Magnification and Other Writings

Author(s): Jean Epstein and Stuart Liebman

Source: October, Vol. 3 (Spring, 1977), pp. 9-25
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/778434 .
Accessed: 18/09/2013 19:11
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to October.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnification
and otherWritings

JEAN EPSTEIN
TRANSLATED

BY STUART LIEBMAN*

I will neverfindtheway to say how I love Americanclose-ups. Point blank.

A head suddenlyappears on screenand drama,now face to face,seemsto address
me personallyand swells with an extraordinary
intensity.I am hypnotized.Now
act is thiscornerof a cheektornby
the tragedyis anatomical. The decorof thefifth
a smile. Waiting for the moment when 1,000 metersof intrigueconvergein a
muscular denoument satisfiesme more than the rest of the film. Muscular
preamblesripple beneaththeskin. Shadows shift,tremble,hesitate.Somethingis
being decided. A breeze of emotion underlines the mouth with clouds. The
orographyof the face vacillates. Seismic shocks begin. Capillary wrinklestryto
split the fault.A wave carriesthemaway. Crescendo.A muscle bridles.The lip is
laced with tics like a theatercurtain.Everythingis movement,imbalance, crisis.
Crack. The mouthgives way,like a ripe fruitsplittingopen. As ifslitbya scalpel,
a keyboard-likesmile cuts laterallyinto the cornerof the lips.
The close-up is thesoul of thecinema. It can be briefbecause thevalue of the
photogenic is measured in seconds. If it is too long, I don't findcontinuous
pleasure in it. Intermittent
paroxysmsaffectme theway needlesdo. Until now, I
have neverseen an entireminute of pure photogeny.Therefore,one mustadmit
that the photogenic is like a spark thatappears in fitsand starts.It imposes a
d
a thousandtimesmoredetailed than thatof mostfilms,evenAmerican
,coupage
ones.
Mincemeat.Even more beautifulthan a laugh is thefacepreparingforit. I
must interrupt.I love the mouth which is about to speak and holds back, the
gesturewhich hesitatesbetweenrightand left,the recoil beforetheleap, and the
momentbeforelanding,thebecoming,thehesitation,thetautspring,theprelude,
and even more than all these, the piano being tuned beforethe overture.The
photogenicis conjugatedin thefutureand in theimperative.It does notallow for
stasis.
I have neverunderstoodmotionlessclose-ups. They sacrificetheiressence,
which is movement.Like the hands of a watch,one of which is on thehour and
The translatorwould like to acknowledge the manyhelpfulcorrectionsand suggestionsmade
*
by Camille Hercot and AnnetteMichelson.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

OCTOBER

10

the other on the half hour, the legs of St. John the Baptist create a temporal
dissonance. Rodin or someone else explained it: in orderto createtheimpression
of movement.A divine illusion? No, the gimmick for a toy presentedat the
"concoursLipine," 1 and patentedso thatit can't be used to make lead soldiers.It
seemed to Rodin thatWatteau's Cytheracould be animated by the movementof
the eye fromleftto rightover it. The motor-bikespostersrace uphill by means of
symbols:hatching,hyphens,blank spaces. Right or wrong,theytherebyendeavor
to conceal theirankylosis.The painterand the sculptormaul life,but thisbitch
has beautiful,real legs and escapes fromunder the nose of the artistcrippledby
intertia.Sculptureand painting,paralyzedin marbleor tiedto canvas,are reduces
to pretencein orderto capturemovement,theindispensable.The rusesofreading.
You mustnot maintainthatartis createdout ofobstaclesand limits.You, who are
lame, have made a cult of your crutch.The cinema demonstratesyour error.
Cinema is all movementwithoutany need forstabilityor equilibrium. Of all the
sensorylogarithmsof reality,the photogenicis based on movement.An exhibition of inventionsheld annually in Paris. Derivedfromtime,it is acceleration.It
opposes the event to stasis,relationshipto dimension. Gearing up and gearing
down. This new beautyis as sinuous as thecurveof thestockmarketindex. It is no
longer the functionof a variable but a variable itself.
The close-up, thekeystoneof thecinema,is themaximumexpressionof this
photogenyof movement.When static,it vergeson contradiction.The facealone
doesn't unravelits expressionsbut thehead and lens movingtogetheror apart,to
the leftand rightof each other.Sharp focus is avoided.
The landscape may representa stateof mind. It is above all a state.A stateof
rest.Even in thoselandscapes mostoftenshown in documentariesof picturesque
Brittanyor of a trip to Japan are in serious error.But 'the landscape's dance' is
photogenic. Through the window of a train or a ship's porthole, the world
acquires a new, specificallycinematicvivacity.A road is a road but the ground
which fleesunder the fourbeating heartsof an automobile's bellytransportsme.
The Oberland and Semmeringtunnels swallow me up, and my head, bursting
throughthe roof,hits against theirvaults. Seasicknessis decidedlypleasant. I'm
on board thefallingairplane. My kneesbend. This area remainsto be exploited.I
yearnfora drama aboard a merry-goround, or more modernstill, in airplanes.
The fairbelow and its surroundingswould be progressively
confounded.Centrifuged in this way, and adding vertigoand rotation to it, the tragedywould
increase its photogenic quality ten-fold.I would like to see a dance shot successivelyfromthe fourcardinal directions.Then, with strokesof a pan shotor of a
turning foot, the room as it is seen by the dancing couple. An intelligent
decoupage will reconstitutethe double life of the dance by linking togetherthe
viewpointsof the spectatorand the dancer,objectiveand subjective,if I may say
so. When a characteris going to meet another,I want to go along withhim not
1.

The "concours Lbpine": an exhibitionfairforinventorsheld in Paris.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

11

behind or in frontof him or by his side, but in him. I would like to look through
his eyes and see his hand reach out from under me as if it were my own;
interruptionsof opaque filmwould imitatethe blinkingof our eyelids.
One need not exclude the landscape but adapt it. Such is thecase witha film
I've seen, Souvenir d'kta d Stockholm. Stockholm didn't appear at all. Rather,
male and female swimmerswho had doubtlesslynot even been asked for their
permissionto be filmed.People diving.There werekids and old people, men and
women. No one gave a damn about thecameraand had a greattime.And so did I!
A boat loaded with strollersand animation. Elsewhere people fished.A crowd
watched.I don't rememberwhat show thecrowdwas waitingfor;it was difficult
to
move throughthesegroups. There wereCafe terraces.Swings. Races on thegrass
and throughthe reeds.Everywhere,men, life,swarms,truth.
That's what must replace the Path&colornewsreelwhereI always searchfor
the words "Bonnie Fete" writtenin golden lettersat the cornerof the screen.2
But the closeup must be introduced,or else one deliberatelyhandicaps the
style.Justas a strollerleans down to get a betterlook at a plant, an insect,or a
pebble, the lens must include in a sequence describinga field,close-ups of a
flower,a fruit,or an animal: living nature. I never travelas solemnlyas these
cameramen.I look, I sniffat things,I touch.Close-up,close-up,close-up. Not the
recommendedpoints of view, the horizons of the Touring Club, but natural,
indigenous,and photogenicdetails.Shop windows,cafes,quite wretchedurchins,
a cashier,ordinarygesturesmade withtheirfullcapacityforrealization,a fair,the
dust of automobiles,an atmosphere.
The landscape filmis, for the moment, a big zero. People look for the
picturesquein them.The pictu'resquein cinema is zero,nothing,negation.About
the same as speaking of colors to a blind man. The filmis susceptibleonly to
photogeny.Picturesqueand photogeniccoincide only by chance. All the worthless filmsshot near the Promenadedes Anglais proceed fromthisconfusion;and
theirsunsetsare furtherproofof this.
Possibilities are already appearing for the drama of the microscope, a
hystophysiologyof the passions, a classificationof the amorous sentimentsinto
those which do and thosewhich do not need Gram's solution.3Young girlswill
consult theminsteadof thefortuneteller.While we are waiting,we have an initial
sketchin the close-up. It is nearlyoverlooked,not because it errs,but because it
presentsa ready-madestyle,a minute dramaturgy,flayedand vulnerable. The
amplifyingclose-up demands underplaying.It's opposed to the theaterwhere
everythingis loudly declaimed. A hurricaneof murmurs.An interiorconviction
liftsthe mask. It's not about interpretinga role; what's importantis the actor's
2.
Epstein is evidentlyreferringto the practice of early filmcompanies who inscribed their
trademarksemblemon the theatricalsets or insertedplacards bearingsuch emblemsinto shotstaken
outdoors to preventpirating of their prints. Epstein rejectedsuch a declarationof artificiality
as
inappropriateforfilm.
3.
"Gram's solution": a solution used in the differential
stainingof bacteria.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

...................
...

.............

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

13

beliefin his character,rightup to thepoint wherea character'sabsent-mindedness

becomes that of the actor himself.The directorsuggests,then persuades, then
hypnotizes.The filmis nothingbut a relaybetweenthissourceof nervousenergy
and the auditoriumwhich breathesits radiance. That is why the gestureswhich
work best on screenare nervousgestures.
It is paradoxical, or ratherextraordinary,
that the nervousnesswhich often
be
when
thescreendeals mercilesslywith
reactions
should
exaggerates
photogenic
the least forcedgestures.Chaplin has createdthe overwroughthero. His entire
of a nervous,tiredperson.A bell or an automobile
performanceconsistsof reflexes
horn makes him jump, forceshim to stand anxiously, his hand on his chest,
because of the nervouspalpitations of his heart.This isn't so much an example,
but rathera synopsisof his photogenic neurasthenia.The firsttime that I saw
Nazimova agitated and exothermic,living through an intense childhood, I
guessed thatshe was Russian, thatshe came fromone of themostnervouspeoples
on earth.And thelittle,short,rapid, spare,one mightsayinvoluntary,gesturesof
Lillian Gish who runs like the hand of a chronometer!The hands of Louise
Glaum unceasinglydrum a tune of anxiety.Mae Murray,BusterKeaton. Etc.
The close-up is drama in high gear. A man says, "I love the far-away
princess."Here theverbalgearingdown is suppressed.I can see love. It halflowers
its eyelids, raises the arc of the eyebrowslaterally,inscribesitselfon the taut
on themouth
forehead,swells the massiters,hardens the tuftof the chin, flickers
and at theedge of thenostrils.Good lighting;how distantthefar-awayprincessis.
We're not so delicate that we must be presentedwith the sacrificeof Iphigenia
recounted in alexandrins. We are different.We have replaced the fan by the
ventilatorand everythingelse accordingly.We demand to see because of our
experimentalmentality,because of our desirefora moreexact poetry,because of
our analyticpropensity,because we need to make new mistakes.
The close-up is an intensifyingagent because of its size alone. If the
tendernessexpressedby a faceten timesas large is doubtlesslynot ten timesmore
moving,it is because in thiscase, ten,a thousand,or a hundredthousandwould&
a similarmeaning. Merelybeing able to establishtwiceas much
erroneously-have
emotion would still have enormous consequences. But whateverits numerical
than to confirm
value, thismagnificationacts on one's feelingsmore to transform
them,and personally,it makes me uneasy. Increasingor decreasingsuccessionsof
events in the right proportions would obtain effectsof an exceptional and
fortunateelegance. The close-up modifiesthe drama by theimpactof proximity.
Pain is within reach. If I stretchout my arm I touch you, and thatis intimacy.I
can count the eyelashesof this suffering.
I would be able to tastethe tears.Never
beforehas a faceturnedto mine in thatway. Evercloserit pressesagainstme,and I
follow it face to face.It's not even truethatthereis air betweenus; I consumeit. It
is in me like a sacrament.Maximum visual acuity.
The close-up limitsand directsthe attention.As an emotional indicator,it
overwhelmsme. I have neitherthe rightnor theabilityto be distracted.It speaks
Sessue Hayakawa in Cecil B. deMille's The Cheat
1915

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

i
iiiii.............iiiii~
i~i~
i!ii~

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

15

the presentimperativeof the verb to understand.Justas petroleumpotentially

existsin the landscape thatthe engineergropinglyprobes,thephotogenicand a
whole new rhetoricare similarlyconcealed in the close-up. I haven't therightto
thinkof anythingbut thistelephone.It is a monster,a towerand a character.The
power and scope of its whispering.Destinies wheel about, enter,and leave from
this pylon as if froman acoustical pigeon house. Through this nexus flowsthe
illusion of mywill, a laugh thatI like or a number,an expectationor a silence.It
fromwhich
is a sensorylimit,a solid nucleus, a relay,a mysterioustransformer
everythinggood or bad may issue. It looks like an idea.
One can't evade an iris. Round about, blackness; nothing to attractone's
attention.
This is a cyclopean art,a unisensual art,an iconoscopic retina.All lifeand
attentionare in theeye.The eyeseesnothingbut a facelike a greatsun. Hayakawa
aims his incandescentmask like a revolver.Wrapped in darkness,ranged in the
cell-like seats, directedtoward the source of emotion by their softerside, the
sensibilitiesof the entireauditoriumconverge,as if in a funnel,towardthefilm.
Everythingelse is barred,excluded,no longervalid. Even themusic to whichone
is accustomedis nothingbut additional anesthesiaforwhat is not visual. It takes
away our ears the way a Valda lozenge takes away our sense of taste.A cinema
orchestraneed not simulate sound effects.Let it supply a rhythm,preferablya
monotonous one. One cannot listen and look at the same time. If thereis a
dispute,sight,as themostdeveloped,the mostspecialized,and themostgenerally
popular sense, always wins. Music which attractsattentionor the imitationof
noises is simplydisturbing.
Although sight is already recognizedby everyoneas the most developed
sense, and even though the viewpoint of our intellectand our moresare visual,
nevertheless,there has never been an emotive process so homogeneously,so
exclusivelyoptical as thecinema. Truly, thecinema createsa particularsystemof
consciousnesslimitedto a single sense.And afterone has grownused to using this
new and extremelypleasant intellectual state, it becomes a sort of need, like
tobaccoor coffee.I have mydose or I don't. Hunger fora hypnosisfarmoreviolent
than readingoffers
because readingmodifiesthefunctioningof thenervoussystem
much less.
The cinematicfeelingis therefore
particularlyintense.More than anything
the
else,
close-up releasesit. Although not dandies, all of us are or are becoming
blase. Art takes to the warpath. To attractcustomers,the circus showman must
improvehis acts and speed up his carousel fromfairto fair.Being an artistmeans
to astonish and excite. The habit of strong sensations which the cinema is
essentiallycapable ofproducing,bluntstheatricalsensationswhich are,moreover,
of a lesserorder.Theater,watch out!
If the cinema magnifiesfeeling,it magnifiesit in everyway. Pleasure in it is
more pleasurable, but its defectsare more defective.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

OCTOBER

16

TimelessTime
Learning perspective
Everyspectaclewhich is theimitationof a seriesofeventscreates,bythevery
factof the succession containedwithinit, a timewhich is itsown, a distortionof
historical time. In primitivetheatricalmanifestations,this illusory time dared
depart only a verylittle fromthe time in which the describedaction actually
occurred.Similarly,the firstdesignersand paintersexploredtheillusion of relief
timidly,hardly knowing how to representthe illusion of spatial depth; they
remainedattached to the realityof the flatsurfaceon which theyworked.Only
gradually did man, developing as the imitativeanimal par excellence,become
accustomedto providinghimselfwithfictivespaces and timeswhich,proceeding
fromimitationsof nature to secondaryand tertiaryversionsof thesefirstimitations,progressivelydistancedthemselvesfromtheiroriginal models.
the
Thus, the lengthof mystery
plays performedin the Middle Ages reflects
this
which
of
still
in
minds
epoch
difficulty
experience shiftingtemporalperspective.At thattime,a drama which did not last almostas long on stageas theactual
unfolding of the events would not have seemed believable and sustained the
illusion. And the rule of the threeunities which established 24 hours as the
maximum of solar time which it was permittedto compressinto threeor four
hours or performance time marks another stage of the advance toward the
comprehension of chronological abridgement,that is, of temporal relativity.
at
Today, thisreductionof durationby one eighthwhich classical tragedyoffered
bestseemsa verysmall endeavorcomparedto thecompressionsof 1/50,000which
the cinema achieves,though not withoutinducing slightdizziness.
The machine which thinkstemporally
Anotherastonishingquality of the cinematographis its abilityto multiply
and make immenselymore supple the play of temporalperspective,to trainthe
intellect in an exercise which is always difficult:to move from established
absolutes to unstable conditionals. Here again, this machine which extendsor
condenses duration, which demonstratesthe variable nature of time, which
preaches the relativityof all standards,seems endowed with a kind of psyche.
Withoutit we would not see and therefore
would understandnothingat all of a
timewhich may physicallybe 50,000 timesmore rapid or fourtimesslowerthan
theone in which we live. It is a physicalimplement,certainly,whose functioning,
however,providesan illusion so fullyelaboratedand readyforthemind's use that
it can be consideredas alreadyhalf-thought,
conceivedaccordingto therulesof an
analysis and synthesiswhich man, without the cinematic instrument,had been
unable to use.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

17

Dimensions of space
The respectwith which the precious standardmeasuresof irradiatedplatinum are conservedin armoredand padlocked tabernaclesat constanttemperatures
recalls the worship accorded to miraculous objects, materializationsof revealed
truthsdescended fromthe absolute in the heavens onto this world of errors.No
one, however,considersthe meter-a one ten-millionthpart of a quarterof the
terrestrial
meridianline-as a sacredand essentialtruth.Many countriesstill use
other measuring units. We have seen four millimetersbecome threeand a half
centimetersunder a magnifyingglass long ago. Travellers know that each
kilometerhas a different
on foot,
meaning dependingupon whetherit is traversed
on horseback,on a bicycle,in a car, in a train or in a plane, according to the
terrain,the climate and the season. Like the lunar, Martian and Venusian
meters-one ten-millionthpart of a quarterof the meridianlines of thissatellite
meterpossessesonly a relativesignificance.And
and theseplanets-the terrestrial
if thesecelestialbodies, as is believed,graduallycontractinto themselves,
we must
ask ourselves where our true metercan be found-whether in the less variable
standardsof theBureau of Longitudes or in thesubdivisionof a meridianline in
perpetual regression?
Dimensions of time
More mysteriously,the truth-valueof the hour has proved less subject to
caution. The hour is not merelythesecretproductof standardclocks thatare also
buried in deep cryptsand veneratedas religiousobjects.It is nothingbut theresult
of a simple measurementof theglobe's surface;it originateson sundials fromthe
trace inscribedby the incomprehensible,divine movementwhich animates the
whole celestial mechanism. While the meridian line can forbetteror worse be
divided by the decimal system,theorbit'selliptical shape refusesto submitto the
arbitrarinessof this human convention;it imposes its own numberof days and
nights so tyrannicallythateven if the totalwereunsatisfactory,
nothingcould be
done to change it and calendarswould have to be readjustedconstantly.Occasionally, no doubt, a boring hour seems to pass moreslowlythan a pleasant one, but
these impressions,always confusedand ofteninconsistent,are not sufficient
to
shake the faith in the inalterable stabilityof a universalrhythm.A beliefalso
confirmedby the irreversibility
of duration,invariablypositive,an image of the
of
astronomical
movements,since in its length,breadthand depth,
constancy
be
crossed
and
in one way one timeand in an opposite way at
measured
space may
another. Thus, until the inventionof acceleratedand slow cinematicmotion,it
seemed impossible to see-and it was not even dreamedof-a yearin thelifeof a
plant condensedin ten minutes,or thirtyseconds of an athlete'sactivityinflated
and extendedto ten minutes.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

18

OCTOBER

Time is a relation in space

Thus, an hour and the time it defines,produced and regulatedby cosmic
dynamism,appears to be of a verydifferent
realitythan that of the meterand
space: more mysteriousand more exalted, intangible and immutable. But the
cinematograph,by "laminating" timeto demonstrateitsextrememalleability,has
caused it to fall fromtheseheightsand reduced it to a dimensionanalogous to
those of space.
The fourthdimensionhas been discussedfora long time,misconstrued,all
the while, as to its nature, its existence even subject to doubt. For certain
mathematicians,it was an essentiallygeometricdimension similar to the three
others,a fictionor realityof calculation, yetpracticallyungraspable because our
senses provide us with no data about it. For numerous scholars and novelists,
philosophersand poets,it was etheror themeans to go to the stars,thehabitatof
pure spiritsor theway to the square thecircle .... Nevertheless,
just as all things
which preoccupyman sooner or later come true,the fourthdimension-like the
unicorn that will eventuallybe captured in Nepal-appeared, endowed with
probabilityin the relativists'space-time.
Time, understood as a scale of variables, as the fourthof a systemof
coordinatesin which our representationof the universeis inscribed,would have
merelyremainedfora long timeto come a constructof themind,satisfying
only a
restrictedaudience of scholars, if the cinematograph had not visualized and
reinforcedthis concept by experimentallyproducing very ample variations,
hithertounknown, in temporal perspective.That our time is the frameof a
variable dimension, just as our space is the locus of three kinds of relative
distances,can now be understoodby everyonebecause all can see theextensionor
abridgementof timeon screenjust as theysee the elongation or shorteningof a
distance through one end or another of a pair of binoculars. If today, every
modestly cultivated man can representthe universe as a four dimensional
continuum in which all materialaccidents are situatedby the interplayof four
spatio-temporalvariables; if this richer,more variable, perhaps truerfigureis
gradually supplanting the threedimensional image of the world just as it had
substituteditselfforprimitiveflatschematizationsof theearthand heavens;if the
indivisible unity of the four factorsof space-timeis slowly acquiring evidence
which modifiesthe inseparabilityof the three dimensions of pure space, the
cinema is responsibleforthe wide fameand popularityof the theorywithwhich
Einstein and Minkowskihave principallyassociated theirnames.
Fourth or firstdimension?
Nevertheless,while the threespatial dimensions merelyofferby no means
essential differencesof position among themselves,the temporal dimension
retainsa particularcharacterwhich is at firstattributedto theirreversibility
of the
march of time. Movementswithin any spatial dimension are supposed, on the
contrary,to be capable of being effectedin a positive directionsometimes,in a

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

19

negative directionat others.But since the fourdimensionsforminseparablecovariants,it seems strangethatone of themcan be irreversiblewithoutrequiring
the threeothersto also become so. In fact,nothingthatmoves,whetherliving or
inanimate,can evererase therouteit has travelled.The kilometertraversedwhile
returningdoes not annul the kilometertraversedwhile going, but is added to it
because it is a new kilometer,different
fromthefirst.
The evening'sroute,evenifit
doesn't differa millimeter,is always another route than that of the morning,
bathed in another light, in another atmosphere,traversedin another frameof
mind and with differentfeelings. The irrevocablemarch of time effectively
imposes a unique, irrecuperableand indestructible,
perpetuallypositivemeaning
on all the movementsof the universe.The sui-generisquality of the temporal
dimension has a power to orient geometric space in such a way that the
successionsin it can only be producedaccordingto thedirectionof thispolarization. It is only throughthepolarizedmovementwhich it bringsto imagesthatthe
cinema-when given stereoscopiccapacities-will be able to create the perfect
illusion of a fourdimensional continuum,an alternativereality.
In order to take into considerationthe chronological orderin which man
familiarizeshimselfwiththemeasuresof length,surfaceand duration,wouldn't it
be betterto call time the firstand not the fourthdimensionin recognitionof the
general orientingfunctionthatit exertsover space?
Local and incommensurabletimes
Not only does the cinematographshow thattimeis a controlleddimension
correlatedwith those of space, but that furthermore,
all the valuations of this
dimension merely.have a local value. It is conceded that the astronomical
conditionsin which the earthis situatedimpose an aspect and a divisionof time
fromwhat theymustbe in theAndromedanebula whose heavenand
verydifferent
movementsare not thesame; forthosewho have neverseen cinematicfastor slow
to imagine, viewing fromoutside,theappearance
motion,however,it is difficult
thata temporalityotherthan ours could have. That is whya shortdocumentary
filmwhich describesin a fewminutestwelvemonthsin thelifeofa plant fromits
germinationthroughits maturityand witheringto theformationof theseed of a
new generation(in a fewminutes)suffices
to make themostextraordinary
voyage,
the most difficult
that
man
has
flight
yetattempted,come trueforus.
This filmseems to freeus fromterrestrial--that
is, solar-time, fromwhose
rhythm,it seemed,nothingwould everdislodge us. We feelintroducedto a new
universe,to another continuum in which change in time occurs fifty
thousand
timesmorerapidly.In thislittledomain, a special timereigns,a local timewhich
constitutesan enclave within earth time, which is itselfmerelya local time,
though extendingover a vasterzone, in its turnenclosed withinothertimes,or
juxtaposed and mingledwith them.The temporalityof thewhole ofour universe
itselfis but a specifictime,valid forthisaggregatebut neitherbeyondit nor in all
its interiorsections.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

20

OCTOBER

By analogy, innumerableultra-specific
temporalities,organizersof atomic
are foreseenas probablyincommensurablein termsof wave-er
ultra-microcosms,
quantum mechanics,guessesare theyshareno common measurewith solar time.
Time is not made of time
Sustained by the senses, the intellectseparatesitselfwith difficulty
fromits
primaryconceptionof a sensorycontinuum.Justas it had filledspace with ether,
it had endowed timewitha sortofextremelythinconsistencycorrespondingto the
uncertainfluidityof ordinaryperceptionsof durationofferedby synesthesia.This
substance
exquisite weft,thisfinethreadof fate,thisveil of sorrow,thisindefinite
subtlerthan etherwhich even refusedto accept the precision of a propername
neverthelessremaineda physical reality.
The cinematographdestroyedthisillusion; it demonstratesthattimeis only
a perspectivegeneratedby the succession of phenomena just as space is only a
perspectiveon thecoexistenceofobjects.Time containsnothingthatcan be called
time-in-itself
any more than space is comprisedof space-in-itself.
They are only
composed, one as much as the other,of relationships,variable in theiressence,
betweenappearances which are producedsuccessivelyor simultaneously.That is
different
timesand twentykindsof space just as there
why therecan be thirty-six
can be innumerable specificperspectivesdepending upon the infinitely
diverse
positions of objects and theirobserver.
Thus, thecinema,having shown theunrealityofcontinuityand discontinuityalike, confrontsus ratherbrutallywith the unrealityof space-time.

The UniverseHead Over Heels

Experience since timeimmemorialhas createdthe dogma of life'sirreversibility. The course of evolution in both the atom and the galaxy, in inorganic
matter as in both animal and human forms,derives its irrevocablyunique
meaning fromthe loss of energy.The constantincrease in entropyis the catch
which stops thegearsof the terrestrial
and celestialmachine fromevermovingin
reverse.Time cannot returnto its origin; no effectcan precede its cause. And a
worldwhich would claim to breakwithor modifythisvectorialorderseemsboth
physicallyimpossible and logically unimaginable.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

21

Focus attention,however,on a scene in an old avantgardefilmor a slapstick

comedy that has been filmedin reversemotion. Suddenly,with an undeniable
precision,thecinema describesa worldwhich movesfromitsend to itsbeginning,
an anti-universewhich until now man had hardlymanaged to pictureforhimself.
Dead leaves takeofffromtheground to hang once again upon treebranches;rain
drops spurtupwardsfromtheearthto theclouds; a locomotiveswallows itssmoke
and cinders,inhales its own steam;a machine uses thecold to produce heat and
work. Burstingfroma husk, a flowerwithersinto a bud which retreatsinto the
stem. As the stem ages, it withdrawsinto a seed. Life appears only through
resurrection,crossingold age's decrepitudeinto the bloom of maturity,rolling
throughthe course of youth,thenof infancy,and finallydissolvingin a prenatal
limbo. Universalrepulsion, the energyloss of entropy,the continual increaseof
energyconstitutetruthvalues contraryto Newton's law and the principles of
Carnot and Calusius. Effecthas become cause; cause, effect.
Could the structureof the universebe ambivalent?Might it permitboth
forwardand backwardmovements?Does it admitofa double logic, twodeterminisms, two antitheticalends?
The cinema as the instrumentof a philosophy as well as of an art
For severalhundredyears,the microscopeand the telescopehave helped to
on theworld's
intensifytheacutenessof our dominantsense:vision,and reflection
new aspect therebyobtained has prodigiouslytransformed
and developed every
philosophical and scientificsystem.In turn,the cinematograph,although hardly
fifty
yearsold, has to its creditsome admittedlyimportantrevelations,notablyin
the analysis of movement. But for the general public, the machine which
generatedthe "seventhart" chieflyrepresentsa way of revivingand popularizing
the theater,a machine for the fabricationof a typeof spectacleaccessible to the
minds and purses of the largestpossible internationalcommon denominator.A
beneficentand prestigious"function,certainly,whose only drawback lies in the
stiflingeffectof its popularityupon thoseotherpossibilitiesof the same instrumentwhich thenpass almost unnoticed.
Thus, little or no attentionhas been paid until now to the many unique
of things.Hardly anyone has realized
qualities filmcan give to therepresentation
thatthecinematicimage carriesa warningof somethingmonstrous,thatitbearsa
subtle venom which could corrupt the entire rational order so painstakingly
imagined in the destinyof the universe.
Discoveryalways means learning that objects are not as we had believed
themto be; to know more,one must firstabandon themost evidentcertaintiesof
establishedknowledge. Although not certain,it is not inconceivable that what
a surprisingnonconformity,
as a transgresappears to us as a strangeperversity,
sion and a defectof the screen'sanimatedimages mightserveto advance another
step into that"terribleundersideof things"which terrified
even Pasteur'spragmatism.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

22

OCTOBER

The interchangeability
of the continuous and the discontinuous:
A kind of miracle
We know thata filmis composed of a large numberof images,discreteand
slightlydissimilar according to the more or less modifiedposition of the filmed
subject,juxtaposed on thefilmstrip.The projectionat a certainspeedof thisseries
of figures,separatedby shortintervalsof space and time,producestheappearance
of uninterrupted
movement.And thisis themoststrikingand prodigiousquality
of the Lumiere brothers'machine; it transforms
discontinuityinto continuity;it
the
of
discontinuous
and
static
elementsinto a continuous,
permits
synthesis
mobile whole; it effectsthe transitionbetween the two primordial aspects of
naturewhich have always,eversince theconstitutionof a metaphysicsof science,
been opposed as mutuallyexclusive.
First manifestation:theperceptiblecontinuum
At thelevelwhereit is directlyor indirectlyperceivedbythesenses,theworld
at firstappears as a rigorouslycoherentassemblage of material parts between
which the existenceof a cavityof nothingness,a veritablediscontinuityseemsso
impossible thatwheneverone is not surewhat is there,a substance,baptisedether,
has been imagined to fill it up. Indeed, Pascal showed that nature's supposed
abhorrenceof thevoid was purelyimaginary,but he did not effacethatabhorrence
of the human intellectfora void inaccessibleto sensoryexperienceis available.
Second manifestation:the discontinuityof thephysical sciences
Since Democritus,theatomic theorywhich takesmatterto be constitutedof
corpuscles,indivisibleand separatedfromeach other,has emergedas the victor
over the primitiveconception of a universal continuum. Despite its supposed
indivisibility,the atom has had to be subdividedinto severalkinds of electrons.
Nevertheless, the hypothesis of a gaping, discontinuous--one might say
small and theinfinitely
large,in
gaseous--materialstructureof both theinfinitely
which solid elementsoccupy a verysmall volume in comparisonto theimmense
voids throughwhich theycirculate, is still generallyaccepted today. Thus, a
galaxy can be compared to a starrymistjust as theatom recallsa miniaturesolar
system.
Beneath theconsistentworldofour practicalexperiencehide thesurprisesof
a realitythatis verydiffuse,in which theproportionofwhat is to what is anything
but definite,
can be renderedby theimage of a flyin flightin a space of some eight
cubic kilometerscubed.
Third manifestation:the mathematicalcontinuity
If materialcorpusclescan be conceivedas separate,theycannotbe thoughtto
be independentof each otherfortheyexertreciprocalinfluencesupon each other
which account fortheirbehavior.The networkof theseinnumerableinteractions
or forcefieldsrepresentsa mysteriousweftwhich entirelyfillstherealtivists'space-

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

23

time. In this new four-dimensionalcontinuity,the latent energy dispersed

throughoutcondenses here and therein granules endowed with mass which are
the constituentsof matter.
Beneath the materialdiscontinuity-molecular,atomic, intra-atomic-one
can therefore
imagine a deeperand even morehidden continuitywhich should be
called pre-materialbecause it facilitatesand directsthemeasurableand probabilistic positions of mass, light and electricity.
The transmutationof the discontinuousinto the continuous,
negated byZeno, but accomplished by the cinematograph
The most obscure moments of this poetryoccur during the transitions
betweenor the superimpositionsof superficialcontinuityover the intermediary
discontinuouslevel, and of thisintermediary
level over thepre-materialcontinuity whose existenceis only mathematical.The fact that realitycan encompass
continuityand discontinuity,that an unbrokenordercan be a sum of interruptions, that the addition of static phases produces movement,has amazed the
rational mind eversince the Eleatics.
Now, the cinematographseems to be a mysteriousmechanismintendedto
assess thefalseaccuracyof Zeno's famousargumentabout thearrow,intendedfor
theanalysisof thesubtlemetamorphosisof stasisinto mobility,ofemptinessinto
as stupefyingas the
solid, of continuous into discontinuous,a transformation
generationof life frominanimate elements.
Continuity,pretenseof discontinuity
Is it the recordingapparatus or the projectorwhich createsthis marvel?In
fact,everypartof each filmimage, successivelyprojectedon thescreen,remainsas
perfectlystill and separateas it had been since its appearance at the sensorylevel.
The unityand animation of theseformsare effected
neitheron thefilmstrip,nor
the
in
but
man
himself.
The
becomes
lens,
by
discontinuity
continuityonlyafterit
has made its way in thespectator.It is a purelyinternalphenomenon.Outside the
spectator,there is no movement,no flux,no life in the mosaics of light and
shadow which the screenalways presentsas fixed.Within,thereis an impression
of the object, that is, an
which, like all other sensorydata, is an interpretation
illusion, a phantom.
Bad eyesight,the source of the metaphysicsof the continuous
The spectreof a non-existentcontinuityis known to be caused bya defectof
sight. The eye's power to distinguish space and time is strictlylimited. An
alignmentof points veryclose to each otheris perceivedas a line; it sustainsthe
appearance of spatial continuity.And a sufficiently
rapid successionof separate
creates,due to the slowness and persistenceof
images, each slightlydifferent,
retinal sensations, another more complex spatio-temporalcontinuitywhich is
also imaginary.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

OCTOBER

24

Everyfilmthus provides us with a clear example of a mobile continuum

formedbywhat mightbe called itssomewhatdeeperrealityofdiscontinuousstatic
elements.Zeno was thereforeright to maintain that the analysis of movement
yielded a collection of stops; his only errorlay in denyingthe possibilityof the
irrational,absurd synthesisachieved by the cinema thanksto that weakness of
our vision which effectively
recomposesmovementthroughthe progressiveaddition of staticmoments.Faradayonce observedthat"The irrationalis not impossible." The natural sequence of phenomena is not necessarilylogical, as one
also discovers,when light added to light produces darkness within the gaps
between.

The discontinuous,realityof an unreal continuity?

The perceptualcontinuumwhose existenceoutsideourselvesis confirmed
by
which
is
a
in
its
scientific
but
denied
research,
trap
only
by
reality
daily experience,
has its source,like themisleadingcontinuityoffilm,in theinadequate discrimination of our sight, as of all our senses. Thus, the charm of music, the perfectly
smoothfluxof harmonywhich we enjoy when hearinga symphonycomes from
theear's inabilityto situateeach vibrationofeach flowofsonic waves distinctlyin
space and time. Similarly,the relativecrudenessof the multiple sensations to
which we give the name of "touch" does not enable us to experiencetheextreme
division nor the extraordinaryagitation of the miniscule components of the
deriveall thefalsenotionsof
objectswe handle. From theseperceptualdeficiencies
a matterwithoutvoid, of a compact world,a solid universe.
The visible, palpable, audible, breathablecontinuum in everydomain is
only a very superficialsemblance which is undoubtedlyuseful, that is to say,
empiricallytrue;it conceals,however,a basically discontinuousorganization,the
knowledge of which has proven to be still more useful and whose reality,
can and should also be considereddeeper.
therefore,
Discontinuity,thepretenseof a continuum
What is the source of this discontinuityconsideredmore real? Where and
how in the cinematic process, for example, are the discontinuous images with
which thespectatorformsthefilm'ssubjectivecontinuityobtained?These images
are takenfromtheperpetuallymoving spectacleof theworld:a spectaclewhich is
cut into briefslicesby a shutterwhich duringeach rotationuncovers
fragmented,
the lens for a mere thirdor fourthof the necessarytime. This fractionis brief
enough so that the snapshots obtained can be as sharp as photographsof static
subjects.Consideredin themselves,thediscontinuityand immobilityof cinematic
images are thereforecreated by the recording camera. They provide a very
impreciseinterpretationof that continuous and mobile aspect of nature which
assumes the role of a fundamentalreality.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Magnificationand Other Writings

25

If a man is organizedthroughhis senses to perceive

the discontinuousas a continuum,the machine 'imagines'
the continuous as discontinuousmore easily
A mechanismproves,as it happens, to be endowedwith itsown subjectivity
since it representsthings not as they are perceivedby human eyes but only
according to the way it sees them itself,according to that particular structure
which constitutesits personality.And thediscontinuityof staticimages, (staticat
least for the time of theirprojection, in the intervalsof theirjerking passage
throughthe projector)a discontinuitywhich functionsas a materialfoundation
forthecontinuitywhich man is capable of imaginingin theprojectedfilm,turns
out to be in turna merephantom,conceived,thoughtby a machine.
The cinematographhas firstshown us a subjectivetransfiguration
of a truer
discontinuitywithin the continuous; this same cinematographthenshows us an
of a primordialcontinuitywithinthediscontinuous.We
arbitraryinterpretation
realize thenthatcinematiccontinuityand discontinuityactuallyare equally nonexistent,or, what is essentially the same thing: the continuous and the discontinuous act alternativelyas object and as concept,theirrealitybeing only a
functionin which one can be substitutedforthe other.

This content downloaded from 140.160.229.30 on Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:11:57 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions