Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository
Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository Download (12MB) - University of Salford Institutional Repository
unfamiliar', (Smith M., 1995: 93). This occurs when restricted narratives stimulate viewers to engage with the characters on an instinctive, emotional level. The presentation of Paul's character appears designed to achieve this aim: to create what might be termed a retarded recognition of the character's attributes and back history, while establishing an immediate rapport between viewers and the character on an instinctive, emotional level. The film's first images show Paul as he covers his ears and screams at a train which passes with a deafening noise. The camera tracks him as he wanders the streets, talking to himself and gesturing in dismay, his face unshaven and his eyes brimming with tears. This introduction of Paul's character reflects Smith's discussion of 'those visual representations in which we are denied all cues aside from those provided by facial expression and bodily posture', which he considers to be effective in eliciting affective mimicry (Smith M., 1995: 101-102). Films such as Partner and Tango share this kind of narration, which according to Smith elicits 'sympathetic (and antipathetic) responses towards characters undergoing experiences of traumatic loss, violation, and self-questioning that few of us will have direct experience of, and none in the precise configuration put forward by the narrative" (Smith M., 1995: 93-94). Both films, through an initial emotional channel, elicit a form of imagination and insight from viewers 'that fosters new perspectives on the social', (Smith M., 1995: 93-94) and an understanding of societal contexts different from their own. Although not as cryptic as Partner, Tango also features a restricted narration that forces spectators to speculate about omitted narrative events, such as Paul and Jeanne's lives prior to their encounter. The narration follows an internal focalization attached to Paul's subjectivity and an external focalization attached to the director behind the camera. This is revealed by the camera being positioned at floor level even when the characters are standing up, or by other conspicuous positioning such as the high-angle shot that allows a complete view of the action, as in the sodomization scene. Close-ups are alternated with medium shots 156
from peculiar angles, sometimes through glass. The camera movement privileges diagonal tracking and side panning, whereas the editing is based on spatio-temporal ellipses in terms of cuts from one interior to another (the apartment, the hotel, Jeanne's house), through the simple framing of the opening or closing of doors. Regarding this visual framing of doors, Bertolucci mentions one particular tracking shot, towards an empty door that excludes Paul and his mother-in-law from the frame during their first encounter, as a re-elaboration of the cinematic experimentation articulated in Partner (Ungari, 1982: 89). In fact Bertolucci recognizes Tango as 'the one [of his films] most closely related to Partner', since in Tango he was finally able to control the cinematic obsessions that dominated him in Partner, here too he pursued 'research on the use of the camera; an attempt to question the structures of cinema' (Bachmann, 1973: 96-97). Regarding the effect of these stylistic choices upon the viewer's cognitive engagement with the film - effects such as spatio-temporal ellipses and the unorthodox visual marginalizing of characters within the frame - the task of interpreting the developing action and predicting, as in real life, courses of action and narrative developments, is complicated. Engaging viewers with music and parallel mises-en-scene Another element of Tango's complexity derives from the contrasting mises-en-scene that depict different facets of the Paul-Jeanne-Tom relationship. The narrative focus moves from one environment to another, eliciting intellectual comparisons from viewers. In the depictions of Paul and Jeanne's relationship, narrative time flows in a linear way, continuity being provided by their regular arrangements to meet. Their meetings connect the film's different strands and this is made evident by recurrent patterns in the way Jeanne's arrivals at the apartment are framed: an off-centre view of a suspended walkway leading to the apartment block and the lock of the apartment door filmed from the inside as she enters. The pattern is reinforced by the way the main motif of the film's score is aired. Regarding music, Bertolucci 157
- Page 109 and 110: La trasedia di un uomo ridicolo / T
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from peculiar angles, sometimes through glass. The camera movement privileges diagonal<br />
tracking and side panning, whereas the editing is based on spatio-temporal ellipses in terms<br />
<strong>of</strong> cuts from one interior to another (the apartment, the hotel, Jeanne's house), through the<br />
simple framing <strong>of</strong> the opening or closing <strong>of</strong> doors. Regarding this visual framing <strong>of</strong> doors,<br />
Bertolucci mentions one particular tracking shot, towards an empty door that excludes Paul<br />
and his mother-in-law from the frame during their first encounter, as a re-elaboration <strong>of</strong> the<br />
cinematic experimentation articulated in Partner (Ungari, 1982: 89). In fact Bertolucci<br />
recognizes Tango as 'the one [<strong>of</strong> his films] most closely related to Partner', since in Tango<br />
he was finally able to control the cinematic obsessions that dominated him in Partner, here<br />
too he pursued 'research on the use <strong>of</strong> the camera; an attempt to question the structures <strong>of</strong><br />
cinema' (Bachmann, 1973: 96-97). Regarding the effect <strong>of</strong> these stylistic choices upon the<br />
viewer's cognitive engagement with the film - effects such as spatio-temporal ellipses and<br />
the unorthodox visual marginalizing <strong>of</strong> characters within the frame - the task <strong>of</strong> interpreting<br />
the developing action and predicting, as in real life, courses <strong>of</strong> action and narrative<br />
developments, is complicated.<br />
Engaging viewers with music and parallel mises-en-scene<br />
Another element <strong>of</strong> Tango's complexity derives from the contrasting mises-en-scene that<br />
depict different facets <strong>of</strong> the Paul-Jeanne-Tom relationship. The narrative focus moves from<br />
one environment to another, eliciting intellectual comparisons from viewers. In the depictions<br />
<strong>of</strong> Paul and Jeanne's relationship, narrative time flows in a linear way, continuity being<br />
provided by their regular arrangements to meet. Their meetings connect the film's different<br />
strands and this is made evident by recurrent patterns in the way Jeanne's arrivals at the<br />
apartment are framed: an <strong>of</strong>f-centre view <strong>of</strong> a suspended walkway leading to the apartment<br />
block and the lock <strong>of</strong> the apartment door filmed from the inside as she enters. The pattern is<br />
reinforced by the way the main motif <strong>of</strong> the film's score is aired. Regarding music, Bertolucci<br />
157
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