Sruti Bala
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526100771
- eISBN:
- 9781526138927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526100771.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Visual Culture
The gestures of participatory art offers a critical investigation of key debates in relation to participatory art, spanning the domains of applied and community theatre, immersive performance as well ...
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The gestures of participatory art offers a critical investigation of key debates in relation to participatory art, spanning the domains of applied and community theatre, immersive performance as well as the visual arts. Rather than seeking a genre-based definition, it asks how artists, audiences and art practices approach the subject of participation beyond the predetermined options allocated to them. In doing so, it inquires into the ways that artworks participate in civic life. Participation is the utopian sweet dream that has turned into a nightmare in contemporary neoliberal societies. Yet can the participatory ideal be discarded or merely replaced with another term, just because it has become disemboweled into a tool of pacification? The gestures of participatory art insists that the concept of participation must be re-imagined and shifted onto other registers. It proposes the concept of the gesture as a rewarding way of theorizing participatory art. The gesture is simultaneously an expression of an inner attitude as well as a social habitude; it is situated in between image, speech and action. The study reads the gestural as a way to link discussions on participatory art to broader issues of citizenship and collective action. Moving from reflections on institutional critique and impact to concrete analyses of moments of unsolicited, delicate participation or refusal, the book examines a range of practices from India, Sudan, Guatemala and El Salvador, the Lebanon, the Netherlands and Germany. It engages with the critiques of participation and pleads for a critical reclaiming of participatory practices.Less
The gestures of participatory art offers a critical investigation of key debates in relation to participatory art, spanning the domains of applied and community theatre, immersive performance as well as the visual arts. Rather than seeking a genre-based definition, it asks how artists, audiences and art practices approach the subject of participation beyond the predetermined options allocated to them. In doing so, it inquires into the ways that artworks participate in civic life. Participation is the utopian sweet dream that has turned into a nightmare in contemporary neoliberal societies. Yet can the participatory ideal be discarded or merely replaced with another term, just because it has become disemboweled into a tool of pacification? The gestures of participatory art insists that the concept of participation must be re-imagined and shifted onto other registers. It proposes the concept of the gesture as a rewarding way of theorizing participatory art. The gesture is simultaneously an expression of an inner attitude as well as a social habitude; it is situated in between image, speech and action. The study reads the gestural as a way to link discussions on participatory art to broader issues of citizenship and collective action. Moving from reflections on institutional critique and impact to concrete analyses of moments of unsolicited, delicate participation or refusal, the book examines a range of practices from India, Sudan, Guatemala and El Salvador, the Lebanon, the Netherlands and Germany. It engages with the critiques of participation and pleads for a critical reclaiming of participatory practices.
Carole Hillenbrand
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625727
- eISBN:
- 9780748671359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625727.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines the strategies and tropes used by the Arab and Persian chroniclers in the medieval Muslim narratives of the battle of Manzikert, and the didactic purposes for which these ...
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This chapter examines the strategies and tropes used by the Arab and Persian chroniclers in the medieval Muslim narratives of the battle of Manzikert, and the didactic purposes for which these narratives are used. Qur'anic resonances, such as presenting the arrogant Byzantine emperor Romanus as a latter-day Pharaoh, and other Muslim elements in these accounts, such as the importance of positioning the battle on a Friday, are discussed. Narrative techniques, including theatrical features, are analysed. The influence of the Mirrors for Princes advice literature is also examined. This chapter emphasises in its conclusion that these accounts can hardly be described as providing concrete details about the actual battle of Manzikert; instead, they are vehicles through which Arabic and Persian writers can praise their Turkish overlords, can vaunt the military prowess traditionally associated with the Turks, and – through the triumphal symbol of none other than the captured Byzantine emperor himself – can proclaim the triumph of Islam over Christianity. Thus Manzikert provides not only a spur but also an examplar for subsequent Muslim victories over the Christian foe.Less
This chapter examines the strategies and tropes used by the Arab and Persian chroniclers in the medieval Muslim narratives of the battle of Manzikert, and the didactic purposes for which these narratives are used. Qur'anic resonances, such as presenting the arrogant Byzantine emperor Romanus as a latter-day Pharaoh, and other Muslim elements in these accounts, such as the importance of positioning the battle on a Friday, are discussed. Narrative techniques, including theatrical features, are analysed. The influence of the Mirrors for Princes advice literature is also examined. This chapter emphasises in its conclusion that these accounts can hardly be described as providing concrete details about the actual battle of Manzikert; instead, they are vehicles through which Arabic and Persian writers can praise their Turkish overlords, can vaunt the military prowess traditionally associated with the Turks, and – through the triumphal symbol of none other than the captured Byzantine emperor himself – can proclaim the triumph of Islam over Christianity. Thus Manzikert provides not only a spur but also an examplar for subsequent Muslim victories over the Christian foe.
Seth Lobis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300192032
- eISBN:
- 9780300210415
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300192032.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter argues that Milton revises and rehabilitates the moral ideal of his divorce tracts in the final books of Paradise Lost. For this new concept of sympathy, which after the Fall is no ...
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This chapter argues that Milton revises and rehabilitates the moral ideal of his divorce tracts in the final books of Paradise Lost. For this new concept of sympathy, which after the Fall is no longer rooted in the sympathetic nature of The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton develops a moral lexicon purged of occultist terms of art. The reconciliation of Adam and Eve after the Fall hinges on their ability to sympathize with each other. Human sympathy, Milton suggests, compensates for the loss of universal sympathy. The chapter goes on to argue that, in the final movement of the epic, Milton moves sympathy further into the realm of moral philosophy by extending his analysis from economics—that is, domestic relations—to ethics and politics. Adam receives an intensive education in sympathy from the angel Michael, who uses theatrical scenes to inculcate an ethical ideal based on temperance and poised between narcissism and over-identification. Michael goes on to show Adam that a sympathetic polity is possible in the fallen world, but is continually vulnerable to the ambitions of the sinful. In identifying sympathy as a fundamental moral challenge in human experience, the chapter concludes, Milton anticipates David Hume’s “modern” philosophy.Less
This chapter argues that Milton revises and rehabilitates the moral ideal of his divorce tracts in the final books of Paradise Lost. For this new concept of sympathy, which after the Fall is no longer rooted in the sympathetic nature of The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton develops a moral lexicon purged of occultist terms of art. The reconciliation of Adam and Eve after the Fall hinges on their ability to sympathize with each other. Human sympathy, Milton suggests, compensates for the loss of universal sympathy. The chapter goes on to argue that, in the final movement of the epic, Milton moves sympathy further into the realm of moral philosophy by extending his analysis from economics—that is, domestic relations—to ethics and politics. Adam receives an intensive education in sympathy from the angel Michael, who uses theatrical scenes to inculcate an ethical ideal based on temperance and poised between narcissism and over-identification. Michael goes on to show Adam that a sympathetic polity is possible in the fallen world, but is continually vulnerable to the ambitions of the sinful. In identifying sympathy as a fundamental moral challenge in human experience, the chapter concludes, Milton anticipates David Hume’s “modern” philosophy.
Maria M. Delgado
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719097720
- eISBN:
- 9781526121172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719097720.003.0016
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines Almodóvar’s film Los amantes pasajeros/I’m So Excited! against the backdrop of Spain’s economic crisis. Describing the shift of director Pedro Almodóvar from melodrama to ...
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This chapter examines Almodóvar’s film Los amantes pasajeros/I’m So Excited! against the backdrop of Spain’s economic crisis. Describing the shift of director Pedro Almodóvar from melodrama to drawing room farce made evident in this film, the chapter highlights its theatricality; in so doing, it argues that the Los amantes pasajeros owes much to broad traditions of theatre acting that range from vaudeville, to mime to classic Shakespearian. The language of theatrical acting that the film employs, to that end, incorporates gestures and dramatic histrionics in order to make a clear indictment of the current state of Spain in crisis. By making clear the links between the politics of acting and acting out politics, the chapter’s account of performance further demonstrates just how nuanced the landscape of Spanish acting can be.Less
This chapter examines Almodóvar’s film Los amantes pasajeros/I’m So Excited! against the backdrop of Spain’s economic crisis. Describing the shift of director Pedro Almodóvar from melodrama to drawing room farce made evident in this film, the chapter highlights its theatricality; in so doing, it argues that the Los amantes pasajeros owes much to broad traditions of theatre acting that range from vaudeville, to mime to classic Shakespearian. The language of theatrical acting that the film employs, to that end, incorporates gestures and dramatic histrionics in order to make a clear indictment of the current state of Spain in crisis. By making clear the links between the politics of acting and acting out politics, the chapter’s account of performance further demonstrates just how nuanced the landscape of Spanish acting can be.
Jan R. Stenger
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474403795
- eISBN:
- 9781474435130
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474403795.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The Riot of the Statues in 387 CE was a decisive moment in the history of Antioch in Syria. After the revolt, tears and public lamentations took over, as the inhabitants awaited imperial punishment. ...
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The Riot of the Statues in 387 CE was a decisive moment in the history of Antioch in Syria. After the revolt, tears and public lamentations took over, as the inhabitants awaited imperial punishment. In the course of the crisis the rhetorician Libanius and the preacher John Chrysostom each tried to negotiate a settlement of the dispute between the authorities and the city. Their speeches depict dramatic scenes of collective weeping and lamentation and thus reflect not only emotional states but also the public use of tears. In doing so, they shine light on the theatrical qualities of emotional responses in social interaction. The analysis of the purposes for which both authors exploit the themes of laughing and wailing reveals two contrasting attitudes to urban society and oratory. While both recognise the vital role of laughter and tears in managing social relationships, Libanius’ representation of emotional expressions aims to eulogise the virtues of an imperial officer and maintain the traditional order of society. Chrysostom, by contrast, teaches his audience which emotions are acceptable in a Christian society and which are not. His aim is to implement an emotion management that is oriented towards the heavenly realm.Less
The Riot of the Statues in 387 CE was a decisive moment in the history of Antioch in Syria. After the revolt, tears and public lamentations took over, as the inhabitants awaited imperial punishment. In the course of the crisis the rhetorician Libanius and the preacher John Chrysostom each tried to negotiate a settlement of the dispute between the authorities and the city. Their speeches depict dramatic scenes of collective weeping and lamentation and thus reflect not only emotional states but also the public use of tears. In doing so, they shine light on the theatrical qualities of emotional responses in social interaction. The analysis of the purposes for which both authors exploit the themes of laughing and wailing reveals two contrasting attitudes to urban society and oratory. While both recognise the vital role of laughter and tears in managing social relationships, Libanius’ representation of emotional expressions aims to eulogise the virtues of an imperial officer and maintain the traditional order of society. Chrysostom, by contrast, teaches his audience which emotions are acceptable in a Christian society and which are not. His aim is to implement an emotion management that is oriented towards the heavenly realm.
Vincent Debaene
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226106908
- eISBN:
- 9780226107233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226107233.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Unlike many other French ethnographers, Michel Leiris published his “literary” work, L’Afrique fantôme, before his more scientifically oriented ethnographic texts. Yet, in this sprawling and ...
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Unlike many other French ethnographers, Michel Leiris published his “literary” work, L’Afrique fantôme, before his more scientifically oriented ethnographic texts. Yet, in this sprawling and introspective diary, Leiris constantly asserts that ethnographic research must end in failure. This chapter examines the broad stakes of L’Afrique fantôme and suggests that book’s interest lies less in the failure of the voyage it recounts than in the continuous sense of starting over and the ever deeper sense of movement that emerges in its pages. Leiris’s sense of disillusionment and his experience of the impossibility of continuing his journey as he had originally imagined it are formalized in a metaphor of theatricality that this chapter examines at length by considering how it is ultimately tied to Leiris’s utopian desire for a living document that is both rhetorical and anthropological.Less
Unlike many other French ethnographers, Michel Leiris published his “literary” work, L’Afrique fantôme, before his more scientifically oriented ethnographic texts. Yet, in this sprawling and introspective diary, Leiris constantly asserts that ethnographic research must end in failure. This chapter examines the broad stakes of L’Afrique fantôme and suggests that book’s interest lies less in the failure of the voyage it recounts than in the continuous sense of starting over and the ever deeper sense of movement that emerges in its pages. Leiris’s sense of disillusionment and his experience of the impossibility of continuing his journey as he had originally imagined it are formalized in a metaphor of theatricality that this chapter examines at length by considering how it is ultimately tied to Leiris’s utopian desire for a living document that is both rhetorical and anthropological.
Carl S. Hughes
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823257256
- eISBN:
- 9780823261505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823257256.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter is devoted to a single, highly provocative Eucharistic Discourse: “The Woman Who Was a Sinner.” It begins by analyzing why Kierkegaard focuses on this story from Luke 7, rather than the ...
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This chapter is devoted to a single, highly provocative Eucharistic Discourse: “The Woman Who Was a Sinner.” It begins by analyzing why Kierkegaard focuses on this story from Luke 7, rather than the other similar stories in the gospels. It argues that Kierkegaard treats this disruptive and desirous woman as an image of Christian faith itself. The author then interprets Kierkegaard’s highly theatrical “staging” of the woman’s story through the lens of the theatrical techniques identified in Chapter One. The chapter concludes by considering the potent effect of imagining this story amidst the aesthetic and liturgical backdrop of Vor Frue Kirke as Kierkegaard intended.Less
This chapter is devoted to a single, highly provocative Eucharistic Discourse: “The Woman Who Was a Sinner.” It begins by analyzing why Kierkegaard focuses on this story from Luke 7, rather than the other similar stories in the gospels. It argues that Kierkegaard treats this disruptive and desirous woman as an image of Christian faith itself. The author then interprets Kierkegaard’s highly theatrical “staging” of the woman’s story through the lens of the theatrical techniques identified in Chapter One. The chapter concludes by considering the potent effect of imagining this story amidst the aesthetic and liturgical backdrop of Vor Frue Kirke as Kierkegaard intended.
Carl S. Hughes
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823257256
- eISBN:
- 9780823261505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823257256.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter is devoted to Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, his most extended treatment of ethics and Christian love. Works of Love is frequently interpreted as running contrary to the author’s ...
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This chapter is devoted to Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, his most extended treatment of ethics and Christian love. Works of Love is frequently interpreted as running contrary to the author’s fundamental theses about desire and theatricality. In opposition to such interpretations, this chapter argues that Kierkegaard presents love for God as a form of infinite, insatiable desire. It show that for Kierkegaard genuine love for human beings can only be rooted in such passionate relationship to God. The chapter concludes by showing that Kierkegaard figures the very nature of existence in theatrical terms. It interprets Kierkegaard’s famous broken engagement to Regine Olsen in just this light.Less
This chapter is devoted to Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, his most extended treatment of ethics and Christian love. Works of Love is frequently interpreted as running contrary to the author’s fundamental theses about desire and theatricality. In opposition to such interpretations, this chapter argues that Kierkegaard presents love for God as a form of infinite, insatiable desire. It show that for Kierkegaard genuine love for human beings can only be rooted in such passionate relationship to God. The chapter concludes by showing that Kierkegaard figures the very nature of existence in theatrical terms. It interprets Kierkegaard’s famous broken engagement to Regine Olsen in just this light.
Reinhold Görling
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823242245
- eISBN:
- 9780823242283
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823242245.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Claiming that torture is a phenomenon specific to societies rather than to human individuals or other forms of life, this chapter analyzes the psycho-social consequences of torture as a practice that ...
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Claiming that torture is a phenomenon specific to societies rather than to human individuals or other forms of life, this chapter analyzes the psycho-social consequences of torture as a practice that denies to some of its members the protection against human vulnerability that is constitutive of society. Drawing on D. W. Winnicott's location of cultural experience in games of recognition, it claims that the tendency of culture to perform sociality in theatrical forms makes it possible to reverse this tendency and perform in torture the vulnerability and negation of sociality. Since denial of the other is also a theatrical act, it necessarily enlists a third party, or witness, who either resists the exclusion of the victim from the social bond orlooks away. Since the position of the third party now is increasingly occupied by the eye and ear of digital recording, the chapter describes the psychic structure of not-seeing that is produced by the paradoxical mediality of violence: that at once destroys the capacity for expression and lodges in the psyche, and group memory, more stubbornly.Less
Claiming that torture is a phenomenon specific to societies rather than to human individuals or other forms of life, this chapter analyzes the psycho-social consequences of torture as a practice that denies to some of its members the protection against human vulnerability that is constitutive of society. Drawing on D. W. Winnicott's location of cultural experience in games of recognition, it claims that the tendency of culture to perform sociality in theatrical forms makes it possible to reverse this tendency and perform in torture the vulnerability and negation of sociality. Since denial of the other is also a theatrical act, it necessarily enlists a third party, or witness, who either resists the exclusion of the victim from the social bond orlooks away. Since the position of the third party now is increasingly occupied by the eye and ear of digital recording, the chapter describes the psychic structure of not-seeing that is produced by the paradoxical mediality of violence: that at once destroys the capacity for expression and lodges in the psyche, and group memory, more stubbornly.
Marcus Morris
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719091698
- eISBN:
- 9781526109989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719091698.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter argues that performance is crucial to understanding the political campaigns of the early Labour leaders in the late nineteenth century. Morris examines the performative language of ...
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This chapter argues that performance is crucial to understanding the political campaigns of the early Labour leaders in the late nineteenth century. Morris examines the performative language of politics, assessing the link between political rhetoric, performance and electoral campaigns. Through a case study of the two leading political actors of the emergent Socialist movement, H.M. Hyndman and Keir Hardie, and their particular political appeals the chapter analyses the non-verbal element of their campaigns and how they conceptualised themselves as performers. historians should consider more than just the words and messages that politicians were offering, they should also examine the methods and mediums by which those words were delivered and the way in which politicians used a theatrical frame to convince their constituents, with their particular performances becoming their political message.Less
This chapter argues that performance is crucial to understanding the political campaigns of the early Labour leaders in the late nineteenth century. Morris examines the performative language of politics, assessing the link between political rhetoric, performance and electoral campaigns. Through a case study of the two leading political actors of the emergent Socialist movement, H.M. Hyndman and Keir Hardie, and their particular political appeals the chapter analyses the non-verbal element of their campaigns and how they conceptualised themselves as performers. historians should consider more than just the words and messages that politicians were offering, they should also examine the methods and mediums by which those words were delivered and the way in which politicians used a theatrical frame to convince their constituents, with their particular performances becoming their political message.
Sozita Goudouna
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474421645
- eISBN:
- 9781474444927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421645.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This section introduces a critical framework that discusses the interplay and interconnectedness of media and the dynamic tension between theatricality and the visual arts in the spectrum of ...
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This section introduces a critical framework that discusses the interplay and interconnectedness of media and the dynamic tension between theatricality and the visual arts in the spectrum of Beckett's Breath (1969). Argumentation builds upon the investigation of Fried's seminal theory “Art and Objecthood,” (1967) and Beckett's aesthetic theory in the “Three Dialogues with Georges Duthuit”(1949); both discourses are considered in relation to disciplinary or medial entanglements.Less
This section introduces a critical framework that discusses the interplay and interconnectedness of media and the dynamic tension between theatricality and the visual arts in the spectrum of Beckett's Breath (1969). Argumentation builds upon the investigation of Fried's seminal theory “Art and Objecthood,” (1967) and Beckett's aesthetic theory in the “Three Dialogues with Georges Duthuit”(1949); both discourses are considered in relation to disciplinary or medial entanglements.
Sozita Goudouna
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474421645
- eISBN:
- 9781474444927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421645.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The second chapter elaborates further on Fried's theory and its negative reception and provides a critical overview of Fried's controversial theory and its ideological ramifications by questioning ...
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The second chapter elaborates further on Fried's theory and its negative reception and provides a critical overview of Fried's controversial theory and its ideological ramifications by questioning Fried's high-modernist narrative about the viewing experience of visual art, as either a pure optical experience or as a strong gestalt. The chapter critically examines Fried's binarism between modernist presentness and minimalism's real time by arguing against Fried's claim that the worst aspect of minimalism is the manifestation of unlimited durationality.Less
The second chapter elaborates further on Fried's theory and its negative reception and provides a critical overview of Fried's controversial theory and its ideological ramifications by questioning Fried's high-modernist narrative about the viewing experience of visual art, as either a pure optical experience or as a strong gestalt. The chapter critically examines Fried's binarism between modernist presentness and minimalism's real time by arguing against Fried's claim that the worst aspect of minimalism is the manifestation of unlimited durationality.
Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748692606
- eISBN:
- 9781474444651
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748692606.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In close conversation with the previous chapter, Deleuze’s concept of ‘crystal-image’ is used here to explore various reflexive structures and show how pivotal they are to the construction of an ...
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In close conversation with the previous chapter, Deleuze’s concept of ‘crystal-image’ is used here to explore various reflexive structures and show how pivotal they are to the construction of an aesthetic of opacity. Mises en abyme, mirror images, widespread theatricality help interrogate the fluid and playful relationship between illusion and reality. Like Magritte and Renoir, Chabrol excels at subverting the representation of reality by making it look oneiric or uncanny, sometimes through a mere detail. Through the key examples of La Fille coupée en deux as ‘crystal-film’ and L’Enfer as paranoid narrative, this chapter examines how and to what extent Chabrol challenges the status of the image and the reception process.Less
In close conversation with the previous chapter, Deleuze’s concept of ‘crystal-image’ is used here to explore various reflexive structures and show how pivotal they are to the construction of an aesthetic of opacity. Mises en abyme, mirror images, widespread theatricality help interrogate the fluid and playful relationship between illusion and reality. Like Magritte and Renoir, Chabrol excels at subverting the representation of reality by making it look oneiric or uncanny, sometimes through a mere detail. Through the key examples of La Fille coupée en deux as ‘crystal-film’ and L’Enfer as paranoid narrative, this chapter examines how and to what extent Chabrol challenges the status of the image and the reception process.
