The creative voice: free indirect speech in the cinema of Rohmer and Bresson

Conference paper


Heinemann, D. 2012. The creative voice: free indirect speech in the cinema of Rohmer and Bresson. Studies in French cinema: screen sounds. King's College, London 14 Apr 2008 Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/sound.2012.0024
TypeConference paper
TitleThe creative voice: free indirect speech in the cinema of Rohmer and Bresson
AuthorsHeinemann, D.
Abstract

This article examines a particular use of the voice in cinema which conveys character reflexivity and generates expressive ambiguity in a film's narrative point of view. Drawing on Pasolini's notion of the free indirect style and Deleuze's elaboration of this into his concept of the free indirect speech-act, two different creative uses of speech are analysed: one in Rohmer's Claire's Knee (1970) and the other in Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951). The essay finds that when characters narrate their thoughts, feelings, actions or experiences in a reflexive manner (that is, to themselves, even if also to another), and this activity becomes for a time the primary event of the film, these characters step into the role of storyteller. They become both subject and object of their utterances which take on the style of the free indirect. With this, the voice enters into a new relationship with the image – directing, counterpointing, or disconnecting from it – changing the function of voice and image while seeming momentarily to supplant the film's narration. The symbolic nature of language gives words the power to create images and meaning that cannot be captured or conveyed by the camera alone. Privileging speech as a creative force not only dimensionalises character but, on a formal level, creates a role for voice that allows it to exist not as an appendage to the image but for its own sake. In order to suggest practical uses for these theoretical considerations, Bresson's and Rohmer's reflections on the role of the voice are also discussed.

ConferenceStudies in French cinema: screen sounds
Proceedings TitleThe New Soundtrack
ISSN2042-8855
PublisherEdinburgh University Press
Publication dates
PrintMar 2012
Publication process dates
Deposited07 Apr 2010
Output statusPublished
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3366/sound.2012.0024
LanguageEnglish
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