Cycnos | Volume 29.2 - Le Méchant à l'écran. Les paradoxes de l'indispensable figure du mal | I Larvé ou obscène : le pouvoir du méchant

Résumé :

The Pledge (Sean Penn, 2001), The Zodiac (Alexander Bulkley, 2005) and Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007) are unusual among serial-killer films in that the face and identity of the evildoer is never revealed, either to the films’ detectives or even to the spectators. The filmmakers make full use of the mise en scène’s resources to whet the latter’s desire of discovering who the culprit is without ever satisfying it. This incomplete representation of the serial killer turns him into a rather abstract figure, which allows the post-9/11 films by Bulkley and Fincher to reach beyond their apparent subject and to comment on the ill-effects of the fear of terrorism on the national unity and identity of the United States – as does, more unexpectedly, Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers (2005), in which the face and identity of the antagonist remain similarly mysterious.

Mots-clés : detective film, Broken Flowers, framing, irresolution, The Pledge, serial killer, subjective camera, terrorism, villains, The Zodiac, Zodiac

Date de publication : 2018-07-23