The Power of the Close-Up (Adam Davis)

  Reading the Balázs excerpt, I was intrigued by the idea that film, because of the close-up, has the power to reveal previously invisible aspects of reality to us. “A multitude of close-ups,” he says, “can show us the very instant in which the general is transformed into the particular.” I didn’t understand this claim at first, but it became more clear when I considered it in reference to the close-ups from some of the movies we’ve watched. 

The most obvious example of “a multitude of close-ups” is The Passion of Joan of Arc. Only considering the synopsis of the film, it seems to be a rendering of historical events, and thus bound to a specific time and place. However, when I watch the close-ups of Joan’s face, I don’t primarily see her as a particular person in a particular situation. I am struck first by the sheer depth of emotion in her face, with the historical context only coming as an afterthought. I don’t think this would’ve been the case if the movie had been shot in a different style. It is the constant barrage of close-ups that forces us to detach the emotions on the screen from all the surrounding context, including (as Balázs points out) space and time. We see Joan’s emotions in the most general way possible, despite our awareness that they’re attached to a particular person in a particular situation, which means that for the entirety of the film, we’re stuck in “the very instant in which the general is transformed into the particular.” If there had been more long shots, these particulars would’ve become the main focus, and it would’ve been an entirely different film.  

I was also interested in the analogy between the subtle details revealed by close-ups and the subtle harmonies in music. It's clear, though, that Balázs considers the effects of film to be more far-reaching than those of music when he says, “This is how we see life: only its leading melody meets the eye. But a good film with its close-ups reveals the most hidden parts in our polyphonous life, and teaches us to see the intricate visual details of life as one reads an orchestral score.” Training your ears might help you to appreciate the subtleties of a symphony, but this effect is limited to the world of music. Someone with a trained eye, however, not only has a deeper experience of film, but of life in general. I think Balázs is claiming that, when we recognize the general form of an emotion on the particular face of an actor in a close-up, we are actually learning to see the emotions of all other humans in a more general way. While I’m reluctant to ascribe this much power to film, it’s still interesting to think that the movies we watch may be subtly altering our perceptions of the world. 

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