The cinematographic imagery in La Condition Humaine, by André Malraux: decoupage and mise en scène

• Grant number: 22/14907-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 20, 2023
• End date: January 19, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Languages
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Bebiano de Almeida
• Grantee: Guilherme de Almeida Gesso
• Supervisor: Jean-Louis Jeannelle
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/03423-9 - The cinematographic imagery in La Condition Humaine, by André Malraux: decoupage and mise en scène, BP.MS

Abstract

This research project aims at investigating the cinematographic style in the novel La condition humaine (1933), by André Malraux. Starting from Esquisse d'une psychologie du cinéma (1939), an essay in which the writer develops ideas on the relations between literature and cinema, we decided to reflect on two aspects that support the book's remarkable visuality: the techniques of decoupage and mise en scène. By decoupage, we understand the fragmentary way of organizing the narrative point of view, which allows the text to build typically filmic frames and make abrupt transitions between the elements of the scene, thanks, above all, to the use of parataxis. In turn, we understand mise en scène as the atmosphere that surrounds the heroes, linked to the imagery of German Expressionism films. This can be seen from the scene lighting strategies, as a rule dominated by a strong contrast between light and dark and by the precise description of the light sources. We approach such aspects not as isolated cinematographic references, but as resources that contribute to the aesthetic totality of the work. In this way, the decoupage, by destabilizing the point of view, conveys the dramatic aspects of certain characters; and the mise en scène, by creating dark spaces, deepens the existential anguish that the novel seeks to express. To carry out the research, we will rely mainly on the works of Magny (1948), Silva (1972), Meyer (1991), Le Gall (1996), Barroso (1998) and Doudet (2010), authors whose analyzes underline the cinematic quality of Malraux's prose. (AU)