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MADELEINE TIME: ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S VERTIGO (1958), PERCY ADLON’S CÉLESTE (1980), AND CHANTAL AKERMAN’S LA CAPTIVE (2000) A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2016 ALISON M CRIDDLE SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 2 List of Contents List of Figures…...……………………………..……………………...…...........3 Abstract………………………………………………………….…………........4 Declaration…………………………………...………………………………….5 Copyright Statement…………………………………………………..………...6 Acknowledgments………………………………………………..……………..7 Author’s Note…………………………………………………………………...8 Introduction: Three Proustian Women…………………………………….………………......9 Chapter 1: ‘What is (a) Madeleine?’: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958).………………..28 Chapter 2: “I Hold Myself Ready for Him”: Reluctant Time in Percy Adlon’s Céleste (1980)…………………………………………………………………………..84 Chapter 3: “That Girl Will Bring You Nothing But Trouble”: Chantal Akerman’s La Captive (2000)………………………………………….…………………….116 Conclusion: ‘Seek? More Than That: Create’……………………………………………..181 Bibliography………………………………………………..………………...202 Appendices…………………………………………………………………...225 Figures……………………………………………………………………..…236 Word Count (inclusive of footnotes): 73577 3 List of Figures 1. Robert Altman, 3 Women (1977), Final Scene……………………….237 2. Chris Marker, Immemory, CD-Rom (1999), ‘What is a Madeleine?’..238 3. Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (1958), Scottie, Madeleine, and the Portrait of Carlotta……………………………………………………………….239 4. Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (1958), Madeleine at Ernie’s…………….240 5. Douglas Gordon, Feature Film (1999), Conlon’s Hand..……………241 6. Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (1958), Scottie’s Apartment……………...242 7. Chris Marker, Sans Soleil (1983), Madeleine’s Sequoia Tree from Vertigo…………………………………………………………….….243 8. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Céleste Waiting……………………….244 9. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Proust and Céleste.…………………....245 10. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Céleste and Concertina Manuscript......246 11. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Céleste at Proust’s Deathbed……...…..247 12. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Céleste at Proust’s Deathbed………….248 13. Percy Adlon, Céleste (1980), Céleste at Proust’s Deathbed………….249 14. John Nash, ‘Céleste’ (1930), Proust’s Bedroom……………………..250 15. The University of Manchester Library, Proust’s Lock of Hair……....251 16. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000) Ariane on Super8…………….252 17. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000), Musée Rodin………………...253 18. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000), Ariane at the Musée Rodin….254 19. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000), Ariane and Andrée at the Musée Rodin…………………………………………………………………255 20. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000), Ariane’s Bed………………...256 21. Chantal Akerman, La Captive (2000), Ariane and Simon Bathing…..257 22. Chantal Akerman, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), Jeanne’s Bathroom………………………………...258 23. Esther Teichmann, Untitled (2014)…………………………………..259 24. Christian Marclay, Boston 2000 (2000)……………………………...260 25. Chris Marker, La Jetée (1963), Le Jardin des Plantes……………..…261 26. Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (1958), Muir Woods……………………..262 27. Saul Bass, Vertigo (1958), Poster Design…………………………….263 28. Bryan Nash Gill, Compression Wood (2011)………………………...264 4 Abstract Three female protagonists—Madeleine Elster of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), Céleste Albaret of Percy Adlon’s Céleste (1980), and Ariane of Chantal Akerman’s La Captive (2000)—are considered as the three Proustian women who form the tripart body of this thesis. In approaching them as such, the research has at its origin in the sensory encounter of the notorious ‘madeleine moment’ of Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu, in which the taste of a morsel of cake dipped in tea expands memory, collapses linear time, and from which the voluminous novel blooms. Transcribed, translated, and transposed from the literary experiences of the reader’s encounter with Proust’s writing, text transcends the page and the encounter becomes visual in the form of the moving image of film. These three filmed women all differ: the first, Hitchcock’s dizzying, dazzling Hollywood siren of San Francisco, lifted from the pages of a Parisian detective novel; the next, a German reincarnation of Proust’s devoted housekeeper, drawn from her own words, recorded fifty years after his death; the third, a closely-watching memory-making woman-loving nomadic director’s nod to the Search’s captivating Albertine Simmonet. To experience this trinity in contiguous proximity to one another through Proust is to enter a sensorial spiral in which time, bodies, text, and vision press up against one another in a movement that has the power to be as unsteadying as it can be pleasurable. Immersed in Madeleine Time, the time of these three Proustian women, allows for a consideration of the author’s life-in-writing, the Narrator’s waiting, and the reader’s own place in relation to the textual encounter. Madeleine Time is shown to suspend and sustain, nourish and withhold, prevent and provoke, to move. 5 Declaration I, Alison Mary Criddle, declare that no portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 6 Copyright Statement i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. Thus page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in the thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties/ Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 7 Acknowledgments Thank you. For my own beloved mother, father, and brother, Robert. For my aunts, Yvie, for the madeleine tray and everything that followed, and for Gertie, I miss our telephone calls. For family. For my examiners, Darren Waldron and Emma Wilson, for your generosity in giving your time and your expertise. For my panel members, Mark Crinson and Dee Reynolds, for sharing your knowledge, for challenging and encouraging me. For Percy Adlon, for your delight in Céleste, and for waking so early to call from California with your stories. For Chantal Akerman, for you and your life-work, and that sad, tender evening at Regent Street Cinema where No Home Movie premiered without you, and yet you filled the room. For the BFI, the Reuben Library archives, and for my first big-screen viewing of Vertigo in all its Technicolor glory. For the AHRC and UoM SALC, for funding and support, for allowing me to experience so much—a formative paper at the Courtauld Institute, travel to the USA to speak in Albuquerque, NM, my very own Vertigo pilgrimage to San Francisco—long may Arts funding continue. For AHVS and SALC staff, students, peers, and all nine years spent growing, learning, and sharing in your company. For the determined PhDs who I have watched succeed. For the Proustians, for the special closeness of reading aloud. For the students who listened to me as a novice TA, and who taught me so much in return. For Jo Marsh, Amanda Matthews, and Julie Fiwka, for Sarah Littlejohn and her team. For UoM Library Special Collections for access to the Marie Riefstahl/Nordlinger archives, and for Stella Halkyard at John Rylands. For Esther Teichmann’s sharing. For Megan Powell’s vision. For my saving Graces. For Sophie, for always knowing. For Gabes, for always encouraging. For Sarah, for the importance of walks. For Mary, for your wisdom. For Nick, in’t it. For Misha and Mike, for your sharing. For the boy whose voice and arms embrace. For Mary Mac-now-Davies, who taught me true devotion. For Carol Mavor, my supervisor supreme. From that first semester back in 2007 to now—we did it! ‘Thank you’ just won’t cut it. Once again, for family. For Rob, for the gin, for the sister-in-law, and for paying your taxes. For Mum, your memory is woven into every page. For Dad, you made every page possible. For love. 8 Author’s Note For continuity and consistency, I have elected C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin’s English translation, as revised by D. J. Enright, as the primary edition for all references to Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, trans. C. K. Scott Moncrieff, and Terence Kilmartin, revised, D. J. Enright, 6 vols. (London: Vintage, 2000) Any references to the original French will come from Jean-Yves Tadié’s edited volumes for Pléiade. Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, ed., Jean- Yves Tadié, 4 vols. (Paris: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1987-89) With the exception of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the case study films are viewed and discussed with the aid of English subtitling (Adlon’s Céleste translated from its original German, and Akerman’s La Captive from French). All quotations, unless otherwise stated, will be presented in English. The commitment to English traces most faithfully my own encountering of Proust’s Search and the three films, my own being transported across languages, both textual, and visual. 9 Introduction: Three Proustian Women Madeleine Time is the experience of the feminine in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (first published in French in 1913), as read through three core films, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), Percy Adlon’s Céleste (1980), and Chantal Akerman’s La Captive (2000). The reading encounter with Proust’s Search, I argue, is always already cinematic. Proust’s writing brims full with visual images and depictions of sensory stimuli. Madeleine Time is multisensory, it can be read in terms that move beyond the literary into the realm of the visual, to film, collapsing linear time whilst drawing the viewer closer to the text. For Mieke Bal, in her 1997 text, The Mottled Screen: Reading Proust Visually,1 Proust’s writing crosses over from literature in its visual strategies of representation, fantasy, and poetic thought. Working from Bal’s sustained reading of Proust, my emphasis is on Madeleine Time as holding the past in order that it be reawakened in the future. Alongside Bal, Eric Karpele’s Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time2 makes the case for Proust’s Search as one of the most profoundly visual works in modern Western literature, drawing attention to and close reading of the art works referenced in the text. My visual encounter with Proust stretches beyond Bal’s visuals and Karpeles’ paintings and contends that the Search is cinematic in its being moved by Madeleine Time. The cinematic here both holds time and moves time. ‘In Proust,’ writes Serge Doubrovsky, in his provocative and sensual 1975 essay, ‘what sets the writing in motion is what moves it.’3 I am moved by the madeleine.                                                                                                                 1 Mieke Bal, The Mottled Screen: Reading Proust Visually, trans. Anna-Louise Milne (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997) 2 Eric Karpeles, Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time (London: Thames & Hudson, 2008) 3 Doubrovsky, ‘‘The Place of the Madeleine: Writing and Phantasy in Proust’, trans. Bové, Carol, boundary 2, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Autumn, 1975), pp. 107-134, p. 110 10 The madeleine in Proust, as has already been highlighted by Julia Kristeva in her Time and Sense: Proust and the Experience of Literature (translated by Ross Guberman), and Proust and the Sense of Time (translated by Stephen Bann), is feminine, specifically maternal.4 The Proustian madeleine, for Kristeva, as Carol Mavor has noted in her Reading Boysihly: Roland Barthes, J.M. Barrie, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Marcel Proust, and D.W. Winnicott, ‘is a woman-cake.’5 The madeleine cake is tied to the feminine as the first example of Proustian involuntary memory, collapsing linear time by cutting through the present to a moment of the past. The madeleine cake is imbued with the memory of a childhood past, returning to the Narrator of the Search to the unanticipated sensations of a remembered longing for his mother’s goodnight kiss, released as flavour of the cake’s crumbs touch his lips. The morsel of woman-cake thus holds within its sponge crumbs the future of the novel as moved by memories of the past. Madeleine Time is thus cinematic in its waiting to be reawakened, moved out its slumber, by the taste of the past through the form of a woman. Women are at the heart of Proust’s Search. Taking on the feminine as part of Proust’s involuntary memory, my Madeleine Time emphasizes film’s ability to both hold time and to make time move. Despite his being alive during the period that witnessed the invention of film, there is no record to suggest that Proust ever visited a cinema. And yet, his writing is filled with a cinematic sensibility that makes for a reading encounter filled with imagery that appears filled with movement, animating the writing. Within the first opening forty pages of the Search, Proust’s writing is filled with allusions and references to photography, whilst suggestions of movement give form to content, illuminating the text. Brassaï, in his Proust in the Power of Photography6, notes that Proust talks often of his writing in photographic terms,                                                                                                                 4 Julia Krsiteva, Time and Sense: Proust and the Experience of Literature, trans. Ross Guberman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994) and Proust and the Sense of Time, trans. Stephen Bann (London: Faber and Faber, 1993) 5 Kristeva, Time and Sense, p. 6. See Carol Mavor, Reading Boysihly: Roland Barthes, J.M. Barrie, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Marcel Proust, and D.W. Winnicott (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007), p. 421 6 Brassaï, Proust in the Power of Photography, trans. Richard Howard (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2001)

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moment' of Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu, in which the taste women, allows for a consideration of the author's life-in-writing, the the dizzying whirls of Saul Bass's hypnotic graphic designs that make the film.
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