Art Cinema and Theology: The Word Was Made Film

219 Pages·2017·2.226 MB·English

by  Justin Ponder (auth.)

Art Cinema and Theology
Justin Ponder
Art Cinema and
Theology
The Word Was Made Film
Justin Ponder
Marian University in Fond du Lac
Fond du Lac, WI, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-58555-0 ISBN 978-3-319-58556-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58556-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017948722
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
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For Deanna
A
cknowledgements
Many thanks to the community of anonymous reviewers and editors who
improved my thinking throughout this process. The chapter on Ordet is
a modified and expanded version of an article published as “‘I Bid Thee
Arise!’ Reverse-Editing and Reversal Miracles in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s
Ordet” in Religion and the Arts (March 2012): 100–121. And the
beginnings of the chapter on Diary of a Country Priest appear in “‘All is
Grace’: Sound and Grace in Robert Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest”
in Imaginatio et Ratio 4 (2015): 16–26.
I am grateful to John C. Lyden for professional encouragement,
support, and advice throughout the years, as well as to Lina Aboujieb
and Karina Jakupsdottir for taking a chance and providing helpful and
inspiring guidance along the way. I also want to thank Denise Guibord
Meister for her careful reading and thoughtful suggestions. Special grati-
tude remains for all the friends and family who gave hours of their lives
listening to me talk through this project, especially my father Darryl
Ponder and my mother Judi Schlesner.
Finally, I’d like to thank my wife Deanna Singh for her patience dur-
ing the many years of early mornings, late nights, and distracted days it
took to write this book. For her understanding, unwavering support, and
boundless love, I dedicate The Word Was Made Film to her.
vii
c
ontents
1 Introduction: The Word was Made Film 1
2 “All Is Grace”: Sound and Grace in Robert
Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest 25
3 “Life. Yes. Life.”: Editing and Miracles in
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Ordet 67
4 “The Whole Earth Is Full of His Glory”: Lighting
and Suffering in Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light 115
5 “No One Must Know of This”: Close-up and
Heresy in Luis Buñuel’s The Milky Way 161
6 Conclusion: … And Dwelt Among Us 203
Index 211
ix
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 3.1 (47:34, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). The camera
(panning left) follows the Borgens’ carriage ride 77
Fig. 3.2 (47:37, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). The camera match cuts
to the mannequin at Petersen’s sermon before
panning left 78
Fig. 3.3 (27:11, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Inger exits to backstage
screen left 84
Fig. 3.4 (27:31, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Inger enters from backstage
screen right 85
Fig. 3.5 (1:27:00, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Morten exits screen left 89
Fig. 3.6 (1:27:25, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Morten enters screen right 90
Fig. 3.7 (2:01:47, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Johannes exits screen left 108
Fig. 3.8 (2:01:49, Ordet, Dreyer, 1955). Match on action has
Mikkel enter from screen right 109
Fig. 4.1 (43:22, Winter Light, Bergman, 1962). Lights rise
on Tomas 130
Fig. 4.2 (1:13:04, Winter Light, Bergman, 1962). Algot comforts
Tomas by the light of the desk lamp 148
Fig. 4.3 (9:19, Winter Light, Bergman, 1962). Tomas during the
opening Eucharist 155
Fig. 4.4 (1:21:00, Winter Light, Bergman, 1962). Tomas during
the concluding Sanctus 156
xi
xii LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 5.1 (11:11, The Milky Way, Buñuel, 1969). Close-up on
the mad priest 169
Fig. 5.2 (46:13, The Milky Way, Buñuel, 1969). Close-up on
the Inquisitor 178
Fig. 5.3 (1:28:07, The Milky Way, Buñuel, 1969). Close-up on
the priest who declares, “We must believe dogma.” 192
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: The Word was Made Film
Before the cleaving of earth from heaven, soil from bliss, and dirt from
air, the earth was without form and void. Before the carving of day from
night, morning from evening, and firmament from the waters, all was
darkness upon the face of the deep. Before the gathering of seas and the
drying of lands, the grasses from earth and the herbs from seeds, the
Spirit moved upon the face of the waters. Before the skies split seasons
into days and years, before the air divided fish, fowl, cattle, creeping
things, beasts of the earth, and man and woman—before Genesis and
before the divisions required for meaning and speech, there was oneness.
After the creation that required sundering, after the becoming that
required uncoupling, and after the definition that required distancing,
the darkness separated from the light. After the tree desired to make
one wise, after their eyes had been opened, after the brother’s blood had
cried from the ground, after the end of all flesh had come before him,
after the rain was upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, after
architects were confounded and their builders scattered abroad upon the
face of all the earth, there came witness. After those born of blood with
the will and flesh of man, there was one born of God, full of glory that
humans could behold, the glory begotten of the Father who is the full-
ness of grace and truth. After creation, he entered the world that he cre-
ated, and the world knew him not; even after he came unto his own,
his people received him not. And so the logos that inspired creation grew
incomprehensible to those it had created. Nevertheless, it is written,
“The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
© The Author(s) 2017 1
J. Ponder, Art Cinema and Theology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58556-7_1