Essay on the colors: ethics, mimesis and experience on the Krzysztof Kieślowski’s trilogy
Author: Triana, Bruna N C, brutriana@gmail.com
Department: Department of Anthropology
University: University of São Paulo, Brazil
Supervisor: Rose Satiko Gitirana Hikiji
Year of completion: 2013
Language of dissertation: Portugues
Keywords:
Cinema
, Krzysztof Kieśl
, Experience
, Filmic Analysis
Areas of Research:
Arts
, Communication, Knowledge and Culture
, Local-Global Relations
Abstract
This dissertation has as central focus a reflection about the interface between cinema and anthropology. From this, the object of our reflection is the filmic work Three Colours, by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996), produced between 1992 and 1994 in France, Poland and Switzerland. The historical and political context of the production and the filming of these films involve the bicentenary of the French Revolution, the signing of the treaty that established the European Union and the collapse of the communist east. However, these facts and issues only touch the films, which are more concerned about following their protagonists, their dramas and doubts. From the methodology of film analysis and a detailed description of the feature films, we intend to articulate the work with certain anthropological discussions, such as the question of experience, mimesis and narrative in relation to the cinema, as well as the ethical, political and historical questions that pervade the trilogy, and therefore our own analysis. At first, we search to reflect on the thematic dimensions of the work of Three Colours, provind a characterization of the style of the director and the invention of a Europe and of an “Enlightenment” ethic in the contemporary world. Secondly, we investigate the possible association between the films and the Walter Benjamin’s concepts of experience, mimesis and narration. Thus, on a more abstract level of theoretical and methodological discussion, we seek to deepen the interpretations of the films on the sensory issues and ways to engage and deal with the film language in order to provoke and transmit an experience into the spectator. So, this dissertation focuses especially on the crossroads and the relationship between the cinematographic thought and anthropological analysis, in order to think about the mediation of cinema, its forms and powers, from the notions of mimesis and narration.
