Figuring the past : period film and the mannerist aesthetic

257 Pages·2012·1.86 MB·English

by  Vidal

FFIILLMM
CCUULLTTUURREE
IN TRANSITION
Figuring
the Past
Period Film and
the Mannerist Aesthetic
belén vidal
Amsterdam University Press
FiguringthePast

Figuring the Past
Period Film and the Mannerist Aesthetic
Belén Vidal
ThepublicationofthisbookismadepossiblebyagrantfromtheBritishAcademy.
Frontcoverillustration:BrightStar(©BBCFilms/TheKobalCollection)
Coverdesign:KokKorpershoek,Amsterdam
Lay-out:JAPES,Amsterdam
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 
Introduction– Period Film andthe ManneristMoment 
FragmentsandFigures 
AnInternationalGenre 
Mannerism:ThePossibilitiesofaConservativeAesthetic 
Chapter 1–A Poetics ofFiguration 
TheBelatedMomentofMannerism 
PasticheandtheRealityEffect 
FromtheFigurativetotheFigural 
Classical/Post-classical:Adaptation,FilmWritingandtheTechnological
Narrative 
CreditsRoll:TheFigureasThreshold 
Chapter 2–PresentinthePast: TheHouse 
NostalgiaInterrupted:TheHouseanditsGhosts 
Homeand(Dis)Inheritance:HowardsEnd 
TheCollectorandtheHouse-Museum:TheGoldenBowlandEndof
Period 
MelodramaandtheDescriptiveMode:TheAgeofInnocence 
FidelitytothePastandtheMelancholicImagination:WomanasGhost 
TheHouseofMirthor,TimeandWoman 
Chapter 3–Timeand theImage: TheTableau 
StillImages/MovingNarratives:TheTableauEffect 
TheShot-Tableau:FromPregnantMomenttoHieroglyph 
ThePortraitasFetish 
PortraitsandTableauxintheFeministImagination 
Deframings:ThePortraitofaLady 
Double-FramingtheMythologiesoftheFemaleArtist:Artemisia 
Vision,BlindnessandtheDisplacementofTrauma 
TheGovernessor,theWomaninCamera 
Chapter 4–TheSceneofWriting:TheLetter 
TextualErotics:ReadingtheLetterasObjectandFigure 
TheLetterthatArrivesTooLate:FigurationandMelodramatic
Temporality 
6 FiguringthePast
LettersandSpatialDisplacement 
TheLoveLetterandtheQueerEncounter:Onegin 
ImaginaryLandscapesofLoss:ToThoseWhoLove 
TruncatedNarratives,TextualPossibilities:Atonementandthe
InterruptedHistoriesoftheEuropeanPeriodFilm. 
Conclusion – Second Sight:ReviewingthePast,
FiguringthePresent 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index ofFilmTitles 
IndexofNamesandSubjects 
Acknowledgements
This book has had an extremely long gestation, and I am indebted to many
persons and institutions that provided invaluable support along the way. I
thank the British Academy for its financial support, and the editorial team at
AmsterdamUniversityPress,whomadeitpossibleforthisbooktoseethelight
of day. I would like to thank especially Thomas Elsaesser for his encourage-
ment,JeroenSondervanforshepherdingtheprojectandSteph Harmonforher
carefulcopy-editingofthemanuscript.
I am most indebted to John Caughie and Julianne Pidduck; not only were
they committed and sharp readers for this project at the stage of doctoral re-
search, but they also introduced me to what it means to think critically about
film. I could not have wished for better mentors. The Department of Theatre,
FilmandTelevisionStudiesattheUniversityofGlasgowprovidedanurturing
intellectualenvironment and my first realhome away from home. It was there
that this project started, and I benefitted from the guidance, support and feed-
back of many teachers and friends, including Karen Boyle, Dimitris Eleftherio-
tis,IanGarwood,ChristineGeraghty,IanGoode,KarenLuryandVassilikiKo-
locotroni.
Duringmytimeat St Andrewsand King’sCollegeLondonI havecontinued
tolearnindialoguewithwonderfulcolleaguesandstudents.Forherintelligent
criticism,supportandfriendship,IamdeeplyindebtedtoGinetteVincendeau.
Big thanksare also due to Natalie Adamson, Vicente J.Benet, Bernard Bentley,
MarkBetz,TomBrown,WilliamBrown,SarahCooper,KayDickinson,Richard
Dyer,MetteHjort,YunMiHwang,DinaIordanova,LawrenceNapper,Michele
Pierson, Gill Plain, Jen Rutherford and Leshu Torchin – and very especially to
DavidMartin-Jones,GaryNeedhamandSarahNeely.Theirfriendshiphassus-
tained me and their knowledge of film has always inspired, and often dazzled
me.Cinephiliamaybeasolitarypassion,butitonlythrivesingoodcompany.
This project has greatly benefitted from interaction with various academic
interlocutors.Invitationstospeakatanumberofinternationalconferencesand
researchseminarshelpedenormously,andprovidedimportantsteppingstones
towardsthisbook.Heartfeltthankstothosewhoencouragedmetopublishon
this topic at various stages, especially Mireia Aragay, John Caughie, Annette
Kuhn, Antonio Lastra, Graham Petrie and Vicente Sánchez-Biosca. An early
version of material included in chapter two appeared as ‘Classic Adaptations,
Modern Reinventions: Reading the Image in the Contemporary Literary Film’
8 FiguringthePast
inScreen,vol.,no.();sectionsofchapterthreewerepublishedas‘Fem-
inistHistoriographiesandtheWomanArtist’sBiopic:TheCaseofArtemisia’,in
Screen, vol. , no  () and as ‘Playing in a Minor Key: the Literary Past
throughtheFeministImagination’,inBooksinMotion:Adaptation,Intertextuality,
Authorship,editedbyMireiaAragay(Rodopi,).Workthatformedthebasis
of chapter four was published as ‘Labyrinths of Loss: The Letter as Figure of
Desire and Deferral in the Literary Film’, in Journal of European Studies, vol. ,
no.().AsamplehasalsoappearedinSpanishinthejournalArchivosdela
Filmoteca (no. ) and in the collection Estudios sobre cine, edited by Antonio
Lastra(Verbum,).
Thanks to friends for countless great discussions about movies we watched
together over more than twodecades, for keeping in touch and for welcoming
meback,yearafteryear:PaulaBurriel,ÁngelaElena,EsmeraldaLandete,Hele-
nia López, Enrique Planells, Carolina Sanz, Anna Brígido, Vicente Rodríguez
andIlincaIurascu.
My biggest debt of love and gratitude is to my family, especially to my par-
ents, my grandfather Eustasio, my aunts Lolín and Guillermina, and la dulce
Enriqueta. My amazing sisters Gisela and Gemma helped me keep sane with
emotional support, lots of fun, trips to the cinema (and beyond) and much,
much practical help. Gemma also doubled as a formidable research secret
agent,indefatigablytrackingdownbooksandfilms.
Most of all, I thank Manuel for being with me every step of this adventure,
through a hundred letters, several houses and a few dramatic changes in the
picture.Thankyou forwatching andreading, forallthe great discussions, and
forbelievinginmeevenwhenIdidnot.Icouldnothavedonethiswithoutyou.
Thisbookisdedicatedtomyparents,JaimeVidalMartínezandGemmaVil-
lasurLloret.Thankyouforsupportingmeinallkindsofways,forenduringmy
absence,andfornotallowingmetoforgettheimportantthingsinlife.
–
Introduction Period Film and the
Mannerist Moment
Thepastisaforeigncountry;theydothingsdifferentlythere.
L.P.Hartley,TheGo-Between()
The term irony has become too worn out to be useful… When we think about dis-
tancewethinkaboutthecuttingoffofemotion,andit’snotthat.It’sadistancethat
bringswithitagreateremotionalreservoiroffeeling.
ToddHaynes.InterviewwithNickJames,SightandSound()
In the introduction to his evocatively titled book The Past is a Foreign Country,
David Lowenthal remarks that ‘it is no longer the presence of the past that
speakstous,butitspastness’.Thissubtledistinctionunderliesthepleasuresof
the period film, in which the ‘the Past’ (as original myth or foundational mo-
ment) resonates in the present through the visual (and aural) spectacleof past-
ness, and itsintricate signs.Theperiodfilmstages a return to aplace andtime
whose codes may seem strange and, more often than not, irrelevant. However,
periodobjectsandritualsareasourceofcontinuingfascination,whichaccounts
for the genre’s enduring popularity. Behind the apparent nostalgia for the es-
sence of something lost, there is always something found that becomes mean-
ingfulforeachgenerationofviewers,inscribedinthewaysweimaginethepast
according to the needs and expectations of the present. This book explores the
periodfilmbyfocusingonthevisualpre-eminencegiventoitsfiguresofmean-
ing.Thenotionoffigureprovidesaprismthroughwhichtolookatafilmgenre
that thrives on convention and variation. Focusing on a cycle of films made
between  and , I will be discussing the ways these films project the
contemporary historical imagination through a unique aesthetic that engages
withthetexturesofthepastindistinctiveways.
The period film presents a narrative image of a distant but recognisable cul-
turalpastthroughtheworkofthemise-en-scène.‘Periodfilm’oftenworksasa
conveniently functional umbrella term for historical films and classic adapta-
tions, and within them, a wide variety of genre pieces (swashbuckling adven-
tures,thrillers,romances,comediesofmannersorepics)thatexploitthepastas

a conveniently exotic background for genre narratives. Scholarly accounts of
the genre tend to use ‘historical film’ for films that reconstruct documented