• Reading(s) due:

David Bordwell, Principles of Narration and

Classical Narration: The Hollywood Example
from Narration in the Fiction Film. (pp. 48–61)
and (pp. 156 –166).

Robert Stam, “Allegories of Spectatorship” from

Reflexivity in Film and Literature: From Don
Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard. (pp. 29-55).
• Discussion Questions:
• Bordwell writes, all filmic narrations are self-
conscious, but some are more so than
others. (p. 58) Define and explain the concept
of self-consciousness by referring to
Bordwell’s text.
• Give at least two different strategies utilized in
Husbands and Wives, which makes the film
self-conscious. Also discuss the degree of self-
consciousness in the film.
• Considering the conventions of documentary,
articulate the ways in which Husbands and
Wives utilizes and traverses these conventions.
• Robert Stam writes, “the impression of
reality is stronger in films than in
the theatre…” (p. 34)
• What are the mechanisms/capacities that are
unique to the cinematic apparatus itself, which
make this strong illusion/impression possible?
(In addition to Stam’s argument, support your
answers with those of Christian Metz
summarized in Stam’s article.)
• Does the film, Husbands and Wives, mobilize
and make the spectators conscious of their own
viewing position in a way Brechtian theatre
does? (Explain how.)
• Verisimilitude: (from Latin verisimilitudo, from
verus true + similitudo similitude)

• Verisimilitude: True Seeming.

The state or quality of something which
exhibits the appearance of truth or reality.

• A work with a high degree of verisimilitude

means that the work is very realistic and
believable; works of this nature are often said
to be true to life.
• Reality exists in paradigms.
• Verisimilitude is a term that is specific to
literary and visual arts. The term is deeply
rooted in structure.
• The focus of credibility does not rest solely
on the external world of the spectator.
• The film’s credibility can be seen in terms of
the film’s own internal logic, its own rules
and laws.
• Verisimilitude, therefore, is a technical
problem that needs to be resolved within the
context of the film’s fictional world.
• The rules of invisibility have been broken
during the last several decades. Many
strategies once labeled as avant-garde have
been turned into conventions; therefore, they
have been included into the mainstream.

• Jump cut was such an avant-garde technique

in 60s, 70s, now it is often used in mainstream
cinema.

• Therefore, our relation to verisimilitude

changes throughout time.
• Suppose that you are learning a new
language, at the beginning, its structure is quite
new to you. But when you get used to speak
this language, its grammar and its structure,
you internalize the structure of this new
language and the alienation effect gradually
weakens.

• Similary, genres are born based on set of

rules, and specific visual or thematic
characteristics, then these rules are broken,
or re-codified throughout time and therefore
the verisimilitude changes.
• Suspension of disbelief:
• Verisimilitude is also the willingness to
suspend one’s disbelief (even if the events or
fictitious representations might otherwise be
considered preposterous) when the intensity
of the story or interest in the characters
overrides the need to believe that things are
scientifically/logically correct.
• The viewer accepts limitations in the story
being presented, sacrifices realism, and
sometimes logic and believability for the sake
of enjoyment or to bring the story to a
conclusion.
• When we watch a film, sometimes we leave
aside empirical truths to be able to enjoy it.
We do not think about the general laws of
physics or logic when we watch a science-
fiction film.
• We stop doing reality-check. We disavow
logical inconsistencies, or impossibilities to
be able to indulge into the story.
• If we do not accept the basic suppositions
existing in the filmic world, if we do not
accept some fantastic suppositions, the film
loses its credibility. When you watch science-
fiction film, you accept that time travel is
possible in that film’s world.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall
• The fourth wall is part of the suspension of
disbelief between a fictional work and an
audience. The audience will usually
passively accept the presence of the fourth
wall without giving it any direct thought.
• The fourth wall is broken when a character
addresses the audience directly so that the
audience may acknowledge what is being
presented is fiction.
• The repetitive use of breaking the Fourth
Wall technique, however, extends the world
of the story to provide the illusion that the
audience are included in it.
• Convention is our prior experiences in regard
to films, to our film viewing experience.

• A tradition, a dominant style, a popular form,

some such elements are common to several
different films/artworks.

• Such common elements are called

conventions. Conventions are employed to
create expectations.
• Actuality: Actuality is the term for film footage
of real life events, places and people. Unlike
fictional films which use actors, scripted stories
and artificial sets, actuality is a record of real
events as they unfold.
• Voice-over: The voice-over in a documentary is
a commentary by the filmmaker, spoken
while the camera is filming, or added to the
soundtrack during the production.
• Through this the filmmaker can speak directly to
the viewer, offering information, explanations
and opinions.
• Interviews: It allows people being filmed to
speak directly about events, prompted by the
questions asked by the filmmaker. An interview
may take place on screen, or off screen, on a
different set.

• Interviews in a documentary give the viewer

a sense of realism, that the documentary
maker’s views are mutually shared by another
person or source, and thus more valid.
• Archival footage: Archival, or stock footage, is
material obtained from a film library or archive
and inserted into a documentary to show
historical events or to add detail without the
need for additional filming.
• Reconstructions: They are artificial scenes
of an event which has been reconstructed
and acted out on film based on information of
the event.
• Reconstructions are generally used in order to
provide the viewer with factual information,
and give the viewer a sense of realism, as if
the event really happened in front of them live.
• Strategies of Self-Consciousness in
Husbands and Wives:

• Use of hand-held (shaky) camera work

• Jump Cuts
• The mix of two types of voice over:
• ---voice of an off-screen narrator
• ---character voice-over
• Direct Address
• Strategies of Self-Reflexiveness in
Husbands and Wives:

• Opening images. Gabe is watching a

documentary. We are going to see the
construction of documentary-like aesthetics
within a fictional framework and this very
mockumentary (or pseudo documentary) itself
opens with a documentary about Einstein.
• The story of the book Gabe writes mirrors the
film’s own subject matter.
• Gabe’s final, self-reflexive words ( Can I go? Is
this over? ).
• Non-diegetic elements:

• Atmosphere Music, Credits, Non-Diegetic

Inserts.

• Are there any non-diegetic elements in

Husbands and Wives?

• Sperm Images?