Allegory of Sight: Multiplicity and Complexity in Majewski’s The Mill and The Cross

Abstract

由波蘭導演利亞˙馬耶斯基(Lech Majewski)所指導的電影 The Mill and The Cross《驚艷布魯哲爾》(2011)改編自藝術評論家(Michael Francis Gibson)所撰寫關於北方文藝復興藝術家布魯哲爾畫作 The Way to Calvary《前往骷髏地的行列》(1564)的研究。導演利亞˙馬耶斯基致力於使用不同媒材創造出新的視覺語彙，尤其是繪畫與電影。像是導演早期的電影 The Garden of Earthly Delight (2004), 《驚艷布魯哲爾》同樣致力於融合繪畫與電影的語言，並嘗試發展圖像中敘事元素，重新賦予繪畫新的生命。有鑒於此，此篇論文將關注解讀導演的視覺敘事手法，分析影像強調表現繪畫《前往骷髏地的行列》多焦點的結構以及藉由人物肢體動作、表情及眼神展開敘述的方式。首先，本論文試圖以分析藝術史脈絡中觀看者主題的角度去理解此電影，因劇中角色對於如何展開新敘事或交織多層次與豐富的故事內涵有著相當重要的作用。許多學者先前亦曾注意到人物的安排在電影敘事發展中的重要性，但並沒有進一步將其置於觀看者的傳統脈絡中討論，再者，也沒有分析電影中人物與場景、鏡頭運動對於觀賞者的引導作用。在接下來章節中，筆者嘗試將電影的主題與觀看者的傳統結合，探討作品中不同型態的觀看者、影像中多重景框所營造的對話與觀者的互動。最後筆者也將嘗試理解導演如何選擇不同圖像中的視覺語言以及象徵來建構一個不論是架構還是意義，都不斷在變動的系統，遊離在所謂的大數據與傳統線性敘事中狀態中。另外，藉由疏理電影中圖像與母題的選擇與詮釋，將進而追溯回圖像淵源以及其背後的意涵。In 2011, Lech Majewski, a Polish artist and filmmaker released The Mill and the Cross. Like his previous movie The Garden of Earthly Delight (2004), The Mill and the Cross takes a painting as point of departure. Based on Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Way to Calvary (1564), it offers the possibility to enter into the highly complex painting of the Flemish master, crossing the boundaries between painting and cinema. If scholars have previously underlined the meticulous arranged movements of the protagonists that weave Majewski’s narrative, they haven’t clarified further all the implications related to such strategy. The thesis aims at enlightening Majewski’s vision on and of Bruegel’s work. One aspect of the study will focus on the figure of the onlooker. It constitutes in the film one of the most important motifs because it is responsible for arousing the curiosity of the spectator, triggering the narrative threads and leading him/her in the meanders of the composition. A second aspect will focus on the way Majewski disperses the spectator’s attention and creates dialogues between different layers of realities through the usage doorsien, a principle which consists of providing a secondary space which dialogue with the primary one. Finally, the thesis will try to make sense of the accumulation of narrative fragments which animate the whole movie by analyzing the different subtexts such strategy may imply. The reordering of some sequences in the context of the video installations Bruegel Suite show indeed that the director integrated personal aspects directly related to Silesia, his homeland. By re-contextualizing the dialectical strategies of diversion and re-focalization at play in the movie, it will be shown that the visual strategies at work are not only influenced by issues and motifs which appear in Bruegel’s work – either in The Way to the Calvary or other of his works. Far from confining his visual references to the Flemish master, Majewski has recourse to a large visual repertoire among different painters and filmmakers which aims at questioning more specifically the issue of sight.