Thinking Images: The Essay Film as a Dialogic Form in European Cinema

208 Pages·2012·1.309 MB·English

by  David Montero

The essay film – ‘a form that thinks’ – serves to create a self-reflexive space D
a David Montero
for contemporary society by challenging expectations and demanding the v
i
d
creative involvement of the spectator. Using film to provoke thought has
M
never been more important than now, when non-fiction films are gaining in o
n thinking imageS
popularity and playing a growing part in debates about culture and politics. t
e
This timely publication argues that the appeal of the essay film lies primarily ro

in the dialogic engagement with the spectator and the richness of the
intellectual and artistic debate it stimulates.
dt
ih
ai
The book focuses on the work of three key European film directors associated ln
ok
with the essay film: Chris Marker, Harun Farocki and José Luis Guerín. It giin THE ESSay FILM aS a DIaLoGIC ForM
cg
prov ides a detailed analysis of several films by each director, exploring the F IN EUropEaN CINEMa
i
om
relationship between dialogism and essayism in their work and placing this r
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in the wider context of debates on the cinematic essay as a genre. Central ige
ns
aspects of essayistic filmmaking are explored, including its radical approach e: t
to knowledge, its distinctive patterns of subjectivity, its challenging of the uh
re
formal representation of reality, and its contribution to new understandings o
pe
of spectatorship. Written with clarity and perception, this volume offers new eass
na
insights into the rise of the non-fiction film and the essay film, in particular. y
C
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inil
em
m

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s

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david montero is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in film and
communication studies at the University of Seville, Spain. He completed his
phD at the University of Bath in 2009 and has previously published on the nSeC 3
new StudieS in european Cinema
essay film.
nSeC
3
ISBN 978-3-0343-0730-7
peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
The essay film – ‘a form that thinks’ – serves to create a self-reflexive space D
a David Montero
for contemporary society by challenging expectations and demanding the v
i
d
creative involvement of the spectator. Using film to provoke thought has
M
never been more important than now, when non-fiction films are gaining in o
n thinking imageS
popularity and playing a growing part in debates about culture and politics. t
e
This timely publication argues that the appeal of the essay film lies primarily ro

in the dialogic engagement with the spectator and the richness of the
intellectual and artistic debate it stimulates.
dt
ih
ai
The book focuses on the work of three key European film directors associated ln
ok
with the essay film: Chris Marker, Harun Farocki and José Luis Guerín. It giin THE ESSay FILM aS a DIaLoGIC ForM
cg
pro vides a detailed analysis of several films by each director, exploring the F IN EUropEaN CINEMa
i
om
relationship between dialogism and essayism in their work and placing this r
ma
in the wider context of debates on the cinematic essay as a genre. Central ige
ns
aspects of essayistic filmmaking are explored, including its radical approach e: t
to knowledge, its distinctive patterns of subjectivity, its challenging of the uh
re
formal representation of reality, and its contribution to new understandings o
pe
of spectatorship. Written with clarity and perception, this volume offers new es
as
na
insights into the rise of the non-fiction film and the essay film, in particular. y
C
F
inil
em
m

aa
s

a

david montero is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in film and
communication studies at the University of Seville, Spain. He completed his
phD at the University of Bath in 2009 and has previously published on the nSeC 3
new StudieS in european Cinema
essay film.
nSeC
3
peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Thinking images
neW sTUDies in eUROPean Cinema
VOL. 3
eDiTeD BY
WenDY eVeReTT & aXeL gOODBODY
Peter Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
David montero
Thinking images
The essay Film as a Dialogic Form
in european Cinema
Peter Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbiblio grafie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet
at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Montero, David, 1977-
Thinking images : the essay film as a dialogic form in European cinema /
David Montero.
p. cm. -- (New studies in European cinema ; 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Includes filmography.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0730-7 (alk. paper)
1. Experimental films--Europe--History and criticism. 2. Farocki, Harun--
Criticism and interpretation. 3. Guerin, José Luis--Criticism and interpreta-
tion. 4. Marker, Chris, 1921---Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1995.9.E96.M595 2012
791.43’6--dc23
2012007141
ISSN 1661-0261
ISBN 978‐3‐0343‐0730‐7 (paperback)
ISBN 978‐3‐0353‐0299‐8 (eBook)
© Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2012
Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
[email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the
permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
Printed in Germany
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Points of Origin ix
Introduction
The Thinking Form 1
Chapter 1
Questions and Answers: Towards a Dialogical Understanding
of the Essay Film 21
Chapter 2
Essayistic Filmmaking as a Non-Fictional Practice: Self-ref lexivity
and Heteroglossia in Harun Farocki’s Workers Leaving the Factory,
José Luis Guerín’s Train of Shadows and Chris Marker’s Sunless 49
Chapter 3
Beyond the ‘I’: Subjectivity and Dialogical Authorship
in Chris Marker’s Level 5 79
Chapter 4
Unfinalizability, Addressivity and Tact:
Harun Farocki’s Videograms of a Revolution 103
vi
Chapter 5
Interpellation, Active Spectatorship and the Returned Gaze:
José Luis Guerín’s In the City of Sylvia 117
Chapter 6
Mapping the Origins of an Essayistic Sensibility in Five Films 133
Conclusion 155
Bibliography 157
Selected Filmography 163
Index 189
Acknowledgements
Thanks for film and video availability to the Bibliothèque du Film (BIFI)
and staf f at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and to Antje Ehmann from
‘Farocki Filmproduktion’ in Berlin. Access to José Luis Guerín’s original
script for Train of Shadows would have been impossible without the help
of staf f at the Biblioteca de la Generalitat de Catalunya in Barcelona. I
would also like to thank the University of Bath Inter-library Loan staf f.
Vanessa Callard, from the Department of European Studies and Modern
Languages at the University of Bath, swiftly resolved administrative issues
related to my research.
Christa Blümlinger, Josep M. Català, Antonio Weinrichter, Helena
Lopez, Jon Kear, Catherine Lupton, Michael Witt, William Brooks, David
Gillespie, David Clarke, James Callow and Laura Rascaroli have at dif ferent
points provided feedback, drawn my attention towards events, helped
me improve the text and/or suggested ways forward. Dr Peter Wagstaf f
contributed good advice and many corrections. I would like to thank all
of them deeply.
I am equally indebted to my colleagues within the Spanish section
at the Department of European Studies and Modern Languages in the
University of Bath, who helped me to cope with teaching demands while
I was completing this research.
Friends have been an endless source of support. Thanks to Pablo Mar-
tínez, Carlos Leal and Fermín Seño in Spain for sharing my enthusiasm for
the work of Chris Marker. As with every other intellectual undertaking I
have ever attempted, José Manuel Moreno managed to be there with me
from the very beginning. I am thankful to him for that.
This book would simply have not been possible without the unswerv-
ing support and commitment, without the words of encouragement and
the sheer enthusiasm for film of Dr Wendy Everett. I owe her more than
I can express.
viii Acknowledgements
I would also like to thank my family, my mother and my father, my
sister and my uncle who helped my work with immense generosity.
And finally to Isabel and Lía … Sin vosotras, nada.