Eli Solt

To view the clip analyzed in this essay, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PU2FNGY0CM

When analyzing cinema in a historical context, it is just as important to recognize styles and artistic movements of the time when a film was made as it is to know where it was made. The late 1910s and 1920s saw a variety of film movements across different countries, all resulting in different styles, techniques, and narrative ideas being shared. France was a country whose film industry was deeply affected by the first world war and as a result of changing attitudes and the finances available to produce films, several different artistic movements developed in response. One important French director during much of the 1920s was Jean Epstein who directed over twenty films and wrote several early works on film theory. He was also a leading director of the French Impressionist movement and of a more experimental, avant-garde style of filmmaking. His 1927 film, La glace à trois faces is no different and is as visually unique and interesting as it is narratively complex. For the majority of this essay, I will be analyzing the scene where the car moves down the parking garage with a first-person perspective.

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First, looking at the mise-en-scene, Epstein uses some unique stylistic and technical choices in the film that seem to be a departure from traditional styles of the time. Lighting is one of the most noticeably unique parts of this scene. The lighting is very high contrast with heavy distinctions and lines between the highlights and shadows. It is heavily reminiscent of the “film noir” lighting style which would later develop in Hollywood. Also, like in “film noir,” the lighting is used to emphasize certain characters and even hyperbolize the emotions that they are feeling in the moment.

In the first shot of the main character in this scene, he steps into frame and is well lit by a direct key light. He is also surrounded by shadow. In the shot of the vision that he has of the cars driving down the road, the contrast again is heavy and the shadows of the trees seem to stretch across the street, creating a dream-like image. As the film cuts back to his face, there are reflective sparkles in his eyes. I’m not sure whether this is just the result of the lighting or if some sort of special effects work was done, but either way it helps sell the idea of him idealizing this image in his head and showing, as he looks back down, that this is different than his current reality.

It is also important to note that he is wearing heavy makeup and what appears to be lipstick. He is well-dressed with a tie and a nice coat, denoting that he is wealthy and of some importance. Once again on the close-up, the man is framed by a completely black background which acts as a strong juxtaposition between the character and the setting. There is a significant amount of depth in the shot where the car begins to drive away. Here, the car and the people waving him off are in the shadows while the light coming from outside silhouettes them in the shot. I believe that this was shot on location as opposed to a studio but it’s difficult to say for certain. The background looks convincingly real but it could just as well be a detailed matte painting. I would assume that it is on location as building a complex set like the whole parking garage would be expensive and likely too time consuming.

As the car drives through the garage, it moves in and out of shadow rapidly, sometimes too quickly for the eye to even perceive the surroundings. The movement within the scene acts as part of the narrative as well. The important movement is the car, an object, rather than the people. At the beginning, the man hurriedly rushes forward to get into his car but stops and frowns as though remembering something. He slowly looks up and begins to smile as he has the vision of the cars driving in the country. His smile disappears when he looks back at reality. This is all fairly slow and drawn out. Similarly, his writing of the note is paced and deliberate as he unscrews the pen and begins to write. Once the car begins to move however, the pacing increases almost exponentially, getting to the point where the car is frantically speeding. 

The cinematography is also very unique and mixes with the mise-en-scene to create the desired feelings. The scene opens with a medium shot of the car coming out. I found the framing of this quick shot to be odd. The car is framed with the rule of thirds as opposed to being centered in the frame which leaves a bit of dead space on the left side of the screen. It may be nothing significant or intentional but it gives off a slight feeling of uneasiness. The rule of thirds feels much more comfortable in the second shot where the man comes around from the back of the car. Most of the frame here is in darkness but the man, in his light coat, on the right side of the frame is balanced well by the white headlight on the left side. A close-up is then used when the man begins to have the vision, emphasizing his facial expression and creating a more intimate and personal moment. There is also a close-up on the notepad that he writes on, again expressing its importance. This close-up is held for an extended amount of time, following the action of him tearing the page out and closing the book. The next shot cuts to a wide from behind the car, facing out into the city. Again, the depth of the shot (especially when the car begins to drive off) makes the frame feel even wider than it is.

All of the wide shots in the scene feel very objective and distanced, placing the viewer in the position of an observer. The close-ups are much more subjective and personal. However, every shot up to this point in the scene has been on a tripod and unmoving which still creates a sense of distance as an omniscient perspective on the situation. The rest of the scene is where the cinematography gets much more interesting. The camera is placed on the back of the car, facing forward. The shot shows the top of the driver’s head, the front of the car, and the environment in front of the car. Upon first viewing, this seemed a bit gimmicky but on repeated viewings it felt more important in the short narrative. The rapid turning of the car which gradually increases in speed creates unique images on the screen. The high contrast lighting, with the overexposed outside and underexposed garage, creates almost abstract geometric shapes. If you pause the film at certain moments you are left with interesting stills. For example, at one point I saw just four rectangles (windows) which were just light in the darkness. It felt very much like something from an abstract film or something like what theorists call “pure cinema.”

Finally, the editing pieces all of these elements together into the final product or “experience.” The pacing of the film changes in regard to cutting. It starts fast then slows and remains slow for the rest of the scene. It begins with two very fast cuts as the car is pulled out, the man comes from behind the car, and then the camera jumps in to the close-up on his face. Most of the shots use simple cuts with a few exceptions. There is one instance of a fade or “cross-dissolve” which is on the close-up of the notebook. The shot fades from an empty page to the same page but with the words already written on it. This was clearly used to not have to bore the audience with showing him write every word out but it is interesting that a fade was used instead of just a cut. It adds to the dream-like atmosphere and actually gives more importance to what was written down.

The final cut in the entire scene is the cut from the wide shot of the car leaving to the point-of-view shot on top of the car. What is most interesting about this final shot is not the editing itself but the lack of it. The audience expectation (or at least my expectation) was that when the scene started picking up in pace (that is, with more movement), I thought that there would be more cuts and faster cuts. Yet, that is when the cutting stops altogether. The editing allows the action to play out, letting the camera and movement within the scene create the chaos as opposed to the cutting. Perhaps it is just today’s mainstream Hollywood system of cutting action which I’m used to that made me feel that way; the kind of editing where there has to be about 37 cuts for when someone hops a fence or something of that nature. The lack of cutting here actually creates more tension within the scene than there might have been if it were more “chopped up.”

Through analysis of the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing, it is clear that this film is representative of the style of Impressionism and avant-garde filmmaking that gained popularity in France in the 1920s. Impressionist films used all of these technical elements to highlight the emotion of the character in order for the audience to feel that same emotion as well. Impressionists were more concerned about creating an “experience” of cinema, rather than realism or using proper techniques. These ideas meant that more unique technical methods were being used to show non-linear, often indiscernible narratives.

Impressionism was also extremely concerned with the concept of “photogénie,” something that Epstein wrote a lot about. This was all about capturing something photogenic, not just in a “physically aesthetic” sense, but also in terms of beautiful moments or ideas. Impressionist films attempted to penetrate deeper into the mind to create experiences that transcended reality, quite similar to early romanticism in the 19th century which explored the “sublime.”

Impressionism could even give inanimate objects a kind of expression, all working toward establishing a specific feeling that the viewer should have while watching. This scene, while short, evokes a very powerful feeling. It’s a feeling of disorientation, chaos, and even a bit of the uncanny. The use of heavy makeup on the actor’s face detracts from the realism and focuses on the dream-like qualities of the world. There is no context to the specific location and as he drives through the garage and it feels very isolated from the rest of the world. The specific movement of the car, turning again and again through the darkness seems to be intentionally disorienting, reflecting the mental state of the driver and leaving the viewer unsure what is going to happen next. The character even looks out across from him and sees an image that clearly is only in his head, yet the audience experiences it as clear as any other natural setting. This breaks the rules of typical continuity editing and allows for a more internalized, personal look at the character.

French Impressionism is distinctly different from another popular movement at the time in a nearby country: German Expressionism. It is true that the two share similarities and could be confused as both step away from realism in order to focus on emotion and experience. However, impressionism still has roots within the real world which is what allows the surreal and absurd to take hold of the audience so powerfully. Expressionism creates a new kind of world that distorts reality into something more abstract. While impressionism uses rhythmic editing and subjective camera work to play with emotion, expressionism focuses more on unique settings. There are often sharp angles, geometric shapes, and buildings that seem to exist as an impossibility with no root in realistic architecture. These sets are used to evoke a kind of fantastical or horrifying experience, one that is more externalized by the outside world than the internal nature of a character’s mind. Expressionist films tend to use more wide shots that focus on landscapes, orienting the viewer in a particular setting. They also use unrealistic costumes that create monsters or hyperbolized villains. The style of French Impressionism is developed more in the technique of filmmaking itself and the unique choices made within the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing.

Works Cited

Farmer, Robert. “Jean Epstein.” Senses of Cinema, 3 Feb. 2018, sensesofcinema.com/2010/great-   directors/jean-epstein/.

Divadaniela. “French Impressionism: 1918-1929.” CineCollage: Screwball Comedy, CineCollage, cinecollage.net/french-impressionism.html.

“La Glace Trois Faces (1927) Jean Epstein.” La Glace Trois Faces - Fiche Film - La Cinmathque Franaise, cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php? pk=48377.

“La Glace à Trois Faces (Jean Epstein).” YouTube, YouTube, 12 May 2014,            www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PU2FNGY0CM.

Semlyen, Phil de, et al. “Movie Movements That Defined Cinema: French Impressionism.”             Empire, Empire, 10 Aug. 2016, www.empireonline.com/movies/features/french-impressionism-movie-era/.

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