Experiment. Screen. Sensation. // Post 2

When I heard about photogénie in class, I had a hard time pinpointing its meaning. After several films and readings, while I still couldn’t give a concrete definition, I may have grasped the spirit of the term. First mentioned by Louis Delluc, later elaborated by French filmmaker-critic Jean Epstein, photogénie is “the purest expression of cinema” (Epstein, cited in Sullivan 2018). Films that represent photogénie rely on cinematography reproduction to put characteristics and emotions to any subject in a film in order to show spectators objects in the same way as human vision (Sullivan 2018). Thus, these films do not depend on a complicated plot to create dramatic elements (Farmer 2010). This is my overall understanding of the term, and I reckon that being considered a filmic methodology means there are many more layers to its meaning.

Even when I only heard the word photogénie and vaguely understand it, a drama-musical film I watched a year ago popped up in my head. The movie was called The Hole, directed by Tsai Ming Liang in 1998 during the Taiwanese Second New Wave. It is about a man and woman living in quarantine due to the spread of a contagious virus in Taiwan. Coincidentally, I watched the film while staying in a quarantine camp without any prior knowledge, thus making the film even more unforgettable. The dialogues are as minimal and simple as the plot, but its lack of appearance played a role in emphasizing loneliness. The setting is mostly switching between 2 apartments and the movie moves extremely slow to make time feel as real as possible. The musical and aesthetic cinematography depicting gendered fantasies and desires are what help the spectators to feel and sense the protagonists’ inner world (Chang 2008).

It was interesting for me to think about in what way photogénie could appear in modern films such as The Hole. Moreover, it got me excited and inspired to learn more about cinema in general.

References:

Sullivan, G., 2018, ‘”We do not look at them as they really are”: technics and photogénie’, Jean Epstein’s Film-Philosophy. Film-Philosophy, vol.22, no. 3, pp.406-427, viewed 25 July 2021, Edinburgh University press database.

Farmer, R 2010, ‘Epstein, jean’, Sense of Cinema: Great Directors, no. 57, viewed 25 July 2021, https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/great-directors/jean-epstein/

Chang, K 2008, ‘Gender hierarchy and environmental crisis in tsai ming-liang’s “the hole”‘, Film Criticism, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 25-44. viewed 25 July 2021, JSTOR database.

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