20. Nothing Happens ‘ge levy inscribed and say dat ye there are Sage lady in serbod nd itis exacly under thas ht work: oer the inssied nage ‘nd the one would love to inset" Nothing Hoppens aca thes from showing to inscribing—trm the enrding impale of nora aa thats tothe subversive anergy of War's minimalhyperelis produ ‘ton of simular. Garis modorast phenomenology is undoubtedly an mprtant ink in thisshit. which reflects move away rom alii the anterior ofreaity.a move toward ropresenttion Indeed onc noe only think of Godan’ fascination with Henry Fond’ fice in itccek's The "Wrong Monn the'305, and oh pop eens in Breathless and Alp. vill th 60s, tone tho cultural and historical hi that in th t's and 70s would lad to Akerman’ and afew thers corporal cinemas, ‘where th aereliss’ or dict ei’ romantic fnvestoent in elt | Intrcepted by the incluctble knveladge of film's representational ‘This doubletayred cinema allows only inscription It isnot an ideals nem: though utterly aset pls meri In this ina, at ‘he quality of presence waver precisely cause ofits matvaitybneause ofthe exces produced i it by hyperbole and redundans, The radical guration ofthis xcs isthe Anserian experiment wih real-time rope ‘sentation: Wools zs are the signpost toa conor cinema in which ‘the concreteness ofbah the imi ody andthe dies representa oudes ‘the very Moa of Materia At the sm tine that ext is pervert by tone, nd that gesture is doubled by dialogue, the works of Rohmer, Dreyer, ‘Bresson. and Akonnan crate an extamateiliy a surplis eal fo lack of butr tem, “theatrical” The erm emphasizes that tis cinema works it principal feet onthe over fai lnk between ater and -tureth gure and body fhe performs, ‘Akarman's contribution to this antinstusitic compo! enema in volves the blunt, unavoidable ecknowledgment of « gendered body. ‘woman's gestures ar simultaneously recognized and nade stage, Ou tention tums oa diferent pce dill rhythin, td treme for us to datarmine wher this distinction lis fay the dry intensity of ‘vies traversed by the mechanisms of nema that moves me, and moves ‘etovard the singulrty propose y Chantal Aken lms 4. NOTHING HAPPENS Time forthe Everyday in Postwar Thor mon alt of eat shorethe coma at. mt mtb dade toa iA Bai! Th ound x plat, ut hs banal ao what mot inpntant ngs bck texte a yep and Wed pes every spelt female, perhaps al coherence may Mw os Blancht "Nashing happens”: this definition of the everyay i ten appended to ‘ls and literate in which the representations subtratm of content toms at varance with the duration seconded i Too much calluoi,to many words, 0 uch ime is devoted o “nothing of interest.” The pe ‘atiousnes of ths exromel eave definition s mor than a mat of| tase Ifthe word "boring ite ext value after Worl Wart the ‘hrase“Nothing happens” cones incrasingly charged with substan tie, poloical valence In the immediate postwar perio in Europe, at social reality became @ oncrteoxporione of subsstance (es opposed to the more immediste ior dat concrns of he war yar), the everyday seemed amore tha ‘worthy subj. The quotidian of De Sis or of Zavatin'sneareait, ‘haces bythe discovery of holm In anonymous, ban lower ‘middleclass and white-collar protagonists, i, howove. quite difrent from the qutiian of Rosallin's Lois XIV And tls iors rn the22 Nothing Happens qotidian distilled fom the answs tothe loaded existentialist query ‘ow happy re you with your Ie?"thequstion tht Rauch and Egat ‘Morin ook in the series of itorviews in hair Chronicle ofa Summer (0.960) My intrst is inthe way some filmmakers qa the link be. "ween the banal o quotidian and the plc and inthe shin incr ‘sve round that allow for such different approaches to everyday ie ‘Akerman’ Joanne Dielnan, 23 Quel du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, of course gues asa major ex in any consideration of the modern 9p ‘roach to the quotidian. The aba "Nothing happens.” een applied fo ‘Akerman’ work. is key in defining that work's speci its equation of ‘extension and intensity. of description and drama, ‘The iosription of subject matter negected In traitonal lm tend to ‘nvolve a corective thus, sting straight of th image bank: conven tional enema contains too few positive images of women and ethnic or ‘ther minority groups it becaes the rai lanmakor’s tho ropresent ‘those groups. The Inclusion of such “images between images” begets ‘poti-temporl aswell as moral expansion of cinema ‘The nterstin extending the ropresentation of elt reflets desi to "estore a phenomenological integrity to realty, rt dig up some cover. ‘causal or psychological motivational structure, Haunting the ine ‘8 eprensed or unrepresented realty i the idea of «hidden tai. 1 ‘ms intense to the “corectve thus” of elim then tat the effort should fal prey toa form of essentalism. Relist fins ental mor than ' "documentary" cord of reality ot we analyze them, Ht becomes cleat ‘that they seek adaquacy in two main functons: fis, to at as is sural analogies with perceptual realy and second, to fulfil a notion of representavenes, This second notion (eddrssed in my discussion of type in chaptars 4 and 5) relates most diet tothe prescription tht any evnt or character, ‘resented will have a socal dimension, The requirement ecmplintes ‘ators interestingly in confronting the inevitable reduction impli in ‘ny filmic presentation: how sone to epresent a general dea, cll. tivity oe moral through the always indexial nd pacticulrizing powers of Image and sound? This question (thoretially ane practically aren by Senge Hsonstoln. Dzig Vertov, and expressions and cinema novo ‘lmmakers, among others) bacomesespecaly pertinent when the dives ‘or wants to avoid making association and symbolic laps ant fend of {an impulse toward allgory—as In for example, the version of realism | ‘represented by norealism, and inthe leo Wathol end those of Aker ‘man. What sf intrest for ure the way that consideration ofthe “Tho Bveryday in Postwar Reals Ginema 23 images between imagercan shape atranslormatve elim a well asan toate notion of ype, invalidating theese question of reality prior to representation. ‘The emphasison dramatic oquvalonebtwwon major and miner events that Bazin finds in norealism” dwell recalls the formal stroctar of Jeanne Dilmon Gives te obvious disparities batwoen fms such as Un brto D (2850), organized by the conventions of analytic eitng, and Janne Dieinan, which resolutely avoids point-of-view stractring, one ‘ns to account forth particularities of cotoxts (505 humanis and 708 micropoliti, for example and style (social melodrama end minimalist ‘arativ) hast these dedramatized cinemas apart. While bth projects feuste the mundane and the dramatic, they can ely serve radically ifornt agendas. ‘Typical of norealist attention tothe marginal discourse isa extn {deals tn Jeane Delman, Akerman diabes romantic connotations by ving othe mundane ts prope. andar, weight andy channaling the Aistubing eet of mininalhypecrealist ste into nari with de. ‘te political resonances, Her atention toa scbect mater of coil ntereat fs literl=fixed fame, extended take—and 20 stylizad as almost to be ed, Inthe way, sho denotes th iden of dapay isle, her cinoma focaseshyperbolcally on what Casare Zavatinl claimed a he main re ‘ulrment of nooralst cinema—"scialatention, Indeed, in Joanne Dielman this focus is quite extreme. Hans Jinn Syberberg, Coda Roberto Roslin and Jean-Marie Staub and Dalle Hill, amon tors, have al interpreted the demand fr “social tention” at inter ‘hangeble with temporal fimic focus ona single scene, situation, prob- lem but tho rletlss onlay of Akerman’ display of aocal tan ion ail erp ‘Along with extonded daaton the quotidian is undoubtedly the sg nif par excellence af he realistic impale. The possibility of covering ‘the events evoked by the notion of the quoidan Ia we shal so, he ‘main re forthe rast doi Indeed, with varios diferent exphases, ‘what marks the nt idealit move in posta culture ithe privileging of ‘varyay lif. The accont on the everyday—on nonspeciliza labor. pi ‘alee, unstructured orextrainstvtional aiityorthowght—ss well | ‘on the undrying materiality and coneztenes of cinematic elements, ‘Provides the rational conjunction of modernism, realism, and polis. Inthe prid between neralist and Akernan’s lms, the intrusion of ‘extraneous elements, or ofa diferet tempo (hen the minor event ee ‘sivas an tention involving oxpandod duration. was shaped as aroality|24. Nothing Happens ‘surpasreality offen he Sims ofthis period, numberof tates ‘ely function to ake the everyday and atrial ality the signer of the Rea: the temporal equality accorded th significant and insigaeant vents the programmatic forgrnding of rater and visual con ‘coteness (Rober Bresson, Stab and Hull, Akorman the se of me {eur ators (De Sie, Zaatin, Joan Rouch, Roslin) the eenatneat of ‘ones own experienc (Zavatini, Antonio, Rouch) and the use of rea ral ime to deplet avens (Warhol, Aker That the quaidian poner sly resists direct representation in conventional cinemaallows ito prm: aoa “reserve avallableo the relist pulse. This serve i pti ‘what els cinema's various tterpt at iternesoverisilitude of fer. As Maurice Blanchot writes, aft he quotidian Is delind i the egtive a, mot immediatly the sie of life that i usually considered ‘unworthy of naration. Whutover escapes denomination as some other ar of ife—work. leisure e.—confoatsmanation with a tbo at jonary movement.” Yet this “wnnarable” serves a basic function: to ticipate in the diver gure of True... inthe becoming of what ‘secure eth below economic an technical change) or above philoso hy poste: polities)” ‘What interests me heros the varity of ways in which the “unnamable ‘concept ofthe quctidan stsinedimptance between the mid Als and ‘the mid 70s, while accumulating diferent connotations, diferent nod ‘ls ofexpessvonass. Umberto D, Twa or Tee Things Know eu Her (0900) and Akorman's work all chara period in which phenomenology ‘xstentllism,semiology. the Annales school and fins al iene ‘way or anothr claimed the everyday their objet (or anne ‘Chong the Evry in Postwar Europe ‘Between the mid 40 and the mi'70s, questions of ial reality end the very took vivid einomate form to represent a new fous ofthe pot war peiod—the privileging of materiality. of concrete existenco an of ‘ocial solidarity. Those concerns were id nat only to a gnere human int fon, but ou Marxist sonsibility gered toward analyzing material otions ‘The general critical intrest infregounding minor events and occu ences is worth examining, Hens Lefebvre was the fiat to instil the notion of everyday fe with theortcalcucreey; a Marit Lefebvre published the frst volume of hs Introduction dune rtiqu do la vie ‘qotdionn in 1987 Annes bistrian Fernand Bevel’ "The Staton “The Everyday in Porter Reals Cima 28 ‘fistory in 1950" suggests, lowing he work of Mar Black and Lh Fev that history noedsto go beneath the surface of politcal vents, Tae lanalyaee of history developing In a slow-pacedhythm—the longue dlurde—es well ath cael study of he aria everyday ie bocome the maar! fora Now History that develops into the seventies, And Be an’ writings on cinomalc realism appeared during the sane postwar fant srgpating shared inere n ereryy Iie on te prt of eal tural historians, socilopiets, and xtc ‘The quotidian in ths discussion occupies a double spac: iba the oplan space of change (hat Lefebvre calls the “fsa” andthe ei sive othe in nee of esloure. In its very idfioabiliy, is disse ‘nation inthe social i, i eth cre of revoutinary potentiality. I emergn” Lefebre writes, asa socologial point of fedback with sl character: it isthe eslduum ofl the possible specie and spe Cali activites outside socal experienc and the product of oct {in gonral: ts the point of dlicats balance and that wher imbalance threatens.” Thestutionst Guy Debord addresses this point “where im balncrthentons” i his “Perspecivs for Conscious Alterations in Ev yay Lila lke gave trough tape recorder isthe “Conference of| 76 Group fr Research on Everyday Li,” canveed hy Leben 1963, “Thor Debord aks about tho "useless, vulgar and disturbing concept of everyday life “Wha makes forthe difcly fever rmngniing train fof everyday lif isnot only tho fact that it has lady Bacome the moving ground af an empirical sociology and x eonexptl elaboration Dutalso the fact that t.- happens ob the ak in any revoltionary renewal ofculturand polis." Perhaps ti its existance o conceptual representation that leads everday life to be “policed and mystified by ‘every meas." toserveas “a sort of reservation for good natives who keep ‘modern society rang without understanding" Debord wzoe thine words a imo when the averyday ad boc the ground of» continual revolution, when to consider the coneat ofthe ‘vary "would imply he necessity ofan ntgal politi jageent. By May 1968,» suspicion of rpresentatin, and of any form of social rupresetativnoss encompassed every institution, including ha of wt ‘insma. Raoul Vanigem, for instance, «member ofthe Staton ner ‘ational limed tht "Godard sto fin what Lefebvre ot Morin are t0 oil ertque.. [Argon or Gord's alae] are nothing other than smattmpt to aterprt"a6touemement” in wach way sto bring abouts recuperation by the dominant cltue” ‘Aside rom tetra controversy aso whal art ca eit commodh26 Nothing Happens ation what of interest hares the ols fhe quotidlan as space where oniosttationalized practices can unfold, The utopian dimension of te everday stems to i precisely in ite reistance to nsitationalztion. At the ame time, of nurse, the woryatemt fo frame the wrydaytrasos _sgsins tho conventional sense of verydayness a repetitious routine, The ‘quotidian stands, then both for material elit and or the imposatiity fully to account fo itt represent it Hence th desire a repeat nate ality ther concrotely by exacerbating cinematic elements them ically by Snsrbing tho sgn of thie ral anal ovens, mundane gs tures, actions ieleant to the pla), become the trademark of «realist ‘pul, Im historicing tho ntret in everyday if, Lefebvre lates ho in the Prsiodimmodatly ater World War U,the hopes for “second ibe ‘onthe "socal chango tat was to follow ..-inthe footsteps of poi ‘al beration"—hed miscarried: “The workers were being disposed of thei consciousness and attompts to build new society based on thie ‘consciousness had not sucreded "Moreover the modal fr “hows lety" ha boon thown in dssoputo by the identification of Stalinist so. alia with oaitarianism. Daring the postwar construction in rene, ‘economic and sock regeneration were mistakenly akon a th “ling of now society” What was actually happening was an Increasing scl! boureauratization,a process that included the Communist Pry Given tho polrization elected bythe cold wa, however Marist intellectuals had rouble openly admitig that bot Stalinist and Communit Party pices ‘wer informed by totalitarianism an eared thir energy instead wand 'snayzing the fallure of postwar rvoitionary consciousness lensed onsciowsnes in capitalist society, This analysis demanded hinting of he vsting of revolutionary energie ina working class hat notcably shard th aspirations of th bourgolse ‘The perception ofa neve postwar society la intellectuals to reformulate humanism, Laebyre writes, in ay that “id not aspire tn lia etre and ideology inthe caus ofa lor of supersractues (Constitution, State, Government but ‘ale existence" was this nw humanien that animated existentialism in ts more popula and widespread version, inualisng the everyday asa space of continua commitment and cote, ‘na way the, the energy around the concpt othe everyday wes nour ‘shed by dsiusionnent and disppoiniment over the rampant int ionalizatin of power alter the wa. nthe spheres of lst polities und ‘academia leer, {abies revision af his inaccurate understanding of capitalism as | 7 ‘The Beerdayin Postwar Realist Cinema 27 end (ting only th nt) rh wierd fcr wet hd tua wh ho merce rc os ed fed capviyecc whl omra chy. in" Sty of cata crop ser, 871, he “pret [lon eeyay a Ear rman the wena es bret ast Sees ire te oot me Spoil tor nd here more pos oslo gay plc In eirqu ns Bryden the Modo or aera that te thoy fry ia cn conn potato poplin. it gad th een ah ho Wang che onde poophicl bee ith ie nea Const mdf expert) "ore Mhomifthe wong ster ried espe en fo Douro cps alin was prep th att ep od he tern ond decoration wh he cesing ee Elcom ceneton at wk fey te cont ear nro pe sna clon tsar nlowcgo ninth ne Wed cote et IGomld ns alinaon imped nth vr maton eve Ts iat hth silanes ft oe stnton Trt phenr sd he moron cnc ry Si win ct ca tha sed ound sine th evryény at lows x pe Chu ange of eile an Me, ort he trons thomas, dal son wry cosmo (Gornji) ena tioned ob coord cing Drees ed ery nev croton of he ey itt fone eta th ob pT ape het a hs yh we stched sea ink two cs twuny an the -plopic non ith fe pss Grd win thay angers nah iat arg Ie reise rng men yo td phonons ‘A Reatem of Sorte: Bain and Naor Fm, In "Film and the Now Psychology” (1947), Maurin Meriau-Ponty de fends the ides of such an affinity by remarking om the evidence. sup ovely provided by cinema ofthe permeation of subject and worl. As128 Nothing Happens perceptual object he aims film canbe atest with Gestalt theory. neause "the movie. diety present to us that peal way obeingin th world. which we can se nth ig language of git and ge and which leary defines each person we know Later Melon Ponty ‘expands onthe Indsslubility of rind and body and the timelines of Gestalt thwory aa brak with asia psychology. Likewise, "phencme= nological or xistntial philosophy ingly an expression of surprise t this inherence ofthe sellin the world and in othr, and an tempo ‘makes see the bond between subject and word. rather than to explain ites th classical philosophies id” Ths argument encapsulates recur "ingassumption inthe rai hetorc that posse unt Godard: tee that dscripio can be set end off conceptuliation, a am acoso land envisioning ofthe objec and is intereace inthe word. Mele Ponty’sdofons of the use of existential terminology kn analyzing fm is ‘capped for iastane, with the pres “bacause ths is movi atrial pat excellence" Arguing that fin harmony with (phenomenological or ‘sistent philosophy. Meriaaw-Ponty dateads notion echow! in the \eiigsof Rossellini, Zavatin, and Bain, among others Zvetinor ‘example, sates, “No other expressive medi hs, acne, this ori ‘ary and congenital capacity of photographing thing that». deserve tobe ‘shown in their quotdianeity, meaning in tei longer, rr duration: the ‘machine... sor things and not the concept" The parle between ‘xstentil philosophy, phenomenology, and cinema, then, is based on ‘heir shared avoidance of oinga“showease for ideas.” Bazin, the main propounde fan ontology of elie i, expounds on ‘depth of field a spatial comelat ofthe temporality ofthe long ake, or it confi the unity of ace and doco, tho total atedependence of verything real As Annette Michelson pints out in her intoducton to Noel Burehs Theory of Fl Practice hie pivleging othe long take and ‘of depth ofl places Bazin‘ writings ina precise cultural and politcal ‘imate “The viewer, unguided by an assertive syle, proces in ime to pprahondth données oth ld by nplictionreearingthough the experience of Si viewing the existential situation of bola -he-word ‘choosing in ambiguly’"™ Micheeon’s use of expressions culled from ‘cxstnlalism and phenomenology leetes the philosophical tasis of ‘Bazin's unequivocal endorsement of ambiguity, which he proposes ‘late of theft bth of arcapton and of ality ‘Bazin’ writings uphold Amedée Ayr’ statements in hi article “Noo realism and Phenomenology. where he suggests that Rewsling and & fo others have tried, ike Hussar, "go. 19 things hams, aa “The Bveryay in Porn Ross Cinema 20 ds aproech ot Smart a oppo court ht of aa Jin "enn tele ay inthe ane’ ann Ps snonptg wil apprehension which suo comple ts csone nr Beles enoring AY poston tes Das tin aes wy nm at rapeigot abalone nah prov als tht Stone ef pienonmola!denrptn: th movement ei be Smee eject ctnens tn pole of cpt ont on Fatng het tal pared by cue eri in fg of fhonanenotg which cries he lx pod of hx vi rand ag both bref anh ons bn cn of mb so Actual Ihe phenomenal bart of Basins wring ‘false of hsm operation tht for Drache Hones Tiny: penomenclgea! deciptionpredstedon an owen Sine comy eee wc nd “pei” Thi wagon Slenoony cea "poopy of wien ays consid nie Bjeaty nag, tir piny: t y the me la, tis floors a cing othe tempor Bx of wha i She hice tna ene ey eno tn onc af srctar snl ens Daria tay, nee that Messed gests rythm tthe reson exp -- end ae Incomplete ich aves vey mtg pmomendo wa oul mabe now rucon and npn nines This nnd nv rfclon sn epatons sth supplement 2 ating ny enn pancho relying an’ wish or (lod eral 0 tay Hie wings ae characte By wing toton tre, onh on artigo on ior exec {ow unvela bya tanspmet card aon th ther, otis ‘hlering ei i aor te ing movements of perception. Pip Rowen noe arias often ed bt nit mbit Wor monger hing rs th fiat of constant eter ™ [nd hin tn alt saber cong neste mshi Aircel within = ‘Agar ofteambialent stats of dtrption a bth at and philoso ply oculln nderstndig moor insti alin owe athe oro ay pu oth by osetia state nd Bain’ wi ing nnnternt-centay lo, econ mast cone css toton a sence a hl ronztin”osht) wt the - Aeeer on tery torn Googe, la atrole ft) tn at ath nlrb To spec i30 Nothing Happens ‘ronment Speaking of Roslin, asin nal cooks these two rode casa asfnaretve my flowed ta dena "ts preps expecially hosts to nara whic seat aly tred use down W mut now mpc factual dro ie ‘vent ny alc” Baise th, nsabiting senso ‘urate scrote ning std urd anglge {cava Thc nal omer can eon the ct. “The cus that log dean” cin we, “eannly be ta decpive™ guning dance opesenton os apm a 4; be ages tht in Roslin lips imply ate! nao te rally, oin or knowlege of aie cont laos sa yt wo aires rs of ral ein pr the ete ‘iscnucton lfrming any eset ain He encoder theif anuage asa mein with ety tao, ‘An grant variant of tise vas xem in th ost fsa practs tet emaced he nw aoa a Sl ort esc Toppan oly ext nine pon ah beta enoma ft prove ar decom as iag ‘lity. As} Maal and ne dep ca da sar ‘ian Sn" can low smal veto lating hem take own time ad produce hi own conten, Th sist seqcnee ele fr teak of onepal nd contest meek warns ‘im stomp supl™ This noon of mquenes ming ase ie Bazin coat thats temporcotnty can rene say fen event oc. Doplye inthe controversy rund th aus foe ‘vy ncolecing dt, thes apumens re carly dle tn ee ng in a crn eum th aca ene Te tne ‘etranentlty shows ho sof fle cami a uid {0 broader qutons of eon a “concpta occa ne {eens To Calin Youn. cheval cine ders fn nla ne {ning in ht ihe ta con open th gale ee Ato dt The fming procs ca eas much he een pone” roming aiousepsemolopl flds othnography, ior, sca ye) th en ofthe tah of son In Wert Intenso lulenentinsttmstapor tha preps ajc se bjctieion™ This" of vison ante ncn ar spn {vat lth in fl chia eal. Tis ah expr a ‘ae wit th development fd! sound recoding Inthe si , ‘The Beery in Postwar Realist Cinema 31 ‘which llowed both American roc cinoma and French cnama vest to set acim a rcords of ality. basing ther procedures on «notion of truth ax palpable, “ibe” (and audible evidence, Ths visual ap roach extends into caema vert’ tam to prevent the maker’ wn subjectivity os concrete “image since it isu conlton of “rth in ‘nema vei thatthe diogosis encompess the cinematic proces isl, the Interview ststion itself may boone part a th S's imagery in ae, ee orcamera axis, signaling the atemorepraseat the shadow ideo Filmmaking—the mma’ own presence. Pte restaalebjctvty mie in wort practices appears motly ezphasize the lak’ heroic hardship in gating bend the public Person (nthe casa diet cinema to the peron's rth coe (invite Practice) The naivts of direct cinema's far ofthe spoken as actual {nterference—in Nor (1962) Ricky Leacock verbally announces pct of oninterernce, La be will nt atk questions of Nahriconfims thi gun’ positivist falth in imagory. In adit, tae clear the arena in ‘which the authenticity of documentary i nally wg. n French cinema ‘voit ithe ordor of ponch that goats the lagiaacy othe len as relatively Independent rom ethical irs ofinefrenc. As subjectivity fs objected, represented a image and sound, maton i cleansed of the ult conscience ofthe documentaries, And what eter place to pt sid of this guilt than trough a technological apparatus converted ot ‘ivloge speech into aconfssonal chamber? tn addition, synchronized Sound's tendency to cate an alternation of statement with doubt ores tations soen a authenticatingthe fat that prosenc fully reproseated As itovadesedting, speech that s nov Nuent now faltering critously ‘oufems the contiguity of cinematic appara and the rot facing the ‘amera. Ina fl in which hesitations and silences are lt intact, the issu of authoral control is eided. Marks of interfeenca are neoided and the procos of iting and choice i ina way backed. The truth of ‘his cinema is ora and depends mostly on recording the emergence of Basin‘ description ofthe neooalist se oalipsis, andthe empha Chronicle ofa Summer on bstations stakes, nd 008, ar visions of this notion ofa representational analogue that merely rprodces ani ‘complete reality reaity stil in the making ‘Tho ga might lao work, within «diffrent asthe agenda at sg: nile of cinematic matali, pointing to an expic atic atic ‘his analysis of Brosson's Les Dames dbus de Boulogne, Bain shows tho52 Nothing Happens ‘akosofa moder ais nhs, reson ampliessound tome it concrete and referent «strategy Bazin rasa syitccholew cet Ingan interplay of abstraction and concrete ‘Then, the murmur athe wats, th. hooves ofthe horseson ‘ho cobblestones are not thor just aa conta othe simpifeation ‘fst. [ortol the literary and anachronistic Navr ofthe dialogue ‘Thay ae not need either or Gama antithesis ofr contest In decor. Tho are there deliberately ax uta, a forign bos, ike ‘in ofsand that gts nto and sean pa pico of machinery = erin and Roland Baths (in “The Reality Ec,” 1968), if with iar ‘ste! finese through the nasetve of mover els cine and ars ‘ur, looking forthe impure and concrete element tht wil erete a ap ‘uptre with conventional forms of verlsilitude The “detail” foe Bor thesis the ietevant event," for Bazin th "grain of santa ges intoand ze upaploce of machinery” Barher srt essays returned oman ‘exposing the illsions of referntality: Bain sar packed with he mount ng contradictions of exposing how the ral construct the same ine ‘hal they minimize tho tle of cinematic mediation. Both writer embrace ruptures and divergences fom funciona narrative assign fnew: md = versie. To acknowledge the points of contact betwee tho ‘ruta semiticin's and the rai rt’ investment on efor. Sy. allows one ograsp more aly the nuances of enemas inetd with ‘list oprsentatin, allows ne to perceive the shared ground of ao. relia and Godar's work Godard descriptive excursions, for instance, function both as expansions ofthe diegticrality~in tol atenton to ‘overiee. nonropresented reaiior~and a serinders of the strc lice occupied by th Brtesian “Ieevant event" the ap Although still operative in fs y the mi "6s the myth of und te realty theoretically and at tines practical in quostion. The doa th inherent” phenomenological ying o he truth nr is put om hold. An osilation between a boli in the valucs of reference and tq ofthe rferenti illusion res ost ofthe French and Amer can avantgarde film culture ofthe “0s. Within and ouside narative Projects th ilsion ofa continuum in ropresntation i challenged, The ‘versions of radial cinoma represented by Godard and Alan Resa ‘heir tel cc shits ofeferetial round, San Brakhage and Petr Kubalh (in ther expressive and stractural projets). const, among several others, examples ofan active backing of elena ¥ The Everyday In Postwar Realist Cnwena 22 From Sorte to Structure: Barthes, Godard, sd the Teulon of Reaity 2 he mid‘, deasption emer pln al expounded a fh hr aood thesomens mene reseed” Aaa Rb Gila Fors New Na latina que tn Bua nto the dna sol Bac atc edited ot nao of fay ag ih besarte ype ntea Pt Hobe cle not supine and ay "ogy on Skoyomephiclngng Qoting Rot na Sa La Nawse~"Alte cat uoundo me wre ate ft se funce ns yrds ring” coc, Stwoed the depth hag mains elon even peas the he on aed opening athe ane yh Irie impr and deer ed ate elit poets Acecipon crite dc owen he pee al and fh dance eth hota to sen, eh eee ten" Tl poponcomen dave orn ating re Titty hing ing ch ed ol ‘As duecpen qnconed ov methdsey dow revel cco tus ul si ofa roms basicaly Gemediecimatr toes see Thshitcepreted Anping yaya yaa any prin ches odateperiip to gn! mand i Cap of reyy i snd canoe Pope sd Fata ever tr tsar A Pet ptt Sets det elec brug tn vec ones satan te CB n tht oft sctrof conned tr Apooges 87 ely stl ake tc Ingen sont ele Th cnr Barth oa eb Sno omy vier secede ly ne tthe nd cman inn dns sch ee renting mache Ca een conker, pps en Ait and tir yh aguge The eal opp ht Ba ths props es on seine, even "al s"art fosemene Tih he ocpansion tnt in eting ey ot oc nn single cts pce ton cy eis igi lope ery as compli with consu4 Nothing Happene ‘loan visibility (the devia through hich tht scity makes ise ‘tmvenabeto dese in odvertsing, fasion, ands on) The ass moda are ‘sent opitomiz the difse power of alienation in the quote, tna ‘mote historiiaing vein than Barthes Elements of Semialny and My tholagies,Lafabwre sketches, though th precatous vemioloicl term clase of reirental,” what he sot a the disintegration of everyday Me, For hm, the proces startin the ely weit century and tains its apogee during the postindusralporod othe i's and el ‘6s: "The enormous amount of sigs iberated ot nelicinty connected to theirconsponding signified (words, gestures, images tnd gn) and ‘hus made availble foradvertsng and propaganda: anes ‘ofeveryday happiness." Given the massive industrlzation that the proton of household soodshad undergone by thea 0s slong with the new dia pressure to participate in the market, Mand crite such as Laity ud fon Bnudrard(Le systime des bjt, 1968, Pour un xtique de économie oltiqu du sige 1972) found themselves orca analye the change in ‘he rlation bree man and product. Ax Michal de Cereus pustin is \otrodction io The Practice of Bveryy Life consumption, an activity ‘hat is unsigned, unreadable and uneymboizd,” bacon he culture! ‘sconomic production of nonproducers:? The writings ofboth Lelebere and Baud retain a nostalge ng: ha it author privileges speech ‘the single realm of unity betwoon sgn and mening, he second sets his analysis of functionality and serially produced objets against « moment ‘when objets sill tained some ration with human, natural tne. (Tho time a te takes to grow, for instance, rutans the symbolic value of wooden furniture) To address the soctal changes manifest afer Word War both Lefebvre and Baudet toa lost moment, when society rolled ior on artisanal production "Even before postmodern writs caleba the ide of nandsrimination| twtwoun levels of authontety. one witnesses a relatively simpler ae. Knowlegment ofthe porasivones of representation in social ie. This ‘recognition, exompliiedin Godard, conreepondstos historical moment in which «humanist Marxism sill envisages exitialgsture tht might transform society. Godard’ jumbling of different referential ropes In tis cinemtic textures is stated at this juncture: hie work abnor the ‘ila analysis ofthe disjunction between ign and referent performed by alee and Barthes, long with phenomenology’ facnation with the Iinorenco of man inthe wld” defended by Merion Ponty, Godards apparently contradictory fecnation wth and demystifiation of the su ‘The very in Postwar Realist Cema 35 {aca of things canbe rad through this etal nexus For implicit inthe ‘tigueof "the collapse of ferential erred on by bth Lefsbre and Barthes ra romantic longing: arthos's third meaaing” or "obtuse meen ing" ints purposive prise of ambivalence (of hove much more one ca read ito a age, canbe aligned seit the inscrutable fae of Henry Fonda as Godard describes it in his ery writings on analyse inlcted in ‘tg tum by Baris phenomenology), Discussing Aled Hitchoack’ The rong Mon, Godard writes, Reaction shot and lng close-up of Henry Fond, staring abtacedly pondering thinking boing. The beauty ofeach of those lose pe with ther searching atenton to the passage of tine, comes fom the sense that necessity is intruding om tev, sence on exe tence... Is only citron isthe exact rath. Weare wating the ‘mos fantastic of adventares case we are walching the most pe foc, the most exemplary of dcuentaries By the early ‘tos, the critique of consumption takes on the ironic shape ‘ofpopan. which Godad'scinema briny asiilatesnaclear gasp of ‘the double register of images. In subscribing to the regime of ootaton in producing images (posters, fhion photos, outdoor shots, we.) as op ose o reality, Godan cinema from dreutlas (159) to Aphville (4965) and Modo in USA (1006), sws the sed of double refromality that ator artists, in difernt postmodern frame, wil purposefully bur tnd mabe iniinet. Unlike Warols and Cindy Sherma's work, how vor, Goad’ ins rater accentuate the borders batween the different reales they rterto,ovon when notcalingttenton other explicilyIn ‘hoor Thro Things, for example, Godard dacuses the sot of realities he might be focusing ona he camera scans and anaes potent eub- cts To critical anxiety of boing usable to cover elit intone Iensformed into «posic semantic quest. Over images of lite’s hus ‘band’s parage, Godard whips in vole over ‘Are those ally the words andthe image Ihowld employ? Ar thay the only onest Arent thao chart De speak to oud? «Do Took from too fro rom oo close. should one speak of ute o of the lanes? Since tis mponsbe,anyoey, otk abot both the samme tie lets ay they both wore swily trembling nthe at October aernoon.* 1m Godard, the linc and semantic voeabulary includes choles. This & farcry from Warhol's work, in which the car sare semingly unqus.36. Nothing Happens Honing fr what soems too long ine, t elit are lauded wth Public staae (he Empire Stato Building ay), oF at would-be tar pr- formers. Although Warhol's pli of bnalzing manning could be ‘mote distant roe Godard’ erstion of» politcal meaning fo the bana nthe quotidian, both director works are majorsignifis ofthe ini of ‘hoc gesture in cinema ‘Goa’ xtique of ferent illusions and he simultaneous de o| stontilism and semiotics wil be discussed later inthis book. We frm now to another nema involved in an equation ofthe dramatic and the anal Beyond Cinematic Poste The Arse Cima of Ay Warhot Zavatini reporting an American fim producer's description ofthe dif ‘nce batten Hollywood and neoralist narrative, mally and empha ‘cally corrects him by introducing no less than einematic ida: he d= ‘mands mare, “This show we ln Hollywood) would imagine a scene with i aro- plane. The plane pases by... a machine gun fies... tho plane rashes. and this Is how you [nsorealists] wold iain The plane passes by... the plane pssosby agin. he plane passes by ‘nce more..." Hewat ight But we hvestil ot one fr nought ‘st enough to make the aeroplane pass by thr ties wo mu make it pass by twenty ies" Zavatint's hatorc emerges in the onder of exces. It x composed ‘lamations "Today! Today! Today!" His atrviews, notes. and articles constantly repeat the aod to repeat. The climax ofthis energy for analy ing social fat os inthe deotrs ple that lz should flow the fof {unto whom aathng happens for nnay minites, implicit i Zavattns pl Is al or relation teen theme and formbetween the qtiian anda "ror omporl elation in eprsent| {ng Sacha lation might involv the paling froin activity with Some visual or nazatve suggestion of reurene, or eth an attempt ira rendiin, Prom petition o representation inal, eral ime, one travorssa wide spectrum ofnazatve possibilities neha cae, what it sugested is a surplus of lity. Thi surplus canbe provided by the ox pnsiveillusionafrepetition"She woke up. ese doe any morning’ “The Everyday n Postwar Rls Cinema_37 ‘or in that of one-one relation botwoon representation and reat the ilusion ofthe unique or singular record, the lteral representation, ‘While exces rules both Zavatn's inflammatory etre and Warhols ural cinematic procedures, Zavatins moto ls nol exactly answered by extended duration of Sma wach s Warhol Bat (1963), Ki (196), ‘Slop (169), ofr that mater by the day activites depicted in real tina in Jonnne Delman. Both Warhol and Akerman choot th itera fpproch ether than the “trative” roprosnttion the deduction of ‘cirent serie through the pronation ofa single event ut there sa ‘cil dfronce between, onthe one hand, Akorman's and Whol sex ‘caste, both fom of minal hyparealism, and, onthe ater he expan sve thrust of nora native which for example, may try to signify allunerployed italian through single charactor sucha Unbrto De Iminimalhyparslis rendition undoes any Hea of symbolic transcan ence esos necting reoperation with the eect ofa rurplusof rel ity tral ime obs it of the possiblity of standing for something other than that concrete natance For Zavatin, “no other medium of expression has cinema's ginal ‘nd nate capac for shoorng thing that we blow wort showing as thay happen day by dyin what we might cll their ‘dines thelr Jges anton duration." This duration that he proposes innately ‘inwmatlc le more appropriately seen ns another figure ofthe exons quien th nending earch fr trath an excess of the sumo order asthe bility Margaret Mod imapnes 36D depron camera might have torte ‘8 valshing tbe of he fixed camera she mentions inher discussion of| ‘as potential for objciity: "Th camera or tap ecorder that tay in fone sat tha isnot tuned, wound, refocused, or visibly loaded, does Income part ofthe background sce, and what records id happen."* Meat could not huve Known that sho war advocating fr her objective cord the same ase cinematic ring ong fed tak—that woul reveal the amazing porformancrs in Warbo' films. and would erate the rigid distanced alba subjective prspective in Akerman Tn Warhol for instances, the aru of he degree of obetvty Ln repre entation x moot. With an ethnographic sensibly (his Blin show tho Interactions of ery specie “tibe"l, Warhol undermines obsereationsl ‘nd iret cinema by hyperbolizing, to the point of eariature, the very basis of thoi eistene: the notion of noninterfeenca. He trades thei Postve indexing of the ethic of nonlatrforence for the equally tical ‘din is casaetvey politi stan of ndiferenes Mealy by enhanc38 Nothing Happens {ng uration, the ity of he rar an th intrusion of chan, be under ‘ines the belief underlying observational cinema and American direct noma that a measured closeness tatween subject and objet guarantors bc. ‘Warho’s ata on the subjetobject dichotomy is twofold. Fist, be ‘undermines the pth of anthropological enterprise by deflating ts pretext. ‘Once one chooses as one's object something already of known intrest ther is nothing tbe discovered. Shrouded with prior representations ‘ing init. ban even clichd—the objet maka no clin tobe newly unearthed or newly revealed in Warhol Mims. K is «suiae before he records itin li. On sree, tho Empire Sate Bung comes “alison In disallowing essonce—comes liven asimlcrum. Second. Wabols ed camer and extended takes exaggerate the le ‘maker's usual intrest in the subject the point of blindness. fixed ‘amerain principlmeans nnintrerncy a zc shot signals closeness {rom neoraism o observational cinema, from dire clnena and cinoma ‘ritétoRosolins didactic mea savvy combination oflong takes and Zoom eprsens he compromise betwee ack of medion and gene interest. But Watol overdoos these techniques, altogether daceding nest, as well scinomatc functionality His slontory zai (in The (Chala Gir, 1968, Lonesome Cowboys, 1967, flaunt an arbitrariness ‘hat comments retroactively on a whale range of essentialist quets in ‘irhol expose he limits ofthe humanist perspective in cinema He bis i intally by sugapting radical lack of empathy among fin make, objet, and spectator: the cinamatie and the profinic are pur Posfully at os, resulting either ina busyTha Chelsea Girl Vinyl (1905}~ora simpiied—Sierp low fb (1063}-arbitrarinos hat never ‘ters tothe spectator Warhols forfve-minat a sachou Slop, and ighthour Empire (1964) ramble exaggerated responses to Zavala’ ple fora im that would fellow someone to whom nothing happens for inty minutes, After Wahols attack on spactatral comfort, Zatti sro, once bold in is prliegingot “nothingness too areal ‘compromise: ninety einate, ar all isthe normal length of «om rec etre. Warhol's lms mock nd sabvetall the bask ais aso dated with nooreaist “nothingness.” Wao extended renditions of ‘lich images cent a diferent ester through which ote nora lam’s narativized phenomenology ofthe quotidian, His gue allows no pace fr the hei. Thechangingbackgrunds hatin nore throw ‘ho constancy ofthe hero into perspective is dropped. In place of ara “ThoBverydy in Postwar Realist Ginema_99 tive la which the humanist hero is ouilined aginst wool surface of ‘rying sites and situations, Warhol proposes an atinarativ in which acity sve rom ny object loked at ang enough. Instead af cashing ‘on the neglected and "irlavant™theneoralist strategy Warhol dou ‘bls the banality of his objects by promting an overviiiity wher is superfluous In overdoing his reductions (single themes fled forex tended periods of tim) Warhol exudes even the limited ugpestveness ‘of noreslien’s policy of verigaion and ahenism Bazin more tan anyone sos ale to be at its best wh it pursues aus of noninterfronco andthe intorty of alt 2 a o eng the ‘perceptual flld of representation. Hence he putsa moral value on the use ‘ofthe long take and depth of Sa atthe expense of montage for hi, those evies forgo rfc, Discontinulty and gaps canatitte tho maln treats to the aloes homogeacity of cinema intnded aan snag to an squall al rity. Taking this idon one sep further, what matter is no longer the stul physicality of representation stslack octet that it appear be physically Intra (asin Umberto DI" Despite Dine theories butin accord with his esthetic inclinations) rom Joan Reno Roselini the textal ntgity provided through the long ake has ben lessanassurenc of homoge than the cuaterpoiattonmiseenscbno Intended to resist harmony. Tho long take her ismeantnot san analogue forreality bot x one mre element na subile weave of wifice and spon tant, of heaticality and realistic detail Modern cinema's appropri tion of the long take i tobe understood asthe background for he emer neo ofan “tfc of rally" in Bates sense The “ielovant detail” [Rossin tem) appoars bs whon stn an unfatte shot ‘rho literal representations force onthe diferent play be- tween depth and sure that constitutes the rath of moderne ein. ‘Ronsllns, Renoir, Akerman, abd other modernist ells use the qualities of cinoma to setup material clashes with idealized vrsons of rai. Warhol establishes ocala arbiter entopy of opts One could ‘say that with Warhol. the materiality and concretness that popup in those Aico les ee drastically amplified spur and passive) resistance ‘Warhol undoos the main knot underritng thir visions of truer cinema. ‘Where they invoke inteation, be sums indifrent His cnanati choices fie aptorintc, nd provoke randomness of perfrmanc (in hia eripted ‘las and perenpual arbres (in is eany work. tthe ise of ‘nema eng! is human interest, In Warhol, interat challanged onal fons the immakec saben, the object ian, the spectator bed ‘The spectators confrontation with his or her own physical and mental40 Nothing Happens endurance delineates cinoma that has give up on the tions of rath that susan other allerative cinema (Akers neue) Bot ners is ot simpy traded fr Indifference, for tho Warhol strategy ps forth a polls of infrentition: domi wavrsbtwee representation and ‘eal: betwee actingand bing, fikering constant and unstaly By cntas with Wabols politics of indifference needa and cin ‘ma veri’ search for authentic in remncting events seoms hampered by its dosio to find rth yng alisy beyond materiality, beyond the body. A suggested, Warhols undermining of search flr, nd intention makes any cinomatic approach sear lan befor it ewan gts lou tots object. ois cinema never dows pt clase: Warhol das not intend to “et Inside the objets of his cinema (as Rouch would hav it), Yt nether ows it search ora feeling of being ostide”—for an alienation effec, of ‘he kind that might givers to sudden empathy (in Godan, Brseon, snd Roslin) The lteralaes of Warhol's cinema qulifies thee to ‘approaches On the ane hand the events radical dation om cron dle allows the equation of fissures i de sion with truth. His work po- ‘vols sucha andom spacing of sures—misakein performance (The ‘Chale Gin) shits in address (Beoaty #2, 1965), mixing, of genree (Conesome Conboys)—thata ap orerorcannot be taken as more trae than tculated speech. On the othr hand, his enhancoment of cinema ma teil so pervasive as to defy the pedagogic thrust of» modernist ‘nema intent on the disclosure of materiality (Godard and Staub and uit boing the main examples. Moreoar, Uti precely through an apparently unissued surface, ne Bani sent, that Warhol hie die ontnuty from the ext ont the spectator perepton Neither Ban's concept ofan unflsured realist representation nor War hols overturning ofsuch a notion, however, respond fll to the neorea Jat desire for totality. This essontlist conception lane on matonyaic ‘expansion, which might disc for w,for instance, th badaom where ‘Umberto Dsleps bt might also create «psc ad moral googmphy that suggests totality. In this respect, the attention to dtl and the prosenation ofsites and events aslstrative tokens, pert in nore Ist in mach the same way athe display af iconographic images works to shape alloca eneaaings in conventional cinema In Bicycle Thieves, allo Romer rather al of aly and ofthe postwar word) e meant te represented by the syacretically woven aeighborhood ad site tha A tonio traverses. The wanderings ofthe charter Ia Uinberto Dae Bcylo ‘Thiers signify a olely “physical” coverage of ality only suprficllly Ice maliplicity—of spaces, of popla-always reconvene on a cones, ¥ ‘The Everday in Postwar Realist Cinema 41 ucts back oit by human perspective thal ropresented inthe ils by {human body, «hoo sts here body, the neric posta indi ta, that Akerman’ anne Dilan takes to tas. Whi Warhol st {ules the crater’ bd forthe lie bods: ransforming the one-to-one ature of Ker representation in an ultimate decenterng of humanism, ‘Akaeman proves bow a body cancer in and out of characer (rough « ind of eilting perexption made posible by literal epesetation and sil furthoranareative. ‘Akerman’ minimal hypecalien, nso many ways sila to Warhol makes postive claim tla storyhor equation af drama and everyday fw is nde ron within narrative, Moreover, it iin atti acter ‘or ofherline| tht she mounts her blows om esti humanism, The singularity of Akorman’s Jeanne dies the generic humanism of Uber Dor Antonio. The historical grounding ofthis srt of herve repre tented at ts bos in Akarman's fuslon of minimalist hyperralist son silty with an acute awarenes of 70 micropoitis, and ferinsin articular And it this aeareness ofthe slngulaity of woman's every ‘ayness that forms the bcibone af Aksrman'scorpreal cinema, ¢cinem ‘whose spit concar with refeontality and cinematic rately cn be ‘xamnod inthe context of lhe contemporaneous attic practice