Acinematic Montage in Roadmetal Sweetbread and A Mare’s Nest

Abstract

So far we have looked at the deconstruction of classical realist montage from the perspective of cinematic movement. This has enabled us to explore wider philosophical concepts concerning the perception of cinematic movement and the ways in which Lepage’s post-cinematic work engages with them. In this chapter we will focus on another property of classical montage, the design of a pleasure-laden aesthetic experience — a libidinal journey. Post-theory such as that of Baudry and Lyotard has criticised classical realist montage for the way in which it can create pleasurable aesthetic experiences and lure the audience into a passive mode of spectatorship, inviting them to agree to ideological constructs and political agendas inscribed within them. These pleasures are often associated with aesthetic structures and harmonies through which realist representations are constructed. There is also a cultural expectation at play here, which is the effect of a long tradition of realist filmmaking. Going to a cinema involves suspension of disbelief and indulging the pleasures of yielding to the illusions and aesthetic structures that constitute realist montage.