e tion o f form . L ife tu rns it in to th e len g th of
principles o f classical tragedy, th at is, the a d ay; b u t in life facts are w h at th e y are,
stru ggle for freed om against an im placable w ith o u t precon ceived pu rpose. T he quality
fate and the reversal o f action. A s th e resu lt o f "m e lo d ra m a " exists on ly in the tone
o f circum stantial evid en ce against h im , a given to the n arrativ e through variou s con ­
m an is im p risoned as a d an g erou s crim inal tortions, w h ose sole p u rp ose is to stim ulate
an d cond em ned to death. T o escap e, he as pow erful em otions as possible. W h en it
inflicts a w o u n d on him self. H e is tak en to is interpreted aesthetically, w h en it is used
a h osp ital and given a b lo o d tran sfusion, to signify, w h en its appeal is intellectu al
w ith the purpose o f revivin g h im suffici­ rath er th an em otion al, th en w h atev er the
en tly that h e m a y be execu ted p ro p erly the m ea n in g of the interp retation, it is n o lon g er
follow ing m orning. In th e m ean tim e, a tele­ m elodram a. In the ab sen ce o f w h ich , as w e
gram arrives: th e real cu lp rit h a s confessed, have ju s t ind icated , th a t is all classical trag ­
so the execu tion is canceled . B ut the p ris­ edies a r e - w h ic h lead s us rig h t b ack to ou r
oner escap es, in th e co u rse o f w h ich h e kills con clu sion that th e re is n o such th in g as a
the p riest w h o tries to stop h im . H e thus b a d su b ject, m erely b ad w a y s o f treatin g it.
becom es a m u rd erer a t th e v e ry m om en t B esid es, w ith o u t a sp irin g to un iversal
his innocence is proved. H e is tracked tragedy, m asterp ieces m ay be created b y
d ow n and sh ot w ith his g irlfrien d , ju st as tran scen d in g trite subjects. It hap p en s o n ly
th e y are ab ou t to cross th e border. v e ry occasionally, sin ce a great d eal of tal­
G ranted th e coincidences are too good en t is requ ired , ev en m ore so perhap s than
to b e tru e, b u t th e ev en ts are played ou t in fo r th e tra g ed y w h ich brings its ow n a p ri­
su ch a lo g ical fash ion th a t th e y do n o t lo o k ori values. T h e m o st strik in g exam p le is,
contrived. T h e exam in ation o f ju stic e an d w ith o u t a d o u b t, G riffith 's Broken Blossoms
g u ilt assum es - i n a w a y m o re c lo se ly re ­ (1919).
lated to ou r contem porary s o c ie t y -th e kind T h e stru cture o f th e film , throughout
of m eaning it m ight have in a Sop hoclean w h ich d escrip tion takes second place b e­
traged y w h ere, let it b e said in passing, the h in d expressivity, h a s th e concentrated
coincidences are n o less contrived . rigid ity o f tragedy, b en ea th its external ap­
O bv io u sly w h en it is strip p ed o f its pearance o f m elo d ram a turned into in can ­
m etap hysical back g rou n d , trag ed y scarcely tation or p lainsong . T h e w a y the w orld is
tran scen d s m elod ram a. A p art fro m w h at it seen is dictated b y the sordid setting,
suggests beyon d the actions it p resen ts, Oe­ w h ich reflects th e m iserable, d ow ntrod d en
dipus Rex is n o m ore th a n a good cop s-and - creatures roam in g the alleyw ays, through
robbers story. Yet good cop s-an d -rob bers the th ick m ists shrouding th e L im ehouse
stories are capable o f p ro d u cin g this k in d of docks. In this respect, Broken Blossoms is
extend ed m eaning: the b est o f Fritz L ang's o n e o f th e m o d e ls o f th e "d o s e d " aesthetic
film s are ev id ence o f this. A t the sam e tim e, w h ich later becam e th e h allm ark o f G er­
these are th e lim its o f a genre w h ere the m an Expressionism - w it h o u t there b ein g
apparent freed om o f events is registered a n y attem p t to u se the settin g interpreta­
w ith in the fram ew ork o f a prem ed itated tiv ely except in the m o st b asic sense. T he
3 54 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

stylization lies in the drama. It is clear, Thus we come back to the story which
then, that though the subject relies on the creates its own significations, whose mate­
anecdote, the subject is not the anecdote, de­ rial is made up of everything which makes
pending entirely on the form which gives it its the characters what they are, their actions,
value and meaning. their behavior within an active span of
Several years later Griffith was less suc­ time. No longer is it an arbitrary action in­
cessful with Way Down East. Apart from the troduced into an equally arbitrary context
extraordinary ending, which we have dis­ but a series of accidents, coincidences, chance
cussed, the only purpose of the motivations encounters, whose purpose (or interest) is
is the "pathos" which they involve. Instead to show us characters living in their own
of being overshadowed by the ever-present world, rather than to interest us in the prob­
poetic atmosphere, they are right in the lems of a plot line.
foreground, subordinating everything ex­ Yet this de-dramatization (which seems
clusively to the purpose of the plot line, to have attracted so much comment these
whereas in Broken Blossoms, they are com­ days and which certain critics have ac­
pletely eclipsed by the constantly lyrical cepted unreservedly without considering
transposition. the implications) does not suggest the com­
A month after Broken Blossoms, however, plete negation of drama, any more than it
Griffith presented True Heart Susie, a film does the negation of all structure. Quite the
not so well known or appreciated in its contrary. It is not a matter of replacing a
time, doubtless because of its unusual tonal stiff unworkable skeleton with an amor­
quality. Indeed, its richness is no longer phous invertebrate but of replacing a devel­
contained in a well-tried dramatic structure opment strictly controlled by an inflexible body
but in the observation of the attitudes of a o f rules with a development controlled by facts
group of people in circumstances neither alone.
wholly dramatic nor wholly trivial, the tiny It is certain that it is only through excep­
details of everyday life, its sorrows and its tional circumstances that characters reveal
joys. The narrative, not concerned with ei­ their innermost natures, their deepest
ther logic or facts, meanders hither and selv es-w h ich is the basis of what we call
thither, much as the lovers in the story wan­ drama. There is very little to be discovered
der through the fields. It is simplicity itself: from an impression of the characters' ev­
a narrative line following the characters eryday behavior (taking the train, sitting in
without imprisoning them in their own a bar, going to the office, returning home,
drama, allowing them complete freedom of making love), so similar are the most di­
action, even the freedom to think or act verse of human beings in that respect. This
against their own natures. Quite simply, we kind of voyeurism leads nowhere.
watch them living, nothing more. However, instead of the rigidity of a re­
It is understood that though Broken Blos­ strictive architecture, we may speak of the
soms shows all the signs of a rigid a priori flexibility of a drama growing and develop­
architecture, True Heart Susie paves the way ing like a plant. A plant is not devoid of
for modem cinema, which abandons story structure, but however deliberate it may be,
to concentrate exclusively on the characters' it is not preestablished; instead, it establishes
behavior. Obviously the plot is stiU fairly itself. It does not conform to a priori rules,
conventional, but then it has no other pur­ only to the movement of its sap, to every­
pose than to act as a theme around which thing which feeds it and forms its concrete
patterns are woven. being (subject, however, to external factors:
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E DRAM A 355

soil com p osition, p osition, ex p o su re to th e In b rief, th e in terest o f a film m u st lie not

su n and th e elem ents, etc.). It ob eys a life in w h at it te lls —its o b jec t-b u t in w h at it
force , an im p u lse, the v a rio u s con trad ictions expresses, w h ich becom es th e subject in all
w h ich fa sh io n , org an ize an d alter it; n o t a sen ses o f th e w ord.
m old lik ely to m a k e it as lifeless as a p iece N o lo n g e r is it a m a tte r o f "s ta g in g " a
o f cardboard. A n d if it occasio n ally d ev el­ s to ry b u t o f creating situations, b ringing
ops into strictly g eom etrical fo rm s (rhyth­ characters into confrontation, op en in g up
m ic spirals conform ing m o re o r less w ith n ew persp ectiv es, briefly fashioning scenes
the F inob acci series), it d oes so in the most w h ich 'b e c o m e organized into a story " as
natural way possible. In o u r view , th is is how th e y u n fo ld : interpreting reality rather than
the cinem a should com p ose its dram as. presenting a reality already interpreted.
A t th e b eg in n in g o f cin em a , p u re p h y s­ N o situations, then, to exh au st th e possi­
ical m o v e m e n t-in ch a se film s and the b ilities o f a character; on ly characters to ex­
early W esterns - w a s th e essen ce, th e m ain­ h a u st th e p o ssibilities o f a situation. Facts,
spring u n itin g or dividing th e heroes. actions w h ich d ev elop , p rom p t, an d contra­
N ow ad ays, m o b ility in tim e m u st b e the dict each oth er through choice, im pulse, free
d ynam ic m otivation o f th e facts, follow ing w ill accord in g to an ever-presen t m argin of
th e forces and im p u lses o f a m o re or less uncertainty, rath er th an a preplann ed b lu e­
d eterm inant p raxis. T h e n arrativ e thereby print. F o r if th e facts are alw ay s in som e
quite natu rally creates th e n orm s, w h ich, sen se predeterm ined, it is on ly in so far as
equally naturally, it im p oses on itself, th e y are m u tuaily self-determining, accord­
w h ich in th eir tu m create the conn otations in g to con stan tly ch a n g in g factors. T h e
w h ich g iv e it its m e a n i n g - a m eaning, p resen t o f th e action exists in w h at happens
how ever, w h ich d oes n o t red u ce the facts o r appears, in w h a t prom pts and changes
to supposed intentions. th e characters' intention s. T h e action sw ays
A t this point, w e are ob v iou sly seeing b etw een a past and a fu tu re - o r te n d en cy —
the issu e from the a u d ien ce's p o in t o f view. w h ich con tin u ally actu alizes it in a new ac­
If w e see it from the f i l ^ ^ k e r ' s p oint o f tion. T h e past influences th e presen t, w here­
v ie w it b eco m es clea r th a t th e circum ­ as th e fu tu re is d irected b y the characters'
stances and im p lication s o f th e d ram a are intentions, subject to the changes o f th e m o­
entirely pred ictable; otherw ise the film m ent. T h u s, alon g these lines, th e film no
could n e v e r b e m ade. E xcep t in excep tion al lo n g er p u ts th e w orld "in to im a g es"; it
cases, it cou ld n ev er b e a q u estio n o f m a k ­ forms itself into a world in th e im ag e o f reality.
ing film s off-the-cu ff w ith o u t a p reco n ­ A s H en ri A g el rem ind s us, recalling a n
ceived p lan o r id eas b u t o f e n su rin g that ou tm od ed form alism ,
the p rep rod u ction w o rk does n o t p araly ze
th e action o r k ill off th e liv in g qualities and previously, a sequence was connected to
that th e im pression g iv en is as if the the one before and the one after, accord­
film m ak er h ad a ccid en ta lly captu red the ing to a perfect dramatic progression:
shots were linked together to form a con­
scenes, as thou gh h e had tak en them , raw
struction whose mathematical precision
and un adu lterated , from life itself. It is a
appealed to our sense of balance and love
question o f th e narrativ e b e in g m o re im ­
of dialectic. However, it would appear
portant than th e sp ectacle, i.e., th e narra­ than man is not just a constructive, logical
tive style taking precedence ov er th e w ork being; he is above all (and perhaps in es-
m ethod (th ou gh so m e w o rk m eth o d s are s e n c e -a s the history of the novel, partic­
better th an others). ularly since James Joyce, tends to prove)
356 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

an incomplete being, constantly in flux, not if I had had my way. We would not
struggling blindly to find himself in a world have dwelled on compositional details if
which at times eludes him.33 it had meant the exclusion of others. They
would have all been jumbled together in
In this con text, A g el quotes th e exam p le of the maelstrom of the fiesta. . . . When
Federico F e llin i's I V itelloni as on e o f the Germaine Dulac and I left for Spain, we
film s w h ich illu strate m ost clearly th e ten­ took with us one guiding principle: to
d en cy w h ich d ev eloped w ith Italian N eo­ capture, without preparation of any kind,
realism b efo re op en in g up th e v a g u e and without preplanning, the camera reacting
o fte n con trad icto ry cu rren ts o f th e French spontaneously, every potential event, from
N ew W ave. H e w rites: the commonplace to the unusual: people
dancing, laughing, crying, eating, getting
The whole film is made up of mo­ drunk, arguing, praying, m o u sin g , ban­
ments whose sole reason for being is their ners flapping, the funeral procession pass­
instantaneity: the storm breaking at the ing by, the breeze raising clouds of dust,
beauty contest, the billiard game, walking men sweating in the heat of the sun, the
through the dismal, moonlit streets, the strains of music, two young men stabbing
showgirls larking about round Natali, the each other to death for the love of a
mourning after the ball with Alberto wan­ woman who, in the same moment, is
dering about dead drunk, searching for making love with a third. The assembly
Sandra and stopping in the woods to lis­ of these facte, which forms the subject of
ten to the bird song, the car breaking down the film, appears to the cold eye of the
and inviting other road users' abuse of the camera and is projected on the screen as
careless merrymakers: everything seems merely one component in the Spanish
linked together as though by accident, fiesta, a series of incidents of equal im­
with no logic or purpose. A marvelous ab­ portance. It is up to the unbiased audi­
sence of purpose. The unexpected suspense ence to use its imagination to provide a
of logic. A series of facts slipped together scale. Thus, grounded in a truth which is
with no link other than circumstance. 34 almost absolute, we captured a moment
in the life of an Andalusian village. This
we achieve . . . except for the scenes of the
Q u o tin g from v a rio u s in terview s h e held
girl and her suitors, which had to be writ­
w ith L ou is D ellu c in 1919, H en ri F esco u rt
ten and staged."
also p ro v e s—as if p ro o f w e re n e e d e d —that
Thus fo r Delluc in 1919, the exposition
these id eas, w hose im p lem en tation h a s b e­ of his story would not have been accord­
com e p ossible o n ly recently, are n o t n ew and ing to the accepted patterns of classical
that th e research es o f th e F rench avan t- drama; it would not have been articu­
gard e o f th e 1920s w ere n o t confined m erely lated, structured, developed, or treated as
to questions o frh y th m and ed iting as is g en ­ a drama but included with other pieces of
erally and m istaken ly thought. Fescourt re­ information as one element among others.
lates: It would be the result; it would have to be
pieced together by the audience, not
When we came to that particular place handed to them on a plate. Life does not
in the script35 I asked Delluc: "And what construct stories. Facts follow one another
about the action? All I can see are descrip­ with no rhyme or reason and it is up to
tions of atmosphere." He replied: "That's us to link them together. 36
true. There should not be even the merest
hint of fact. If I had taken my intention to A lth o u g h w ith L a F em m e d e n u lle part
its logical conclusion, the action (i.e., the D ellu c in trod u ces th e p sy ch olog y o f m em ­
story) would not have em e rg ed -a t least ory,37 h e w as n ev er ab le to fu lfill his inten­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E DRAM A 357

tions. T h e tim e h ad n o t y e t com e. It w as n o t with the concept of art for art's sake,
until so m e fe w y ea rs later, u n til Von Stro­ which is always being attributed to the
h e im 's Greed, th a t real tim e w a s integ rated intentions of pure cinema, whereas in fact
fo r the first tim e into a film . A t the sam e
they are entirely opposed to it. It happens
that style in these films, instead of being
tim e, w e should realize th at C h ap lin had
involved with the semantics or morphol­
m ad e u se o f th is free stru cture in m o st of
ogy of the cinematic code, is quite simply
his film s after 1 9 1 7 - l o n g b efo re Public the effect of a method of expression and
Opinion, therefore. composition. It is style in the exact sense
of the word, not a contrivance of form.
Chaplin's films are not constructed as Oean Mitry, Chariot et la fabrication Chap-
dramas. They do not follow a predeter­ linesque)38
mined structure of which they are merely
the expression, the translation into film. It w ill b e p o in ted o u t b y w a y o f correc­
In these films, the drama is merely a link­ tio n th a t if this aesthetic applies on ly to
ing together of situations created as the C h a p lin 's film s, it can n o t strictly speaking
story progresses, basing its structure en­ b e consid ered " r is k y " - m e r e l y ap p aren tly
tirely on itself, with all the freedom we
m ore difficult. W h eth er or n o t th is is so, it
find in life. Each scene, each sequence, is
does presuppose the im p ortance o f the
the logical continuation of the previous,
characters ov er the dram a, w h ich , being the
but it is quite obvious that the slightest
alarm, the merest flutter, would be suffi­ con seq u en ce o f their action s, ca n n ever con ­
cient to send the story in a totally different strict th em w ith ru les conceived abstractly
direction. . . . Clearly, this sort of con­ (as h a s b ee n the case u p to th e present). As
struction, applicable only to chases or the L ou is D ellu c said, "th e cin em a rm lead ing
linking of situations, is risky from the aes­ us tow ard th e su p p ressio n o f art, w h ich
thetic point of view. It is probable that its transcends art in b e in g life ."
only possible application is Chaplin's ^ms, It w ou ld seem , m oreover, th a t th e "c re ­
in that they rely totally on his character a tiv e fo rm " w e sp o k e o f in th e preceding
and actions and that it is he who leads the ch ap ter b eco m es fu lly em p loy ed , totally
action forward. It is also true that it is one
justified, o n ly w ith in the fram ew ork of
of the reasons why his films, despite their
stru ctures o f th is kind. In d o sed structures,
apparent slapdash production technique,
are pure cinema. alth ou g h the fo rm help s to b rin g ou t the
Whereas so many other films are no qualities of th e story, it ca n on ly increase,
more than the pictorialization of a story su b lim a te o r m a g n ify som eth in g p reexist­
already written, the expression of an idea in g it (Broken Blossoms, The Last Laugh, Al­
existing in itself independently of the me­ exander Nevsky). O n th e oth er h an d , in op en
dium which translates it, serving merely stru ctures, it creates significations at the
as a support for something it has not ac­ sam e tim e as th e p erceptible features o f the
tually created itself, Chaplin's films create narrativ e, if n o t th e narrative itself. O bv i­
their own signification and emotion for ously, fo rm cannot create m otivations;
and from themselves. They are self-defin­
w h a t it does d o is organ ize them and give
ing, being their own ultimate purpose
them m eaning. T h u s it w ould perhaps be
and having no responsibility for anything
but what they are. They are irreducible to m ore logical to refer to it as generative form ,
all forms of expression other than the cin­ a term ap p aren tly d ose to the attributes
ema (though Chaplin's own personal art, and capacities w e observe in it.
as an actor, relies on mime and dance). I It rem ains the case th at m o n tag e (in the
believe that this notion is in direct conflict sense o f a com bin ation of im ages or scenes
358 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

likely to provoke a psychological reaction In life, nothing happens." On the contrary,

and signify an idea through the effect of their a great deal happens - except thatone is not
juxtaposition) retains all its powers and re­ aware of it as such, precisely because one is
mains the basis of film expression - though, living it, or rather, one is not aware of it until
in our view, this expression is always the afterward, when it has passed into our mem­
product of a series of associations both log­ ory and is sufficiently detached from us that
ical and psychological relating as much to we are able to observe it from a distance as
the denotation as to the connotation. though seeing it from the outside.
However, whereas Eisensteinian mon­ Whether it be a film or a novel, the work
tage is at the level o f the shot, modem editing of art can only describe: particularly film
technique attempts to set itself at the level o f which can only capture events from the out­
the sequence (without denying any of the ad­ side. And yet film is able, better and more
vantages of its predecessor). Without un­ fully than the novel, to show us what is in
derestimating the potential signifying power the process of being lived.
of emphasizing particular details (succes­ A filmmaker describes his characters. Yet
sively or simultaneously), the event itself he does so by showing them continually in
becomes a signifier through the structure of the act of doing som eth ing-in such a way
the image which reveals it. As a concrete that film narrative is capable, better than
fact, it carries with it a certain meaning, but any other narrative, of following the minu­
as a fact presented as an image (framing, spa­ tiae of life. Instead of describing things in
tial relationship between characters and be­ the past tense, it does so in the present. It
tween characters and background), it gains does not tell us what was but what is.
a secondary revelatory signification—one What hashappened always distances the
which reacts with the signification of a dif­ narrator from the action he is describing,
ferent sequence, producing the effective and this has the effect of objectifying the
meaning and general current of the film. world, turning it into an object, crystallizing
Thus montage exists in the story struc­ it into a "good story." On the other hand,
ture of the film, its development, not just "what is happening" involves us in its own
within the transitory space and time of a course of events, and the only distance be­
sequence of shots. It becomes genuinely an­ tween the narrative and the actual event is
alytical, constructional, a compositional el­ that between the screen and the audience.
ement in the drama: an ecriture. When we watch a film, we are always
Time and space are no longer the time "face to face" with things, yet we have al­
and space of the drama (a framework ready seen the difference between the pre-
around the drama); they become a Junction sentification of an action which has taken
of it. In other words, the story is a series of place, belonging to the past, already com­
facts and events given space and time which plete, and the actualization of an action in
constitute, through their reciprocal relation­ the process of taking place.
ships and associations, their own contin- Presentification, as we have said, is what
u u m -w h ich is nothing more than a recep­ can be expected from static shots. It is suit­
tacle for a dramatic movement whose able for telling legendary tales, tragedies
directions, generated by its living forces, enclosed within a certain time span into
follow the same lines as those of a river cut­ which they fit perfectly. The moving cam­
ting its own channel. era, on the other hand, creates the impres­
Sartre writes in La Nausee, "One must sion of an active presence, an action "to be
choose between living life and describing it. continued."
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E DRAM A 359

M o d e m cin em a therefore d escribes m ore o f m e a n in g b u t th a t, k e ep in g strictly to its

th a n it n arrates th o u g h its im ages reveal p u rp ose o f revealing th e w ay th e characters
rather th an d escribe (to describe an object, act or th in k , it shou ld n o t attem pt to b e ex­
it m u st b e excluded; if it is there, it only plicit as regards the d ram a w h ich intro­
n eed s to b e seen). D escrip tion being a liter­ duces it. D ialog u e is n oth in g m ore th an a
ary art, w e m ight p refer to say th a t m o d e m v e rb a l b e h a v io ra l p attern . N ow , all too fre-
film is an observation o f e v en ts in th e process q u e n tly - e v e n in the best f i l m s - t h e d ia­
o f h ap p en in g , a visio n w h ich d iscov ers in log u e is w ritten b y p eop le w h o see d ram atic
them an intentionality (in the p h en om en o­ d ev elop m en t on ly in term s o f th e theater,
logical sense) w ith o u t ev er ap p aren tly sub­ i.e., through th e text, as in a play, w here it
m itting th em to an aesthetically p red eter­ is resp onsible for ev ery signification.
m ined intention. W h at gives th e m ajority o f film s th eir ap­
Yet this w ay o f o b servin g and follow ing pearance as fo rced , contrived d ram a is their
th in g s presupposes a to tally objective fo rm d ia l o g u e - f a r m ore th an an overelaborate
o f d ialogu e from the characters (objective, directing style. O n ly w h en film m akers ac­
th at is, for the aud ien ce); b u t all to o often cep t th a t real life, life in action (even the
things hap p en as th o u g h th e characters v ag u est im p ression ), cannot b e captured b y
speaking w ere con sid erin g their actions b u rd en in g it w ith a ca refu lly com p osed text
from the outside. W h at th ey say serves to ex­ to tally divorced from life will th e cinem a be
p lain the m otiv ations w h ich cau se th e m to said to have m ade an ad vance along the
act the w ay they do. W h en A talk s to B , it is p a th it has ch o sen for itself.
in o rd er to in form th e au d ien ce ra th e r than In th e theater, th in g s are summoned to
sh o w B w h at h e is th in k in g o r feeling. N ow , appear b y words. In n ov els, th ey are m en­
characters in th e act o f exp erien cin g som e­ tioned in p assin g or described . In the cinem a,
th in g can n o t at th e sam e tim e reflect u p on they are show n; no need to explain them.
it - p r e c is e ly becau se th e y are exp erien cin g O n ly w h at is n o t sh o w n or c ^ m o t be
it. R eflection can tak e p lace on ly after (or b e­ sh ow n - p a r t o f the ch a ra cters' b eh av io r in
fore) the event. O n ly com m en tary about a g iv en situ ation - n e e d s exp lanation. In
som ething in the past is cap ab le o f d istan tiat- th is respect, Ita lia n N eorealism (in particu­
ing its e lfin th is way, tak in g u p a p erspective lar A n tonioni) and th e film s o f th e [French]
on the past. D irect d ialogue can n o t p o ssibly N ew W ave (in p articu lar G odard) have
do th is, and w e sh ou ld therefore n o t lo o k to pointed th e cinem a in the rig h t direction
it fo r an u n derstand ing. (th ou g h often th ey them selves h av e n ot al­
In the cin em a - m o r e specifically, in the w ay s fo llow ed it).
narrative art w h ich record s d u ration in the It h a s b een said o v e r a n d o v e r again: sig­
process o f h ap p ening - im ag es alone are ca­ n ificatio n in th e cinem a is ach iev ed through
p ab le and resp o n sib le fo r e xp la in in g events th e ob jects them selves; yet th is signification
and actions, for the reason th a t th ey alone n ev er ig n ores the meaning o f objects: it pro­
describe it, i.e., consid er th e actions from the v id es th em w ith a supplementary m eaning.
outside, w hereas the hero o f th e story is liv­ It is therefore up to th e objects to say w hat
ing the action b ein g d escribed . th ey are, to show them selves in term s o f a
H ow ever subjective the e y e o f the narra­ context acting as a catalyst, and up to the film ­
tor, he is alw ays seen as im p artial, w ith n o m ak er to ensure th at this is w h at happens.
p art to p lay in the h ero's actions. T h u s to T h e m ain d ifficu lties lie in the facts that
say that film dialogue m u st b e "n o n sig n ify ­ (1) T h e story m u st n ev er b e m erely the pre­
in g " does n o t m ean th at it should b e devoid te x t fo r an exercise in sty le, th o u g h it is
360 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

m erely th e su p p ort fo r sign ification s rath er creation an d con trol it as th e expression of

th a n th e u ltim ate purpose o f the film . It a n internal necessity. It is n o t b alan ce b ased
m u s tn e v e r b e relegated to th e b ack g rou n d ; o n a p reestab lish ed p o in t b u t b alan ce estab­
it m u st m ain tain a certain interest through lished as events ta k e th eir course.
its developm ent; it m u st, in th e tim e-h on ­ In effect, a ll stru ctures p resu p p o se the
ored p h rase, hav e rh y m e an d reason. (2) p ro b lem o f th e ir o w n creation. T h ou gh
T h e n arrativ e, w h ile attem p tin g to b e as th e ir origin m ay n o t b e a p riori facts, it is
o bjective as possible vis-a-vis th e ev en ts it fro m a priori facts th a t th ey are established
is recou nting, m u st n o t b e c o m e m e re ly a - and this is a gradual process. T h at leads
record , an im p erson al statem en t o f fact, u s b a ck to the im ag e o f p la n t grow th.
any m ore th an a prefabricated dram a. Ide­ T h ese "e sta b lish ed fa c ts " in film n arra­
ally, gen eralities and universalities shou ld tive are m om en ts, sequences, o r states of
b e achieved th rou g h sp e cific tem porary b a la n c e - n o t ju s t o f con ten t and fo rm bu t
facts, w ith o u t th e ep h em eral reality b ein g o f h a rm o n y b etw een th e logic o f events and
im p risoned b eh in d a p riori attitudes, w ith ­ th e ch aracter psychology. S in ce actions in
o u t it e v e r b ein g consid ered excep t fo r its the p ro cess o f h ap p en in g are alw ay s subject
o w n qualities. It is fro m th e "im m e d ia cy " to th e vagaries o f ch an ce, to external factors,
o f objects, fro m th e ir coexisten ce, th at their it fo llow s th at the balance achieved through
u n iv ersality m u st s p r i n g - o r rath er from a p a rticu la r action (necessarily based o n the
th e w ay they are presen ted . The eth ical, so ­ past and on a p ro v ision al expectation) is
cial, or m etap h y sical p ersp ectiv es tran s­ b ein g con tin u ally ad justed . T hu s a n ew bal­
cend ing th e d irect m ean in g m u st com e a n cin g p ro cess takes its p lace alon g sid e the
only fro m th e con n otation s; and these, reg­ p reviou s one, setting itself in th e direction
istered a t - a n d w i t h - t h e lim its o f th e de­ o f p r o b a b ilit y -a n d so on.
n otation, m u st n o t, u n d er an y circu m ­ T h ere can b e n o th in g m o re d ifficu lt to
stances, d isto rt or alter th e d en oted reality, con trol th an this n arrativ e m ethod, this for­
m erely in ord er to "fa b ric a te " a m eaning. m al con stru ction w h o se realization pro­
T h e fe w exam p les w e h a v e m en tioned d u ces its ow n specific con ten t, as w ell as
sh ou ld b e su fficien t p ro o f o f this. f o ll o w in g - o r ap p earin g to f o ll o w - t h e
So it m u s t n o t b e a p la y o r a p ie ce o f n a tu ra l d ev elop m en t o f thing s, i.e., control­
rep ortage b u t a n arrativ e organ ized w ith lin g a logic d ep end ent o n circum stance, m o­
successive scen es b u t sufficiently flexibly m en t, p lace, and ch aracter accordin g to a
th at the basis o f its structures m ay b e the b a la n c e con tin u ally b ein g ad justed . Indeed,
progression o f t i m e - w h i c h m ean s that very few h a v e m an ag ed it a t all successfully.
contem porary film s pose p ro blem s o f a to­ O n e m ay observe th a t th o se film s o f th e
tally d ifferent order: in particu lar, th e p ro b ­ N ew W ave (G o d ard 's in p articu lar) w hich
lem o f b alan ce in th e storytelling. hav e d one m ost to d estroy th e "c lo se d "
In fact, n o t o n ly m u st th e log ic o f the stru ctu res and d e-d ram atize th e sto ry are
content, i.e., w h at is b e in g d ev elop ed , b e in ca p a b le o f fo llow in g a logical, coherent
ensured; s o also m u st th e lo g ic o f th e d e­ d e v e lo p m e n t-th o u g h a t the level o f the in ­
velopm ent, w h ich , b y b ein g placed in the d iv id u al sequ en ce th e y are at tim e s dazzling.
p ersp ectiv e o f a p rog ression, is n ecessarily T h e y p ro d u ce m o m en ts w h o se g enu ine a u ­
genetic. D u ratio n b ein g a creative force th en ticity ach iev es a tru th w h ich , h ow ever
rath er th an a m ore o r less exten d able sp an essential it m a y b e, n e v e r stop s b ein g direct
of tim e, the n arrativ e g a in s a b a la n ce w h o se and con tin g en t; b u t th e linking to g eth er of
d ynam ism m u st m a k e p rovision fo r this su ch seq u en ces o r circum stan ces is eith er
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E DRAM A 361

lacking or, in the context of the freedom in fundamentally cinematic in its expression
which it appears, quite arbitrary-w hereas and form. The same is true of Rashomon,
the artificiality of the "constructed" story Thomas Garner, and Le Jour se leve, whether
might have served as its justification. The it be a question of several intermingled as­
same might be said of a great many sociations, memories of a dead friend, or
Neorealist films, notably those of Rossellini the personal recollections of past events, all
(the most recent), which degenerate into these effects of memory being based
cliche or melodrama, or those of Visconti, arou n d -and u p o n -a moment neatly cir­
which suffer from being too rigidly con­ cumscribed and arrested in time.
structed. Or else these associations are considered
At the same time, we should give credit subjectively, as in Hiroshima, mon amour. In
where it is due; and it is true that though this case, the associations are established
in these films the genuine feeling of time is around a moment which the heroine is in
short-lived, it is at least captured in its most the process o f experiencing. As we know, she
clear and perceptible manifestation. The compares her present actions with a similar
giant step forward has been taken. The rest, past, coming between her and the present
we hope, is to follow. and endowing these actions with a partic­
That is not to say that this notion of du­ ular resonance. Not only is time not ar­
ration, which plays such an essential role rested but it is transformed by memory. As
in the narrative art, cannot appear in many Robert Pingaud pointed out so brilliantly:
different guises. It may appear in an achro-
nological fashion, relative to associations There is as yet no past for the heroine
between present and past which can be of Hiroshima; and no memory, come to
considered in two ways. that. The situation she has already expe­
One, the associations may be considered rienced cannot be used to make her aware
objectively, as in Citizen Kane, in which of a situation which, quite simply, is a rep­
etition. The film, initially starting off in
case, by constantly going back over the
Hiroshima, gives us the impression of re­
same ground and letting memories overlap
a m in g to Nevers; in fact, it is the other
(particularly if, as in this film, they are dif­
way around. Nevers pushes Hiroshima
ferent memories relating to the past expe­ out of the picture and we find ourselves
riences of several different characters), the witnessing a kind of return forward which
establishment of such associations requires first produces one episode within another
an obvious dramatic construction which, and then dissolves the second in the first,
for all its novelty, is not far removed from announcing the disappearance of Hiro­
the structures of Tragedy. In fact, time shima through that of N evers39
stands still, is fixed upon a present action
(or fact) from which all investigations and The film deals with two parallel stories,
recollections relating to it radiate. There is one in the present and the other in the past,
achronological displacement of time, but subtly entwined and inserted in the
only from the present to the past and only heroine's present and active emotional re­
relative to an action already completed: sponses. The association is not just achrono­
Kane is dead and this death is the cause of logical; it is also diachronic; it is a constant
all the researches and testimony relating to overlapping of present and past, past and
his past. The effective "domination" of future, in which reality and imagination (or
time brings us right back to the concept of memory) are fused into a whole which is the
theatricality, but in a totally original way, pure expression of the real experience: a
362 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

subjective exp erien ce introd u ced in to the Lastly, th e m o st w id ely used narrative
objectivity o f the narrative. m eth o d , w h ich follow s step b y step the
A s regards the chro nolog ical n arratio n chronological d ev elopm en t of events, seem s
o f events, tw o m ethods are po ssib le as w ell: to us th e m o st appropriate fo r this quasi-
objective and subjective. p h en om en o lo g ical description o f duration,
O ne o f the am b ition s o f a certain m o d e m this consciousness o f reality in action - i n ­
school o f cin em a (w hose p itfalls seem too sofar as th e in ten tio n is to capture, as liter­
n u m ero u s to m en tion) is to try and m ak e ally as p o ssib le, the characters ch an g in g day
th e au d ien ce exp erien ce th e w e ig h t o f tim e b y d ay u n d er the pressures o f a m ore or less
p assin g as exp erien ced b y th e ch a ra cters in d eterm inant social m ilieu. A s w ell as Greed,
th e dram a. Yet it is as p lain as a p ik estaff w h ich rem ains the m odel o f the genre un ­
th at exp erien ced tim e ca n n o t b e p erceiv ed su rp assed even b y to d a y 's stand ard s, w e
w h en it is actually experienced, i.e., filled w ith m ig h t quote on e or tw o other successes: The
a p articu lar activity. It b eco m es perceptible Crowd, The Wedding March, The Wind, Dawn,
o n ly w h en th ere is n o activity: w a itin g or Jezebel, The Childhood ofMaxime Gorki, Oharu,
boredom . N ow , it is q u ite p o ssib le to show I Vitelloni, Ugetsu Monogatari, Sansho Dayu,
p eople being bored, dragging ou t an aim ­ La Dolce Vita, America, America (there are a
less existen ce; b u t to try to m ak e u s share it fe w others). F ro m th e p u rely form al point
and exp erien ce their b ored o m is bound, in o f view , on e shou ld also m ention Le Voyage
the natu re of thing s, to end u p b o rin g us to en Italie and even Europe 5 1 - t h o u g h the
death. It d oes n o t seem possible to b a se an su b ject m atter of these film s is quite incon­
aesth etic system on audience b ored om , on sequ ential.
th e expression o f em ptiness, th e rep resenta­ W e sh ou ld m a k e it p erfectly clear (as if
tio n o f im m ob ility (th ou g h it b e o n ly m o ral th a tw e re necessary) th at it is n o t a question
o r m ental). It is to A n to n io n i's great cred it o f the u n iform con tin u ity o f the objective
th at h e w as to som e e x te n t su ccessfu l, in ter­ tim e o f the story (otherw ise w e w ou ld have
esting ev en w h en h e is b ein g borin g ; b u t he to in clu d e Rope, It Happened One Night, even
w en t as far as it is p o ssib le to g o in this di­ 3 :1 0 from Yuma) b u t th e lin k - n e c e s s a r ily
rection. ellip tical w h en the action extend s ov er a
It shou ld b e n o ted in p assin g th a t the lo n g p erio d o f t im e -b e tw e e n hom oge­
"d e a d " p eriod s [pauses] freq u en tly used in neous, continuous " b l o ^ s of events," w hich
contem p orary film s h av e n o th in g in com ­ give us the im p ression o f a d u ration expe­
m o n w ith the "e m p ty " periods o f w aitin g rienced b y th e characters in the d ram a, w h o
or boredom . T h is classificatio n , originally are m ore or less altered b y this experience
associated exclu sively w ith th e stage, in o f tim e. It is a m atter o f fo llow in g them
fact applies to m om ents w here n o th in g through that experien ce, o f observin g them
happens in the theatrical sense. Y et it is quite living through it, n o t ju s t concentratin g on
usu al in these m o m en ts o f dramatic inaction th e before and after in a series o f flashes cap­
fo r som ething genuinely to b e tak in g place. tu rin g m erely th e after-effects. T h e tim e of
The d u ration is filled w ith m ental if n ot th e film and th at o f th e action th u s becom e
p h ysical (or verbal) activity. T his is quite (m ore or less) isothronous - b u t o n ly at such
obviou s in certain film s w h ere su ch m o­ m om en ts. T h e ov erall story tim e m ay ex­
m ents, used intentionally, b eco m e the ex­ tend over sev eral hou rs, ev en years.
p licit m an ifestation o f in ner m ental activ ity in u n realistic film s (fairy ta les, fantasies,
u n w illin g (or un able) to express i t s e l f - n o ­ e v en dream film s), d u ration d oes n o t pre­
tab ly in th e film s of O lm i o r Rosi. sen t an y obviou s problem s, b ein g infinitely
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 363

flexible. Yet in this type of film we are back ity in the form and transcends the short­
in a roundabout way to the structures of term interest of the story yet, through it and
the "closed" system. To talk of space-time by it, reveals more general human perspec­
which is clearly defined or situated outside tives of a moral, social, psychological, or,
real space and time is virtually saying the when required, metaphysical nature.
same thing. Thus two broad avenues are open to the
All that remains is to point out, yet again, cinema: realism and fantasy. However, re­
that our purpose is not (nor ever has been) alistic or not, it can only operate from the
to prescribe ways of overcoming specific starting point of a certain representation of
difficulties or to solve problems raised by reality. In the same way that it "injects fan­
the introduction of the notion of time into tasy" into reality, so it "injects reality" (ma­
the dramatic structure of a film. Apart from terial reality) into fantasy. The latter can
the fact that this would be outside the scope therefore be only a more imaginative form
of our present brief, it would be presuppos­ of reality than the former, in other words,
ing rules which, as we have said, cannot a form of reality whose motives depend on
possibly exist-excep t in the sense that fantasy or contradict the immediate im­
there are as many rules as potential subjects. pression of verisimilitude. Yet the imagina­
Moreover, it would be presumptuous to tive freedom it presupposes places it out­
suggest an attitude vis-a-vis the organiza­ side the realm of what we know as realism
tion of the narrative at the same time as ar­ - the subject of the remarks which follow.
guing that it is the events themselves which
elicit their own development and that any Realism and Reality
norms, created by their own content, are im­
posed as norms only by reason of the needs Thus the cinema tends, in a remarkable
of their content. way, to break down the impenetrable bar­
The "methods" suggested here derive riers which have grown up over the years
entirely from stylistics, with that area of ac­ between reality and fantasy.
tivity which maintains the boundaries of If research into the supernatural is an
creation. Our intention is to indicate as attempt to discover what a certain philoso­
clearly as possible the conditions and over­ phy compares to the "essence" of things or,
all design of film expression, in such a way at any rate, whatever transcends the power
as to indicate what steps must be taken, of our senses, one could say that in the cin­
what steps cannot be avoided, in order to ema, reality and fantasy show themselves
achieve it. as different aspects of one and the same
It is our firm conviction that there is only thing. As soon as it is seen in an unexpected
one imperative and that is justification. In way, reality becomes fantasy, to the extent
other words, any form is valid which is that one could argue that reality is no more
justified by what it expresses-provided than a fantasy to which we have grown ac­
that it is expressive, i.e., comprehensive in its customed.
exploitation of the potential of a given con­ Water is a common substance. Yet a sim­
tent, more directly and genuinely than any ple drop of water under the microscope
other. opens up a disturbing new world. The fan­
Any content is valid which is justified tastic and the marvelous express them­
by the authenticity and truth of the charac­ selves within the very heart of reality. As
ters and situation, the m ea n in g -p ro v id ed for the "supernatural," it is merely the nat­
the meaning not only exhausts every capac­ ural eluding the explanations suggested by
364 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

our knowledge of the world and material posed to a world beyond our perception; it
objects. Thus electricity, part of our every­ is the world of facts, the world that we see,
day reality, was a supernatural force in that we experience, that we suffer, in a
Thales' time. Nowadays (not counting the word, the social realities of the real world.
field of atomic physics, which we are only Before we proceed any further, however,
just beginning to understand), radio and let us attempt to clear up the misconcep­
television are far in advance of the tions about realism, as many as they are
alchemist's art and the most commonplace varied, which have muddied the issue up
reality is proving daily more ingenious and to now.
surprising even than the most far-fetched If one naively considers as realistic "any­
fictions conjured up by our science fiction thing which is part of reality," then all works
and fantasy writers. of art are realistic. Inversely, since every
Suffice it to say that the cinema, the "art work of art is a fulfillment of self, the exter­
of reality," is notnecessarily "realistic." The nal manifestation of the artist's view of the
term realistic might just as easily be applied nature of things, his striving to transform
to any art which not only captures the the world according to his own changing
known world but describes concrete facts character, to act by means of a "message,"
and limits itself to a certain immanence by to alter ideas or concepts (which is what
attempting to express it or capture its deeper makes all works of art necessarily and fun­
m eaning-even though that meaning must damentally "revolutionary"), one may say
eventually develop into a transcendent that there is no such thing (nor could there
meaning. be) as realism in art. An interpretation of the
On the other hand, the term unrealistic world is not the world. Though it might be
may be applied to any film which expresses a more profound vision of reality, it is only
(or tries to express) transcendence through a vision, a point of view. To claim that the
a more or less stereotyped or arbitrary im­ work of art captures "true" reality is either
manence, however convincing its historical to fool the audience or fool oneself as the
basis, to any potentially true film (in the artist. It is impossible to make art conform
deepest sense of the word), concerned only with reality. Otherwise the work of art stops
with essential truths, that is, whose associ­ being a work of art and becomes a simple
ations with a particular time and place are vehicle for reality devoid ofpurpose, theme,
made apparent only through superficial or or meaning (although it is impossible to act
incidental features, films such as those of as a vehicle except for a single "aspect" of
Dreyer and Bresson, notwithstanding their the world; to act as a vehicle for reality is
"realistic" attention to certainspecific details. already in some way to damage it, to exer­
Films of the first instance are limited to cise the power of choice and limitation over
describing "existence" by observing direct it, since nothing is more suited to conveying
and concrete reality. Films of the second in­ reality than reality itself).
stance aspire to an "essence" through a "Realism " exists midway between these
more or less fictional existence based nec­ extreme positions and involves less uncom­
essarily on a convention-the more so for promising ideas. Since it does not purport
the fact that existence, considered in ab­ to be a copy of reality and does not limit
stract, becomes dissociated, intentionally or itself to pure and simple observation, it is
not, from its historical or social context. not inconsistent with aesthetic interpreta­
The "known world," as we call it, is not tion as long as it does not subvert the truth
just the world of perceived objects, as op­ but follows and develops the significations
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 365

o f the ob jects them selv es, as lo n g as it ce l­ social, there is ab solu tely n o reason w h at­
ebrates the o b je cts w ith o u t id ea liz in g them ev er fo r it to b e "s o c ia lis t" (assum in g ag ree­
in such a w ay as to lose all contact w ith m e n t as to th e m ea n in g o f th e w ord).
concrete reality, u ltim ately creatin g pure T o th e exten t th a t w e m ean "S o cia list
sym b olism and abstraction . T h is w a s p retty R e a lism " as the expression o f p olitical id e­
m u ch th e con cep tion o f realism w h ich d e­ olo g y (and therefore a ce rta in prejudice),
velop ed in F ran ce in th e n in e te e n th ce n ­ th e expression o f a d ogm a w h o se purpose
tury: as far rem oved from n a tu ra lism — is to in cu lca te , th rou g h "a rch ety p a l" exam ­
found ed on th e id en tificatio n o f art w ith p les, certain ethical and p o litically accep t­
nature - a s abstract idealism . able stand ard s o f b ehav ior, w e are totally
S ince it is alw ay s in som e sen se a re-cre­ opposed to its concepts. In this sense, it is
ation, art sets itself the task o f exp ressin g co n trary to the n o tio n o f realism itself, as
th e e ssen ce o f re a lity th rou g h its fo rm s an d w ell as to th e n o tio n o f art w h ich does n o t
co n crete ap p earan ce (essen ce b ein g used, set ou t to preach, teach , or m oralize b u t to
as o n e m ig h t im ag ine, in its em pirical express and signify, to provide food for
sen se, n o t as a noum enon). Yet facts, actions, thought, w ithout tran sm ittin g alread y es­
and o th er con crete m an ifestation s can tab lished ideas. If, on the other h an d , So­
n ev er b e captu red as they appear in d iv id ­ cialist R ealism is sim p ly social realism in ­
u ally (this w ou ld b e a w ay o f a b stractin g tegrated in to the praxis o f ou r tim e, if it is
th e m like an y other), on ly in their relations m erely th e con tin u ation o f realism in the
w ith other facts, actions, or concrete m a n i­ h isto ry o f facts, th e n it is realism "its e lf" in
festations. T h e p u rp ose o f a realistic w ork its m o st con crete and im m ed iate form .
o f art m ay b e the stu d y o f ch aracter or psy- A s fa r as th is goes, w e are in agreem ent
c h o lo g y —as lon g as it is n o t M an k in d in w ith th e m ajority o f M arxist (or sim p ly left-
general w h ich is b e in g consid ered b u t in d i­ w in g ) critics,40 b u t w e w ou ld p art com pan y
v id u a ls constan tly su b ject to m o re or less w ith G eorg L ukacs, fo r w h o m all "g reat
form ative o b lig a tio n s—social, m o ral, an d a rt" is necessarily realist and say th a t real­
cu ltu ra l—and n o t "c u t o ff" fro m th e in ci­ ism is n o t a n o rm and th at a realist w o rk o f
d en tal influ ences w h ich m ak e th e m w h a t art is n o m ore v alid as su ch in the hierarch y
th e y are. o f art th an an y n o n realist w ork.
E v e n so, "r e a lis m ," interpreted in itially Stefan M o ra w sk i, a M a rx ist critic, puts
as a category o f art, d eg en erated fairly ra p ­ th e case q u ite su ccin ctly w h e n h e w rites
id ly in to a style, a school (except w h e n it
w as allow ed, b y w a y o f reaction, to w an der Realism is not a normative category. It
d ow n the un trod d en p a th s o f N atu ralism does not imply that the o n ly -o r most
or Sym bolism ). O n ce again, everym an ended v a lid -w o rk s are those which satisfy the
up as the notio n o f th e "a rch ety p a l h ero ," conditions which it lays down . . . . As a
set in n o less archety p al su rro u n d in g s— ar­ category, realism does not prescribe any
particular formal characteristics. Its prin­
ch etyp ally "re a listic ."
ciples are those involving merely the busi­
A s w e know , M arx and E n g els w ere to
ness of representing nature (figuratively)
take up these id e a s —p a ssin g th rou g h
and capturing the essence of the repre­
H e g e l—in fo rm u latin g th eir con cep t o f So­ sented phenom enon,. . . which does not
cialist Realism . Yet, th o u g h realism m u st mean that symbols and elements of fan­
have as its fou n d ation th e relatio n sh ip o f tasy do not have a part to play in the re­
m an and th e w orld h e lives in w ith in a alist work of art; they have their place as
given h istorical context, th o u g h it m u st be individual components or as a formal and
366 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

stylistic disguise for the essence of the ternal factors. We lose sight of the unifying
represented phenomenon.41 link between things if we look too closely
at the things themselves. Since no knowl­
Yet what may be true of the plastic or edge can be defined without referring to
literary arts does not apply in the cinema. previous knowledge, it is less a matter of
Being founded on the exact reproduction elaborating doctrines alien to the art of film
of things and not on a totally mediated rep­ than of retaining the essential qualities in
resentation, film is unable to capture the order to define-through analogy and dis­
essence of concrete reality through an ar­ tinction - t h e general characteristics and
bitrary representation; or, if it does capture principles of an art which, for all its inde­
the "essence," that is all it captures, im­ pendence, it still very much associated with
mediately entering the realm of timeless­ the arts which have gone before.
ness. Expressionist films (for instance) To speak of something is to understand
symbolically signify abstract generalities it through everything it is not. Yet the ques­
but not "real" facts, in the objective sense tion "what is cinema?" demands a philo­
of the word. sophical answer -w h ic h means that we
Far from being an impersonal method of must start by defining what we mean by
recording, film realism purports to release philosophy-the system.
the deeper meaning of things. Yet it can be It being that the phenomena of percep­
art and realist at the same time only if it is tion are the basis of film expression, to ig­
based on true reality, i.e., on facts such as nore them or gloss over them would be like
they appear in a historically determined so­ building castles in the air. We must there­
cial context. It is therefore a question ofcon- fore make a clear exposition (at least in gen­
tent before it is a question of form (content, eral terms) of the thought process to which
obviously, meant as the element around our study of contemporary psychology and
which everything is constructed and put on p h y sics-a s much as the cinema - h a s led
display, rather than the result of the pro­ us, in order that we may base an aesthetic
cess, totally dependent on the form). How­ on something more concrete than mere
ever, if realism in the cinema implies a words and something other than vague
certain way of apprehending the world, technical considerations, which are merely
this lies in the truth of the signified far more the good or bad applications of principles
than in a style of signification. beyond their scope.
It is our belief that the cinema is not just
Visual Structures and Film Semiology an art, a culture, but a means to knowledge,
i.e., not just a technique for disseminating
The cinema could never be studied or facts but one capable of opening thought
considered - either from the aesthetic point onto new horizons.
of view or at the level of its co n ten t-a s an The film image is comparable to the or­
isolated phenomenon. It has to be seen as ganic cell, film editing to distributive orga­
the evidence and reflection of Man's con­ nization. Naturally, no editing technique
crete activities and therefore must be in­ will transform objects; but according to the
cluded among those activities, i.e., among order and rhythm imparted to them, their
those arts which, like the cinema, bear wit­ framing, their position inthe "field of view,"
ness to those activities. the objects become "different" - y e t , at the
The aesthetic rea lity -lik e any o th e r - same time, remaining what they are: they
cannot be explained except in terms of ex­ are "victims" of their own representation.
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 367

This is how film expression underlines the will arise as to whether it is justified in in­
importance of structure, demonstrating the cluding modes of expression based on com­
extent to which any change to the whole pletely natural sig n s-su ch as pantomime.
involves a change to the elements which . . . Language, the most complex and wide­
make it up. spread of all the systems of expression, is
This is why we decided to conduct our also the most characteristic; in this sense,
own aesthetic and psychological researches linguistics can become the master pattern
-particularly illuminating for the cinema for the whole of semiology"; that is, an
but no less interesting in their own terms - "ideal reference" but not a unique model
attempting to describe the general area in (contrary to what some old-fashioned lin­
which film operates (without claiming to guists still believe). That is the source of the
exhaust the whole topic). confusions and contradictions surrounding
Even in linguistics it finds an echo; for film language-w hich we mentioned in the
when we refer to the language of cinema first few lines of this work.
we do not mean cataloguing techniques, We should certainly return to this aspect
observing the relationship between what is of the question, if only to clear up certain
expressed and the form of its expression, points which we were unable to examine at
but defining the why and wherefore of sig­ the time. Though it is true that the linguistic
nifying structures in their relationship with sign is the "total result of the association
what is signified. between a signifier and a signified," we
"Structuralism" (which covers the whole should not fo rg e t-a s Emile Benveniste re­
of modem linguistics) is no more than the minds u s -th a t it is both arbitrary and nec­
essence of the psychology of form in the essary: there is an arbitrary (or unmotivated)
guise of the language codes. Or, to put it relationship between a sign and the object
another way, the quasi-phenomenological it denotes (the word-chair and the object-
investigation of the efects oflanguage has en­ chair)42 but a necessary relationship between
abled us to identify the interrelated struc­ the sign and the signified (the word-chair
tures involving mental activity, the lan­ and the idea-chair). There is a natural asso­
guage code being merely the formalization ciation between the word and the idea:
(in its various aspects) of the actual struc­ both are by nature psychic and conceptual.
tures of the thought process. Now, in the cinema, mueh the same sit­
Thus instead of consigning language to uation exists: there is a consubstantiality be­
an arbitrarily created logical framework, tween the signifier and the signified. This is
considered from the outset as necessary and obvious if one is dealing with direct signi­
sufficient, the structuralists have tried to de­ fication, since the image is analogous with
cide what this framework is by investigat­ its object. B u t - a s we shall s e e - it is not so
ing the semantic needs of the language code. obvious at the level of symbolic or meta­
Considered in this light, the study of lan­ phorical significations.
guage becomes the study of signification Let us first take a look (another look) at
and methods of signifying, the study of what happens at the level of the denota­
"sign systems," indeed any system with tion. Analogical systems, Roland Barthes
signification as its purpose: semiology (in tells us, are impoverished systems because
which linguistics is merely a subsection, al­ they almost never involve a combinatory
beit the most important one). factor. That is as may be. But the cinema is
As Ferdinand de Saussure wrote, "When not an analogical system. Film symbols are
semiology becomes organized, the question not produced by the direct relationship be­
368 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

tw ee n signifier a n d sig n ifie d —th o u g h an the e x te n t o f seem in g m e re ly to b e its sub­

obvious sym b olism d oes resu lt fro m that stratu m . T h e w orld d isap p ears beh in d a
relationsh ip. T h e im age o f a chair is n o t the rep resen tatio n w h ich ru ns th e risk o f b ein g
sym bol o f the ch air o f w h ich it is th e im age. ta k e n fo r th e "e s s e n c e " o f th in g s, w hereas
H ow ever, in th a t it relates b a ck to th e c o n ­ it is m erely an im age w ith m yriad hu es pro­
cept, it d oes b eco m e, to a certain e x te n t, the v id ed b y th e sem antic d en sity o f an equ ally
sym bol o f the idea-chair. B u t there is n o d ense literature.
lingu istic significance to b e d raw n from H ow ever m u ch one m ig h t like to con ­
this strange fact. A t this level, the im age sid er the ob ject "a s it is," on e is fo rced to
sh ow s - t h a t is all. It is, a s w e h a v e said, name it. Th u s at b est o n e can o n ly "fre e " it
the "g e sta lt-sig n ," th e analogon. T h e im age from th e sig n ification s w h ich n o rm al w ord
b eco m es a sig n o n ly a t the level o f the con- usage confers on it. H ow ever, a sustained
n o t a tio n s -w h ic h d o n o t con stitu te a co n ­ effort is requ ired , a k ind o f relative o b jec­
ven tion al or con v en tio n alized sy stem bu t tivity, in order to strip aw ay th e received
are created b y associations d irected b y an ideas w h ich en cru st it, in order to capture
intuitive logic and b y the m ean in g o f the it in its in d ivid u al "co rp oreity ."
d enoted objects or facte. In th e cin em a, o n the other h an d , the
The concept is directly accessible through im a g e shows its object. H ow ever, it d oes n ot
th e w ord ; th e w ord is "tra n sp a re n t" w ith stop m erely at show ing it; it presen ts it w ith
the idea it suggests. Y et, h o w ev er I m a y "fill all its p ecu liarities, its ow n ind ivid ual char­
o u t" th e w o rd chair, that im a g e is o n ly a acteristics. It is n o t a ch air w h ich is pre­
con stru ction o f m y m ind . Since it serves sented to m e b u t a particular chair and,
m erely to fix an idea, to g iv e su b stance to b etter still, a certain aspect o f th a t ch air re­
an abstraction, an d sin ce it depends on m y lated to a certain aspect o f th e objects next
know led ge, it teaches m e n o th in g b u t w h at to it. T hu s if I attain th e con cep t th ro u g h it
I alread y know . an d b y it, it is n o t w ith o u t retain in g from it
S ince w ord s h a v e direct m ean in g s, to first o f all ev ery th in g w h ich d istinguishes
n am e som eth in g is as good as eclip sin g it an d characterizes it, every th in g w h ich sig­
th rou g h its evocation , retaining o n ly the n ifies it at that particular moment, i.e., in a
sig n value w h ich it con fers on th e verbal p ro g ression o f w h ic h it finds its e lfp a rt. N ot
structure. A t the m o m en t o f seizing th em , o n ly is th e ob ject presen ted to m e and im ­
th e y slip away. A n d since the w orld is con ­ posed o n m y m in d , n o t on ly does it stop
seq u ent u p on w h a t I ^ m y self, it is n ot b ein g the effect o f a fiction created from
surprising that I con stan tly p ro ject m y self k n o w n data, b u t as part of a com plex of
into it, that it is me myself w h o m I alw ays u n iq u e relatio n sh ip s it im parts a totally
find in it. T h e w orld b eco m es the store­ n e w aspect o f itself to me. T h e im age sum­
hou se o f m y aspirations an d feelings; it mons up th e objects. It is a sum m ation of
reflects them like a m irror: th e m o u n tain is reality, a materialized invocation w hich sud­
"m a je s tic," the sea is "a n g ry ," th e land ­ d en ly assu m es a n ew and d ifferent m e a n ­
scape is "m elan ch o ly ," etc. O bjects are just ing. T h u s the film im ag e alw ay s forces us
a collection o f sig n s fo r m e to discover in to th in k about th e o b jects w h ich it sh o w s, at
th em b y len d in g th e m a m ea n in g . T h ey th e sam e tim e as it forces us to th in k with
give m e back w h at I p u t in to them . th em in th e order o f th e sto ry and the re­
T h e d an g er is th a t b y d in t o f th in k in g sulting con n otations. A t the le v e l o f actual
about som ething it v e ry q u ick ly b eco m es rep resen tatio n , d en otation is alread y a m es­
eclipsed b y th e sig n ifica tio n s g iv en to it, to sag e w h ose code is provided b y the reorga­
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E D RAM A 369

n iz a tio n and restru ctu rin g w h ic h th e field order to extract its sig nificant qualities; and
o f v iew and the fra m in g o f th a t field of w e k n ow that the "o v e rly com posed" im ­
v iew im pose on w h a t th ey contain. ag es o f E xpressionism bord er on painting.
Yet this in volves n o t ju st objects. There E ven so , as w e hav e seen, one im age can
is also the in v olv em en t o f characters. The b e expressive. It does n o t m erely repeat the
character valu es released b y the n arrativ e w orld, as R og er M unier w ould have us be-
m erge to geth er w ith the d escrip tion o f the lieve.43 B u t tw o or m ore im ag es laid end to
events. T h ese are d escrip tiv e elem ents, ex­ en d haphazardly are already a m eans o f ex­
pressions rath er th an sign ification s. pression: th ey establish certain relation­
W h en M erleau -P on ty s a y s that "in ou r sh ip s, suggest certain lin k s, and organize
physical attitu d e w e m u st n o t sa y th a t o n ly themselves into a narrative.
the signs o f anger and love are p resen ted T h e im ag es o f a w o m an sitting in a bar,
to the au d ien ce and th a t oth ers are u n d er­ the im ag es o f a m an starin g in to space, tell
stood in d irectly th ro u g h a n in terp retation us nothing but w h at th e y show us. But if I
o f these signs; w e m u st sa y th a t oth ers are sp lice th e m togeth er and show a w om an
presen ted to m e through ob viou s b eh a v io r sitting, a m a n staring w ith a d iam ond ring
p attern s," he is m erely o b serv in g th a t in o n one finger o f h is hand , I hav e n ot m erely
h u m a n attitu d es, sig n and b e h a v io r are one d escribed the action o f staring; I have also
and the same. Signs are n o m ore th an ab­ su g g ested a ch aracter a t th e sam e tim e. If,
stractions. Far from b ein g presented to the u sin g th e sam e im ages, I show a w om an
aud ien ce, th e y are inferred from b eh av io r sitting, a m a n staring, and a split skirt re­
w h ich is u n d ersto od fro m th e start. Yet, vealin g an exp an se o f thigh, in describin g
though h u m an sig n s are con tain ed w ith in exactly th e sam e action I hav e sig n ified
m an h im self, the sig n s o f ob jects are p ro ­ som eth in g to tally different.44
jected b y m a n o n to th e objects. T h u s if v e rb a l sig n ification is com posed
O bjects h av e n o sig nification in them - o f a relationsh ip o f signs, film signification
s e lv e s - o t h e r th an the sig n ification o f ex­ is com p osed o f a relatio n sh ip o f facts. But
isting, being w h at th e y are. N ow , in the w h ereas w ord s are alread y sig nificant in
cinem a, they are actu ally present, w ith all their ow n term s, facts are n o t sig ns and, b y
th eir d en sity and stilln ess; th e y exist before th e sam e to k en , n eith er are th e im ages
they have m ean in g . A n d the relative natu re w h ich p resen t them . In other w ords, film
o f this m ean in g b eco m es clearer w h en w e signification in the lingu istic sen se is a cir­
con sid er th at these sam e o b jects m a y hav e cum stantial factor. A s fo r direct significa­
to tally different m e a n in g s a t different m o ­ tion, this is n oth in g m o re th an the d evel­
m e n ts in the sam e film (w e are re ferrin g op m en t o f a m ean in g inh erent w ith in a
h ere to the d irect m ea n in g o f the objects, ce rta in form - t h e d ev elop m en t o f a sign
n o t the m etap h o rical or allusive m ean in g w h ich , u p on occasion, m ay b e revelatory.
o f their conn otations). T h e film m ak er fin d s B u t it is n ev er "sig n ifica tio n " in the true
it m u ch easier to sig n ify u sin g these facts if sense.
the p articu lar sig n ification d oes n o t reduce T h u s in th e cinem a, as in lingu istics, the
the facts to the tem p o rary m ean in g h e is signified is consu bstantial w ith the signi-
ascribing to them . fier, sin ce the signifier is never one image, one
H av in g said that, it is clear th a t one film concrete object, but a relationship. To sa y that
im age is n o t a m ean s o f exp ression , in the the im age is a sig n or a sym bol is not
sam e sen se as a p ain tin g w h ich recom p oses strictly accu rate, if one m ean s th at its value
and com p letely reconstru cts the w o rld in m u st b e self-supportive. F ilm signification
370 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

is signless signification, in th e sen se th a t the g u a g e ," she w rites, "is a u n iq u e fu n ctio n of

actual sign is a concept, a logical function. Yet its type. It m a y serve as a referen ce for other
signification is n ecessarily related to a n ob ­ fu n ctio n s; but it has n o real equ ivalent. . . .
je c t (the d iam ond o r th e skirt) w h ich then O n ly lan g u ag e sig n ifies, in th e tru e sen se of
acts as a sign b y virtue o f th e sym bolic value the w ord. B ut, there ag ain , it d oes n ot sig­
it acquires. T h e im ag e assumes the q u ality n ify the ob ject, m erely that asp ect o f the ob ­
o f a sig n , th o u gh "e ss e n tia lly " it is n o t one ject w h ich is in tellig ible - i t s m eaning. . . .
"in -itse lf." L in g u istic sign s d o n o t exist in their ow n
We h a v e m ad e repeated reference to th is rig ht, sin ce their essen ces are iden tified w ith
w ith o u t b ein g ab le to go in to d e t a il - s in c e th eir signification. T h ey are nothing except
this w ould presu p p ose a k n ow led g e o f w h a t th e y refer t o - w h i c h is n ot a b ein g b u t
entire study. A t th is p o in t, how ever, w e can a m e a n in g ."
afford to a tte m p t a resolu tion o f th is p ro b ­ W e are in com p lete agreem ent in consid­
lem , w h ich co n fu ses a great m a n y people. e rin g th e w o rd as "tran sp aren t w ith m ean ­
T o d o this, w e shall b e referrin g to the in g ," referring d irectly to th at m eaning. But,
argu m ents w h ich M ad am e D reyfu s p u t as w e observed in th e n ote [42] conce^rning
d u rin g a sy m p o siu m o n "th e cin em a and Brice P arain , m ean in g itself is relative to a
lan g u ag e" at th e Ecole N ation ale d e Sevres b ein g , som eth in g w ith o u t w h ich it w ould
in Ju ly 1963. T h e y are substantially th e sam e n o t hav e the m ean in g ascribed to it.
argu m ents she m ad e to C lau d e L ev i-Strau ss M m e. D rey fu s goes on: "Sin ce th e sig n is
a year earlier.45 T h o u g h som ew h at su btler a sig n o n ly becau se it carries m eaning,
th a n C o h e n -se a t's id eas, th e y n evertheless sou nd can o n ly b e m aterial fo r a p u rely m a­
h in g e o n th e sam e q u estion, w h ich is, that terial perceptible sou n d w h ich , if it w ere no
n o system atic tran sp osition o f th e lin g u istic m ore th an this, w o u ld cease to b e a sign,
m odel can b e fo u n d in a n y o th er area o f sig ­ since it is a sig n o n ly b y virtue o f its ab ility
nification, th at th e re is n o eq u iv a len t sem i- to su p p ress its p ercep tib le and m aterial na­
otic fu nction, and th erefore th a t th e re ca n be tu re in fav or o f the m ean in g to w h ich it re­
no language code w h ich is n o t lan g u ag e. We la te s ." To put it an oth er way, th e w ord tends
have alread y po in ted o u t th a t thou g h there to m ak e us p u t its ow n sou nd structure be­
is no fo rm al equivalence b etw een film lan­ h in d it fo r the sole p u rp ose o f the m eaning.
g u ag e an d actual lan g u ag e, th ere is at least It is (or sh ou ld be) m erely a sig n devoid of
the sim ila rity th a t th e y b o th h a v e access to a n y p ercep tible quality, th e idea b ein g its
meaning th rou g h the u se o f signs or sy m ­ sole con sid eratio n . F o r M m e. D reyfu s, the
bols, f o r m in g - e a c h in d iv id u a lly - a sig n i­ w ord is a written sign, nothing m ore. Now,
fy in g structure, i.e., a language in th e sen se a w ritten sig n is m erely the tran scrip tion of
th at m o st lingu ists an d all con tem p orary the w ord w h ose o rig in al valu es are essen­
sem iologists use the w ord. tia lly oral an d , therefore, acou stic. W h at she
In L'Etre et le Neant (Being and Nothing­ says is tru e as fa r as utilitarian signification
ness), Sartre rem ind s us th a t "lan g u ag e is or, fo r th e sak e o f arg u m en t, fictional n arra­
o rig in ally b ein g -fo r-an o th er," th a t is, it as­ tiv e is con cern ed (to th e e x ten t th a t it is writ­
su m es the dual function g en erally recog­ ten) b u t un tru e at the level o f spoken
nized as the com m u n ication o f signifiers la n g u a g e; and ev en m ore so a t th e level of
and the expression o f the subject. N ow , fo r poetry, w here the p la sticity o f th e w ord (its
M m e. D reyfu s, language is n ot a p articu lar sou n d m a teria l) p lay s a n o less significant
w a y o f sig n ify in g ; it is sig n ification itself role th an its d irect sig n ification w ith w h ich
w h ich is a m o d ality o f langu age. "L a n ­ it is an d rem ains "tra n sp a re n t."
 TIME A N D SPACE OF TH E D RAM A 371

It is by basing her argument on this nec­ essarily a symbol, but all symbols are em­
essary transparence, which she considers ployed as signs.
as the essential characteristic of the linguis­ Mme. Dreyfus concludes from her ob­
tic sign, that Mme. Dreyfus proves that the servations that either "the image suggeste
cinema is not a language. "The image," she or evokes because it is unable to express ac-
says, "is presented in all its opacity as an curately-w hich explains its equivocal na­
object and reveals nothing through ite ture and its inferiority as compared with
transparence. . . . If the image were a sim­ language proper" or else "it is not equivo­
ple sign, it would disappear at the very cal; it is superdeterminate; it is capable of
moment it appeared, in order to relate to expressing anything." And Bernard Pin-
its linguistic signification. However, it can­ gaud, who takes these ideas a step further,
not do this, because it is not a sound, but adds: "With the exception of their real anal­
an image."46 ogies, it is clear what they (the objects)
It is obvious that the film image is not a mean, and the more this knowledge is ob­
simple sign. Yet in statements such as these vious, the more the object loses its value,
there is a hint of Prudhommesque syllo­ its specific quality, with the effect that film
gism, already elaborated by M. Cohen-Seat, would appear to be c o n d e ^ e d either to
of the type: All mountains have peaks; this the opacity of a well-developed meaning or
mountain has no peak; therefore it is not a to the clarity of an underdeveloped mean­
mountain. Mme. Dreyfus, however, recog­ ing. It is either a symbol or a mystery.'47
nizes that "the image, because it is an image, It would seem that for these authors the
duplicates ite representational meaning, that film symbol belongs uniquely to those films
is, its own expressivity, with a secondary where a kiss is love, a broken cup is jeal­
si^gnification, a secondary expressivity which ousy, a deserted island is loneliness, etc.
is that of language proper." Yet this second­ And indeed, Bernard Pingaud informs us
ary expressivity depends on the exclusive that "literary cinema is represented by the
use of a symbol which can never be a sign: type of film which tries to avoid symbol­
"The external nature ofmeaning puts it back ism," adding that "the people walking
into the subjectivism of symbolism. Symbol­ along the beach in Amiche, the island se­
ism and not sign, since the image can never quences in L'Avventura, give me the same
become completely submerged, suppressed feeling of completeness and ambiguity as
in favor of the meaning toward which it is the action of watehing another person."
projected: images are taken for both what However, though his last statement is rea­
they are and what they signify. The cine­ sonable enough, Pingaud omits to point
matic art becomes a symbolic art and can out that Antonioni is using a symbolic and
recover its objectivity only through the gen­ allusive code throughout his films. We may
eral application of symbols which it invents well wonder which of our contemporary
or borrows from a preexisting symbolic directors would dare to use, as valid sig-
structure- mythology or psychoanalysis." nifiers, the aforementioned cliches, which
Thus, because it can "never be com­ once were real enough but whose meaning
pletely submerged, suppressed in favor of has become devalued by overuse. Even so,
the meaning," the film image is not a sign. we must be careful not to confuse actual
Now, though in linguistics sign and symbol symbols and the symbolic code.
are two separate entities, in the cinema they In point of fact, images are neither inde­
are, as we have seen, one and the same. Or, terminate nor overdeterminate. They are,
to put it another way, every sign is not nec­ quite simply, determinative. Though in lit­
372 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

erature the meaning is to be found behind poetic values. That is what we were suggest­
the words, in the cinema it does not exist ing when we argued that cinema is lan­
behind the images. It may exist within the guage only at the level of the work of art.
images, i.e., within their compositional Yet the most important aspect of lan­
structures, within the resultant pictorial guage does not lie in the style or means of
symbolism, but for the most part and more expression; it lies in the definitive and indis­
particularly, it exists between the images. putable fact that it signifies, in other words,
In the example from Potemkin, it is not that it provides access to a meaning through
the pince-nez which is significant but the the agency of signs or symbols -tran spar­
relationship of the pince-nez with the im­ ent or otherwise. The whole area of intel­
ages showing the sailors throwing Smimov ligibility is formed from signification, but
overboard. The pince-nez becomes a sign not all types of linking mechanisms neces­
only because the concepts implied by this sarily correspond with the linguistic mech­
relationship are automatically related to it. anism. For instance, in the cinema, signifi­
In other words, the image-sign is merely the cations are always motivated. At the ana­
consequence o f the objectification o f a concept logical level (relative to represented objects
implied by an association o f which it is one of or denoted events), the significations are
the elements. It thereby comes to symbolize intrinsic and continuous. The dialogue adds
the concept, serving both as sign and symbol. its own discontinuous significations, which
Thus the film sign becomes a vehicle of conflict and contrast with the former. At
meaning, but not a meaning with which it the symbolic or metaphysical level (rela­
must be transparent; on the contrary, a tive to the connotations), the significations
meaning which it reflects and does so only are extrinsic and discontinuous.48 However
by reason of its opacity. It is precisely be­ arbitrary they may appear, the relation­
cause the image acts as a screen to all mean­ ships which they form are always sup­
ings other than its own that it is able to ported by a motivation of some kind.
sustain a signification devolving upon it. It "Unmotivated" signification occurs only
is because the represented object has real in the case of cliches. The wind blowing the
presence, a concrete meaning, that it is able pages of a calendar (for instance) has be­
to allow itself to be identified temporarily come a sign in its own right, fixed in its
with something it is not. meaning like a linguistic sign, and is there­
Once more, images are not signs in the fore arbitrary, unmotivated. That is what
same way as w ord s-sign s whose respon­ makes it unacceptable for the screen now­
sibility is to relate to a constantly unvarying adays.- Thus, though charged with mean­
meaning. They are signs only insofar as they ing, a film image could never be compared
have the power to signify. Because of the con­ with a seme, since the meaning which it
crete nature of the image, the signified idea reflects is not attached to it. A seme has a
itself becomes a perceptible quality. Or, to definite, limited meaning, despite the mo­
put it another way, meaning is achieved dalities which it presupposes: the semantic
through a perceptible quality which formal­ density of a word is always related to its
izes it. The idea is not merely intelligible; it normal meaning. On the other hand, the
is effectively perceived as the specific qual­ meaning of images is indefinable from the
ity of the object. outset, since it is relative to infinitely vari­
Because ideas assume a form and a per­ able combinations by virtue of the extreme
ceptible quality, visual expression - o f even variety of their forms and contents.
the most objective and realistic films - h a s The effect of this combinatory freedom is
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 373

that film expression could never be gov­ conventions they find necessary, i.e., nec­
erned by a lexicology, in the sense that essary to the expression of the ideas and
though the image has a definite semantic feelings they may wish to communicate.
value, this value is not related to any defini­ Provided, that is, that they do communi­
tion capable of guaranteeing it the univer­ cate th em -w h ich they have every chance
sality of the sign whose signification it of doing, as long as they do not stick to the
assumes temporarily. Now, language codes established conventions; otherwise they
presuppose both lexical semantics and se­ risk spoiling their work.
miology. One may say, therefore, in the final As we come to the end of this study, that
analysis that, though the cinema is a code at is the only rule of techniquewhich it is pos­
the semiotic level, it is not a code at the level sible to establish with any certainty, for the
of formal semantics. simple reason that there are no others. For
It is impossible for there to be a film we must be careful not to confuse rules of
grammar, for the very good reason that all aesthetics with these practical rules, relat­
grammars are based on fixed values, on the ing to the technical conditions of directing
unity and conventionality of signs. They and imposed by their very technical nature.
can only govern modalities relating to these The art consists in exploiting to the full
basic fixed values. Any attempt in this di­ these rules and regulations, submitting
rection has ended in failure, and indeed one's technique to the requirements of the
anyone who claims he can submit the cin­ expression-and not the other way round.
ema to the laws of grammar has a poor un­ To conclude our examination of the for­
derstanding of the expressive and semiotic mal difference between the linking mecha­
conditions of motion pictures. Since it does nisms and structures of film language and
not operate with previously established those of genuine language, a difference
signs, the cinema does not presuppose any which means they cannot be compared ei­
a priori grammatical rules. Even syntactical ther on the syntactical level or the grammat­
rules are unreliable. They m aybe applied to ical level, we should single out the essential
a particular aesthetic or stylistic principle, aspect of an expression as much visual as
butnever to the language of film as a whole. verbal: the metaphor, proving that there is no
That is why when critics, befuddled by common ground, other than signification, be­
these notions of grammatical or syntactical tween what might be called metaphor in the
rules, whose enthusiasm for the cinema cinema and its counterpart in everyday lan­
has crammed their heads with what has al­ guage.
ready been done instead of stimulating them Though we continually make use of this
to discover what can be done using one or blessed term -w ith reason, because of
two basic principles-w hen they praise what it im p lies-w e have already said that
Antonioni, Godard, and the like for over­ there can be no such thing as metaphor in
throwing the rules of cinema, I feel con­ the cinema, in the sense of an expression
strained to ask them: what rules? They similar to what metaphor is in literature. in
may be overthrowing conventions, no bet­ fact, metaphor implies analogical substitu­
ter or worse than any other, but only to tion. For instance, in the metaphorical
replace them with other new conventions, image a "leaf of paper," the original term
again essentially no better or worse in of comparison, the leaf on a tree, has com­
themselves. Since all art is necessarily con­ pletely disappeared. At a much higher
ventional, all artists have the rig h t-a n d , I level, when Valery writes of "foes qui pic-
maintain, the d u ty -to manufacture the orent" (pecking jibs), he is substituting the
374 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

pointed jib s and w h ite sails w ith the b eak significations). ’This m ean s th a t anything in
an d w h iteness o f seagulls. N ow , on the th e cin em a w h ic h appears to h a v e a para­
screen, there is n ev er su bstitu tion o f this d ig m atic fu n ctio n is in fact m erely a partic­
sort, m erely a com p arative associatio n or u lar effect o f th e sy n tag m atic function.
com parison. In the exam p le fro m Variety (the low er­
If w e con sid er th e tw o great fo rm s o f in g o f the curtain), there is obviously n ei­
v e rb a l exp ressio n , m etap hor and m eton ­ th er com parison n o r synecdoche, n eith er
ymy, w e can say, follow ing Jak o bson,49 that m etaphor n o r m eton y m y ; the fo rm is allu­
m etap hor is p arad ig m atic, in oth er w ord s, sive, th a t is all. W h en P eter L orre sees the
it is a sy stem o f exp ressio n d ep en d in g on reflected im ag e o f the little girl in the shop
su b stitu tion fo r its effect, w hereas m eton ­ w indow , w ith the display o f knives fram ­
y m y is syntagm atic, in other w ords, it is a ing h im (in M), th e sym bol is purely an
sy stem o f exp ressio n d ep end in g o n con ti­ effect o f m etonym y.
g u ity fo r its effect. In the "co m p a ra tiv e a sso cia tio n " w hich
T h e m ajo rity o f film m etap h o rs u se sy n ­ g en erates a m etap horical idea, there is n ot
ecd oche, that is, a fo rm in w h ich th e part ju s t com p ariso n b u t also an actu al associa­
replaces the w h ole, su ch as Dr. S m irn ov 's tion o f elem en ts, an exch an g e o f significa­
p ince-nez in d icatin g his p re sen ce or ab­ tion s, w h ere each b orro w s fro m th e other.
sen ce; the drow ned corpse in Paisan, w h ich T hu s in the exam p le fro m Mother w e have
represents others like it, victim s o f a w ar­ frequently quoted , th e im age o f the ice
tim e atrocity, sym b olizin g th e atro city itself b rea k in g up sy m b olizes less th e p eop le's
b y actin g as evid ence; or the b alloon u p risin g th a n th e idea o f the u p risin g pro­
trap p ed in th e teleg rap h w ires su g g estin g jected into the im ages b y giving th em a
th e a b d u ctio n o f th e little girl, etc. meaning w h ic h it reclaim s in re^turn. B y pro­
Yet, th o u g h it su b stitu tes a p a rt fo r the vid in g th em w ith a sign value w h ich is
w h ole, synecd o che is still a fo rm o f m eton ­ theirs b y rig ht, the idea o f revolt becom es
ym y in the sen se that the contiguity o f the ap p aren t through these im ages. T he w orld
part to the w h ole rem ain s obviou s. As o f "b re a k in g ic e " is d elivered in its i ^ ^ -
Ja k o b so n rem ind s us, all form s o f sy n ecd o­ n e n ce . It beco m es a m etap h o rical sig n only
che are p art o f m etonym y, as in d eed are all becau se the revolt happens to b e taking
com p arative fo rm s, sin ce there is a n asso­ place at th at p o in t and len d s its in ten tio n
ciation b etw een tw o con tig u ou s term s. to it: th e signified b eco m es apparent in the
In th e fam ou s lion seq u en ce in Potemkin, sig n b y providin g it w ith the p o w er o f sig­
the m etap h o r (or p arad ig m atic substitu­ n ify in g , i.e., b y en d o w in g it w ith its ow n
tion) is aThieved b y m ean s of the com p ar­ significations.
ative associatio n o f th ree contig u ou s lions T his is h o w th e "w o rld , in its o w n term s
fo llow in g each other in seq u en ce in differ­ and in th e im m a n e n t expression o f itself,
en t poses. B u t h ere ag ain w e are d ealing p u ts itself a t th e service of a lo g o s" (R oger
w ith a syntag m atic stru cture. M u n ier). O r, to quote m y ow n w ords, "re ­
F ro m w h ich w e can sa y g e n era lly sp eak ­ ality b eco m es th e e le m e n t of its o w n narra­
in g , th a t film m etap h or-or w h a t w e u n d er­ tio n ."
stand as s u c h —is no more than a particular A cco rd in g to m y theories (or, to b e less
form o f metonymy, w h ich is con trary to w hat g ran d ab ou t it, m y ideas) co n cern in g p er­
hap p en s in verbal exp ressio n , w h ere m e ta ­ cep tion , th e act o f con scio u sn ess w hich
p h o r and m eton y m y are fu n d am en tally d if­ "stru c tu re s" objects is already a discourse,
ferent (th o u g h b oth co n ta in substitutive a logos. It is "fo r-m e " a m ean s o f existin g
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 375

in the world, of communicating to the objects inevitably becomes involved: the

world, of presenting to myself a discourse appropriate logic is no longer the formal
about the world: a discourse which appears logic of language, the symbolic language of
as an expression o f the world but one which propositions, but the natural logic of con­
has a duty to me to be what it is, into which crete facts. Bertrand Russeli writes: "Some­
I can completely project myself, the means thing like preciseness or impreciseness
to suggest the question and answer by cre­ cannot exist outside the context of a cogni­
ating the spectacle of my own illusions. tive or mechanical means of representation;
In the cinema, whatever the forms or things are what they a r e -n o more nor
styles employed, reality organizes itself into less." To which Adam Schaff adds: "Objects
a logos. What is important is to ensure that in themselves are neither precise nor im­
reality, subject to the requirements of the precise; just as they are neither true nor
logos, does not become a caricature of real­ false; they are, quite simply, objects. On the
ity and that the logos does not become a other hand, the knowledge we have of
cheap restatement of a meaning which real­ them and the verbal constructions we use
ity expresses in any case. There is a whole to express them can quite easily be impre­
gray area between contrived, theatrical re­ cise, just as they can be true or false. In the
ality and impersonal observation, which is case of impreciseness and in the case of
where cinematic creation finds its place, a truth, it is a question of the nature of the
creation which must not be the servant of relations which exist between knowledge
signification, merely the act of signifying. (reduced to a cognitive-linguistic unit) and
reality, not the actual nature of reality. "50
Film Logic Thus language gives rise to a number of
logical problems among which is the prob­
Contrary to what happens in other lem of noncontradiction - t o the extent that
areas, the art of film is not (and cannot be) it speaks about things using conventional
based on purely aesthetic principles; its and abstract symbols. And it is essential
foundations are the logical and psycholog­ that these symbols (and their meaning) be
ical functions of which these principles are integrated into the norms of the world
merely the formal application. We believe which they claim to represent.
we have devoted enough time to the psy­ Logistics attempts to eliminate potential
chological conditions; all that remains is for non-senses (whose rules of syntax do not
us to discover the nature of film logic. preclude linguistic propositions) by reduc­
The logician does not ponder the nature ing them to an abstract, simplified pattern,
of things, any more than he does the reality eliminating everything which is not an at­
of the physical world. Logic sets out to an­ tributive proposition. In a sense, it is an im­
alyze signification and point out where poverishment of language; but this logical
misinterpretations caused by a faulty use language-perfect only in the sense of an
oflanguage lead to false premises. Yet it can ideal construction - i s interesting only on a
only do this to the extent that language uses scientific level (which, of course, is the rea­
forms whose structures are governed by son it was conceived in the first place).
g r ^ ^ a r and syntax and to the extent that Looking at it another way, one could just
the signs which represent objects have only as easily eliminate the problem of im­
a conventional association with the objects preciseness in expression by introducing a
they represent. When the signs are consub- bi-univocal relationship between the ex­
stantial with the objects, the nature of the pression and the fact. This would eliminate
376 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

the possibility of impressions associated At the level ofthe denoted facts, the logic
with a relationship between an expression of film is quite simply the logic of everyday
and a number of imperfectly determined life, experienced reality: that much is obvi­
facts. However, as Adam Schaff writes, "If, ous. And there can be no errors of category,
by definition, the word is meant to represent since category is not being used as a subject
an individual object, thereby preempting in itself, merely as a tool.51Any absurd prop­
the possibility of generalization, then two osition is immediately seen as absurd or is
miracles are accomplished at the same time: forced to hide its tracks, as in the verbal
first the whole system of abstract thinking code. Non-sense, immediately recognized
established during the course of history is as such, provides an inexhaustible supply
consigned to oblivion and then the memory of material for slapstick comedy films. But
of an infinite number of words (as well as it is an absurdity o f the world, not a verbal
the production of an infinite number of ab su rd ity-a quality which scandalized a
words) corresponding with an unlimited great many people when Mack Sennett's
number of objects and phenomena, is es­ films were first shown. The word dog does
tablished." Ryle calls it the "Fido-fido" the­ not bite; nor does it fly. But we can talk of a
ory: the word fido corresponding with the flying dog, just as we can talk of the "Chesh­
dog Fido. ire cat vanishing into its own smile" in Alice
Now, to some extent this is the way the in Wonderland; it is merely a fanciful or ab­
cinema operates, speaking not with words surd concept. However, when a real dog
but with objects and, at the same time, flies through the air like a bird, when a
maintaining the possibility of generalizing hunter kills a fish, when a swimmer swims
from individual cases and "making ab­ through snow, then people start to become
stractions" from concrete facts. In a film, scandalized: reality is being tampered with.
only "factual propositions" can exist, in the "That's silly," they say and dismiss the idea.
sense that all linguistic facts are consequent Yet, though the logic of facts may be ob­
upon the events described and the situa­ vious, though it demands that events be
tions denoted. The signifying values are de­ credible at very least, the logic of associa­
pendent on the specific arrangement of tion produced by relating facts to objects in
such propositions, an arrangement which a given sequence of time is much less easy
cannot be anything but logical -otherw ise to define. The associations have the same
the facts would appear unreal or absurd. logical value as the relationships would
However, as Bertrand Russell reminds have as the consequence of what they sug­
us, "the representation of the object is im­ gest in the audience's mind. The connota­
precise when the relation of the representing tions must therefore be directed by the
system to the represented system is not bi­ meaning of the denoted objects, in such a
univocal, but unique and multivalent." way that their very impreciseness may be
Now, though on the screen there is a con­ utilized with precision - o n ly to a limited
stant bi-univocity between the object and extent, however. The same is true of them
the image of that object, the symbolic or as of metaphors in poetry. There is no rule
metaphorical significations are univocal governing their creation, apart from the in­
and multivalent. ^Which leads us to con­ tuition of the poet: they are valid or they
clude that though of all the codes of com­ are not; the current flows or it does not; it
munication the cinema is the most precise all depends on the talent of the creator—
in what it shows, it is the most imprecise and on the intelligence or cultural aware­
in what it suggests. ness of the reader.
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 377

That is why I have grave reservations It is not a rule of syntax but a principle
about a syntax for the cinema. The absence inherent in the very logic of film.
of genuine signs cancels out the need for The transition from denotation to conno­
morphology; and if all syntax is syntag- tation - i n which the initial signified be­
matic (to use Saussure's terminology), it comes the signifier of a new, much larger
does not seem possible to govern, with any signified - i s related to the processes of
degree of accuracy, structures which are transference which we examined a while
self-governing through their content and back, that is, to mental restructurations sirn-
motivated solely by the (infinitely variable) ilar to those which syllogism involves.
meaning they give to the objects they express. Relying on thelogic of discourse, conno­
What one can say, how ever-leading us tations therefore depend on a level of com­
back to the definition of m etap h or-is that, prehension and assimilation requiring a
forming part of an art o f reality, allusion, certain sophistication. Yet, when this logic
metaphor, and metonymy must have an ob­ coincides with the logic of the objects them­
jective basis. They must derive from the evi­ selves, comprehension is immediate and di­
dence of the objects, the evidence of the facte, rect. We all immediately grasp the meaning
since the cinema, even in an "unreal" film, of the balloon, the drowned man, the river
uses concrete reality as its basic material. in flood. As for the pince-nez, the primary
Returning to the examples we quoted a m ean in g-th e absence of Smirnov, the hu­
while back, we might ask: What could be miliation of his character and class - is per­
more normal than that someone's glasses fectly understandable. But the secondary
should fall off when he loses his balance? im plication-the collapse of the social
What could be more normal than that a structure of which he, Smirnov, is a quali­
drowned man should be floating in a river fied representative- demands some rather
into which dozens of partisans have been dialectical thinking. As for the idea of revolt
thrown? What could be more normal than symbolized by the lion rearing up in the
that a child in being hit should let go of the representation of three different lions,
ball and balloon she is holding, that the bal­ though it is relatively comprehensible, it
loon should drift away and the ball should contravenes even Eisenstein's own theory
roll across the floor? What could be more about awakening ideas by stimulating emo­
natural than that a river in spate should be tion. There is indeed an "emotional shock,"
carrying melting ice? But what could be but there is no genuine emotion, for the
more contrived than to associate arbitrarily whole effect relies on an overelaborate con­
three different stone lions in order to produce struction, a justification for which mustfirst
a unifying idea and, from that idea, a sym­ o f all be found. The symbol is not imme­
bolic signification? diately assimilable because it is not natural.
Eisenstein's metaphor is undoubtedly Critics often talk of metaphors "becom­
cinem atic- in itsform. In its conception, how­ ing old-fashioned." Now, unless it becomes
ever, it is literary. The filmmaker is applying a commonplace cliche—which must never
a concept established a priori which he cre­ happen in the cinema, where the use of
ates (with a great deal of skill - too much, fixed signs is strictly ta b o o -a metaphor
in fact) into a visual metaphor; whereas he becomes old-fashioned only to the extent
would have been better off extracting ideas that it is contrived. Natural metaphors
from the simple, normal description of true never become old-fashioned. The difficulty
facts, using them to create his metaphorical therefore is in ensuring that while being
significations, without distorting them. original, the metaphor is natural, i.e., in di­
378 AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CINEMA

re ct relation w ith th e even t o n w h ic h it is gym nastics o f the h ig h est order. T h e sophis­

based, th at it is, as w e said w ith regard to tication o f the averag e view er is evidence
editing, implied by it an d n o t applied to it. of this subtlety.
T his is, in fact, th e sou rce o f th e con stan t A silen t film w h ose rh y th m seem ed in­
con fu sion lead in g to th e assu m p tion th a t if to lerably fast in 1924 n ow seem s interm ina­
they are to b e com p rehen sible, th e id eas b ly slo w ; th e sym bols ind icated b y signifi­
suggested b y a film m u st b e sim plistic cant closeu ps are perceived in a m u ch
(w hereas th e y m u st b e m erely sim p le and su btler w ay and th e "tech n iq u e " o f these
direct, i.e., true to th e tru th s p resen ted to us old film s is seen now adays are irritatingly
and, as it w ere, g u aran teein g them bey on d p ed antic. A n d there is n o n eed to d w ell on
them selves) or that in ord er to b e origin al, the fact th a t Hiroshima, mon amour, Last Year
th ey m u st b e con fused and overelaborate. at Marienbad, a n d 8112, w h ich w e re unthin k­
T h e effect o f this is th a t m ed iocre film s able forty years ago, have h ad a consid er­
em ploy a kind o f cod e d eriv in g fro m a con ­ able success. It is n o t a qu estion o f com par­
ven tion alized w ay o f thinking. T h ey form in g th em com m ercially w ith Gidget Goes to
signs w ith universal appeal b y exploiting Town or an E lvis P resley film ; b u t, th o u g h
the excesses o f a cod e rely in g on arche­ th ey are p itch ed at a level fa r bey on d the
types and accep ted m yths. O n the oth er com p reh en sion of the average audience,
h and , films o f m erit (like poetry) create th ey n evertheless h a v e an aud ience - and
m etaphors b ased on un expected associa­ o n e w h ich is grow ing daily.52
tio n s, and to appreciate th e su b tleties, o n e T here is still the p ro blem o f alienation,
m u st b e e q u ally su b tle. A t th e sam e tim e, w h ich critics hav e b low n ou t o f all propor­
th e se m etap h o rs, seem in g ly o b scu re b y tion b eca u se o f the ethical values it brings
re a so n o f th e ir novelty, m u st b e ca p a b le of into question. Yet this is basically a social
being interpreted and th eir in terp retation p ro blem and has n o th in g w h atsoever to do
m u st reveal a fo rm perh ap s n o t previou sly w ith art in th e tru e sense. Literature in gen­
explored b u t fortified w ith positive truth. eral h a s n ev er b ee n regarded as porno­
The objectivity o f observation and the subjec­ graphic ju s t b ecau se there are porn ograp hic
tivity o f vision m ust find com m on groun d b ook s. T h e alien ation o f the individual in
in th e exp ressio n o f th ese m etaphors. ou r m o d e m so c ie ty is in d e e d a m a jo r prob­
It is certain th a t film associatio ns con­ lem , b u t th e press, radio, and advertising,
stan tly require restru ctu rations o f the p er­ w ritten o r b road cast p rop agand a, are infi­
cep tu al field, the in teg ratio n o f a con stan tly n itely m ore corrupting th an film .
d ifferent m ean in g into con tin u ally ch an g ­ Y et alien ation in the true sense occurs
ing relationsh ips. The perception o f a film o n ly w h en this "e v id en ce o f the w o rld " is
- i . e . , its com p rehen sion - i m p l i e s the u n ­ tak en to b e the real w orld. F ilm is a gam e,
interrupted linking o f these pro cesses, the all the m o re fascin atin g fo r the fa ct that
constant reestablishing o f perceptual system s w hat is p resen ted in it appears to be real.
extend ed o v er th e su ccessio n in tim e o f a H ow ever, th o u g h this is the im pression it
series of shots a l interrelated a n d corres­ creates, it is n o t so in fact. T h e im age cap­
ponding w ith each o th e r -p r o c e s s e s w hich tiv ates m e as m u ch as th e w orld w h ich it
rely o n th e fu nctions o f assim ilatio n and re p ro d u ces— more so, p erhap s, becau se it
d istin ction w h ich w e m entioned in previ­ gives m e som ething extra. Yet it is on ly an
ous chapters. im ag e. I a m enchanted b y th is presence
C ontrary to th e p o p u lar view , the cin ­ (w h ich is really a n absence), this quasi­
em a has p ro ved th a t it req u ires intellectu al p resen ce; and I am fru strated b y it only if
 TIME AND SPACE OF THE DRAMA 379

I assume it to be real. However concrete it life through life itself. It begins where the
may seem, fiction remains fictional. Its others leave off, and it therefore remains un­
presence eludes me but at the same time affected by ait their rules and principles.
overwhelms me. It liberates me from my The fundamental mistake was in trying
obsessions and offers me an image which to force the cinema into the conventional
is both me and, at the same time, the world: norms of art, as though life could be turned
a magical vision of the universe. into stone for the purpose of fixing it for all
The aesthetic attitude is an aspect of Ein- eternity. Art was forced into films in order
fiihlung, an attitude of play, a participation to prove that they were art, instead of allow­
during which we never lose consciousness ing works of art to be created with them. All
of being ourselves and in which the fusion too frequently, the cinema has been forced
of the Self with the object is never complete to create a lifeless, solidified reality, as­
but is conceded and limited. Ecstasy is the sumed to be sublime, whereas all that was
highest level of this obsessional attitude, needed was to use the cinema to sublimate
whereas it is merely the point of departure living qualities captured in their immanence
for the mystical attitude where the individ­ and pursued through their development.
ual becomes sublimated in the object of his К the cinema is an art, it is one which
contemplation. stands foursquare against the constraints
As we reach the end of this study, we imposed on it by art. Art doubtless pro­
come to the conclusion that there is no such vides access to transcendence, but its re­
thing as aesthetics in the cinema if by that sponsibility is to lead us there rather than
we mean a body of rules and regulations represent it for us and to lead us there
governing the conditions of the individual through immanence and liberty. The cin­
and the qualities which it what it is. ema alone is capable of achieving this goal,
Interpreted in this way, aesthetic princi­ since it alone has life as its raw material.
ples are conceivable only in terms of Art in Abandoning those stiff and lifeless gods
the classical sense, i.e., in terms of a form for the joy of movement, artificiality for free­
and representation whose elements, more dom, and absolute values for relative val­
or less stylized, are subject to laws and rules ues, it is an art ultimately worthy of Man­
by reason of their very stylization or whose kind, one which celebrates the victory of
methods are limited both by their object and Dionysus over Apollo.
by the processes which they employ. Weaving together time and space, the
Film forms owe their existence to what­ present and the past, reality and illusion,
ever is represented and to it alone, to the with one foot in the camp of reportage and
reality which offers, in its image, the means observation and the other in storytelling
both of representing and transfiguring it. and dream, integrating duration and fol­
These forms are therefore as varied as life lowing the development of beings and
itself, and just as life can never be regu­ things, the cinema of the future will un­
lated, so it is with an art which is both sub­ doubtedly be to the cinema of today infi­
ject and object. nitely greater than what Joyce and Faulk­
Whereas the aim of the classical arts is to ner are to Paul Bourget. Having been
signify movement through an absence of theatrical, pictorial, musical, romantic, the
movement, life through an absence of life, cinema will finally be able to be itself: quite
the responsibility of the cinema is to express simply, cinematic.
 NOTES

Editor's Introduction
word, one might say that the image is a form of
1. A measure of this was the studied silence the second degree.
which greeted Mitry's Semiology, which even so 7. The reader can also put down a boring
reveals a great originality and remarkable intel­ novel, daydream around it, skip pages, or quite
ligence. simply close the book.
2. On this whole question of memory and 8. See V. Jasset in Cinejournal, October-No-
judgment, see Frarn;ois Lebeau' s excellent article vember 1912.
"Voir, c'est revoir," 24 Images, no. 12. 9. Editor's note: It goes without saying that
3. After the publication of the fourth volume some of the problems raised here have been
of his Histoire du Cinema, I told Mitry that I con­ solved for the past several years with the inven­
sidered King Vidor's Northwest Passage, to tion of image stabilizers and with the appear­
which he had devoted two long pages in praise, ance of the steadicam, a hand-held camera sys­
not to have stood the test of time. His immediate tem with automatic correction.
retort was: "I've just seen the film on television; 10. On the question of depth-of-field and use
it didn't work at all!" of focus, see La Semiologie en question, pp. 86-88.
11. Particularly since a composite word pre­
I. Preliminaries
supposes the association both of the terms and
1. E.g., made-up gestures, such assign language. their meaning. A "shot sequence" is neither one
2. The term sensory content used by certain lo­ thing nor the other. One might just as easily say
gicians and psychologists seems to me a danger­ "no-shot-no-sequence." Take your pick.
ous expression in the sense that it may tend to 12. Editor's note: This interpretation runs
lead to confusion by introducing the idea of a counter to the way film is discussed in certain
"content" of consciousness. I understand that it intellectual circles and universities. One may be
does imply the perceived "sensory data," but I justified in wondering whether, in taking this
prefer to use the terms sensory data and struc­ position, Mitry was not several years ahead of
tured data which represent the object indepen­ his time.
dently of the actual act of perception or the 13. Which has nothing to do with the projec­
product of that act. tion screen; it refers to any visual obstacle which
acts as a screen between our vision and the ob­
II. The Film Image
ject of our vision.
1. Translator's note: from the Greek hylo, 14. Since the frame of the screen and the
meaning "matter." frame of the image are homologous, there is no
2. From the German verb erleben. Erlebnis may need to make a distinction between them.
be translated as "moment of experience or 15. It should be noted in passing that these
knowledge experienced intuitively." are only conceptual notions. A two-dimensional
3. We will return later to this question - to our universe is inconceivable. There is no such thing
mind, of capital importance. as an "absolute surface." A surface is always the
4. This idea is still only relative: there are as surface of something. The surface has no
many different photographs possible as there depth - only the body of which it is the surface.
are different lighting conditions and different The one cannot exist without the other.
em ulsions-and therefore possible interpreta­ 16. This, of course, is not the fourth dimension
tions and different meanings. of a space-time continuum, the so-called Uni­
5. The same is true when he says, "the field verse of Minkovski, a quadratic form with differ­
of view presents itself . . . , space presents itself" entials of four variables, one of which is time, in
It is the camera which presents them. They pre­ which space, as such, has only three dimensions,
sent nothing; they are. those of the three other variables; but an imagin­
6. The represented data already being inher­ ary space with four spatial dimensions. How­
ently a "form " in the psychological sense of the ever, if we are to accept Henri Poincare's notion
382 NOTES TO PAGES 8 1 - 1 4 3

that "nothing prevents us from presuming that 8. Vicking Eggeling w as a "constructivist"

there could be a being with the same mind as painter. Born in Luen, Sweden, in 1886, he was
ourselves, the same sense-organs as ourselves, in in Paris before 1914, then in Zurich during the
a world in which light reached him only when it war, and in Berlin from 1919 onward. He died
has passed through a complicated refracting me­ ten days after the first showing of his film in
dium. The two indices which help us appreciate Berlin on May 19, 1925.
distance would cease to be connected in any con­ 9. In Schemas, no. 1 (1925).
stant sense. A being who trained his senses in 10. "Musique plastique," Cinema-Cine pour
such a world would no doubt think of total visual Tous, 1926.
space in terms of four dimensions" (La Science et 11. Henri Fescourt and J. L. Bouquet, "Sensa­
I'hypothese). tions ou ^ tim e n ts ? " Cinema-Cinepour Tous, 1926.
17. The best seats (at least for an audience 12. "La Musique des images," L'Art Cinema-
with normal vision) would seem to be between tographique (A can, 1927).
the fifth and fifteenth rows back from the screen 13. We should disregard for the time being
-th o u g h these considerations depend on the the abstract films of Len Lye, Rischinger, and
dimensional relationships between the audito­ MacLaren, which, based upon music, take their
rium and the screen and the individual position justification from it and pose rather different prob­
of each audience member; they are valid only as lems. We shall come back to them when we come
generalizations. to speak of the relationships of music and film.
18. This also happens in front of a tiny televi­ 14. We mean object here in its psychological
sion screen. A film seen on television and from sense, i.e., "what is perceived" with, for that rea­
the first few rows in the cinema does not produce son, the qualities of an "object."
the same effect. It is not the same film at all. 15. Author's italics.
19. The mechanism of constancy is also re­ 16. We do not intend to consider synchroni­
lated to our experience of space. However, its zation or even postsynchronization (which
effect is un conscious-to a certain extent, auto­ sometimes consists in editing together, for the
matic. I am making comparison here between same shot, the sound of the second "take" with
constancy and a conscious notion produced by the picture of the fourth) and the vast number
reason and judgment alone. of technical details - since technique is not en­
compassed within our subject. We refer the
Ill. Rhythm and Montage
reader to the various standard works on the sub­
1. Dziga-Vertov's real name was Yuri ject, notably the publications of the Institut des
2. La Correspondance entre les arts (Flammarion). Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques and Michel
3. In La Folie du Docteur Tube, shot in 1915, Wynn's La Technique du cinema (Eyrolles, 1956).
Abel Cance, imagining a scientist discovering 17. A film, as we have said, exists only in the
the light-refracting properties of glass, reveals to finished, projected images. Thus the preexis­
us a world through a series of diffractions and tence we are discussing here has no meaning
reflections from concave or convex mirrors. The except for the filmmaker.
camera suddenly becomes used "subjectively" 18. Indeed, a whole is not just superior to the
for the first time. sum of its parts; it is something else entirely.
4. Le Temps, June 4, 1919. 19. That leads us back to the Dziga-Vertov
5. Les Cahiers du mois, special issue on the cin­ montage. If it were merely a matter of signifying
ema, 1925. ideas, this kind of analogy would be perfectly
6.Leopold Survage was born in Moscow on possible. But then concrete reality would not be
August 12, 1879, of Scandinavian parents. He represented, since the descriptive continuity
was educated in France and therefore is counted would have lost all its meaning.
among French painters. 20. In fact, his "cinedialectics" were formu­
7. In 1914, color was achieved by a trichro­ lated after Potemkin and October in 1928. But, as
matic process (discovered by Gaumont and we can see from his writings, they were merely
Kinemacolor) using three lenses equipped with the "intellectualization" of the montage of at­
their own selective screens. traction and an extreme generalization of the
 N O T ES TO PAGES 1 5 2 - 2 2 9 383

image-sign considered as an independent dia­ 13. Let us not forget that in the previous shot
lectical form. the camera is already behind Henry Fonda but at
21. See Esprit, April 1959 and June 1960. waist level. Fonda is seen in three-quarter
22. Cinema Nuovo, March 15, 1954. profile in the foreground while, through the
23. In L'Ecran Frangais, October 3, 1945. open door, Bette Davis can be seen completing
24. In La Revue du Cinema, April 1948. her toilette. The shot change corresponds with a
simple change of axis as if the lens had been
IV. Rhythm and Moving Shots
changed. It is almost a "reframing."
1. In Cahiers du Cinema, no. 51. 14. The impression may be more marked for
2. In Cahiers du Cinema, no. 51. the passenger in the plane than for the audience
3. Interview with Orson Welles, Cahiers du in the cinema, but this is because of feelings of
Cinema, no. 84. fear and anxiety, which are not shared by the
4. An article on Le Crime de Monsieur Lange in audience knowing itself not to be at risk. The
Telerama. passenger is involved in the movement, whereas
5. The use of the past perfect or historic per­ the audience, involved with a "perceived
fect is justified by the fact that they express a fiction," only participates in intention (taking for
"mythical" past. In another context, this would granted that the pilot is used to this kind of ma­
not be possible. This is true of a great many neuver and does not feel any emotion associated
silent films. with panic).
6. By which we mean editing considered as a 15. Wertheimer, Experimentelle studien uber das
relationship of static shots. Sehen van Bewegung.
7. This analysis is moredetailed in Mitry's 1978 16. I.e., the collection of objects, relationships,
book on Eisenstein (see Eisenstein, pp. 149-71). and perspectives on which the "anchor" point
8. The quotations from Bazin are taken from is built.
his study Orson Welles and his work on William 17. On 16 mm because the stock is so easy to
Wyler in Qu'est-ce que le cinema? use—screens and projectors of the standard (35­
9. An editing console which allows the film to mm) gauge being fixed. The duration of the shots
be stopped, started, and reversed with fastw ind must be at least five minutes.
forward or backward. 18. It is in ^ ts way that in In ^ re interspace
10. Editor's note: The format most widely travel, where the absence of weight might pre­
used nowadays is 1 x 1.65. suppose all possible directions, the human being
11. Which he went o n to realize in Coeurfidele, wiU still retain the notion of high and low. Refer­
shot some two years later. ring to his own body and his immediate field of
12. It is clear that subsequently William Wyler action, he will create a spatial level-tem porary
became merely a good commercial director, hav­ but definite-correlative to the field of action
ing been in his time (between 1935 and 1945) with which he is in contact and to the responses
one of the greats of Hollywood. It is strange that which his motor intentions will receive from such
the critics who pretend to despise him now are a context. The odd thing is that he will be able to
the same people who shouted "down with Ford, change at will his spatial level by changing his
up with Wyler" ten or so years ago when it was axis relative to the previous field of action,
fashionable to denounce John Ford. In the same thereby creating, each time, a new series of rela­
context, these same idiots would have shouted tions between him and the immediate world—
"down with ComeiUe" for having written rather in the way that making an about-turn
Agisilas. Since we are not in the business of mak­ down here Thanges our right-to-left orientation.
ing prescriptions or stupid generalizations, we 19. A striking example of this is Hitchcock's
should not forget what Wyler once was, even Marnie. The colored hallucinations of the young
though we might deplore what he has become. woman are perceived and understood as genu­
As well as one or two worthy films, he directed inely subjective because they are associated with
three masterpieces: One-Way Street, The Little M am ie's imagination and memory. They do not
Foxes, and Jezebel. History makes all other con­ "alter" reality (as in the pink bedroom); they
siderations quite irrelevant. merely interpret it.
384 N O T ES TO PAGES 2 3 0 - 5 6

20. "La Question des sous-titres," Cine Pour La Bataille du rail, the lamp gradually going out
Tous, January 1922. as Susan's voice gets weaker and weaker in Cit­
21. In Zhizn Iskusstva, August 5, 1928. izen Kane. There are numerous examples of this
22. "L'Avenir du film parlant," Pour Vous, kind. Yet sound effects have rarely been used for
June 6, 1929. any other purpose.
23. In Cahiers du Film, December 15, 1933. 35. Every history of the cinema and every ar­
24. "Portrait de Rene Clair," Le Magazine du ticle on the subject of film music has for the last
Spectacle, no. 1 (1945). twenty years made the same mistake: viz, "In
25. Pierre Henry, "Vers un art du cinema 1922, Abel Gance asked Arthur Honegger to
sonore," in Cinema-Cine pour tous, May 1929. make a musical adaptation of La Roue to contain
Pudovkin's film was released commercially pieces o f music composed specially to support
only in a silent form, in 1933 with the title A the images by following their rhythm, in partic­
Simple Case. ular during the famous fast cut sequence of the
26. In Pour Vous, June 1929. speeding train. This fragment finally became
27. Reading over Eisenstein's essays (Film known as Pacific 232." The first phrase is correct,
Form and The Film Sense), one can see that, in his but the second could not be further from the
view, it is the other way round. Eisenstein calls truth. Honegger ran out o f time and did not
horizontal montage what we are calling vertical compose a single note for La Roue. He merely
montage. This is because, in the USSR, editing assembled an arrangement with special sound
tables operate on the horizontal rather than the effects (Honegger told me this himself). Gance's
vertical plane: sound and image therefore seem film no doubt inspired ^ m , but his symphonic
to be (vertically) superimposed with the images movement was not conceived or composed for
running horizontally. In France and the United Gance. La Roue was presented in November
States (Mauritone and Moviola), they operate 1922, while Pacific 232's premiere was not until
vertically (like projectors). We think our descrip­ April 6, 1924 (at the Opera). Though I pointed
tion to be more accurate in the sense that it re­ this out some ten years ago, critics have still
lates to the way we normally of film trav- been chu^rning out the same nonsense. I suppose
e lin g -in projection and shooting. fiction is more attractive than the truth.
28. The Titanic w ent down during the night of 36. "Sur le role de la musique au cinema,"
April 12, 1912, during its maiden voyage, after Cinemagazine, 1926.
colliding with an iceberg. There were very few 37. Animals d an cin g -bears standing on their
survivors. hindlegs, performing d o g s -a re always gro­
29. In Jean-Jacques Bernard's "theater of si­ tesque in the sense that without knowing why,
lence," where the playwright expresses himself the animal conforms to a behavior pattern im­
more through what is not said (but implied posed on it: its action is stupid (in the precise
through the speeches), the silence derives from sense of the word).
silent objects rather than from an absence of di­ 38. Since MacLaren's films are commercially
alogue or a pause between words. available (in 16 mm), any enthusiast can obtain a
30. Indeed, all that is ever said of this area of film such as Begone Dull Care, project it at his
acting is that the actor is forced to project his leisure, and perform the experiment we repeated
voice and amplify his movements "so that they over and over again at IDHEC. Having projected
will be able to see it in the gods." This is obvi­ the film (which, complete with its music, is a mas­
ously somewhat simplistic. terpiece of its kind), it is projected again, this time
31. Author's italics. mute. It completely loses its meaning. Or rather
32. Andre Bazin, in France Observateur, Octo­ its colored movements lose their justification.
ber 30, 1958. Projected backwards or upside down, the colors
33. Bernard Pingaud, "Alain Resnais," Pre­ are just as attractive, just as pleasant to look at,
mier Plan, no. 18. and just as gratuitous. There is nothing obliga­
34. We are obviously not talking about sound tory. What was true of Ruttmann's Opus is also
counter point used for symbolic purposes: the true of MacLaren's and Fischinger's films. This
engine whistle during the hanging sequence in has something in common with Bergson's re­
 N O T E S TO PAGES 2 6 1 -8 7 385

marks: "we have only to stop up our ears against stantly works against the film, proving that
the sound of the music in a dance hall for the these so-called effects of counterpoint are just
dancers to appear utterly ridiculous" (Le Rire). In not practicable in this sort of exercise, disloca­
point of fact, movement is incapable of justifying tion continually taking the place of the required
the rhythm it produces unless it is related to an unity. It is not the composer's work which is at
objectively defined requirement. Then it accompa­ fault but the principle, for which we are as much
nies the music. It is justified by the music. And responsible as he. Moreover, circumstances be­
without the music it is nothing. yond our control (which we will not go into
39. Rodin's observations about this particular here) meant that the projection of this triptych
painting are relevant: "Have you noticed the in the only cinema equipped for it (Studio 28)
way this pantomime evolves? Is it really painting? was made almost impossible. We were eventu­
Or is it theater?" It's hard to tell. You are seeing ally forced to show it in a reduced format on a
an artist able, when the mood takes ^ m , to rep­ simple academy screen -w h ich defeated the
resent not merely momentary gestures but also whole point of the exercise.
an action (using the term normally employed in 49. A striking example of this is to be seen in
the theater). To obtain the right effect, all he Alain Resnais's tracking shots (Toute la memoire
needs is to arrange his characters in such a way du monde-Hiroshima, mon amour-L'Annee
that the spectator sees first those who begin the derniere a Marienbad).
action, then those who continue it, and finally 50. According to P. Fraisse, the perceptualpro-
those who complete it" (L'Art, a series of inter­ cess lasts between 5/10 and 6/10 of a second in
views collected and edited by Paul Gsell, 1911). its entirety-Le., about twelve frames. It is our
40. Paul Dukas, in Chronique des Arts et de la opinion - and certain films prove the point - that
Curiosite, May 10, 1902. a simple shape may be perceived in the space of
41. Vincent d'Indy, "Pelleas," L'Occident, June 1/4 second (six frames). Obviously, the more com­
1902. plex the shape, the longer the time it takes to
42. Friedrich Feher was known above all for perceive it. One second may not be long enough
his interpretation of the part of Francis the stu­ to assimilate a wide angle containing a quantity
dent in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 1919. of information (not to mention questions of move­
43. Finally produced in 1948. ment, ob viou sly -th e perception of an object in
44. Souriau, La Correspondance des arts, p. 133. motion takes as long as it takes to complete the
45. It was for commercial reasons that the title movement).
was used in the first place.
V. Time and Space of the Drama
46. To quote Joachim Gasquet's expression
(from Narcisse). 1. Let us not forget that right up to the end of
47. Gaston Bachelard, L'Eau et les reves. the silent era, films were projected at fifteen feet per
48. In particular, the films under the collective second. Nowadays, at twenty-four feet per sec­
title Reverie de Debussy which I made under con­ ond, a reel of 1,000 feet lasts just over ten minutes.
tract to the producer. Another experiment, Sym- 2. "Good actors performed without hurrying,
phonie Mecanique, produced in multiscreen, staying in one place, and an effect of growing
should in theory have been the most interesting intensity was achieved. It was wonderful" (V.
of them all. A first version was conceived in 1950 Jasset, in Cine-Journal, October 1911).
with Arthur Honegger; the three screens would 3. This is 1908, let us n o t forget.
have allowed us to make the necessary harmo­ 4. Victorin Jasset, "Le Cinema contemporain,"
nies. But a prolonged illness and the eventual In Cine-Journal, October-November 1911.
death of the composer put an end to the project. 5. We find this same theme, somewhat modi­
Produced in 1955 starting with the original fied, in several silent films and also in several
theme, it seemed th a t -in the absence of a Hon­ talkies: Thunder Mountain (1919), Stella Dallas (si­
egger or a Stravinsky- concrete music might be lent version, 1926; talkie, 1937), The Way of All
capable of producing the necessary rhythms. Flesh (1927), etc.
Consequently, Pierre Boulez wrote the score; but 6. Georges Sadoul, Histoire generate du cinema,
I must confess that it does not really fit. It con­ vol. 3.
386 N O T ES TO PAGES 2 8 8 -3 4 6

7. It is therefore incorrect to claim, as some in any case has been pretty well exhausted in
critics have, that the first full-length American the first half of this book.
film was Judith of Bethulia, produced by Griffith 16. This kind of development, organized dra­
in 1913 (four reels). This was merely the first matically in a clear continuous way, was possi­
full-length film produced by B iograph-though ble only because Griffith's film -o n e of the first
Griffith had earlier directed a trilogy (The Gene­ full-length films (1915)-lasted over two and a
sis o f Man, Prehistoric Times, and Primitive Man), half hours.
each film being a two-reeler. It is also incorrect 17. Cf. Le Western, by J.-L. Rieupeyrout (Edi­
to claim that Quo Vadis (1912) was the first film tions du Cerf, 1964) and most of the histories of
longer than an hour. These are cliches supported the Far West.
by myth, not by history. 18. Theodore Huff, Charles Chaplin (Galli-
8. Between 1910 and 1912, a hundred or so mard, 1953).
theaters belonging to Keith-Proctor or the 19. This type of elliptical image was alsoused
Vaudeville Company were converted into cine­ by Thomas Ince, notably in Civilization (1916);
mas. These were the first cinemas with any de­ we see the shadow, playing across the face of a
gree of comfort. And they showed only full- young peasantwom an waiting by the side of the
length film s-Italian , French, or American. road with her children clutched to her bosom,
9. A few years later, Terry Ramsay was to be­ of the pointed helmets and bayonets of the Prus­
come the first historian of the cinema. sian army on the march.
10. A complete list of these films and those 20. Mitry's italics. Andre Bazin, "Theatre et
responsible, with names, dates, etc., is to be cinema," Esprit, June-July 1951.
found in the Filmographie universelle, published 21. Les Cahiers dufilm, December 15, 1933.
at IDHEC. 22. Editor 'snote: An unfounded assertion, we
11. Louis Aragon, Anicet ou le panorama, Nou- are bound to say.
velle Revue Frangaise, 1924. 23. Roland Caillois, "L e tragique a la scene et
12. Thomas Ince's eldest brother John and a l'ecran," Revue de Filmologie, no. 4.
younger brother Ralph were also directors. 24. Editions du Cerf, 1964.
Whereas Ralph directed a number of adventures, 25. The version held by the Cinematheque
mostly set at sea, John had very few good films has even more scenes m issing-intentionally or
to his credit. not it is hard to s a y -th a n the version shown at
13. Ince directed very few of the films he pro­ the Ursulines in 1926. It lasts only three hours
duced (more than 600 between 1912 and 1924). and twenty minutes.
Among those he directed were The Wrath of the 26. J. Domarchi, "Litterature et cinema," Ca-
Gods, Typhoon, and The Battle of Gettysburg (1914) hiers du cinema, 1959.
and The Coward, Punishment, and Civilization 27. assertion is always true for the cin­
(1915). Most of them were directed, under his ema as it is. In a darkened auditorium, films are
control, by Reginald Barker, Scott Sidney, Walter run with- no possibility of running back, which
Edwards, Raymond B. West, etc. The styles gives them a kind of inevitable duration differ­
therefore are quite different, but the overall aes­ ent from that of the novel. A l the same, one
thetic co n cep t-w h ith was In c e 's -w a s pre­ must allow that the widespread use of video
dominant throughout. (and to a lesser extent 16 ^ m ) enables us to
14. Along with O. Henry, Bret Harte was one prove the point in a way not possible a few years
of the most remarkable American writers at the ago; with the proviso, however, that the quality
of the century. He has been called the of the video image is not that of the big screen
Maupassant of the West. and it does not always a llo w -fa r from i t - a
15. That is something Bazin failed to under­ section or sections to b e seen again properly.
stand, seeing this means of expression as the 28. R. Barthes, "Elements de semiologie,"
only "valid" one. It is true that, for him, every Communications, no. 4 (December 1964).
image reveals a transcendence of reality when it 29. In Communications, no. 4 (December 1964).
presents an "in-itself." There is no need to ex­ 30. We have seen that the major fault in cer­
amine further this metaphysical position, which tain sequences in October is due to the fact that
 N O T ES TO PAGES 3 4 9 -7 8 387

the connotations a r e - o r try to b e-ex p licit; sign. I can only imagine the object of the
which means that they are tacked onto the ac­ signification of the word chair inasmuch as the
tion, not contained within it. chair gives the word ite raison d'etre and pro­
31. If it turned out that it was all a dream, then vides it with a real existence. For a fuller exami­
these objections would not hold water. But then nation of this question, see J. Mitry, La Semiologie
the narrative is at fault, because the chain of en question (Paris, Cerf, 1987), pp. 255-64.
circumstances must conform with the logic of 43. We should note that Munier is referring
the dream or, in this case, the logic of reality (cf. mainly to the average photographic image, de­
L'Armee derniere ii Marienbad, Exterminating void of any compositional sense. Yet, as we have
Angel, Le Chien andalou, L'Age d'or, etc.). seen, the average image is already, in itself, com­
32. In Revue de Filmologie, no. 3 (1948). posed.
33. Henri Agel, "Du film en forme de chro- 44. It is not important to know whether the
nique," Revue des lettres franr;aises, nos. 36-38. signification is obtained through editing to­
34. Ibid. gether three separate shote or through a single
35. He is referring to La Fete espagnole, shot by camera movement. The question has nothing to
Louis Delluc and Germaine Dulac in 1919. do with style but with the effect of signifying.
36. Henri Fescourt, "Cheminements," Artsept, And this example is associated (indirectly) with
no. 2 (1963). Kuleshov's experiments. Not only is the object
37. In La Femme de nulle part, directed by Louis of the observation different, but the observation
Delluc in 1922, a woman who has left her hus­ itself. The intention is quite clear. It is not a ques­
band returns to the place they lived in together. tion of creating a picture puzzle but of organiz­
A young woman, the actual tenant of the villa, ing a narrative, following a potential action sim­
is about to run off with her lover, just as the other ply by revealing ite meaning.
woman had done. She succeeds in dissuading 45. In Mercure de France, June 1962.
them. Thus the relationship between past and 46. Dina Dreyfus, "Cinem a et langage,"
present is examined for the first time in drama, Diogene, July 1961.
the young couple being as it were the projection 47. Pingaud, "Alain Resnais."
of the past into the future, memory serving as 48. We use the word intrinsic here in the sense
the linking methanism. which Buyssens uses it; but we prefer to give the
38. Charlot et la fabulation Chaplinesque (Edi­ word extrinsic a much wider and general mean­
tions Universitaires, 1957). It is obvious that these ing than he gives it. In fact, for him, an extrinsic
remarks are not relevant to the first Chaplin pic­ signification is an unmotivated signification. For
tures, directed as genuine ballete-ballets, how­ us, it is quite simply a si^gnification imposed
ever, which are choreographic developments of "from the outside." Cf. Eric Buyssens, Les Lan-
a specific circumstance or moment in time. gages et les discours (Brussels, Office de Publicite,
39. Bernard Pingaud, "Alain Resnais," Pre­ 1943).
mier Plan, no. 18. 49. Roman Jakobson, Essais de linguistique
40. Among whom there are Ernest Fischer, generale (Ed. de Minuit).
Emil Utitz, Erich Auerbach, Thomas Munroe, D. 50. Adam Schaff, "Su r la rigueur de l'expres-
W. Gottschalk, Berthold Brecht. sion," Diogene, July 1961.
41. Stefan Morawski, "Realisme categorie 51. As Ryle writes in The Concept of Mind, "It
artistique," Revue Internationale. is because we know how to act and speak and,
42. Brice Parain writes: "It is not the object therefore, have actual experience of acting and
which provides the sign with its signification but speaking that we understand philosophers' er­
the sign which forces us to imagine for ourselves rors when they talk about the way we act and
an object for its significations." Certainly both speak."
sign and signification transcend the signified. Yet 52. W hen Citizen Kane was released in Paris
I find myself unable to imagine "an object of the in 1945 it was appreciated only by a handful of
signification of the sign" except insofar as the fanatics and was a commercial disaster. Rere­
(conceptualized) object gives ite meaning to the leased fifteen years later, it was a success.
 INDEX

A bout de souffle (Godard), 237 Arbatov, Boris, 136

abstract painting, 340 architectonic proportion, 108
accelerated montage, 173-74 architecture, 107-108, 301
L'Acte perceptif et le cinema (Wallon), 161, 163 A ^iteim , Rudolf, 2
adaptations, 55-56, 316-17, 321-24, 326-33; LArrivee d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (Lumiere
transposition and, 330-32 brothers), 65, 93, 300
Les Aventures de Nick Carter Gasset), 288 art, 119-20, 149-50, 157, 339, 365; art for art's
aesthetic attitude, 379 sake, 337, 338-39, 357; audiences and, 89-90;
aesthetic composition, 75 definition of, 87; reality and, 364-66; respon­
aesthetic effect, 338 sibility of the cinema and, 379
aesthetic perception, 123-24 L'Art de le geste (d'Udine), 256
aesthetics, 1-3, 2, 159, 199, 379; painting and, 2-3 Art et realite au cinema (Chartier), 91, 161
The Aesthetics and Psychology of the Cinema artificiality. See authenticity
(Mitry), x artists and artisans, 8-10
Aesthetik des Rhythmus (Meumann), 126 The Aryan (Barker and Smith), 295-96
Agel, Henri, 16, 48, 270-71, 355-56 The Aryan (Ince), 90
Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein), 30, 60, 144, 187, L'Assassinat du Due de Guise (Calmette), 278-79
190, 227, 274, 352 association, 165-66, 168-69, 175, 296, 374, 376,
Alexandrov, Gregory, 257; "Manifesto of Orches­ 378; definition of, 165; of image and music,
tral Counterpoint," 230-31 263-71
Alexeyev, Sergei, 260; A Night on Bare Mountain, associationism, 19
257-58, 260 associative relationships, 346-47
alienation, 80, 378-79 assonance, use of, 24-25
All Quiet on the Western Front (Milestone), 61, Astruc, Alexandre, 230; Le Rideau Cramoisi, 239
156-57 At Last, That Awful Tooth (G. A. Smith), 92
Allain, Marcel: Fantomas, 289 The Attack on a China Mission (Williamson), 93,
Allendy, 20 95
alliteration, 24-25 The Attack on a Stagecoach, 94
allusive image, 24-25 The Attack on Grand Rapids (Porter), 95, 281
ambiguity, 55 L'Auberge rouge, 60
Amengual, Barthelemy: Le Je, le Moi, le II au audiovisual structures, 256-60; in animated
cinema, 209-10, 212 films, 254-56, 258, 384n.38; in the films of
American music-hall comedy, 309 Eisenstein, 260-63; thematic association of
American shot, 60 image and music, 263-71
Amore in citta (Antonioni), 152 auteurs. See authorship
analogical relationships, 346, 347 authenticity, 50-51, 189, 352, 363. See also reality
analogon, image as, 43-49, 79, 88, 130, 368 authorship, xv, 4-5, 8, 10; production and, 10-13;
analytic images, 214-15, 246. See also subjective standard production practices and, 4 -7
camera avant-garde cinema, 109-12, 114-17, 349-50,
anchoring, 221-22 356; influence of painters on, 112-14; music
Andrew, Dudley: The Major Film Theories, ix and, 111-13, 115-16, 117, 118-20
animated films, 254-56, 258, 384n.38; pinboard Avenging Conscience (Griffith), 70
animation, 258
Annenberg, Max, 288 Bachelard, Gaston, 104, 266, 269
anticipation, 84 The Bad Luck o f Santa Inez (Barker and Smith),
antithesis, use of, 17 294-95
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 178, 227, 359, 362, 371; Badger, Clarence, 312
Amore in citta, 152; The Red Desert, 227-29 Baker, George D., 286, 287, 310
Aper,us de la litterature americaine (Coindreau), Balazs, Bela, 2
55 Ballet mecanique (Leger and Murphy), 114
Apollinaire, Guillaume, 112 Barker, Reginald: The Aryan, 295-96; The Bad
Arabesque (Dulac), 257 Luck of Santa Inez, 294-95; The Fugitive, 294,
Arabesques (Mitry), 268-70 295
390 IN D E X

Barrault, Jean-Louis, 12 campagne, 329; Pickpocket, 252; Un Condamne ii

Barthes, Roland, 41-43, 127, 343-44, 367 mort s'est echappe, 252
Batons, ch ifes et lettres (Queneau), 237-38 Breton, Andre, 25
Battle of Gettysburg (Ince), 90 Brief Encounter, 211-12, 241
The Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein), 61, 98, 102, Broadway Melody, 231
133, 143, 144, 145-46, 156, 183, 374, 377; Broken Blossoms (Griffith), 96, 207, 217, 291, 304,
rhythm in, 146-50; symbolism in, 39-40, 42, 311, 353-54
43, 343, 372 Broken Lullaby (Lubitsch), 219
Baudrier, Yves: Musique et cinema, 252-53 Brooke, Van Dyke, 286, 287
Bauer, Geo, 99 Brooks, Richard: Karamasov, 227
Bayer, Raymond: ke Cinema et les etudes humaines, Brunswick constant, 75, 81
121 Biihler, 33-34
Bazin, Andre, 54, 178-79, 186, 201, 239, 243-44, Buftuel, Luis: Un Chien andalou, 180-81
307, 314, 317, 318, 322; Connaissance du cinema,
58; Defense de Rossellini, 171, 172,173; on depth- cadence, 106
of-field, 192-98; on editing, 155, 175, 176; on Cahiers du cinema, 132
essences, 45, 170, 270-71; Evolution du langage Caillois, Roland, 319-20, 352
cinematographique, 169-70; on montage, 172-73; Calmette: L'Assassinat du Due de Guise, 278-79
Ontologie de I'image photographique, 169; Qu'est- camera angle, 60-61; framing and, 92
ce que le cinema?, 130, 154-55; onreality, 169-72 camera movement. See moving camera
Beaumont, Harry, 312 camera position, 217-18
Becker, Jacques: Falbalas, 208, 209 Canudo, Ricciotto, 1, 257
Beethoven (Gance), 249 Capital versus Labor, 284
behavioral psychology, 10 Carlo, Carlo di, 227
Being and Nothingness (Sartre), 370 Cam e, Marcel: Le Jour se leve, 6, 58, 251-52, 314,
Belles de nuit, 247 361; Les Enfants du paradis, 7
Benveniste, fimile, 367 II Carozze d'oro, 226
Bergman, Ingmar: The Silence, 348-49 Carta, Jean, 152, 204-205
Bergson, Henri-Louis, 19-20, 31, 37,157, 255; Le Casenbroot, Jacques de: Combourg, visage de
Rire, 384n.38 Pierre, 239
Berthon, 224 catharsis, 83, 86-87
The Best Years o f Our Lives (Wyler), 196-98 Cava, Gregory la: Private Worlds, 247
The Big Swallow (Williamson), 93 Caveing, Maurice, 39; "La Dialectique du Con­
Binet, Alfred, 44 cept du Cinema," 38
Biograph film company, 94, 277, 283, 286-87, Cendrars, Blaise, 78
310, 386n.7 C'est arrive demain (Clair), 11
Birth o fa Nation (Griffith), 67, 90, 96, 274, 291, Cezanne, Paul, 342
298, 311 Chaplin, Charles, 43, 313-14, 357; The Great Dic­
The Birth of Tragedy (Nietzsche), 268 tator, 255; Modern Times, 179, 255, 347-48
Blackton, Stuart, 286, 287; Tearing Down the Span­ characters/characterization, 50-51, 55, 56-58,
ish Flag, 283-87 235, 291-92, 293, 324-26, 327
The BlueAngel (von Sternberg), 232, 309 Charcot, Jean-Martin, 23
Boetticher, Bud: Seven Men from Now, 226, 229 Charlot et la fabrication Chaplinesque (Mitry), 357
Bondarchuk, Sergei: Destiny of a Man, 215 Chartier, Jean-Pierre: Art et realiteau cinema, 91, 161
Bonjour, cinema (Epstein), 71, 207 chase films, 280, 310
boredom, aesthetics of, 362 Chevassu, Frarn;ois: Le Umgage cinematographi-
Boulez, Pierre, 385n.48 que, 180-81, 183
Bourdet, Yvon: La Pretendue passivite du specta- Un Chien andalou (Buftuel), 180-81
teur, 202-203 children, cinema and, 25, 202-203
Bradley, 31 Chomette, Henri: Jeux et reflets de la lumiere et de
Brahms, Johannes: Hungarian Dances, 255 la vitesse, 114
Brecht, Bertolt: A Little Organumfor Theater, 203­ Chronique d'un ete (Rouch), 151-52
204 Cicero, 120
Brelet, Bisele, 271 Le Cid (Corneille), 329
Bremond, Claude, 344 cinedialectic montage, 139-43, 173, 342-43,
Bresson, Robert, 364; Le Journal d'un cure de 382n.20
 IN D E X 391

cinema, 83-84, 100-101, 283, 315. See also word, Le Cinema ou l'homme imaginaire (Morin), 183
image and Le Cinema sovietique (Moussinac), 145
- a s an art, viii, 132 CinemaScope, 200-201
- a s anti-art, 86-87 cinematic effect, 14, 71
-d re a m s and, 38, 82-83, 110, 188, 202 cinematic rhythm, 104-105, 120-21. See also
-essen tial nature of, 16 montage; rhythm
-h y p n o sis and, 81, 206 - t h e Avant-Garde and Pure Cinema, 109-12,
-ideographic writing and, 14 114-17; influence of painters, 112-14; music
-lan g u ag e and, viii, x-xi, xiii, xiv-xv, 13-16, 16­ and, 111-13, 115-16, 117, 118-20
19, 38, 42, 58-59, 367-70; criticisms of semiol­ —f o i ^ and theories of editing, 125-29;
ogy, 370-74 cinedialectic montage, 139-43, 173, 342-43,
-literatu re and, 9-10, 13-14, 18, 50-51, 158-59, 382n.20; constructional montage, 129-30, 133­
213-14,275,280-81,289, 324-25, 344; adapta­ 34; intellectual montage, 130, 135; lyrical mon­
tions, 326-33; dialogue in, 245-47; differences tage, 129, 130-33; montage of attractions, 135­
between, 333-36; signification and, 49-50, 53­ 39; narrative montage, 129, 130; reflex
56, 57-59 montage, 143-50
—as a means of expression, 13-16, 54, 59, 67, 369 -perception and, 121-25
—as a mirror, 79-80, 85 -psychology of montage and, 153-55, 164-66
-m o rality and, 283-87, 292-93 Cinematograph, 277
-m u s ic and, 11, 107, 111-13, 115-16, 117, 118-20, Cinerama, 76-77
121 Citizen Kane (Welles), 30, 51, 166, 176, 177, 212,
-p ain tin g and, 54, 72, 73, 122, 123, 299 213, 217-19, 239, 242; achronological narration
-photography and, 72, 73 in, 361-62; depth-of-field in, 62, 63, 191, 192-93
—^setry and, 149, 158-59, 294 Clair, Rene, 231; C'est arrive demain, 11; Le Mil­
- purpose of, 123 lion, 247, 248-49; Sous les toits do Paris, 231
-re a lity and, 3,1 5 , 51, 58, 87-88, 366, 375 Claparede, Edouard: La Genese de l'hypothese,
-responsibility of, 379 165-66
-rh y th m and, 118, 256, 272-73, 274 class difference, 283-86
- short story and, 297-98 close medium shot, 60
—as spectacle, 323, 335 close two-shot, 60
-th e a te r and, xv, 57, 65-66, 67, 160, 162, 204, closed structures, 352, 357
232, 2 3 5 -3 8 ,2 4 4 -4 5 ,2 7 8 -8 0 ,2 9 6 ,3 1 4 -1 7 ,318­ closeups, 69-72, 78, 130, 134-35, 201, 296
19, 324, 350-52, 359; adaptations, 321-24; Cocteau, Jean: Les Parents terribles, 236, 315
spectators in, 320-21; time in the theater, 319­ Le Coeurfidele, 60
20, 323 Coeuroy, Andre, 259
—as a tool of scientific observation, 151-53 Cohen-Seat, Gilbert, 51, 370; Problemes du cinema,
cinema, development of, xiv, 1, 50-61, 65-72, 124, 161-62, 163
352-58, 355. See also silent films Coindreau: Apergus de la litterature americaine, 55
- i n Europe, 109-12, 276-77, 278-81, 289-90 color, 113-14; development of, 224-26; significa­
-Expressionism , 803-804 tion of, 227-30; subjectivity and, 226-30,
- i n Scandinavia, 301-303 383n.19
-ta lk in g films, 308-10 colored rhythm, 112-14
- i n the United States, 281-85, 297-98, 304-306; Combourg, visage de Pierre (Casenbroot), 239
Cecil B. de Mille and, 310-13; D. W. Griffith comedies, 308-11, 376
and, 286-87, 386n.7; independent producers comedy of manners, 310
and, 288-89, 386nn.7,13; space in, 299-303; commentary, 214, 238-39, 241-44, 246
Thomas Ince and, 290-97, 386n.13 comparative association, 374
cinema, history of. See cinema, development of comparative relationships, 346, 347
Le Cinema chez les adolescents (Zazzo), 202 composers, 251
Le Cinema du diable (Epstein), 111, 160 composition, 75; in-depth, 194
Le Cinema et la nouvelle psychologie (Merleau- comprehension/comprehensibility. See spectators
Ponty), 241 concrete reality. See reality
Le Cinema et la tentation Shakespearienne (Le- Un Condomne a mort s'est echappe (Bresson), 252
maitre), 322 Connaissance du cinema (Bazin), 58
Le Cinema et les etudes humaines (Bayer), 121 connotation, 360, 376-78; si^gnification and, 343-48
Cinema et litterature (Micha), 331-32, 333 consciousness, 35-37
392 IN D E X

constructional montage, 129-30, 133-34 dialogue, 230-35, 245-47, 316, 317, 359; charac­
content, definition of, 336-37 ters and, 235; commentary, 238-39, 241-44; di­
continuity, 65, 68, 144, 155, 162, 169, 234, 273; alogue of ideas, 239-41; in film and theater,
development of, 66, 93, 311-12; editing and, 235-38, 244-45, 319-20; stage dialogue, 235-36
127-28; memory and, 162-63; montage and, dialogue writers, 5
129-30; spatial continuity, 162, 168; temporal didactic films, 336
continuity and, 168 diegesis/ diegetic, 72
contrast, use of, 17 dimensionality, 76, 381n.16
contrast cutting, 95 directors, xv, 9, 11, 251; authorship and, 6, 10-12;
Corneille, Pierre, 317, 322; Le Cid, 329 as scriptwriters, 12; standard production
counterpoint, 249, 262, 267-68, 358n.48 practices and, 5-8
Cours de composition musicale (d'Indy), 106 discontinuity, rhythm and, 120
covering the scene, 175 Disney, Walt: Fantasia, 263-64
A Coward (Ince), 311 Disque 957 (Dulac), 257
crane shot, 61, 184 dissolves, 65
The Cranes Are Flying (Kalatosov), 61 distantiation, 203-205, 206
creative form, 341-42 Dixfemmes pour un mari (Hatot), 94
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (Renoir), 178-79 Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian), 214-15
Croce, Benedetto, 15 documentary, 59, 99, 172
Crooked Lens, 100 La Dolce vita (Fellini), 217
Cros, Charles, 224 dolly shot, 184-85
cross-cutting, 93, 95, 96-98, 346-47 Domarchi, Jean, 331
The Crowd (Vidor), 184, 326 domesticity, representation of, 285
Cubism, 114 Don't Change Your Husband (De Mille), 311
The Doors of Hell, 226
dance, 190, 255 Dorchain, Auguste, 25
Daquin, Louis: Le Metteur en scene et le dialogue, Dos Passos, John, 98; Manhattan Transferi 56
238; Premier de Cordee, 208 Dovzhenko, Aleksandr: Earth, 141, 346
A Darling Burglary in Broad Daylight, 94 dramatic composition, 75
David, Jacques-Louis: The Oath of the Horatii, dramaturgy: in early cinema, 352-58; in modem
341-42 cinema, 358-62
Dawn (Mumau), 184, 188, 304-306 dreams: cinem a and, 82-83, 110, 188, 202; film
De Mille, Cecil B., 310-13; Don't Change Your image and, 38
Husband, 311; Forfaiture, 292-93 Drew, Sidney, 310
De Mille, William, 310-13 Dreyer, Carl Theodor, 11, 364; Passion of Joan of
Debussy, Claude, 268 Arc, 220
Defense de Rossellini (Bazin), 171, 172,173 Dreyfus, Dina, 370-71
Delacroix, Henri, 19, 106 Du cinema sonore a la musique reelle (Honegger),
Delluc, Louis, 48, 71, 294, 356, 357; La Femme de 259
nulle part, 356, 387n.37 Duchamp, Marcel, 112
Delons, Andre: Le Melange des genres, 247 Dufrenne, Mikel, 86, 87, 124-25; Phenomenologie
denotation, 367-70, 376-78 de I'experience esthetique, 122-23
depth, effect of, 32-33, 73 Dulac, Germaine, 1, 112, 114, 260, 264; Arabesque,
depth-of-field, 29-30, 62-63, 135, 175, 190-92, 257; Disque 957, 257
199-200, 216, 217; Andre Bazin and, 192-98; Dumesnil, Rene, 108
CinemaScope and, 200-201; realism and, 194­ Dupont, E. A., 68; Variety, 61, 207, 214, 345-46,
96; spectators and, 192-98, 199. See also shot- 374
in-depth duration, 144-46, 168, 172-74, 183,200,297,299,
descriptive image, 214-15, 218-19. See also sub­ 352; dramaturgy and, 361-63; in film and lit­
jective camera erature, 333-36; Greed and, 325-26; impression
descriptive shots, 217 of, 125-26, 166-67; moving camera and, 188­
descriptive subjectivism, 217-18 89; music and, 248, 253, 265; perception of,
Designfor Living (Lubitsch), 11 161; psychology and, 298, 307, 334-35; tempo­
D&tiny of a Man (Bondarchuk), 215 rality and, 361-63. See also temporality
"La Dialectique du concept au cinema" (Cave- Dutch tilts, 219-20
ing), 38 dynamic continuity, 65
 INDEX 393

Earth (Dovzhenko), 141, 346 The End of St. Petersburg (Pudovkin), 103,140
Eastrnancolor, 225, 226 Les Enfants du paradis (Came), 6
Ebbinghaus, Hermann: Precis de psychologie, 120 Engel, Samuel, 11
Echt paar ten voeten uit (Hals), 55 English cinema, 94
Eclectic-Pathe film company, 289 enumeration, use of, 17
Edison film company, 277 epic code, 296
Edison Trust, 283 Epstein, Jean, 1, 48, 60, 71, 89, 207-208, 248, 349;
editing, 1, 12, 62, 64, 65, 80, 92, 94, 157, 163, 174­ Bonjour, cinema, 71, 207; Esprit du cinema, 109­
76, 190, 287, 358, 366; continuity and, 127-28; 11; Le Cinema du diable, 111, 160
cross-cutting, 93, 95, 96-98, 346-47; develop­ Ermler, Friedrich: Fragment of an Empire, 152-53
ment of, 67-72; difference from moving cam­ Esprit du cinema (Epstein), 109-11
era, 189; Eisenstein on, 133-39; in modem cin­ Essai sur le rhythme (Ghyka), 104, 105, 108
ema, 174-75; montage and, 69,’ 127-30; essence, definition of, 45
perception and, 121-25, 159-64; reverse angle, L'Essence du theatre (Gouhier), 318
62,178-79; rhythm and, 125-29, 182; shot-re­ establishing shot, 60, 64
verse-shot, 62, 155, 178, 199, 207; signification Esthetique et psychologie du cinema (Mitry), vii-ix,
and, 176-77; in silent films, 172-74; Soviet film x, xiii-xiv
and, 69, 98-101, 102-103, 127-28, 130, 182, eurhythmics, 104, 105
384n.27. See also montage The Evil Star (Ince), 90
Edwin, Walter, 288 Evolution du langage cinematographique (Bazin),
effect-montage, 176-77, 179 169-70
Eggeling, Vicking, 112, 256 The Ex-Convict (Porter), 95
-Symphonie diagonale, 114, 382n.8; editing and, Experimental Laboratory, 100
69, 127-28, 130, 182 Expressionism, 117, 200, 297, 300-301, 303-304,
d'Eichtal, E., 104, 108 366
Eisenstein, Sergei, ix, x, 2, 68, 84, 118, 128, 133,
146, 260, 264 The Face at the Window, 286
—Alexander Nevsky, 30, 60, 144, 187, 190, 227, fades, 65
274, 352 fairy tales, 323, 362-63
—The Battleship Potemkin, 61, 98, 102, 133, 143, Falbalas (Becker), 208, 209
144,145-46,156,183,374,377; rhythm in, 146­ Fantasia (Disney), 263-64
50; symbolism in, 39 -4 0 ,4 2 , 43, 343, 372 fantasy films, 247, 362-63
-e d itin g and, 69, 127-28, 130, 135-39, 182, 262­ Fantomas (Feuillade), 63
63, 384n.27 Fantomas (Souvestre and Allain), 289
—Film Form, 40, 136, 148 Faulkner, William, 56, 98
—The Film Sense, 260 Faure, Elie, 1
—The General Line, 144, 227 Faust (Mumau), 184, 331
-Ivan the Terrible, 144, 187, 190, 227, 262, 352 Federal Industrial Commission, 97
-"M an ifesto of Orchestral Counterpoint," 230­ Feher, Friedrich: The Robber's Symphony, 263
31 FEKS (Factory of the Eccentric Actor), 99-100
—The Mexican, 136-37 Fellini, Federico: I Vitelloni, 356; La Dolce Vita,
—Montage 38, 142-43 217; La Strada, 240, 336
—music and, 260-63, 263-71 La Femme de nulle part (Delluc), 356, 387n.37
—Notes of a Film Director, 149, 150, 157 La Femme du Boulanger, 48
—October, 139-40, 142, 144, 146 Fescourt, Henri, 356
—poetry and, 143-44 Feuillade, Louis, 287; Fantomas, 63
—Romance sentimentale, 257 Feyder, Jacques, 232; Visages d'enfants, 217
—The Sage, 137 fiction time, 297, 298
—Strike, 138-39 field of view, 67; definition of, 59
—theater work, 136-38 film-audience relationship. See spectators
—Theory of Cinedialectics, 1 film code, 350
El Dorado (L'Herbier), 110-11, 208, 217 film d'art, 115, 117, 278-79
ellipsis, use of, 16-17, 65, 166 film effect, 71
elliptical image, 312, 386n.19 film fascination, 204-206
emotions, role of, 9, 13-14. See also spectators Film Form (Eisenstein), 40, 136, 148
Empire Trust, 283 film grammar, 182, 373
394 IN D E X

The Film Sense (Eisenstein), 260 Fusco, Giovanni, 253

film studies, vii; Jean Mitry and, vii-ix
Film Technique (Pudovkin), 132 Galeen, Henrik, 2
film theory, vii-ix, 1-2; Jean Mitry and, xiii-xv A Gamble in Souls (Sidney), 292
filmophany, 72 Gance, Abel, 1-2, 101, 173; Beethoven, 249; Le
Fischinger, Oskar, 260, 264; Komposition in Blaue, Roue, 61, 98, 109, 173, 207, 274; Le Professeur
256 Tube, 110, 382n.3; Le Temps de I'image est venu,
fixed-circle tracking shot, 61 112; Napoleon, ix, 61
Flaherty, Robert J., 120, 275; Louisiana Story, 133; Gassendi, Pierre, 20
Man of Aran, 133; Nanook of the North, 155-56 Gaumont Ltd., 94, 277, 279
flashbacks, 53, 209, 211 Gavault, Paul, 279
Ford, John, 11; The Grapes o f Wrath, 11, 56; How General Electric, 283
Green Is My Valley, 241; The Informer, 11, 301; The General Line (Eisenstein), 144, 227
MyDarling Clementine, 11; The Prisoner of Shark general view, 60
Island, 198-99; Stagecoach, 11, 252; The Whole La Genese de l'hapothese (Claparede), 165-66
Town's Talking, 198 gestalt psychology, 33, 105, 134, 183
Foregger, 99, 100 The Ghost That Will NotReturn (Room), 153, 154
Forfaiture (De Mille), 292-93 Ghyka, Matila, 107; Essaisur le rhythme, 104, 105,
form, 121; definition of, 336, 337; reality and, 108
339-41; rhythm and, 113 Giraudoux, Jean, 318
form and content, 100-101, 275, 291, 327-38, Godard, Jean-Luc, 332, 360; A bout de souffle, 237
330-32, 336-38, 363, 366 golden section, 149-50
—connotation and, 343-48 Gouhier, Henri: L'Essence du theatre, 318
—creative form, 341-42 Goulding, Edmund: The Old Maid, 186
—the dramaturgy of film: duration and, 361-63; gradation, use of, 17
in early cinema, 352-58; in modern cinema, grammar. See film gra^mmar
358-62 The Grand Canal at Venice (Promio), 61
—^ m semiology, 366-67; criticisms of, 370-74; Grandmas Reading-Glass, 92
signification and, 367-70, 387n.44 The Grapes of Wrath (Ford), 11, 56
—in painting, 339-40 The Great Dictator (Chaplin), 255
—realism and reality, 363-64; misconceptions The Great Train Robbery (Porter), 66
conce^rning, 364-66 Greed (von Stroheim), 324-26, 357
—separation of, 338-41 Griffith, D. W., 61, 66, 69-71, 90, 281-82,286-87,
formalism, 338-41, 342 291, 386n.7; Avenging Conscience, 70; Birth of a
The Fox Is Not a Coward, 284-85 Nation, 67, 90, 96, 274, 291, 298, 311; Broken
Fragment o f an Empire (Ermler), 152-53 Blossoms, 96, 207, 217, 291, 304, 311, 353-54;
Fraisse, Paul, 167, 385n.50; Les Structures Intolerance, 63, 90, 96, 97, 184, 274, 291, 297,
rythmiques, 271, 274 311; Judith ofBethulia, 70, 386n.7; montage and,
the frame, 29; as absolute standard of reference, 95-98; A Rich Revenge, 96; True Heart Susie, 291,
75, 77; aesthetic requirements of, 76; definition 311, 354; Way Down East, 346-47, 354
of, 75; effect of, 78-80, 88, 168-69, 222; paint­ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 7
ing and, 77; tracking shots and, 77-78 Guy, Alice, 94
framing, 72-77, 127, 135; camera angles and, 92;
effect of, 78-80, 88, 91; rhythm and, 91; space Hageman, Richard, 252
and, 77-78 Hallelujah!, 248-49
Francastel, Pierre, 339 Hals, Franz: Echt paar ten voeten uit, 55
French cinema, 280-81. See also avant-garde cin­ Hamlet (Kozintsev), 236
ema Hamlet (Olivier), 317
—the Avant-Garde and Pure Cinema, 109-12 hand-held camera, 61
—development of, 109-12, 114-17; influence of harmonic proportion, 107-108
painters on, 112-14; music and, 111-13, 115­ harmony, 108
16, 117, 118-20 Hathaway, Henry: Peter Ibbetson, 181, 198
French N ew Wave, 237, 359, 360-61 Hatot, Georges: Dix femmes pour un mari, 94
Frost, Willy: See Unfinished Symphony, 249 Hauron, Ducos du, 224
The Fugitive (Barker and Smith), 294, 295 Hawks, Howard, 68; Rio Bravo, 7
The Fugitive (ince), 70-71 head and shoulders shot, 60
 IN D E X 395

Hecht, Ben, 11 —as a syncretic expression, 54

Heidegger, Martin: La Verite cinematographique, 55 —verbal expression and, 49-51, 53-56, 57-59
Henry V (Olivier), 226, 236 —word: and thought and language, 19-20; and
Her Romance, 285 idea, 20-21
L'Herbier, Marcel, 1-2, 110; El Dorado, 110-11, L'Image fascinante (Munier), 45-46, 381n.5
208, 217; L'Homme du large, 207-208, 217 Images pour Debussy (Mitry), 268
Hiroshima, man amour (Resnais), 204, 213, 241-44, impressionistic music, 259-60
253, 361, 378 In the Firelight, 285
Histoire du cinema mondial (Sadoul), 264 Ince, Thomas, 70, 290-97, 386n.13; TheAryan, 90;
Hitchcock, Alfred: Rope, 62; Shadow o f a Doubt, Battle of Gettysburg, 90; A Coward, 311; The Evil
164, 185 Star, 90; The Fugitive, 70-71
hold of the unknown, 206 indefinite image, 29-30, 32, 59
L’Homme du large (L'Herbier), 207-208, 217 independent film producers, 288-89, 386nn.7,13
Honegger, Arthur, 248, 260, 267, 284n.35, index, signification and, 346
385n.48; Du cinema sonore a la musique reelle, d'Indy, Vincent, 104, 263; Cours de composition
259; Pacific 231, 257 musicale, 106
horizontal montage, 128, 233, 384n.26 The Informer (Ford), 11, 301
How Green Is My Valley (Ford), 241 Ingarden, Roman: Das Literarische Kunstwerk,
Howard, William K.: Thomas Garner, 212, 239, 121
242, 361 integrated montage, 101
Howey, Walter, 288 intellectual montage, 130, 135
Huff, Theodore, 312 intellectualism, 213
Hugo, Victor, 25 intensity, relationships of, 91, 125
Hume, David, 40 intentionality, 35-36, 47-48, 163, 359
Humorous Facial Expressions (G. A. Smith), 92-93 interior monologue, 211-12, 242, 245, 246
Hungarian Dances (Brahms), 255 intertitles, 291-92
Huppertz, Gottfried, 248 Intolerance (Griffith), 63, 90, 96, 97, 184, 274, 291,
Husserl, Edmund, 33, 35, 36-37 297, 311
Huxley, Aldous, 98 L'Intransigeant, 258-59
hyle, 35 inverse subjective shot, 216, 383n.13
hyperbole, use of, 17 The Italian (Sidney), 293
hypnosis, cinema and, 81, 206 Italian cinema, 280; Italian Neorealism, 349-50,
359, 361
Ibert, Jacques, 258-59 Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein), 144, 187, 190, 227,
identification, 82, 83-84, 84-86; definition of, 84. 262, 352
See also participation; spectators
ideographic writing, 14 Jakobson, Roman, 374
Illusion (Miller), 292 James, William, 165
image, 38, 320 Jammin the Blues (Milie), 257
—definition of, 29 Japanese theater, 136
—image as analogon, 43-49, 79, 88, 130, 368 Jasset, Victorin, 60, 282; Les Aventures de Nick
—image as sign, 38-43, 343 Carter, 288
—indefinite image, 29-30, 32, 59 Jaubert, Maurice, 251; La Musique de Film, 250-51
—mental image, 32-38, 44, 83 Le Je, le Mai, le II au cinema (Amengual), 209-10,
—music and, 263-71 212
—perception and, 30-33 Jean Mitry and the Aesthetics of the Cinema
—psychology of, 218-24 (Lewis), ix
—reality and, 30-33, 45-46, 48-49, 79-80, 150­ Jeanson: Lady Panama, 316
51, 332-33, 337 Jeux et reflets do la lumiere et do la vitesse (Chom-
—representation and, 46-48 ette), 114
—structures of: angles, 60-61; camera move­ Jezebel (Wyler), 191, 200, 215-17
ment, 61-62; depth-of-field, 62-63; editing, 62, Johnson, Nunnally, 11
64; effect of the frame, 78-80; framing and Le ]our se leve (Came), 6, 58, 251-52, 314, 361
composition, 72-77; framing and space, 77­ Jourjon, Charles, 279
78; identification, 82, 83-84, 84-86; participa­ Le Journal d'un cure do campagne (Bresson), 329
tion, 80-81, 83, 84; shots, 59-50, 64 Jousse, Marcel, 109
396 IN D E X

Joyce, James, 50 Lenin, Vladimir Ilich, 283-87

Judith of Bethulia (Griffith), 70, 386n.7 Leonardo da Vinci: The Virgin of the Rocks, 327
jump cut, 182-83 Lessey, George A., 286
Lettres de Siberie (Marker), 204
Kabuki theater, 136 Lewis, Brian: Jean Mitry and the Aesthetics of the
Kalatosov, M.: The Cranes Are Flying, 61 Cinema, ix
Kalmus, Herbert T., 224 Life as it is (Feuillade, series), 287
Kammerspiele film , 303-304 Life Is Good (Pudovkin), 232
Karamasov (Brooks), 227 The Life of an American Fireman (Porter), 66, 69,
Katz, David, 116, 167 94
Kaufman, Michael, 99 The Life of Buffalo Bill (Pierce and Kraft), 288
Keller-Dorian color process, 224, 225 The Life o f Moses, 281, 288
Kessel, Joseph, 56 lighting, 191-92
Kohler, W., 40 Das Literarische Kunstwerk (Ingarden), 121
Kinemacolor, 224 literary cinema, ^348, 371
Kingsley, Pierce: The Life of Buffalo Bill, 288 literature: cinema and, 9-10, 13-14, 18, 50-51,
Kino-Glaz (Kino-Eye), 99 158-59, 213-14, 275, 280-81, 289, 324-25,344;
Klages, Ludwig: Vom Wessen des Rythmus, 106 adaptations of, 326-33; dialogue in, 245-47;
The Kleptomaniac (Porter), 95 differences between cinema and, 333-36; po­
Koffka, Kurt: Principles of Gestalt Psychology, 220 etry and, 16-19, 24; signification and, 49-50,
Komposition in Blaue (Fischinger), 256 53-56, 57-59
Koopman, 283 litotes, use of, 17
Kozintsev, Grigori: Hamlet, 236 The Little Doctor (G. A. Smith), 92
Kozintzev, Gregory, 99 The Little Foxes (Wyler), 63, 191
Kraft, William: The Life o f Buffalo Bill, 288 A Little Organumfor Theater (Brecht), 203-204
Krizhitsky, Sergei, 99, 100 Littre, Maximilien-Paul-Emile, 104
Kuleshov, Lev, 2, 100 locations, use of, 299-303, 304, 306
Kuleshov effect, 100-101, 102-104,173 logic, 21, 375-79; language and, 23-26
logical language, 21-23, 28
La Fontaine, Jean de, 329 Une Loi du cinema (Porte), 209
The Lady o f the Lake (Montgomery), 208, 209-11 long medium shot, 60
The Lady of the Lake (Blackton & Kent), 288 long shot, 60, 134
Lady Panama Qeanson), 316 long take, 178-79
Laffay, Albert, 159 Louisiana Story (Flaherty), 133
Lang, Fritz, 2, 11, 297; M, 181, 309, 374; A Woman love, representation of, 285
on the Moon, 184; You Only Live Once, 353 Love and the Suffragette, 310
Le Langage cinematographique (Chevassu), 180­ Love Parade (Lubitsch), 232
81, 183 Lubitsch, Ernst, 232-33, 309; Broken Lullaby, 219;
Le Langage cinematographique (Martin), 179, 254 Design for Living, 11; Love Parade, 232; Trouble
language: cinema and, viii, x-xi, xiv-xv, 13-16, in Paradise, 11, 232, 233-34
16-19, 38, 42, 58-59, 367-70; criticisms of se­ Lukacs, Georg, 365
miology, 370-74; codes of, 373; definition of, Lumiere brothers, 94, 276; La sortie des usines
14; essence of, 16; logic and, 23-26, 375-76; Lumiere, 65; L'Arrivee d’un train en gare de La
lyrical and logical, 21-23, 28; thought and, 19­ Ciotat, 65, 93, 300
20; verbal image and, 23-26. See also image as Lussy, Mathis, 107
sign; signification; word and image Lye, Len, 256, 260
The The Last Days of Pompeii, 280 lyric drama, 264
The Last Laugh (Murnau), 60-61, 184, 188, 207, lyrical films, 305, 308
304 lyrical language, 21-23, 28; verbal image and,
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais), 378 23-26
law of coalescence, 165 lyrical montage, 129, 130-33
Lean, David, 329
LEF (Social front of art), 138 M (Lang), 181, 309, 374
Leger, Femand, 112; Ballet mecanique, 114 Macbeth (Welles), 236, 315
Lemaitre, Henri: Le Cinema et la tentation MacCutcheon, Wallace, 94, 310
Shakespearienne, 322 MacKenzie, Donald: The Perils of Pauline, 289
 INDEX 397

MacLaren, Norman, 256, 264, 384n.38 A Midsummer Night's Dream (Reinhardt), 323
Madame de . . . (Ophuls), 186 Milestone, Lewis: All Quiet on the Western Front,
The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles), 55, 186, 197, 61, 156-57
333 Milie, Djon: fammin the Blues, 257
The Major Film Theories (Andrew), ix Miller, Charles: Illusion, 292
Malraux, Andre, 11, 86, 213; Psychologie du Miller, Winston, 11
cinema, 4, 67; Sierra de Teruel, 208 Le Million (Clair), 247, 248-49
Mamoulian, Rouben: Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Miracolo a Milano, 247
214-15 mirrors: cinema as, 79-80, 85; use of, 198-99
Man of Aran (Flaherty), 133 mise-en-scene, 175, 282, 297, 315
Manhattan Transfer (Dos Passos), 56 Mitry, Jean, xiv-xv; TheAesthetics and Psychology
"Manifesto of Orchestral Counterpoint" (Eisen­ of the Cinema, x; Arabesques, 268-70; career of,
stein, Pudovkin, and Alexandrov), 230-31 ix-x; Charlot et lafabrication Chaplinesque, 357;
Manuel, Roland, 249; Rythme cinematographique Esthetique et psychologie du cinema, vii-ix, x,
et musical, 254 xiii-xiv; film studies and, vii-ix; film theory
Marker, Chris, 43, 243-44; Lettres de Siberie, 204 and, xiii-xv; Images pour Debussy, 268; Pacific
Martin, Marcel: Le Langage cinematographique, 231, 260, 265, 266, 267, 268; Symphonie
179, 253 mecanique, 385n.48
Marty, 6 Mocquereau, Dom, 108
Marxism, 337, 338, 340, 365-66 Modern Times (Chaplin), 179, 255, 347-48
Mary Jane's Mishap (G. A. Smith), 94 Moi, un noir (Rouch), 152
match on action, 69 Moliere Qean-Baptiste Poquelin), 317
Maxim, Hudson, 283, 287 The Money King, 287
Mayer, Carl, 2, 303-304 monistic ensemble, 136
McCormick, Robert, 289 montage, 2, 68-69, 91-92, 101, 127-28, 1 9 3 ,357­
measure, rhythm and, 106-107 58, 382n.19; Bazin on, 172-73; cinedialectic,
The Medium (Menotti), 2.63 139-43, 173, 342-43, 382n.20; constructional,
medium shot, 60 129-30, 133-34; continuity and, 129-30; D. W.
Le Melange des genres (Delons), 247 Griffith and, 95-98; definition of, 1, 233; edit­
Melies, Georges, 69, 92, 109, 276, 277; Voyage a ing and, 69, 127-30; effect-montage, 176-77,
travers Fimpossible, 66 179; horizontal, 128, 233, 384n.26; intellectual,
melodrama, 353 130, 135; Kuleshov effect and, 102-104; lyrical,
memory, 52, 229, 361; continuity and, 162-63; 129, 130-33; of attractions, 135-39; music and,
effect of, 37; mental image and, 35, 37-38; rep­ 249; narrative, 129,130; origins and discovery
resentation of, 53; role of, 31; subjective image of, 90, 92-95; psychology of, 153-55, 159-66;
and, 211-13 reflex, 143-50; in silent films, 172-74; Soviet
Menotti, Gian-Carlo: The Medium, 263 film and, 98-101; vertical, 233, 384n.26. See also
mental image, 32-38, 44, 83 cinematic rhythm; editing
mental shapes, 17 Montage 38 (Eisenstein), 142-43
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 51, 208-209, 222, 235, Montgomery, Robert: Lady o f the Lake, 208, 209-11
369; Le Cinema et la nouvelle psychologie, 241; morality, cinema and, 283-87, 292-93
Phenomenologie de la perception, 221 Morawski, Stefan, 365-66
message plays, 292-93 Morin, Edgar, 48, 142, 201 -203; Le Cinema ou
metaphor, 17-18, 141-42, 179-80, 346, 347, 373­ l'homme imaginaire, 183
74, 376, 377-78 Moscow Opera, 99
meter, 105-107, 126 Mother (Pudovkin), 61, 131, 155, 156, 179, 180,
metonymy, 374 347, 374
Le Metteur en scene et le dialogue (Daquin), 238 Motion Picture Patents Company, 283
Meumann, Ernest, 108, 116; Aesthetik des Moussinac, Leon, 2; Le Cinema sovietique, 145;
Rhythmus, 126 Naissance du cinema, 111-12, 115-16
Meunier, Mario, 270 movement matching, 68
The Mexican (Eisenstein), 136-37 moving camera, 61-62, 76, 80, 91, 135, 178-79,
Meyerhold, Vsevolod, 100 183-86, 217, 273-74, 358; difference from ed­
Micha, Rene, 55; Cinema et litterature, 331 -32, 333 iting, 189; duration and, 188-89; justification
Michotte, Albert, 86, 161 and, 185-86; psychology of, 184, 185-86. See
mid-shot, 60 also subjective camera
398 INDEX

Mozhukhin, Ivan, 100 October (Eisenstein), 139-40,142, 144, 166

Munier, Roger, 369, 374; L'lmage fascinante, 45­ O f Mice and Men (Steinbeck), 55-56
46, 381n.5 Okraina, 247
M^urnau, F. W., 2, 11, 68, 297; Dawn, 184, 188, The Old Maid (Goulding), 186
304-306; Faust, 184, 331; The LastLaugh, 60-61, Oldfield, R. C., 81
184, 188,207,304; Taboo, 306-307;Tartuffe, 331 Olivier, Laurence, 323; Hamlet, 317; Henry V, 226,
Murphy, Dudley: Ballet mecanique, 114 236
music: cinema and, 11,107, 111-13, 115-16, 117, One-Way Street (Wyler), 185-86
118-20, 121; duration and, 248, 253, 265; Ontologie de /'image photographique (Bazin), 169
Eisenstein and, 260-63, 263-71; French avant- open structures, 357
garde and, 111-13, 115-16, 117,118-20; image Ophuls, Max, 201; Madame de . . . , 186
and, 263-71; impressionistic, 259-60; montage Opus (Ruttman), 114
and, 249; realism and, 251, 252-54; rhythm orthochromatic film, 191
and, 118, 126, 256, 272-73, 274; role of, 249-52; The Outlaw and His Wife, 302-304, 311
signification and, 249-52, 271-72; use in silent The Outrage (West), 292
films, 247-48; use in sound films, 248-49. See overlapping movement, 68
also audiovisual structures; counterpoint
La Musique de film Qaubert), 250-51 Pacific 231 (Honegger), 257
Musique et cinema (Baudrier), 252-53 Pacific 231 (Mitry), 260, 265-68
Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovith, 258 Pagnol, Marcel, 201, 231, 315-17, 318
My Darling Clementine (Ford), 11 painting, 2-3, 77, 87, 340; aesthetics and, 2-3;
cinema and, 54, 72, 73, 112-14, 122, 123, 299;
Naissance du cinema (Moussinac), 111-12, 115-16 creative form and, 341-42; form and content
Nanook of the North (Flaherty), 155-56 in, 339-40; influence on avant-garde cinema,
Napoleon (Gance), ix, 61 112-14; representation and, 47
narration, 53, 245, 362; achronological narration, Paisan (Rossellini), 346, 374
361-62; voice-over narration, 245. See also in­ panchromatic film, 191-92
terior monologue panning shot, 61, 95
narrative, 53, 54, 130, 303, 312, 350; connotation Parain, Brice, 21
in, 343-48; development of, 291-96; intelligi­ parallel action, 63, 95. See also cross-cutting
bility and, 335. See also form and content, the parallel editing. See cross-cutting
dramaturgy of film Les Parents terribles (Cocteau), 236, 315
narrative montage, 129, 130 participation, 80-81, 83, 84, 165, 201-203, 205,
La Nausee (Sartre), 358 213. See also identification; spectators
New York Miami, 309 Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer), 220
New York Pictures, 290 passive consciousness, 201-203
newsreels, 99,133-34 Patar, Benoit, x
Nichols, Dudley, 11 Pathe, Charles, 279
Nietzsche, Friedrich: The Birth o f Tragedy, 268 Pathe-Exchange Company, 289
Night and Fog (Resnais), 342 Pathe film company, 277
A Night on Bare Mountain (Alexeyev), 257-58, 260 Pathecolor, 224
Niveau mental et comprehension du cinema Paulhan, Jean, 24
(Zazzo), 160 perceptible reality, 89, 99
Nonguet, Lucien, 9 3 ,9 4 perception, viii, 2, 10, 51, 81, 84, 131, 135, 261,
Notes ofa Film Director (Eisenstein), 149, 150, 157 366, 385nn.39,50; of duration, 161; editing
novel. See literature, cinema and and, 121-25, 159-64; film image and, 30-33;
La Nuitfantastique, 247 meaning and, 121-25; memory and, 37; men­
Nuremberg 1936-Berlin 1945,156 tal image and, 34-37; rhythm and, 121-25
perceptual compensation, 220
The Oath of the Horatii (David), 341-42 perceptual expectation, 164-66
objective cinema, 151-53 Peret, Leonce, 280
objective reality. See reality The Perils of Pauline (MacKenzie), 289
objectivity, 156, 169 periodicity, rhythm and, 271
objects, essence of, 170. See also association; re­ periphrasis, use of, 17
ality Perrot, Victor, 13
oblique images, 219-24 persistence of image, 104
 INDEX 399

Personal, 94 Le Professeur Tube (Gance), 110, 382n.3

perspective, 32-33 projection-identification. See participation
Pete Wants a Job, 284 projective association, 223
Peter Ibbetson (Hathaway), 181, 198 Prokofiev, Sergey Sergeyevich, 262
Phedre (Racine), 329 proletkult (People's Theater), 136-38
Phenomenologie de la perception (Merleau-Ponty), Promio, Alexander: The Grand Canal at Venice, 61
221 propaganda, 283-87
Phenomenologie de [experience esthetique (Du- proportion, sense of, 107-109
frenne), 122-23 Proust, Marcel, 50
phenomenology, xiv, 33 psychological duration, 298, 307
photogenics, 46, 48, 111, 381n.5 psychological realism, 194
photography, 46, 72 Psychologie de I'intelligence (Piaget), 165
Piaget, Jean, 162, 164-65; Psychologie de I'in- Psychologie du cinema (Malraux), 4, 67
telligence, 165 psychology, 10, 19, 33, 218-24; of duration, 334­
Picabia, Francis, 112 35; duration and, 298, 307, 334-35; of the mov­
Pick, Lupu, 2 ing camera, 184, 185-86; psychology of mon­
Pickpocket (Bresson), 252 tage, 153-55, 159-66; spectators and, viii, 2;
Pieron, Henri, 163 tracking shot and, 188-90. See also gestalt psy­
pinboard animation, 258 chology; spectators
Pingaud, Bernard, 244, 245, 361, 371 Public Opinion, 311-13
Pirandello, Luigi, 213; Right You Are I f You Think Pudovkin, Vsevolod, 2, 68, 69, 118, 127-28, 144,
You Are, 57 146, 151; The End c f St. Petersburg, 103, 140;
plastic composition, 75 Film Technique, 132; Life Is Good, 232; "Mani­
plastic relationships, 91-92 festo of Orchestral Counterpoint," 230-31;
plot line, subject matter and, 336 Mother, 61, 131, 155, 156, 179, 180, 347, 374
poetic effect, 24 punctuation devices, 65
poetic feeling, 26 pure cinema, 111-12, 114-17; influence of paint­
poetic image, 24 ers, 112-14; music and, 111-13, 115-16, 117,
poetry, 21, 98, 106, 118, 143, 370; cinema and, 149, 118-20
158-59, 294; Eisenstein and, 143-44; language
and, 24; rhythm and, 272, 273 Queneau, Raymond: Batons, c h i f e s et lettres,
La Pointe courte (Varda), 240-41, 243 237-38
polysemy, 42 Qu'est-ce que le cinema? (Bazin), 130, 154-55
Ponge, Francis, 45 Quo Vadis, 280, 386n.7
popular language, rational language and, 21
Porte, Pierre: Une Loi du cinema, 209 Racine, 317, 322; Phedre, 329
Porter, Edwin S., 94-95, 283-86; The Attack on Ramain, Paul, 248
Grand Rapids, 95; The Ex-Convict, 95; The Great Ramsay, Terry, 288-89
Train Robbery, 66; The Kleptomaniac, 95; The Life Raphaelson, Samson, 11
o f an American Fireman, 66, 69, 94 rational language, popular language and, 21
Pouillon, Jean, 152 Ray, Man, 112
Powers Pictures, 288 Ray, Nicholas: Rebel without a Cause, 7
Precis de psychologie (Ebbinghaus), 120 reading/readers, 50
Premier do cordee (Daquin), 208 realism, xv, 45, 172, 300-303, 307, 325-26, 363-64;
presence of the actor, 318-19 bourgeois, 337; definition of, 364-65; depth-
presentification, actualization and, 194, 358 of-field and, 194-96; in Expressionist film, 304;
La Pretendue passivite du spectateur (Bourdet), misconceptions concerting, 364-66; music
202-203 and, 251, 252-54
Prevert, Jacques, 6 reality, x, 30, 50, 67, 75, 300, 340, 363-64; ambi­
Principles o f Gestalt Psychology (Koffka), 220 guity and, 195; Andre Bazin on, 169-72; art
The Prisoner o f Shark Island (Ford), 198-99 and, 364-66; cinema and, 3, 15, 51, 58, 87-88,
Private Worlds (Cava), 247 366, 375; film space and, 155-59; form and,
Problemes du cinema (Cohen-seat), 124, 161-62, 163 339-41; the image and, 30-33, 45-46, 48-49,
production: artists and 8-10; auteurs and, 79-80, 150-51, 332-33, 337; impression of, 81,
4-7; authorship and, 10-13; standard practices, 82, 206; mental image and, 34; metaphysical
5-7; standard practices in the U.S., 7-8 interpretation of, 169-72; misconceptions con-
400 INDEX

ce^rning, 364-66; perceptible, 89, 99; repre­ Room, Abram: The Ghost That Will Not Return,
sented, 78, 79, 89, 169-72,189-90,344-45; time 153, 154
and, 51-53 Rope (Hitchcock), 62
Rebel without a Cause (Ray), 6 Rossellini, Roberto: Paisan, 346, 374
The Red Desert (Antonioni), 227-29 Rouch, Jean: Chronique dun ete, 151-52; M oi, un
reflex montage, 143-50 noir, 152
The Regenerates (West), 292 La Roue (Cance), 61, 98, 109, 173, 207, 274
La Regle du jeu (Renoir), 63, 191 Roussel, Albert, 258
Reinhardt, Max: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Roy, Claude, 153
323 rule of common proportion, 78
relief: effect of, 73; impression of, 32-33 Russell, Bertrand, 375, 376
Rendez-vous par annonce, 94 R uttaan, Walter, 112, 255, 256, 384n.38; Opus,
Renoir, Jean, ix; La Regle du jeu, 63, 191; Le Crime 114
d e Monsieur Lange, 178-79 Ruyssen, 19
repetition, use of, 17, 166 Ryle, Gilbert, 376
representation, 46, 53, 58, 79, 88, 122; the image
and, 46-48; reality and, 78, 79, 169-72; theater Sadoul, Georges, 92, 94, 287; Histoire du Cinema
and, 317 mondial, 264
representation time, 167, 323 The Sage (Eisenstein), 137
Resnais, Alain, 243; Hiroshima, mon amour, 204, Sartre, Jean-Paul, 34, 35, 193; Being and Nothing­
213, 241-44, 253, 361, 378; Last Year at ness, 370; La Nausee, 358
Marienbad, 378; Night and Fog, 342; Toute la satire, 310
memoire du monde, 342 Saussure, Ferdinand de, 367
reverse angle, 62,178-79 scale, relationships of, 91
rhythm, 23, 90-91, 96, 98, 113, 146, 150, 167, 182, Scandinavian cinema, 301-303
257, 270, 271-72, 273-75, 299, 350; in animated Scenes of Comic Life (film series), 310
films, 254-56, 258; in Battleship Potemkin, 146­ Scenes of True Life (film series), 282, 286, 287
50; in cinema and music, 118, 126, 256, 272-73, Schaeffer, Pierre, 267
274; definition of, 104, 107; editing and, 125­ Schaff, Adam, 375, 376
29, 182; framing and, 91; music and, 105-106, Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 108
118, 126, 248, 256, 272-73, 274; organic Schklovsky, Victor, 146
rhythm, 105-107; perception and, 120-21; po­ Schloezer, 123
etry and, 272, 273; proportion and, 107-109; screen effect, 72-73
symmetry and, 108. See also cinematic rhythm screenwriters, xv, 6
Rythme cinematographique et musical (Manuel), script supervisor, 68
254 scriptwriters, 5-7, 11; directors as, 12
rhythmic association, 263 Selig film company, 288-89
rhythmic cells, 272 seme, signification and, 372
rhythmic editing, 182 semi-reverse shot, 62
rhythmic period, 104 semiology, ix, 343-44, 366-67; criticisms of, 370­
rhythmic prose, 118, 119 74; signification and, 367-70, 387n.44
Rhythmus 21 (Richter), 114 semisubjective camera, 216
Ribot, Theodule-Armand, 20 semisubjective image, 214-17
A Rich Revenge (Griffith), 96 Sennett, Mack, 90, 376
Richter, Hans, 112, 255, 256; Rhythmus 21, 114 sensory-contents, 20-21, 38ln.2
Le Rideau Cramoisi (Astruc), 239 sequence, definition of, 64-65
Right You Are I f You Think You Are (Pirandello), serial music, 118
57 serials, 288-89
Rio Bravo (Hawks), 7 Servien, Pius, 22, 104
Le Rire (Bergson), 384n.38 set designers, 5, 6
The Road to Happiness, 286 Seve, Lucien, 73, 87
The Robber's Symphony (Feher), 263 Seven M en from Now (Boetticher), 226, 229
Rohmer, Eric, 170 Shadow o f a Doubt (Hitchcock), 164 185
,
Romance sentimentale (Eisenstein and Alexan­ Shakespeare, William, 317, 322-23
drov), 257 Sheffield film company, 94
Romantic poetry, 98 shock effects, 161-62
 IN D E X 401

shooting script, 5-6, 101, 128, 175, 251, 297; au­ and, 98-101, 102-103. See also Eisenstein,
thorship and, 8 Sergei
short story, cinema and, 297-98 space, 299-303, 307-308, 358; framing and, 77­
the shot, 59-60, 64; as a cell, 144, 169, 174, 366; 78; in literature and cinema, 57-58; reality
definition of, 29; difference from the take, 64; and, 155-59; spatial orientation, 219-24; in
types of, 60-65 theater and cinema, 162
shot-in-depth, 62-63, 93, 195. See also depth-of- space, modulation of, 162
field spatial continuity, 162, 168. See also depth-of-
shot-reverse-shot, 62, 155, 178, 199, 207 field
shot sequence, 64, 174, 193 spatial reality, 67, 333
Showboat, 231 spectators, viii, 2, 89-90, 91, 102, 142, 164, 201­
Sidney, Scott: A Gamble in Souls, 292; The Italian, 203, 320-21, 377, 378; comprehension and,
293 121-22, 134-35, 335; depth-of-field and, 192­
Sierra de Teruel (Malraux), 208 98, 199; distantiation and, 203-205, 206;
sign, 15, 20, 338, 387n.42; definition of, 38, 46; filmmakers and, 164; spatial orientation and,
image as sign, 38-43, 343; symbol and, 181. 219-24; subjective camera and, 210-11. See also
See also semiology identification; participation
signification, 38-43, 54, 69, 130, 296, 359-60, 366, Spencer, Herbert, 104
387n.42; adaptations and, 327-29; cognition Stagecoach (Ford), 11, 252
and, 121-22; of color, 227-30; connotation and, Steinbeck, John: O f Mice and Men, 55-56
343-48; criticisms of semiology, 370-74; edit­ Sternberg, Josef von, 11; The Blue Angel, 232, 309
ing and, 176-77; false, 348-49; motivation Stielow affair, 97
and, 372; music and, 249-52, 271-72; in the Stiller, Maurite, 300, 309, 312
novel, 49-50, 53-56, 57-59; semiology and, stimuli-response relationships, 164
367-70, 387n.44; syntax and, 43; verbal, 53-54. Stop Thief. (Williamson), 94
See also analogon, image as; form and content story/storytelling, xiv, 359-60
signified, 41, 366; signifier and, 39, 57, 367-70. La Strada (Fellini), 240, 336
See also signification strike breakers, representation of, 284
The Silence (Bergman), 348-49 Strike (Eisenstein), 138-39
silent films, 172-74, 186-88, 190, 307-308; role of Stroheim, Eric von, 172, 303; Greed, 324-26, 357
music in, 247-48. See also cinema, develop­ structuralism, 367
ment of Les Structures rythmiques (Fraisse), 271, 274
Silly Symphonies, 255 style, 11, 16-17; definition of, 337. See also form
simile, in cinema, 139-41 and content
Sjostrom, Victor, 300; T he Wind, 303 the subjective camera, 60-61, 206-10, 213; de­
slapstick comedy, 310, 376 scriptive image and, 218-19; descriptive sub­
Smith, Albert, 283 jectivism and, 217-18; inverse subjective shot
Smith, Cecil: The Aryan, 295-96; The Bad Luck of and, 216, 383n.13; literature and, 213-14;
Santa Inez, 294-95; The Fugitive, 294, 295 oblique images and, 219-24; the semisubjec-
Smith, George A., 66-67, 92, 224; Humorous Facial tive image and, 214-17; spectators and, 210-11
Expressions, 92-93; At Last, That Awful Tooth, the subjective image, 211-13, 218
92; The Little Doctor, 92; Mary Jane's Mishap, 94 subjectivity, 217; color and, 226-30, 383n.19
social dramas, 293-94 Sullivan, Gardner, 292, 297
Socialist Realism, 365 Survage, Leopold, 112-14
Soirees d e Paris, 112-14 suspension, use of, 17
Sonnenschein, A., 104 syllepsis, use of, 17
The Sorrows o f Love (West), 292 symbol/symbolism, viii, x-xi, xv, 98, 103, 138,
La Sortie des usines Lumiere (Lumiere brothers), 154, 179, 180-82, 190, 293, 300-303, 304-307;
65 in The Battleship Potemkin, 39-40, 42, 43, 343,
sound distortion, 247 372; connotation and, 346-49; sign and, 15,
sound films, music in, 248-49 181, 338
Souriau, Etienne, 106, 107, 266; LUnivers symbolism, color, 226-30
filmique, 72 symmetry, 104
Sous les toits d e Paris (Clair), 231 symphonic poem, 258
Souvestre, Pierre: Fantomas, 289 Symphonie Diagonale (Eggeling), 114, 382n.8
Soviet film, 98, 109; burlesque films, 100; editing Symphonie mecanique (Mitry), 385n.48
402 IN D E X

syncretism, 54, 135 trusts, 283-87

synecdoche, 17,374 Twelve Angry M en, 6
syntax, cinema and, 43, 373, 377 Tzekhanovsky, 257

Taboo (M^mau), 306-307 d'Udine, Jean: L'Art de le geste, 256

Tartuffe (Murnau), 331 The Unfinished Symphony (Frost), 249
Tearing Down the Spanish Flag (Blackton), 283-87 union leaders, representation of, 284
Technicolor, 224-25 L'Univers film ique (Souriau), 72
tempo, 254-55,299 unrealistic films, 362-63
temporality, 164, 200, 245, 290, 320, 327, 356-57,
358; duration and, 361-63; extension of, 145­ Van den Berck, Michotte, 72-73
46; in film and literature, 326, 333; objective Varda, Agnes: La Pointe courte, 240-41, 243
reality and, 51-53; temporal continuity, 168; Variety (Dupont), 61, 207, 214, 345-46, 374
temporal displacement, 361; time in the the­ Vendryes, 238
ater, 319-20, 323. See also duration verbal expression, 49-51, 53-56, 57-59, 127
Le Temps de Гimage est venu (Gance), 112 verbal image, 23-28
Ten Wives fo r One Husband (Hatot), 94 verism, 287
tense, in cinema, 51-53 La Verite cinematographique (Heidegger), 55
tertiary image, 26 vertical montage, 233, 384n.26
theater, 79, 317-18; adaptations, 321-24; cinema Vertov, Dziga, 2, 99,133, 382n.19
and, xv, 57, 160, 162, 204, 232, 278-80, 296, Vidor, King, 11, 68, 303; The Crowd, 184, 326
314-17, 318-19, 324, 350-52, 359; dialogue in, Viot, Jacques, 6
235-38, 244-45, 319-20; early film and, 65-66, The Virgin o f the Rocks (Leonardo da Vinci), 327
67, 276-77, 287-88, 290, 298-303, 304, 307; Visages d ’enfants (Feyder), 217
spectators in, 320-21; time in the, 319-20, 323 Visconti, Luchino, 361
theatricality, 187, 314, 317, 351, 361 visual music, 173
thematic association, 263 visual rhythm, 274
Theory o f Cinedialectics (Eisenstein), 1 Vitagraph film company, 95, 277, 282, 283, 286­
Therese Desqueyroux, 274-75 87, 288, 310
Therese Raquin (Zola), 330 I Vitelloni (Fellini), 356
third dimension, 76, 381n.16 Vom Wessen des Rhythmus (Klages), 106
Thomas G am er (Howard), 212, 239, 242, 361 Von Bulow, Hans, 108
Threepenny Opera, 248-49 Voyage ii travers I'impossible (Melies), 66
tilt shot, 21-20, 60, 75, 217, 219-20 Vuillermoz, Emile, 111, 115, 259
time. See temporality
tinting, 227 Wallon, Henri: L’Acte perceptif et le cinema, 161,
Todd-AO, 200 163
Toland, Greg, 191 Warrain, Francis, 104, 108
toning, 227 Way Down East (Griffith), 346-47, 354
total image, 218, 219 Weiszacker, 164
Touch o f Evil (Welles), 61 Welles, Orson, 11, 12, 154, 200, 323
Toute la memoire du monde (Resnais), 342 -C itizen Kane, 30, 51, 166, 176, 177, 212, 213,
tracking shot, 61, 98, 127, 177, 183-86, 214-15, 217-18, 239, 242; achronological narration in,
273, 274; the frame and, 77-78; psychology of, 361-62; depth-of-field in, 62, 63, 191, 192-93
188-90 —Macbeth, 236, 315
tragedy, 298-99, 352-54 —The Magnificent Ambersons, 55, 186, 197, 333
transcendental realism, 45 —Touch o f Evil, 61
transference, process of, 377 Wertheimer, Max, 221
transposition, adaptations and, 330-32 West, R. B.: The Outrage, 292; The Regenerates,
Trauberg, Leonid, 99 292; The Sorrows o f Love, 292
The Treasure o f Arne, 302 Westerns, 293, 294-96
Trial by Fire, 302-303 What We See through a Telescope, 92
trichromatic color process, 224 The Whole Town's Talking (Ford), 198
Trimble, Larry, 286 wide-angle lenses, 29-30, 191
Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch), 11, 232, 233-34 wide-angle shot, 60,134-35
True Heart Susie (Griffith), 291, 311, 354 wide screen, 200-201
 INDEX 403

Williamson, James, 66-67, 92, 93-94; The Attack Wyler, William, 383n.12; The Best Years of Our
on a China Mission, 93, 95; The Big Swallow, 93; Lives, 196-98; Jezebel, 191, 200, 215-17; The Lit­
Stop Thief!, 94 tle Foxes, 63, 191; One-Way Street, 185-86
The Wind (Sjostrom), 303
wipes, 65 Yevreinov, Nikolai, 100
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 39 You Only Live Once (Lang), 353
Wolff, Albert, 258 Young, James, 310, 312
A Woman on the Moon (Lang), 184
Woolf, Virginia, 98 Zavattini, 349
word and image: lyrical language and logical Zazzo, Rene, 87, 162; Le Cinema chez les adoles­
language, 21-23; thought and language, 19­ cents, 202; Niveau mental et comprehension du
20; the verbal image, 23-28; word and idea, cinema, 160
20-21 Zecca, Ferdinand, 92-93, 94
workers, representation of, 284 Zola, fimile: Therese Raquin, 330
Wuilleumier, Marie Claire, 152 zoom shot, 185
Wiirzberg psychologists, 33-34, 36 Zukor, Adolph, 290