Are you a Cinéphile?
Perhaps it is not cinema that has ended but only cinéphilia — the name of the very specific kind of love that cinema inspired. … It was born of the conviction that cinema was an art unlike any other: quintessentially modern; distinctively accessible; poetic and mysterious and erotic and moral — all at the same time.
Susan Sontag “The Decay of Cinema.” The New York Times Magazine. Feb. 25, 1996.
Are you a lover of film? If so, what is that love? It has got to be more than a desire for an exciting “roller coaster ride” through a meticulously designed adventure in which movement and sound envelopes the eye and ear and leaves you exhilarated but in the end empty of anything more than a thrilled response — “That was great! Lot’s of fun!!”
Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.
“Martin Scorsese Compares Marvel Movies to Theme Parks: ‘That’s Not Cinema’”
When I became a cinéphile — I was studying for my doctorate in theatre and film studies. Stanley Kaufmann — for many years the film critic for The New Republic journal — was the instructor. He screened L’Eclisse[1962] directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. This viewing initiated my deep appreciation of the art of cinema. The film is about a handsome, young stockbroker [Alain Delon] who lives to make money — lot’s of money. Those around him have the same goal — including the mother of the woman with whom he has an affair [Monica Vitti]. The film is about more than that; after all, it is an Antonioni film.
I clearly remember that when the film was over and my classmates were leaving, I was in a sort of shock, a daze, glued to my chair.
The final 7 minutes of mostly static shots were so unusual — so riveting in their simplicity and rawness — so revelatory of human existence in the modern age. These shots embraced a physicality that put into relief the loneliness and isolation that is a part of all of us.
For the most part we watch a film to escape those moments of deep realization. But — the final shots of L’Eclisse shook me out of my day-to-day sleepwalk. And — I could not move. The great films can do that. Film can be art, and sometimes film can be “soul-filling” and change a life.
After that I was not satisfied with films that only entertain. I needed more films like L’Eclisse.
