King’s Research Portal DOI: 10.26530/OAPEN_426536 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Vidal, B. (2012). Figuring the Past: Period Film and the Mannerist Aesthetic. (Film Culture in Transition). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_426536 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. 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Oct. 2021 FILM CULTURE IN TRANSITION Figuring the Past Period Film and the Mannerist Aesthetic belén vidal Amsterdam University Press Figuring the Past Figuring the Past Period Film and the Mannerist Aesthetic Belén Vidal The publication of this book is made possible by a grant from the British Academy. Front cover illustration: Bright Star (© BBC Films / The Kobal Collection) Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: JAPES, Amsterdam isbn (paperback) isbn (hardcover) e-isbn nur © B. Vidal / Amsterdam University Press, All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustra- tions reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction – Period Film and the Mannerist Moment Fragments and Figures An International Genre Mannerism: The Possibilities of a Conservative Aesthetic Chapter 1 – A Poetics of Figuration The Belated Moment of Mannerism Pastiche and the Reality Effect From the Figurative to the Figural Classical/Post-classical: Adaptation, Film Writing and the Technological Narrative Credits Roll: The Figure as Threshold Chapter 2 – Present in the Past: The House Nostalgia Interrupted: The House and its Ghosts Home and (Dis)Inheritance: Howards End The Collector and the House-Museum: The Golden Bowl and End of Period Melodrama and the Descriptive Mode: The Age of Innocence Fidelity to the Past and the Melancholic Imagination: Woman as Ghost The House of Mirth or, Time and Woman Chapter 3 – Time and the Image: The Tableau Still Images/Moving Narratives: The Tableau Effect The Shot-Tableau: From Pregnant Moment to Hieroglyph The Portrait as Fetish Portraits and Tableaux in the Feminist Imagination Deframings: The Portrait of a Lady Double-Framing the Mythologies of the Female Artist: Artemisia Vision, Blindness and the Displacement of Trauma The Governess or, the Woman in Camera Chapter 4 – The Scene of Writing: The Letter Textual Erotics: Reading the Letter as Object and Figure The Letter that Arrives Too Late: Figuration and Melodramatic Temporality 6 Figuring the Past Letters and Spatial Displacement The Love Letter and the Queer Encounter: Onegin Imaginary Landscapes of Loss: To Those Who Love Truncated Narratives, Textual Possibilities: Atonement and the Interrupted Histories of the European Period Film. Conclusion – Second Sight: Reviewing the Past, Figuring the Present Notes Bibliography Index of Film Titles Index of Names and Subjects Acknowledgements This book has had an extremely long gestation, and I am indebted to many persons and institutions that provided invaluable support along the way. I thank the British Academy for its financial support, and the editorial team at Amsterdam University Press, who made it possible for this book to see the light of day. I would like to thank especially Thomas Elsaesser for his encourage- ment, Jeroen Sondervan for shepherding the project and Steph Harmon for her careful copy-editing of the manuscript. I am most indebted to John Caughie and Julianne Pidduck; not only were they committed and sharp readers for this project at the stage of doctoral re- search, but they also introduced me to what it means to think critically about film. I could not have wished for better mentors. The Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow provided a nurturing intellectual environment and my first real home away from home. It was there that this project started, and I benefitted from the guidance, support and feed- back of many teachers and friends, including Karen Boyle, Dimitris Eleftherio- tis, Ian Garwood, Christine Geraghty, Ian Goode, Karen Lury and Vassiliki Ko- locotroni. During my time at St Andrews and King’s College London I have continued to learn in dialogue with wonderful colleagues and students. For her intelligent criticism, support and friendship, I am deeply indebted to Ginette Vincendeau. Big thanks are also due to Natalie Adamson, Vicente J. Benet, Bernard Bentley, Mark Betz, Tom Brown, William Brown, Sarah Cooper, Kay Dickinson, Richard Dyer, Mette Hjort, Yun Mi Hwang, Dina Iordanova, Lawrence Napper, Michele Pierson, Gill Plain, Jen Rutherford and Leshu Torchin – and very especially to David Martin-Jones, Gary Needham and Sarah Neely. Their friendship has sus- tained me and their knowledge of film has always inspired, and often dazzled me. Cinephilia may be a solitary passion, but it only thrives in good company. This project has greatly benefitted from interaction with various academic interlocutors. Invitations to speak at a number of international conferences and research seminars helped enormously, and provided important stepping stones towards this book. Heartfelt thanks to those who encouraged me to publish on this topic at various stages, especially Mireia Aragay, John Caughie, Annette Kuhn, Antonio Lastra, Graham Petrie and Vicente Sánchez-Biosca. An early version of material included in chapter two appeared as ‘Classic Adaptations, Modern Reinventions: Reading the Image in the Contemporary Literary Film’ 8 Figuring the Past in Screen, vol. , no. (); sections of chapter three were published as ‘Fem- inist Historiographies and the Woman Artist’s Biopic: The Case of Artemisia’,in Screen,vol.,no () and as ‘Playing in a Minor Key: the Literary Past through the Feminist Imagination’,inBooks in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship, edited by Mireia Aragay (Rodopi, ). Work that formed the basis of chapter four was published as ‘Labyrinths of Loss: The Letter as Figure of Desire and Deferral in the Literary Film’,inJournal of European Studies, vol. , no. (). A sample has also appeared in Spanish in the journal Archivos de la Filmoteca (no. ) and in the collection Estudios sobre cine, edited by Antonio Lastra (Verbum, ). Thanks to friends for countless great discussions about movies we watched together over more than two decades, for keeping in touch and for welcoming me back, year after year: Paula Burriel, Ángela Elena, Esmeralda Landete, Hele- nia López, Enrique Planells, Carolina Sanz, Anna Brígido, Vicente Rodríguez and Ilinca Iurascu. My biggest debt of love and gratitude is to my family, especially to my par- ents, my grandfather Eustasio, my aunts Lolín and Guillermina, and la dulce Enriqueta. My amazing sisters Gisela and Gemma helped me keep sane with emotional support, lots of fun, trips to the cinema (and beyond) and much, much practical help. Gemma also doubled as a formidable research secret agent, indefatigably tracking down books and films. Most of all, I thank Manuel for being with me every step of this adventure, through a hundred letters, several houses and a few dramatic changes in the picture. Thank you for watching and reading, for all the great discussions, and for believing in me even when I did not. I could not have done this without you. This book is dedicated to my parents, Jaime Vidal Martínez and Gemma Vil- lasur Lloret. Thank you for supporting me in all kinds of ways, for enduring my absence, and for not allowing me to forget the important things in life. Introduction – Period Film and the Mannerist Moment The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between () The term irony has become too worn out to be useful… When we think about dis- tance we think about the cutting off of emotion, and it’s not that. It’s a distance that brings with it a greater emotional reservoir of feeling. Todd Haynes. Interview with Nick James, Sight and Sound () In the introduction to his evocatively titled book The Past is a Foreign Country, David Lowenthal remarks that ‘it is no longer the presence of the past that speaks to us, but its pastness’. This subtle distinction underlies the pleasures of the period film, in which the ‘the Past’ (as original myth or foundational mo- ment) resonates in the present through the visual (and aural) spectacle of past- ness, and its intricate signs.