A cinephilic film on cinephilia: mise en abyme, reflection and projection in Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embrace

Alexandra Troubé

Un film cinéphile sur la cinéphilie : mise en abyme, reflet et projection dans Étreintes brisées de Pedro Almodovar
Abstract :
International audience
Film-lover characters and film extracts are omnipresent in Pedro Almodovar's films. In Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos, 2009), cinephilia is both the object of the narration, which depicts characters as they are watching or talking about films, and the material the film is made of. By establishing a double mise en abyme - showing the shooting of a film within the film and depicting characters as viewers -, Broken Embraces questions the viewer's gaze and the picture value. The representation of a movie shooting addresses film-lovers and offers them a window through which they can glance behind the scenes, as well as it raises the question of voyeurism. By showing film-lover characters, the film also depicts the viewer practices which can be defined as postmodem, by letting films in the viewer's private space. Broken Embraces shows the intimacy that viewers can create with films they watch on DVD or on television, and reveals how films they love can become part of their identity. By the mise en abyme, the film invites the viewers to take part in the narration, remembering their own memories of films, and offers them an experience of cinephilia.
Published : 2018-01
Document Type : Journal articles
Affiliation : Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
Source : hal-03169526

Citation

Alexandra Troubé, « A cinephilic film on cinephilia: mise en abyme, reflection and projection in Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embrace », Cycnos, 2018-01. URL : https://hal.science/hal-03169526