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director's presence, as no character is offered to viewers as a screen-surrogate from whom the
viewer's gaze might be projected. The outcome is the positioning of the viewers as observers,
a distanciation effect reminiscent of the Brechtian lesson about inducing in viewers a critical
attitude by making them look upon the characters and their situation (Willett, 1992: 91-93). In
this respect the film also presents two self-conscious moments about film-making, which,
although interrupting the viewers' absorption in the story, also appear designed to elicit forms
of affective engagement. The first sequence depicts the verses that Lucy writes in her diary,
which are initially shot in close up, with Lucy's handwriting then being superimposed on
screen; this device immediately awakens the viewer's perception of the artifice of the
cinematic medium, while also enhancing the scene's poeticism. The second, more complex
example depicts Lucy's vitality as she starts dancing while listening to energetic music,
arguably the scene from which the Italian title for the film is derived. Although Lucy listens
through earphones, the music is made audible on the soundtrack, until the camera tracks
backwards and the soundtrack goes completely mute. Only when two characters come into
frame commenting on the carefree quality of people of Lucy's age, do viewers realize that
she is now framed from outside the room, being watched through a closed window. Again the
device has a twofold aim: to showcase an ingenious directorial manipulation of the film's
visuals and diegetic spaces, and to expose viewers to Lucy's absorption in the music's
dynamic energy.
The affective charge of the film's aesthetics
In other situations, the camera's mobility - combined with a range of camera angles - creates
a vivid impression in viewers of being allowed to gaze freely around the filmic location, and
this technique augments the viewer's affective engagement with other aspects of the filmic
experience, such as sharing the magical beauty of the landscape and setting which form the
film s backdrop. These are constituted by a beautifully converted barn surrounded by a
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