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Representation of the Past in Films: Between Historicity and Authenticity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Gil Bartholeyns  and
Isabella Palin
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The genre of the ‘historical film’, or ‘history film’, is protean to such a degree that it is possible to grasp its true nature only by studying the relationships it entertains with history, which is the sole common denominator capable of validating it and of providing an angle of attack for dealing with questions (such as ‘Does this film conform to historical reality?’ and ‘Is it a faithful reconstruction?’) that have more to do with movie-buff criticism or erudition than with a process of reasoning properly seeking to establish a semiotics of the cinematographic representation of history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 48 , Issue 189 , March 2000 , pp. 31 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2000

References

Notes

1. I wish to thank Rena Fakhouri and Fabien S. Gérard for their useful suggestions. For editorial reasons, the number of end-notes has been reduced, the references to connected studies omitted, and references some times grouped together. The terminus ad quem of this study is Rivette's Jeanne la Pucelle (1995), and the Middle Ages is the privileged period.

2. M. Ferro, ‘Y a-t-il une vision filmique de l'histoire?', in Cinéma et Histoire, nouvelle édition refondue (Paris: Gallimard, Folio Histoire, 55), 1993, pp. 217-226.

3. A given film may of course correspond to several criteria in the same row or column. This is the case for The Passion of Joan of Arc, which contains an official discourse (1 across) - Joan is beatified in 1909, canon ized in 1920 - and also gives an innovative image of ‘la Pucelle' through a personal reading of documents from the sentencing trial of 1431 and the annulment trial of 1456, the so-called rehabilitation trial (4 across). We may also note that, some years before Marc Ferro, Claude Billard distinguished three types of relation to history in films, which parallel the ‘historical ages': aesthetic history, relevant to the ‘theological age' (A. Comte); ‘pragmatic history' (Hegel), relevant to the ‘metaphysical age'; and critical or ‘reflective history' (Hegel), relative to the ‘positivist age'. See Billard, C., ‘Cinéma et philosophie de l'histoire', in J. Baldizzone and P. Guibbert (eds), in Cinéma et Histoire, Histoire du cinéma, Les cahiers de la cinémathèque, 1982, 35-36, pp. 19-36.

4. The diegesis is the universe, or the pseudo-world, that frames the story, which, ‘told' in films by images, becomes a narrative.

5. See E. Grandgeorges, Le Septième sceau, Ingmar Bergman: étude critique (Paris: Nathan, Synopsis, 12), 1992, p. 96.

6. A. Tarkovsky, Le Temps scellé, translated form the Russian by A. Kichilov and C.H. de Brantes (Paris: Editions de l'Etoile/Cahiers du cinéma, 1989), p. 210.

7. See A. Tarkovsky, Le Sacrifice, Livre du film, with photographs by Sven Nykvist (Munich and Paris: Schirmer/ Mosel, 1987).

8. At our century's end, this set of themes is still with us. In 1995, Albert Jacquard prefaced Theodore Monod's Le chercheur d'Absolu with these words: ‘The Christian era will not have a third millennium: it ended on 6 August, 1945'; and ‘We are no longer in the era when the conditions for the survival of our species have to be fundamentally rethought.' Cf. T. Monod, Le chercheur d'Absolu (Paris: Le cherche-midi éditeur, 1997), p. 7 (Paris: Gallimard-folio, 1998, p. 9).

9. The classification of historical films according to their accommodation of history is thus the following: in relation to the nature of the participation of history within a film, (a) history acts as a ‘pretext', or (b) history acts as an ‘argument'; and in relation to the degree of the participation of history within a film, (i) there is a story within history, or (ii) there is a story of history. The nature and the degree of the accommodation can be combined: strictly to give a-i, a-ii, a-b-i and a-b-ii; and relative to the relationship i/ii to give a-b-i-ii and a-i-ii.

10. We should distinguish between ‘historicity', as that which conforms to historical reality (e.g., the ‘brown', not black, colour of the Franciscan habits; the restoration of a judicial building; or particular table man ners), and “historicity”, as that which belongs to history (e.g., the words of the monk William of Occam; the Châtelet in Paris; or the Psaultier de saint Louis); where the latter does not necessarily guarantee the former.

11. P.A. Lundgren was the set designer of both films.

12. I shall call such a spectator the ‘model spectator'.

13. Bertrand Tavernier's depiction of the Middle Ages appeared authentic to J. Le Goff, notably in virtue of the ‘story's being inserted in history'. Cf. Le Monde, 12 November 1987, p. 11.

14. V. Jankélévitch broaches the subject of this ‘moral supernaturality' of the artist as well as of his feeling of duty in expression. See, for example, V. Jankélévitch, Le sérieux de l'intention, Traité des vertus I (Paris: Flammarion, Champs, 1983).

15. C.T. Dreyer to Karl Roos (23 October 1950), ‘Ma seule grande passion', in Reflexions sur mon métier, prefaced by C. Tesson, Cahiers du cinéma (Petite bibliothèque des cahiers du cinéma), 1983, p. 77 (Politiken, 28 October 1951).

16. C.T. Dreyer, ‘Au sujet du style cinématographique', in Réflexions sur mon métier, op. cit., p. 70 (Politiken, 2 December 1943).

17. C.T. Dreyer, ‘La mystique réalisée', in Réflexions sur mon métier, op. cit., p. 41.

18. C.T. Dreyer to Karl Roos (23 October 1950), ‘Ma seule grande passion', op. cit., p. 77.

19. These two poles (‘a certain stylization' and ‘a scrupulous realism’) are also brought to the fore by P. Parrain. Cf. P. Parrain, ‘Dreyer, cadres et mouvements', in Etudes cinématographiques, Paris, 1967, 53-56, pp. 13 sq.

20. C.T. Dreyer, ‘La mystique réalisée', in Réflexions sur mon métier, op. cit., p. 41. The next two quotes refer to the same.

21. C.T. Dreyer, ‘Imagination et couleur', in Réflexions sur mon métier, op. cit., pp. 104-105 (Politiken, 30 August 1955). The next two quotes refer to p. 106 of the same.

22. For Dreyer, rigorous historical reality is a secondary preoccupation. The twenty-nine interrogations were reduced to just one, taking place on the day of her death, 30 May, 1431, in just one place, the Palais de Justice in Rouen. On the economy of the film, cf. J. Sémoulé, ‘“Douleur, noblesse unique”, La Passion chez Carl Dreyer', in Etudes cinématographiques, Procès de Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, Autumn 1962, 18-19, pp. 151- 163.

23. Pier Paolo Pasolini to J.-A. Fieschi, on Oedipus Rex. Cf. J.-A. Fieschi, ‘Entretien avec Pasolini', in Cahiers du cinéma, Paris, November 1967, 195, p. 13.

24. P.P. Pasolini, in Cinema nuovo, May-June 1970, 205, p. 172. Quoted in A.M. Boyer, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Lyons: La Manufacture, 23, 1987), p. 207.

25. Pasolini confesses this in several interviews, notably in B. Bertolucci, and J.-L. Comolli, ‘Le cinéma selon Pasolini', in Cahiers du cinéma, August, 1965, 169, p. 77, col. 1: ‘the principle of contamination, of a stylis tic melting-pot.' In light of this, the dream-like but nevertheless realist aesthetics of Satyricon becomes appreciably Pasolinian. Moreover, Alberto Moravia uses the same terms in his definition of it: ‘the contam ination of styles'. Cf. F. Fellini, Fellini Satyricon (Bologna: Cappelli, ‘Dal soggetto al film', 38), 1969, p. 71.

26. It should be mentioned that in Ingmar Bergman's The Source, it is not the film's ‘visual historicity' (which is, however, present), but the importance given to the body, to human relationships and to the material aspects of life, as well as the closed structure of the scenario, its treatment and its direction, that lend the film such a disturbing truthful character. See below, Intimacy in History in Roberto Rossellini.

27. The letters 'y' and 'z' within parentheses indicate dominance of the characteristic.

28. P.P. Pasolini, ‘Il sentimento della storia', in Cinema Nuovo, Genoa-Florence, May-June, 1970, 205, p. 172. Quoted in F.S. Gérard, Pasolini, ou le mythe de la barbarie (Brussels: Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, Arguments et Documents, 1981), p. 70.

29. On the importance of History in Pasolini's work, see R. Escobar, ‘Pasolini, il passato e il futuro', in Quaderni medievali, Bari, Dedalo libri, 1977, 3, pp. 155-173.

30. Roberto Rossellini to Mario Verdone, in ‘Colloquio sul neo-realismo', in Bianco e nero, February, 1952. Quoted in M. Verdone, Roberto Rossellini, presented by M. Verdone, with a choice of texts and comments by R. Rossellini, (Paris: Seghers, 1963), pp. 25-26.

31. Roberto Rossellini to Mario Verdone, in ‘Colloquio sul neo-realismo', op. cit., p. 26.

32. Rossellini employed real Franciscans as actors.

33. The Flowers refer to the Fioretti, a collection of fifty-three legendary stories about St Francis of Assisi and his companions, written in Latin (Florentum) and translated into Tuscan around 1390. The Fioretti were trans lated into French in 1953 by A. Masseron, and published by Seuil (Point Sagesse), 1994.

34. Roberto Rossellini to Mario Verdone, in ‘Colloquio sul neo-realismo', op. cit., p. 28.

35. Roberto Rossellini to F. Bardet, A. Buholzer, A. Kohler and J. Rial, in Film Klub, Geneva-Zurich, October, 1958. Quoted in M. Verdone, Roberto Rossellini, op. cit., p. 97.

36. Claude-Jean Philippe to Roberto Rossellini, in A. Bergala (ed.), Roberto Rossellini, Le cinéma révelée, texts compiled and prefaced by A. Bergala (Paris: Flammarion, Champs Contre-Champs, 1984), p. 129 (Cahiers du cinéma, October, 1966, 183).

37. Claude-Jean Philippe to Roberto Rossellini: ‘You have the same approach to Louis XIV as you did to Saint Francis of Assisi,' ibid., p. 130.

38. Roberto Rossellini to Claude-Jean Philippe, ibid., pp. 130 and 131.

39. G. Deleuze, Différence et répétition (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, Epiméthée, 1968), p. 120.

40. A.J. Gourevitch, Les catégories de la culture médiévale, translated from the Russian by H. Courtin and N. Godneff, with a preface by G. Duby (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque des Histoires, 1983), p. 20.

41. Cf. O. Spengler, Le déclin de l'Occident: esquisse d'une morphologie de l'histoire universelle, translated from the German by M. Trazerout (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque des Idées, 1931-1933): ‘Universal validity is an inference from the self to the other that is always false', First Part, ‘Forme et réalité', p. 52.

42. T. Van Hemelryck, ‘Où sont les “Neuf Preux”? Variations sur un thème médiéval', in Studi Francesi, January-April, 1998, 124, fasc. 1, p. 52.

43. V. Hugo, La Légende des siècles, text edited and annotated by Jacques Truchet (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade), p. 405, 11. 24-25.

44. J.-M. Sansterre, ‘Attitudes occidentales à l'égard des miracles d'images dans le Haut Moyen Age', in Annales, Histoire, Sciences Sociales, November-December, 1998, 6, p. 1219.

45. R. Barthes, ‘Les Romains au Cinéma', in Mythologies (Paris: Seuil, Tel Quel), pp. 27-30. Discussing J.L. Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar (1953).

46. Stanley Kubrick to Michel Ciment, in L'Express, 30 August 1976, p. 21, col. 2.

47. Cf. E. Leiser, ‘Film - Die Kunst unserer Zeit', in Film und Fernsehen, Berlin, RDA, 1983, fasc. 8, p. 40: ‘We began by constructing a forest of very tall, very straight tree-trunks. We were influenced by Böcklin's painting, Silence in the Forest …'. Conversation from 2 and 3 April 1964. Quoted by G. Strum, Fritz Lang. Films-textes-références (Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1990), p. 60.

48. P.P. Pasolini, ‘Le cinéma selon Pasolini', in B. Bertolucci and J.-L. Comolli, op. cit., p. 77, col. 1.

49. H. Martin, Mentalités Médiévales, XIe-XVe siècle, (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, Nouvelle Clio, l'histoire et ses problèmes, 1996), p. 3.

50. A. Tarkovsky, Le Temps Scellé, op. cit., pp. 72-73.

51. Ibid., p. 72.

52. The credits reflect this intention, thanking the ‘craftsmen' and listing the names of the researcher and the ecclesiastical adviser and the historical references: Georges and André Duby, Régine Pernoud, and the Editions Klincksieck, publishers of the texts of the trials.

53. See G. Thuillier and J. Tulard, Le marché de l'Histoire (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1994), p. 81. My italics.

54. J.-M.G. Le Clézio, ‘L'extra-terrestre', in L'Arc, 1971, 45, p. 28. My italics.

55. F. Fellini, Fellini Satyricon, op. cit., p. 273.

56. A. Moravia, ‘La Pista', in Lettere dal Sahara (Milan: Bompiani, 1981), p. 67.

57. Peter Nichols to Federico Fellini, in F. Fellini, Fellini Satyricon, op. cit., p. 62.

58. Stanley Kubrick to Michel Ciment, in L'Express, 30 August 1976, p. 18, col. 1.

59. Charles Jouhaut claims that the historical film, in virtue of the intrinsic possibilities of cinematographic narration, ‘is closer to modern historiographical process than the popularizing book is, for it too has replaced the real presence of history in the text with the illustration of the past in its intelligibility.' In J. Baldizzone and P. Guibbert (eds), op. cit., pp. 16-17.

60. B. Brecht, Petit organon pour le théâtre (Paris: L'Arche, 1990), p. 98, § 73. § 74 invites ‘all the sibling arts of dramatic art' to listen to one other.

61. On the occasion of L'Orestie staged by Barrault, Roland Barthes put the question of ‘reconstruction' (the archaeological temptation) versus ‘transposition' (choice of alternative strategies), whose correlatives (on the level of the outcome) bear a singular resemblance to the notions, respectively, of ‘historicity' and of ‘authenticity' developed here. He arrives at the same indeterminate conclusion. Cf. R. Barthes, ‘Comment représenter l'antique', in Essais critiques (Paris: Seuil, Tel Quel, 1964), pp. 71-79 (Points Essais, 1981, pp. 71-79).