Bela Balazs, Jean Epstein, and Sigmund Freud: The Close Up, Part 2

Film & Media Studies
22 Feb 202117:22
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThis video analyzes the use of close-ups and facial expressions in the film The Master, comparing directors Béla Balázs and Jean Epstein's differing views on whether close-ups can reveal a character's interior emotions. It relates these ideas to Freudian psychoanalysis and the notion of deciphering unconscious impulses, asking if The Master's close-ups elucidate Joaquin Phoenix's opaque character. It questions whether all facial movements betray inner truths, or if some have other significance, leaving open if theorists like Epstein would glean the same meanings from The Master’s scrutinized gestures.

Takeaways
  • 😀 Epstein and Béla Balázs have different perspectives on the revealatory power of the cinematic close-up
  • 😟 There is a tension between believing close-ups transparently reveal interior states vs. seeing them as aesthetically compelling but opaque
  • 🤔 The Cause's ideas about memory parallel Freud's model of the conscious and unconscious mind
  • 🧐 Freud saw his project as battling contingency by finding meaning in details, similar to Balázs on close-ups
  • 😯 Benjamin and Cavell also link cameras' revelation of normally unseen details to psychoanalysis
  • 😕 But the emotional legibility Balázs expects from close-ups may not apply to The Master's opacity
  • 😀 Epstein shares Balázs' interest in involuntary gestures revealed by cameras
  • ❓ It's unclear if Epstein sees these gestures as emotionally legible or aesthetically compelling
  • 🤨 The Master challenges assumptions that close-ups straightforwardly reveal interior states
  • 😊 We can explore in writing how classical film theory handles The Master's opacity
Q & A
  • What is the main distinction Epstein and Balázs have in describing facial close-ups?

    -Epstein poetically describes the material qualities of facial movements in close-ups, while Balázs interprets the emotions and inner events seemingly revealed through micro-expressions.

  • How does Freud's theory of the unconscious relate to Balázs's ideas about the film camera?

    -Balázs believed the camera can capture unconscious micro-gestures on an actor's face, just as Freud tried to reveal the unconscious through slips of the tongue, gestures, dreams.

  • What does the magic slate metaphor convey about Freud's model of perception and memory?

    -The metaphor suggests experience writes upon the conscious mind, but impressions remain in the unconscious, much like writing stays on the wax backing of the magic slate even when the plastic sheet is lifted.

  • Why does Balázs believe the camera sees more than the human eye?

    -Balázs argues even the smallest facial movements testify to inner events beyond an actor's control. The camera scrutinizes what humans cannot perceive themselves.

  • How do later theorists like Cavell echo Balázs's ideas about the camera?

    -Cavell argues the camera reveals normally unnoticed repetitions and fluctuations in movement that betray rather than communicate a person to themselves.

  • Does The Master reveal Freddie's interiority through close-ups?

    -Critics call the film 'opaque,' suggesting facial close-ups do not straightforwardly communicate Freddie's emotions and psychology.

  • Why might Freddie's face seem illegible compared to Balázs's example?

    -Freddie likely does not have clear conscious control or awareness of his expressions. The Master resists diagnosing his behavior through exterior signs.

  • What might Epstein make of the facial close-ups in The Master?

    -Epstein may poetically describe their material qualities without interpreting their meaning. He is less focused on using close-ups to reveal inner states.

  • How does the film thematize problems of reading interiors from exteriors?

    -Dodd's Cause attempts to decode members' unconscious through interrogation, resembling Freudian psychoanalysis and problematizing facial legibility.

  • Why can't we definitively explain Freddie's behavior?

    -The film resists pinpointing Freddie's trauma to one cause. It remains ambiguous whether surfaces fully communicate complex interiority.

Outlines
00:00
😃 Introducing key themes and passages from Epstein and Bellage regarding the face and close-up

The paragraph introduces the key themes of discussion - the concepts of the face, close-up, and expression/revelation related to Epstein and Bellage's views. It outlines differences in describing facial movements - Epstein poetically describing material metaphors vs. Bellage narrating emotions. Though not fully emblematic of their works, this passage indicates contrasting interests regarding how close-ups reveal or change perceptions.

05:01
🧠 Linking Freud's unconscious and mystic writing pad to The Cause's views

The paragraph links Freud's concept of the unconscious and his analogy of the mystic writing pad to The Cause's belief system of excavating suppressed interiorities. It draws parallels between emerging 20th century discourses and reactions to cinema, especially Freud's radical reading of details as meaningful for unlocking the unconscious.

10:05
🎥 Relating Freud and classical theorists on reading exteriors to reveal interiors

The paragraph relates Freud's psychoanalysis to classical theorists' views on reading exterior details to reveal interiors, unconscious optics, and involuntary bodily movements captured on film. It questions whether The Master uses close-ups for similar revelation and links this to the film's intentional opacity.

15:08
❓ Questioning the fantasy of legibility in expressing interiors

The paragraph questions the fantasy of legibility posed by Bellage in confidently narrating emotions from facial expressions versus Epstein's different interest in nervous gestures. It leaves open whether Epstein believes close-ups reveal hidden interiors and what he would make of the opaque close-ups in The Master.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡close-up
A close-up shot in film that tightly frames a person's face. The video analyzes how close-ups can supposedly reveal unconscious details and interior emotions based on facial expressions, relating to psychoanalysis and the film theories of Epstein and Balázs.
💡expression
The concept of human expression, especially facial expressions, as an outward manifestation of inner thoughts and feelings. The video examines debates around whether film can accurately capture the "expression" of emotions and interiors through examining the minute details of an actor's face in close-ups.
💡revelation
The idea that film techniques like close-ups can reveal or uncover the unconscious or hidden inner world of a character. The video discusses how this concept links to psychoanalysis and its goal of interpreting dreams and behaviors to reveal the contents of the unconscious mind.
💡interiority
A person's inner world of thoughts, emotions, and the unconscious. The video analyzes how directors like Paul Thomas Anderson in The Master deal with the question of visually conveying a complex character's interiority, or inner mental state, on film.
💡psychoanalysis
The psychological theory and therapeutic method developed by Sigmund Freud that aimed to uncover the unconscious inner drives behind human behavior. The video draws parallels between psychoanalysis' close reading of details to reveal the unconscious, and film theorists' belief that close filmic analysis like close-ups can reveal characters' hidden inner states.
💡Sigmund Freud
The founder of psychoanalysis who conceived of the division between the conscious and unconscious mind and developed dream analysis. The video discusses Freud's analogy between the unconscious and the mystic writing pad to illustrate how he understood the recording and burying of lived experiences and memories over time, similar to the way film records reality.
💡Bellage
Bela Balazs, an early film theorist who believed that close-ups of the human face could directly reveal the unconscious emotions and thoughts of a character to the camera, almost like a psychoanalytic reading.
💡John Epstein
An early French filmmaker praised for his poetic close-ups of human movement and faces. The video asks how he might analyze the opaque close-ups of The Master differently from someone like Bellage who saw close-ups as clearly revealing psychological interiority.
💡Joaquin Phoenix
The actor who plays Freddie Quell in The Master. His intense and ambiguous facial expressions are used by the video to examine debates around whether close-ups necessarily convey clear psychological interiority and emotion or if they maintain a productive opacity.
💡memory
Human memory is discussed in the video as another psychological concept that has been compared to film's apparent ability to mechanically record reality in great detail. This includes Freud's wax slab analogy linking memory and the mystic writing pad that seemingly records then buries experiences.
Highlights

Epstein and Bollage are obsessed with detail they're obsessed with what magnification can achieve in cinema

Epstein attempts to poetically describe what he is seeing in a close-up, Bollage interprets the detailed movements into emotions

One big question of the film is what's going inside Freddie's mind and the strategies for determining that

The Cause's belief system revolves around excavating hidden interiorities by means resembling psychoanalysis

Freud analogized the conscious and unconscious to the mystic writing pad, retaining impressions like memory

Freud's project is a battle against contingency, meaning is located where one would expect opacity

Béla Balázs says the camera can photograph the unconscious, the face becomes a document

Walter Benjamin says the camera introduces us to unconscious optics as psychoanalysis does to impulses

Cavell says under a camera a body becomes a field of betrayal more than communication

The film is famously opaque, achieving opacity through evocation rather than story

While Béla Balázs believes in legibility between expression and revelation, Epstein may not

What would Epstein make of the close-ups in The Master, gleaning interiors from blown-up exteriors?

Epstein is interested in the unconscious aspect of movement, but is it to reveal hidden interiors?

The question of opacity applies to relating Phoenix's performance to Freddie's psychology

Reasonable interpretations don't necessarily reduce reading the face itself vs. other things

Transcripts
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