Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 Contexts and Influences
- 2 Chabrol and Genres
- 3 The Human Beast
- 4 Family Secrets
- 5 Chabrolean Spaces as Heterotopias of Crisis
- 6 Through the Looking Glass: Chabrol’s Mirrors and the ‘Crystal-image’
- Conclusion: Towards an Aesthetics of Visual Opacity
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion: Towards an Aesthetics of Visual Opacity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 Contexts and Influences
- 2 Chabrol and Genres
- 3 The Human Beast
- 4 Family Secrets
- 5 Chabrolean Spaces as Heterotopias of Crisis
- 6 Through the Looking Glass: Chabrol’s Mirrors and the ‘Crystal-image’
- Conclusion: Towards an Aesthetics of Visual Opacity
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chabrol's filmography greatly gains in depth and significance by being examined as a whole. Following in Balzac's footsteps, Chabrol subscribed to the idea that an œuvre is above all a mosaic, made of pieces that may very well be uneven in quality but that, ultimately, provide an overarching structure and a unifying vision. So what exactly is this ‘very precise vision of things’ that Chabrol's œuvre is supposed to convey? One key lesson is that one should steer clear of certainties of all kinds and that nothing is ever quite what it seems. We have seen that the fortunes of the generic label ‘Chabrolien’ testify to Chabrol's enduring legacy on the contemporary French/Francophone thriller. Thus, a ‘Chabrolean film’ is characterised by its objective camera work, narrative tension, claustrophobic atmosphere, enigmatic characters, dysfunctional family theme, class tensions and the portrayal of a provincial and/or middle-class setting. However accurate, this definition of the ‘Chabrolean’ film only accounts for one side of Chabrol, for the most accessible and visible thematic and stylistic aspects. There is another more elusive, complex, self-reflexive Chabrol who tirelessly works on the image in order to opacify the representation. The viewer, caught in the pleasures and the apparent comfort of the genre film, may very well miss such reflexive cracks or clues that undermine the realistic grounding of the films and affect the overall vision.
The uncanny detail is one such ‘crack’. We have seen examples of it in the study (see the shot with the ladder in L’Enfer, for instance). It is a discreet Chabrolean device that, although more minor than the mise en abyme and other mirror games – in the sense that it does not affect or reflect the overall structure of the film – contributes, too, through little touches, to the building up of an aesthetics of opacity. Indeed, Chabrol enjoys inserting shots (or objects, expressions and characters within shots) that serve no apparent diegetic function – that are absurd, out of place and incongruous. He is perfectly aware that many such details may go unnoticed on the viewer's part but, according to him, it is about creating a mood, an atmosphere.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Claude Chabrol's Aesthetics of Opacity , pp. 161 - 165Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2017