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Film is for me an attempt,
still very rough and very primitive,
to approach the complexity of thought
and its mechanism.
Alain Resnais

The Stream of Consciousness
in the Films of Alain Resnais

by HAIM CALEV

BACKCOVER

The representation of thoughts and emotions streaming through a character's mind is imperative in cinematic expression. It grants penetration beyond the character's surface behavior and reaches inner dimensions of his existence. The challenge is vital in a medium which photographically reproduces the concrete visible world in action rather than the intangible invisible drama within the individual's consciousness.

The book introduces the potentialities of a cinematic representation of STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS through the achievements of Alain Resnais. Of all filmmakers, he has been the most involved in a deliberate effort to represent mental processes of characters in his films. The insights presented in this book have been reached through a close examination of the practice of major filmmakers.

Haim Callev is a theoretician and a practising filmmaker. He has a Ph.D. in Film from Columbia University. Among other publications by the author is the book Cinematic Expression, a two part study of expressive practices in the first centenary of cinema, based on film analysis. Part one deals with cinematic space and part two with screen time.

CONTENTS

Introduction 7

CHAPTER ONE: CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF MENTAL PROCESSES

Initial Problems 9
Suggestion of Thought through External Activities 10
Suggestion of Thought through Objective Correlatives 12
Potentialities of the Film Medium in Simulating Thought 16
The Term "Stream of Consciousness" 20
Value of Cinematic Representation of Thought 26
Resnais' Preoccupation with Stream of Consciousness 31

CHAPTER TWO: THE FLASH OF THOUGHT

Brief Injection of Mental Images Simulating Thought 33
The Stream of Consciousness in'La guerre est finie'38
Analysis of Mental Units 40
Value Added by the Stream of Consciousness 98
The Stream of Consciousness in'Hiroshima mon amour'103
Analysis of Mental Units 104
Value Added by the Stream of Consciousness 148

CHAPTER THREE: MENTAL STRUCTURING

Narrative Structure Simulating Thought in 'Je t'aime je t'aime'153
The Anchoring Reality 158
The Mental Flow 164
The Character's Mental Selection 169
The Character's Mental Succession 177
Value Added by the Stream of Consciousness 181

CHAPTER FOUR: MENTAL FLUIDITY

Narrative Fluidity Simulating Thought 185
The Stream of Consciousness in 'Providence' 187
The Fictional Premise 187
The Anchoring Reality 194
The Character's Mental Flow 199
The Stream of Consciousness in 'Last Year at Marienbad' 207
The Fictional Premise 207
The Gamut of Possibilities 210
The Anchoring Reality 217
The Characters' Mental Flow 222

CONCLUSIONS: STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES

Anchoring 230
Mental Selection 233
Mental Succession 234
Enigmatic Mental Images 235
Patterns of Repetition 236
Alternatives to Structural Principles 237

CREDITS OF THE EXAMINED FILMS 239

BIBLIOGRAPHY 245

INTRODUCTION

The challenge to represent thoughts and emotions as they stream through the minds of cinematic characters is of paramount importance. The expressive powers of the cinematic medium can contribute to a unique exploration of the mind's operating mechanism, thus leading to a better comprehension of interior life. Most enlightening insights about the drama that takes place within the individual's consciousness can be pinpointed and medially fleshed out.

The cinematic medium presents inherent potentialities for the representation of mental processes. The non-verbal prespeech level of thought can find its equivalent in the primary non-cognitive nature of cinematic images and sounds. Instantaneous transitions between shots can follow the most whimsical connections between images and entire spatial audio-visual configurations, thus simulating free association. Varying rhythms of exchange between images can be intermittently used to represent mental processes and the external world.

To date, the most valuable representation of stream of consciousness has been achieved in literature. Most enlightening insights into the human spirit have been reached through its practice. Literature as a medium is however confined to the verbal system of abstraction. Consequently, it is also limited in the artistic analogy it can produce to the characters' mental flow.

The importance of a cinematic representation of stream of consciousness is that it offers an entirely different system of abstraction and a different arsenal of expressive tools. Consequenly, it makes possible an alternative exploration of thoughts and emotions, which are accessible only to its representational apparatus, thus enabling the creation of a uniquely cinematic analogy to the mental flow.

However, while some of the best achievements in cinematic culture are to be found in films representing the characters' mental flow, only a partial and timid usage of the potentialities, available in the medium for such representation, has been exploited.

Considering the importance of reaching a fuller cinematic representation of stream of consciousness, this book presents a systematic study of its application by one of its most consistant and committed practitioners, Alain Resnais. His accomplishments in exploring the potentialities of the medium, and in creating expressive tools for such representation, have been closely examined in a shot by shot analysis of five of his feature films. Mental evocations and their anchoring sequences have been graphically described and timed in story board drawings. These descriptions are presented in the chapter on The Flash of Thought strategy, while they are omitted in discussing other strategies, for the sake of a more fluent presentation.

This study should lead to a better understanding of the potentialities of the cinematic medium in representing stream of consciousness and should create analytical tools for the evaluation of such practices.

CHAPTER ONE 
CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF MENTAL PROCESSES

INITIAL PROBLEMS

The obvious resources of the cinematic medium are the visible world and its activities. Cinematography¹ can easily capture visual action and its sounds. Characters involved in dramatic interaction are fully accessible to its technological apparatus. Genres depending on external action are most prolific: silent-comedy, westerns, detectives, film-noire, thrillers, musicals, science fiction - to cite just a few. Some of the best achievements in the history of the motion picture are to be found in such genres.

Cinematography cannot penetrate beyond the visible and audible surface behavior of characters and cannot capture the flow of thoughts, feelings, emotions, fantasies or any other mental process within their minds. This flow can be indirectly suggested through its effects on the characters' external activity and through their dramatic functioning in the plot. Speech and dialogue are far from being expressions of their mental flow; most often they are attempts to conceal it rather than reveal it. It can also be suggested through their body language, their movement, their gestures and their facial expressions.² The intimacy of the screen, the possibility of showing characters in their most private moments at very close range, in close-up, conditions the viewer for the next step, the next phase of subjectivity - the penetration into their mental flow.³ This conditioning keeps tantalizing the viewer and teasing his curiosity, yet a direct depiction of the mental flow remains beyond the reach of the cinematographic apparatus.

SUGGESTION OF THOUGHT THROUGH EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Despite the compulsion created by cinematography to remain at the visible and audible surface behavior of characters, some suggestion of their mental life is eventually achieved, through a sophisticated portrayal of their screen presence. A glance at this strategy through the practice of one its prominent practitioners, Krzysztof Kieslowski, should provide insight into the nature of this sort of penetration. Kieslowski always strives to flesh-out complex mental processes in the minds of his characters, yet staunchly refrains from any direct representation of their thoughts; however, he reaches a relatively high degree of success while religiously sticking to their external screen appearance alone. A most striking example of this practice is his treatment of the mental process of Julie, the main character in 'Three Colors: Blue'.⁴

Julie (Juliette Binoche) has lost her husband and daughter in a car accident. After an abortive suicide attempt she embarks on self-imposed seclusion, striving to reach tranquillity and freedom from memories and love. Slowly and painfully she strives to reach a state of detachment. She reconnects with the world only after she has given her home away to the unborn child of her late husband, who, had been betraying her for years with a younger woman, without her slightest suspicion.

Julie's painful and complex moral and spiritual process of redemption is fleshed out through her external behavior, her gestures and her facial expressions. Besides heavily depending on excellent acting, this screen presence is produced through cinematography: lights and shadows sculpturing her face; extreme close-ups often showing only parts of the face; blue lighting (symbolizing liberty in the trilogy) creating a spotted texture over her; blue reflections covering the foreground of the screen as she disappears into the background (a symbolic enactment of her striving to reach liberty); bursts of her dead husband's music heard over the close-up of her face always followed by formal fades to black.

Julie's screen presence invites the viewer to imagine her mental process and to project onto the screen his own intuitions concerning it. The esthetic gratification created by image and sound inspires a mood of high seriousness. Knowing the cause of Julie's affliction and being exposed to her resulting external behavior, the viewer is enticed to deduce the mental process taking place in her mind. Any unique mental process could be read into her facial expressions. It could consist of a flow of metaphysical, spiritual or religious ideas - all options open to the individual inclinations of each viewer.

Ambiguity is not a disadvantage in any art and may have its powers as stimulating active participation on the part of the viewer, resulting in a valuable artistic experience. It is quite effective as a strategy for suggesting Julie's inner life in Three Colors: Blue. However, the absence both of the specific content of her thoughts and their developmental process, can hardly create the illusion of witnessing the mental flow in her mind. Kieslowski himself has often expressed his disappointment with the limitations of the film medium.

SUGGESTION OF THOUGHT THROUGH OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVES⁵

A different path in transcending the difficulty of representing the mental life of characters in the film medium, is through structural and dynamic means of cinematic expression.

The most widespread structural device, often used in action genres, is the immediate succession of a mental process in a character's mind by exhilarating external visual action. When placed in immediate vicinity, in the continuum of screen time, the energetic progression of the action serves to hold and carry the emotion generated by the mental flow and provides time to absorb it. The powerful cinematic presence of the action, though unrelated in its content to the mental flow, provides an adequate container to accommodate and embody it. A sequence from the classical western 'High Noon'⁶ should serve to illustrate this strategy.

Sheriff Kane (Gary Cooper) has just married Emmy (Grace Kelly) and has resigned from his Sheriff's duties, as a tribute to her non-violent Quaker creed. While the wedding ceremony is taking place, a gang of bandits comes into town to support Miller, their leader who has just been released from jail and is coming to town on the noon train. Miller has sworn to kill Kane, who had captured him and saved the town from the terror of his gang. The townspeople urge Kane to leave immediately and Kane complies and leaves hastily with Emmy.

Kane is torn between his sense of loyalty toward the townspeople, who have entrusted him with responsibility for their security, and his vow to Emmy to refrain from violence. Leaving town means deserting his duty and abandoning the people, who trusted him, to the terror of Miller and his gang. Staying in town and confronting four professional gunmen means dicing with death. Kane's dilemma would be worthy of a long monologue in a classical theater play or of an elaborate introspective analytical description in a novel.

Instead, a powerful cinematic sequence of external action occurs. Kane and Emmy are seen in a racing carriage, riding hurriedly out of town. The sequence depicts in great detail the movement of their carriage, filling the screen with visually strong shots of its motion. It is seen storming through the town square in a long shot, succeeded by a shot of one of its wheels rolling in extreme close-up in the foreground, while changing views of the town are seen through its dark graphic shape. An over-the-head high-angle shot of the racing carriage is followed by a camera movement revealing the deputy Sheriff gossiping about Kane's cowardly escape. The racing carriage bursts into frame again, filling the foreground with its bulky dark presence, rolling down the road. A travelling shot shows it in a lateral view, then, a closer view of the horses' galloping feet in a low-angle shot fills the frame, followed by the graphic shapes of the rolling wheels. The carriage comes toward the foreground, Kane turns it around, tells Emmy that he is reversing his decision and opting to return to town to confront the bandits. The carriage rides back into town in a series of shots, symmetrically reversing the shots of its ride out of town.

The sequence consists of fifteen shots, out of which the racing carriage is depicted in twelve, filling the screen with its energetic graphic and kinetic presence for two minutes and twenty seconds. The viewer is exposed to an exciting visual experience which serves as a cinematic carrier, designed to contain the mental process in Kane's mind. It would be too far fetched to attribute to it any metaphorical link to Kane's mental process. Suggesting a similarity, lets say, between his racing thoughts and the racing carriage would be an over simplistic. On the other hand, the seemingly coincidental simultaneous occurrence of the two, establishes inevitably a metonymical relationship between them.

Far from being the expression of Kane's mental flow, the racing carriage sequence functions as its external carrier, or its 'objective correlative'. While remaining totally objective to its content, the sequence provides a sensory experience which invokes the mental process and becomes its "crystallization". It is equivalent to the mental process in its intensity, or rather in the intensity of the esthetic experience it evokes in the viewer.⁷ Because of the cinematic stimulation to which he is exposed, and by virtue of the esthetic arousal he experiences, the viewer is in the proper mood to absorb the intensity of the mental flow in Kane's mind, the torment of his moral dilemma. Moreover, the long duration of screen time dedicated to the racing carriage sequence supplies an opportunity for the viewer to meditate about Kane's mental process and to absorb it.

The 'objective correlative' principle is actually the basis of the dominant main-stream strategy in suggesting mental processes of characters in the cinematic medium. It is very effective in providing a viewing experience easily digested by the viewer, while at the same time inviting his active participation in imagining mental processes in the characters' minds. In this sense it is reminiscent of the strategy of suggesting characters' thoughts through their external activities, facial expressions, gestures, behavior and dialogue, as previously discussed.

Both strategies, complementary to each other, allow a medially adequate and viable way in suggesting the inner life of characters. However, both achieve merely an indirect penetration into the drama that takes place in the individual's consciousness. A direct representation of the flow of thoughts as they stream in a character's mind, the illusion of witnessing their actual occurrence in the fictional here and now on the screen, calls for different strategies.

POTENTIALITIES OF THE FILM MEDIUM IN SIMULATING THOUGHT

Film as a medium has two inherent difficulties in the direct representation of mental processes of fictional characters. The first comes from the temporal nature of the medium. The very illusion of a mental flow depends on non-linear and non-chronological structures and on private implications of images, which must appear enigmatic to suggest the privacy and whimsy of consciousness. The viewer could easily lose track of such intricate structures because of the temporal nature of the medium. The constant flux of images on the screen does not provide time for deciphering. In literary practices similar non-linear structures create a less grave obstacle in comprehension, since the reading process is not irreversible and the reader can use his time and attention to respond to the challenge of following the artistic organization of a mental flow.

The second difficulty stems from the inherent concrete nature of the cinematic image. Images and sounds, even when combined in an artistic form, may seem to be reproductions of reality. As such they carry an inherent resistance to being organized in structures simulating a process as abstract and as interior as thought. Words, on the other hand, being abstract signs endowed with connotations and blessed with ambiguity, are less resistant to being organized in structures designed to create the illusion of a mental flow.

On the other hand, film has inherent potentialities for an adequate and effective representation of mental processes. The most obvious perhaps is that the medium uses two channels: picture and sound. This in itself offers the possibility to represent the occurrence of an interior flow of thoughts in a character's consciousness simultaneously with his involvement in external activity. The sound can reflect his thoughts, while the image shows the activity, or vice versa.⁸

Second, a similar simultaneity of thoughts and external activity can be created by two channels of images. Simultaneity among several external actions can be effectively suggested through the well-established cinematic practice of "parallel action". Two actions, happening at the same time in different locations, are shown intermittently, through a rhythmical intercut between them. The viewer keeps both in mind, because of his tendency to retain images after their actual disappearance from the screen and because of familiar images in both locations, which help him to reorient immediately after transition from one action to another. Similarly, two channels of images can be created in order to suggest mental processes. The one can show external 'reality' and the other the flow of mental images. Distinct visual qualities or rhythms of editing in each channel can differentiate between the two. The possible swiftness of the mental sequence, for instance, can make the mental interruption less noticeable and thus enhance the feeling of its simultaneous occurrence with the external action. The orientation of the viewer can be helped by immediately recognizable familiar images before departure from 'reality' and immediately after return to it.

Third, images and sounds can represent the non-verbal and non-cognitive dimensions of mental functioning more readily than words. The amorphous, pre-speech level of thought can easily find its equivalent in the primary non-intellectual nature of sounds and images, lighting and colors, graphical arrangements and motion, dynamic changes in screen directions and rhythms. The intuitive primary response to such screen occurrences enables the depiction of experiences which could not be reached by a system of abstract signs i.e. words.

Fourth, the spatial presence of entire episodes can be presented at once, simulating their flow through a character's mind, without having to introduce them in a temporal process. They are instantaneously absorbed by the viewer in full detail at the moment of their appearance on the screen. This immediate assimilation preserves their full impact, while a temporal presentation would be cumbersome and would spoil the illusion of witnessing the fluid and elusive qualities of streaming thoughts. No such full and instantaneous presentation of episodes is possible in literary practice, where a succession of words, a verbal description through which the reader must go in time, is the only way of displaying them with their full impact.

Fifth, a succession of shots according to the principle of free association can be easily constructed. Instant transitions from one shot to another, made possible by the cut, create the possibility of following the most whimsical connections and combinations of images, words and sounds.⁹ Their repetitions and their rhythms can represent their flow through a mind. Sequences can be constructed with the sole purpose of simulating thought, without any conflict with proper cinematic structure. In literary practice, on the other hand, verbal structures simulating thought must be fragmentary, abruptly interrupted, cluttered with unexplained references, private implications and enigmatic imagery. Such structures eventuate in non grammatical systems, often strange and offensive to communicative order, ensuing in a feeling of a raw rendition, for which Joyce is often criticized. The very imposition of an irregular artistic form, indispensable for creating the illusion of a stream of consciousness, is in collision with grammar and syntax. No such collision exists in the film medium, since spontaneous structures are part and parcel of cinematic expression.

THE TERM 'STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS'

In his remarkable study of the stream of consciousness in the modern novel, Robert Humphrey describes some of the difficulties, which we also share, in using the term 'stream of consciousness'. One reason for confusion comes from the association of the term with psychological notions. A psychologist, William James,¹⁰ originally coined the term in 1890, in an argument which had nothing to do with art. Humphrey writes:

James was formulating psychological theory and had discovered that "memories, thoughts and feelings exist outside the primary consciousness" and further, that they appear to one, not as a chain, but as a stream, a flow. ¹¹

Since the nineteenth century, psychological terminology has been refined and redefined. More precise categories in describing the mental range have been created. What is relevant to our study is that - as Humphrey justly points out - the adaptation of the term to the novel is metaphorical. Unlike the parallel term in French 'monologue interieur'¹², the English term does not designate a phenomenon which is rhetorical in nature. It calls a succession of words a 'stream'. Contributing to the vagueness is the fact that 'consciousness' is primarily a philosophical term, which is devoid of standard meaning,¹³ because various theories of identity define it differently. In the layman's usage, 'consciousness' indicates "the entire area of mental attention, from pre-consciousness on through various levels of the mind up to and including the highest one of rational communicable awareness."

Since it is in the layman's sense that the term has been used in literature, it is in this sense only that it has become an idiom and a cultural notion. This notion does not designate a real phenomenon in the human mind.¹⁴ It rather designates an artistic attempt to construct an illusion of what the artist considers to be mental functioning, and to represent it by means of his medium. In that sense, the term can serve well in its adaptation to film, where it is as metaphorical as in literature. For our purposes it is more appropriate than 'monologue interieur', precisely because it does not designate a rhetorical phenomenon.

A far more serious difficulty in the case of our adaptation is the traditional usage of the term. Writers and critics use it as variously and vaguely as 'romanticism', 'realism', 'symbolism', 'surrealism', 'modernism', 'post- modernism' etc. The term designates at least three different things. First, a narrative technique, attempting to construct the illusion of a mental flow. Second, a thematic concern with the characters' psyche. Third, a literary genre, whose most prominent representatives are James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson and William Faulkner. Very often, the three usages are confused.¹⁵

The question is, why should the connotations of these usages and their confusion be imported into cinematic scholarship. A new term could be coined, which would have no previous cultural burden and would denote exclusively the cinematic representation of mental processes. By being specific to film, such coinage would contribute toward establishing an independent terminology for film scholarship. Terms like Expressionism, Surrealism, Neorealism, adapted in the past, emphasized the derivative nature of these movements in the cinema. They pointed to their umbilical ties in other arts. Since there is no such derivative nature in our case, and stream of consciousness is immanently growing in film, as a result of its developing expressive needs, a new term would be preferable.

On the other hand, the cinematic representation of mental processes shares with the literary medium its most essential goals and assumptions. They come from an awareness of the drama that takes place within the individual's consciousness. Striving to express it directly - not through its resultant external behavior - both media share the following assumptions: the coexistence of past, present and future in the character's mind and their manifestation in every moment of experience; the coexistence of the factual and the imaginary and their equal weight in the mind; the constant flow of ideas and their appearance according to the principle of free association; the frequent deviation from a linear order to a seemingly chaotic and incoherent succession, which eventually reveals private implications; the accumulation of private significance around enigmatic images and the creation of personal symbols.

By sharing goals and premises both media are engaged in an identical cultural endeavor. Using different terms would emphasize the difference in their tools of expression, rather than the unity of their main concerns. It would stress formalistic differences in means, rather than unity in essential substance.

Once the term has been adapted to cinema, the analogy with literature should be carried no further, and the term should be allowed to acquire its own significance based on the practice of representing mental processes in film.

'Stream of consciousness in film is the cinematic representation of mental processes
occurring in the minds of fictional characters simultaneously with the external action,
granting a penetration into their inner life.'

A discussion of the components in this definition will help determine its range of reference.

'Cinematic Representation' emphasizes the artistic nature of the endeavor. It is the construction of a fictional illusion, created by an artist through means of cinematic expression, rather than the depiction of mental processes factually occurring in the human mind.

'Mental Processes' is used to cover the widest possible range of activities of the mind, from dreams, through varying degrees of cognition to full awareness. It refers to all faculties of the mind: memories, fantasies, emotions, feelings, hallucinations, rational thoughts, impressions, sensations, etc., as well as any unnamed mental activity which the filmmaker may intuitively sense.

'Occurring in the Minds' indicates the dynamic nature of the mental process. Not only is its content represented on the screen, but also its actual flow in the character's consciousness. The selection of images and sounds and their succession represent its developing course in the mind. This emphasis on the dynamic occurrence of the mental flow excludes from the definition a representation of mental states by static means. Such representations used to be common practice in German Expressionism through the utilization of background paintings or elaborate sets.

'Fictional Characters' are the natural carriers of stream of consciousness. Their mental processes are invented and artistically represented by an omniscient filmmaker. This excludes from the definition the representation of the filmmaker's mental process, as was often the case in Surrealism and still is in some experimental avant-garde films or video-clips.

'Simultaneously with the External Action' emphasizes the indispensable need for an external fictional 'reality' in which the character operates, as part of the necessary means for representing his mental flow. The illusion of watching the workings of a mind is often generated by showing how circumstances in the external action evoke mental processes, how specific elements trigger mental images, how impressions from the outer world are absorbed by the character's consciousness and how external 'reality' is transmuted by his private vision. Thus the external action serves to anchor the mental processes in its developement and helps orient the spectator. The privileged acquaintance with a character's thoughts, as he takes part in an anchoring reality, is essential in creating the illusion of an encounter with the privacy of his stream of consciousness.

'Granting a Penetration into their Inner Life' indicates the major goal of the cinematic representation of stream of consciousness. The depiction of essential elements which constitute the character's genuine inner being is a sine qua non condition for creating the illusion of witnessing his mental flow. The very illusion of having access to the operation of his mind depends on a knowledge of essential powers which activate him and determine his uniqueness.

This excludes from the definition occasional unprepared and abrupt injections of mental images. Such practice - widespread throughout the history of the motion picture - may provide information about the content of occasional thoughts, ideas, memories, fantasies, etc., which occur in a character's mind. It fails however to create an acquaintance with the privacy of that mind and its operating mechanism. Consequently, it fails to facilitate penetration into the character's inner life.¹⁶

Such penetration can be granted only through a gradual acquaintance with the character's main concerns and with the idiosyncrasies of his mind. A consistent repertory of private mental images is essential for this purpose. The systematic integration of these images in the film's total structure through their even distribution, their repetition, and their slow disclosure, determine the viewer's ability to share the private implications and the enigmatic significance which they have for the character. This procedure is essential in creating the illusion of witnessing the actual stream of ideas and emotions in the character's mind - not only the content of his mental evocations.

VALUE OF CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THOUGHT

The complexity of thought and its flow in an individual's mind may be one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. It has been the subject of numerous metaphysical, scientific and psychological investigations.¹⁷

Striving to represent this mental flow through artistic tools of expression is an alternative method of exploring it. The exploration is achieved by fleshing out the elusive process of thought through artistic means, ensuing in a fictional illusion of its actual occurrence. This creative process facilitates the depiction of dimensions of human experience that cannot be reached by scientific and psychological research. It presents a viable alternative to the scientific apparatus in following and analyzing the most private and secret idiosyncrasies of the individual mind, through an intuitive creative process, owing no debt to psychology,¹⁸ as well as providing a major outlet for human experience through the expressive process of art.

By virtue of the flexibility and the versatility of artistic means of expression, this intuitive process is most appropriate for the exploration of mental processes. It is particularly adaptable to the depicton, or suggestion, of the chaotic and elusive nature of thought.

To assess the importance of the artistic representation of mental processes, it may be worthwhile to recall the famous controversy between Plato and Aristotle on the artist's role in the search for truth. Plato claims that the artist has no chance of reaching truth, since he imitates reality, which is in itself a poor imitation of the world of "ideas", consequently being twice removed from truth. Conversely, Aristotle claims that the artist does not imitate reality; he has rather a direct and priviledged access to the world of "ideas", from which he draws his models, consequently being in immediate contact with truth. In other words, the creative process, in which intuition and meditation are dominant, offers a viable alternative to scientific research.¹⁹

Nevertheless, any artistic exploration, or expression, is confined to the means of representation in a particular medium. Artists can flesh out their intuitions only through available concrete medial materials. To date, the most valuable depiction of stream of consciousness has been achieved in literature. The arsenal of expressive tools through verbal structures has been effectively used to simulate mental processes. Far from being exhausted, this arsenal is limited not only in its scope, but also in its nature and therefore in the sensibilities it can express.

The importance of a cinematic representation of stream of consciousness is that an entirely different set of concrete medial materials is available for its exploration. Since any medium provides only a concrete analogy to the mental flow, the cinematic analogy offers different opportunities for following and depicting its essence.

The cinematic practice in representing stream of consciousness during the first centenary of its existence has been limited in scope while artistically effective. Some of the best achievements in cinematic culture are to be found in these films. Considering the importance of a cinematic representation of stream of consciousness as an alternative both to its literary expression and to its scientific exploration, a systematic study of its application in these films is of utmost importance. It will lead to a better understanding of the potentialities of the medium in representing stream of consciousness and it will create analytical tools and critical standards for the evaluation of such practices.

Moreover, the importance of such systematic study is essential in view of the changes through which cinematic production is going. It could highlight expressive tools for a cinematic representation of stream of consciousness at a time in which their application seems most probable. Commercial considerations have always hindered stream of consciousness films. The pressures for easily digestible cinematic products, which appeal to wide audiences - or rather the prejudice of the commercial establishment with regard to such products - have resulted in the creation and the perfection of genres based mainly on external action, rather than on genres striving to reach a meticulous depiction of characters' inner life.

While this trend continues and determines main stream cinematic production, a parallel channel consisting of personal films is emerging. The absolute domination of the commercial establishment is coming to an end, thanks to the radical technological changes through which cinematic production has been going in the nineties. Such are - high resolution video cameras, digital linear editing by personal computers, computer animation and virtual image creation, computer music composition and sound effects - to mention just a few. This technology facilitates high quality professional low budget productions and consequently more personal expression. At long last the cinematic medium is approaching the utopian vision of becoming a genuine "camera stylo".²⁰

Released from the constrictions imposed by the commercial establishment and their prejudice, the individual filmmaker should now be able to explore the inner world of his fictional characters, to follow their idiosyncrasies and represent their stream of consciousness. At long last he will have some of the artistic freedom which writers have always enjoyed. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf would not have been able to afford the luxury of indulging in the simulation of the mental flow, had they had to satisfy the sponsors' external pressures and prejudice as a precondition for their endeavors.

Since means of expression grow only within concrete works of art, as a result of the compulsion to penetrate into levels of existence which could not be tackled otherwise, it is through the analysis of such works that we shall strive to discover and pinpoint creative tools available for the cinematic representation of stream of consciousness.

Of all filmmakers, Alain Resnais has been the most involved in a deliberate effort to represent mental processes of characters in his films. Through his practice he has explored the potentialities of the medium and created essential expressive tools for such representation. A close examination of his creative efforts in inventing expressive strategies and an analysis of his achievements should best serve our purpose.

RESNAIS' PREOCCUPATION WITH STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

An underlying theme in all Resnais' films is the mental functioning of the individual in an estranged world constantly jeopardizing his values. Striving to express this theme, he undertakes to overcome the limitations of narrative strategies based on external action, through a cinematic representation of the characters' stream of consciousness. Images and sounds well integrated in the structure of five of his feature films directly represent the mental flow in the protagonists' minds, as it actually occurs in the fictional 'here and now' on the screen. Resnais has often stated his objective:

"Film is for me an attempt, still very rough and very primitive, to approach the complexity of thought and its mechanism. Nevertheless I insist on the fact that this is merely a small step forward with reference to what one should be able to accomplish some day. I find that once you descend into the subconscious, an emotion can be born... I believe that in life we do not think chronologically, our decisions never correspond to an ordered logic. We all have images, things that determine us which are not a logical succession of actions that would normally develop perfectly in a chain. It seems intriguing to me to explore this universe, from the point of view of truth, if not of morality."²¹

Resnais has resolutely pursued the objective of fleshing out "the complexity of thought and its mechanism". A cinematic representation of mental functioning is effectively achieved in his practice through three distinctive strategies. Geared to specific expressive needs they reach a high degree of complexity and refinement.

An examination of these strategies, will demonstrate their effectiveness as tools for exploring the interior life of characters.²² Resnais' achievements in expressing mental processes will be looked into as indications of the expressive potentialities of the film medium to cope with such representation.

FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER ONE

1. Motion-picture photography.

2. See Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Berkeley and Los Angeles and London: California University Press, 1957), p. 134. Also compare Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film (London, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 60.

3. See Jean Mitry, L'Esthétique du cinéma, vol. II (Paris: Editions Universitaires, l965), pp. 61-79, 138-140. Within his discussion of subjective shots, which simulate the point of view of characters, the author discusses shots which may represent imaginary visions and mental images.

4. Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Blue, France, 1993. First film in a trilogy, bearing the French flag colors' names.

5. The term 'objective correlative' was originally coined by T.S. Eliot in his essay “Hamlet and His Problem”, Selected Essays, (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Comp. 1932)

6. Fred Zinnemann, High Noon, USA, 1952.

7. See J. Middleton Murry, The Problem of Style, (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 87-91. His concept of 'crystallization' may help clarify the relationship between a mental process and the 'material objects' which become its precise definition, as is the case in cinematic expression.

8. This possibility occurred to filmmakers and theoreticians immediately after the advent of sound. See V. I. Pudovkin, Film Technique and Film Acting (New York: Grove Press, 1958; first published in English by Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1929), p. 86. The same awareness is an underlying assumption about the sound film in René Clair's Réflexions faites (Paris: Gallimard, 1951), based on original articles of 1928.

9. See Sergei Eisenstein, Film Form (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1949), pp. 103-105. The author speaks enthusiastically about this particular potentiality of film, in connection with his proposal to Paramount for the filming of Dreiser's An American Tragedy: "The camera had to penetrate 'inside' Clyde. Aurally and visually must be set down the feverish 'race of thoughts', intermittently with the outer actuality...reconstructing all the phases and specifics of the course of thought...with zigzags of aimless shapes, whirling along with these in synchronization. Then racing visual images over complete silence. Then linked with polyphonic sounds. Then polyphonic images. Then both at once." Eisenstein had discussed the possibility of creating "an inner film monologue with a far broader scope than is afforded by literature", in his meeting with James Joyce. See also Gosta Werner, translated by Erik Gunnemark, "James Joyce and Sergei Eisenstein", James Joyce Quarterly vol. 27, (Spring 90) p. 491-507

10. William James, The Principles of Psychology (New York: Henry Holt, 1890) I, p. 239. Robert Humphrey, Stream of Consciousness in the Modern Novel (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1955). p.5.

11. First defined in French by Valery Larbaud in his preface to the 1925 edition of Edouard Dujardin's Les Lauriers sont coupés, (Paris, 1924), p 73.

12. See also Edouard Dujardin,. Le monologue intérieur, son apparition, ses origines, sa place dans l'oeuvre de James Joyce. (Paris: A. Messein, 1931)

13. Humphrey, op. cit., p. 2. His conclusion is based on a consultation of several dictionaries of philosophy, listed in footnote 4 of chapter 1 of his book.

14. Our impression is that stream of consciousness, both in literary and in cinematic fiction, is less psychologically oriented than plot-structured fiction. While motivations and their results in action are essential in the latter, the existential depiction of experience, not its causes, is central in the former. Moreover, while a normative attitude toward characters is often expressed in the latter, very much like the normative categorization in psychology (where 'good' and 'bad' are substituted by 'functioning' and 'not-functioning'), characters are depicted rather than judged in the former. We are aware that a very extensive study would be necessary to substantiate this impression.

15. Compare Humphrey, Ibid., p. 1

16. This does not imply criticism or evaluation of such films. Penetration into the characters' interior lives can be achieved by other means, which are not a stream of consciousness representation according to our definition.

17. See Kenneth Pope, ed. The Stream of Consciousness Scientific Investigations into the Flow Of Human Experience, (New York: Plenum Press, 1978)

18. See Liam F. Heaney, "Freud, Jung and Joyce: Conscious Connections", Contemporary Review vol. 365, Issue 1542, July 1994, pp.28-32. The writer claims that Joyce was influenced by Freud and Jung, while citing Joyce denying such influence and referring to the two psychologists derisively as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

19. See C. G. Jung, "Ulysses: a Monologue." Collected Works, (Bolligen XX, New York, 1966), pp. 122-232 Having read Ulysses, Jung refers to Joyce as a prophet: "Like every true prophet, the artist is the unwitting mouthpiece of the psychic secrets of his time and is often as unconscious as a sleepwalker".

20. Alexandre Astruc’s vision of a personal flexibility in expression in the film medium may have been premature in the forties. See “La camera-stylo”, Ecran Français 144, 1948

21. Resnais' words in an interview with André S. Labarthe and Jacques Rivette, Cahiers du Cinéma 21, no. 123, Sept. 1961, p. 6. (Translated by the author) For other important statements by Resnais expressing the same goal, see Ibid., p.10; Interview with Claude Edelman, Arts, 20 March 1963; Positif, No. 79, October 1966, pp. 33-34; Interview with Adrian Maben in Films and Filming 13, No. 1, October 1966, p. 42; Interview with Bernard Pingaud, L'Arc 31, January 1967, pp. 96-97; Radio interview on O.R.T.F. of 4 May 1968, published in the book: Gaston Bounoure, Alain Resnais, Cinéma d'aujourd'hui (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1974), p. 130.

22. Resnais' concern with the interior life of characters is central in most of his films, even when no attempt is made to represent their stream of consciousness. The viewer is enticed to deduce the characters' mental processes through dramatic situations that provide almost laboratory conditions for their exploration. This is usually achieved through alienating devices such as fragmentary narrative structures, often combining various time levels, thus restraining the viewer's emotional involvement, and directing his attention to an analytical contemplation of mental functioning. Such is the case particularly in Muriel, Stavisky, Mon oncle d'Amérique, La vie est un roman and L'amour à mort. Even in Resnais' early short films his concern with mental functioning is prominent. The film on Van Gogh, in particular, depicts the exterior world only as transmuted by the peculiar vision of the artist, thus actually dealing with his mental flow.

End of Chapter One

Chapter two: THE FLASH OF THOUGHT

'La guerre est Finie'
'Hiroshima mon amour'

Chapter three: MENTAL STRUCTURING

'Je t'aime, je t'aime'

Chapter four: MENTAL FLUIDITY

'Providence'
'Last Year at Marienbad'

Conclusions: STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES

Anchoring
Selection
Succession
Enigmatic Images
Patterns of Repetition

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