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Parallax, Pornographic Shifts, and Cinematic Doubling before Tár

Tár’s Parallax

The common definition of parallax is the apparent displacement of an object (the shift of its position against a background), caused by a change in the place from which we observe it. The philosophical twist to be added is, of course, that the observed difference is not simply “subjective”—the same object which exists “out there” is seen from two different points of view. It is rather that, as Hegel would have put it, subject and object are inherently “mediated,” so that an “epistemological” shift in the subject’s point of view always reflects an “ontological” shift in the object itself.

In the 1960s and ’70s, it was possible to buy soft-porn postcards with a woman in a bikini or wearing a proper gown, and when one moved the postcard or looked at it from a slightly different perspective, the dress would magically disappear and one could see the woman’s naked body. This is how things are with the film Tár: The heroine’s sublime beauty and her monstrous brutality are intimately connected, as in the vulgar postcard. A small shift in our point of view makes her uncanny nature visible, since her artistic passion is grounded in her very monstrosity.

Recall the famous scene in Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966) of actress Bibi Andersson talking about the beach orgy and passionate lovemaking in which she participated. In this scene, we see no flashback pictures, and yet it is one of the most erotic scenes in cinema history—the excitement is in how she tells it, a form of “jouissance feminine.”

Similarly, in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, Bess (Emily Watson), a simpleminded and deeply religious girl from a small Scottish town, marries Jan (Stellan Skarsgård), a hearty oil rig worker. After the sexual ecstasy of their honeymoon, Bess can’t bear having Jan go back to the rigs, so she begs God to return Jan to her, promising that in exchange, she would put up with any test of her faith. Soon afterward, as if in answer to her prayers, Jan returns, but he is paralyzed from the waist down due to an accident at the oil rig. Confined to his hospital bed, Jan tells Bess she must make love to other men and describe her experiences to him in detail—this way, she will keep awake his will to live. Although she will be doing the act physically with other men, the true sex will occur in their conversation.

The same two actors play the leading roles in Chernobyl (a 2019 miniseries that revolves around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed). Skarsgård is Boris Shcherbina, a Council of Ministers deputy chairman who is sent by Mikhail Gorbachev to Chernobyl to provide a truthful appreciation of the catastrophe. Watson is Ulana Khomyuk, a nuclear physicist from Minsk who accompanies Shcherbina and tells him the entire truth, convincing him of the utter seriousness of the situation. There are many scenes in the series where Skarsgård sits in a chair and Watson stands near him, explaining the technical details of what happened in Chernobyl.

While I was watching the show, a crazy idea came to me. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful provocation if, at some point, Skarsgård, bored by Watson’s interminable explanations, interrupted her and said something like, “This is really getting tedious—why don’t we do like we did in Breaking the Waves and instead, to keep me awake, you describe the details of your latest sexual encounters?” And then, after five or ten minutes of this, the conversation returns to Chernobyl. How would an average viewer react to this? Would such a scene not appear as a parallax shift into another dimension, like moving the postcard to see the naked breasts of a lady? Again, this is what we get in Tár.

练习题

According to the section, what is the common definition of parallax?

A. The complete transformation of an object into another object over time

B. The apparent displacement of an object against a background caused by a change in the observer’s position

C. The subjective illusion that an object exists when it does not

D. The cinematic technique of showing two unrelated scenes at the same time

What is the philosophical “twist” added to the ordinary definition of parallax in the section?

A. The observed difference is merely an error produced by the senses.

B. The object remains unchanged while only the subject’s opinion changes.

C. A shift in the subject’s point of view also reflects a shift in the object itself because subject and object are mediated.

D. Parallax proves that objective reality cannot exist at all.

Why does the section compare $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ to old soft-porn postcards whose image changes when viewed from another angle?

A. Because

T \overset{a}{ˊ} r

uses literal lenticular postcard images throughout the film

B. Because the film hides all sexuality behind a completely innocent surface

C. Because a small change in perspective reveals that the heroine’s sublime beauty and monstrous brutality are intimately connected

D. Because the heroine changes costumes whenever the camera angle changes

Which statements correctly describe the section’s use of $P er so na$ and $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ ? Select all that apply.

A. In

P er so na

, the erotic force of the beach-orgy scene comes from narration rather than visual flashback.

B. In

B r e ak in g t h e W a v es

, Bess is told to describe sexual encounters to Jan in order to keep awake his will to live.

C. The section argues that

P er so na

is erotic because it shows explicit flashback images of the event.

D. In

B r e ak in g t h e W a v es

, the “true sex” is said to occur in the conversation rather than only in the physical acts.

E. Both examples emphasize how speech or narration can become the site of erotic intensity.

Which statements correctly describe the actor doubling between $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ and $C h er n o b y l$ , and the proposed intertextual intrusion? Select all that apply.

A. Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson appear as the leading pair in both

B r e ak in g t h e W a v es

and

C h er n o b y l

B. In

C h er n o b y l

, Watson’s character explains the technical seriousness of the catastrophe to Skarsgård’s character.

C. The imagined interruption would import the sexual-description dynamic of

B r e ak in g t h e W a v es

into the sober world of

C h er n o b y l

D. The imagined scene is presented as an example of a parallax shift into another dimension.

E. The section claims that

C h er n o b y l

actually contains a long explicit sex scene between Skarsgård and Watson.

In the section’s philosophical account, parallax means that only the observer changes, while the object itself remains ontologically untouched.

The section presents $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ ’s artistic passion and monstrosity as separate traits that have no internal connection.

The section’s imagined $C h er n o b y l$ interruption would function like the earlier postcard example: a small shift reveals another dimension hidden within the scene.

In the discussion of $P er so na$ , the erotic power of the scene comes not from flashback images but from how Bibi Andersson ___ the event.

In $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ , although Bess physically has sex with other men, the section says the true sex occurs in their ___.

Explain how the section uses the soft-porn postcard analogy to interpret $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ .

How does the section’s idea of parallax help distinguish $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ from a merely “decaffeinated” progressive film in the sense of the prior discussion of falsely progressive cinema?

Which comparison best integrates the current section’s account of Tár as a parallax object with the earlier critique of falsely progressive films?

A. Both Tár and falsely progressive films make social antagonism disappear by presenting all conflict as a matter of tolerance.

B. Tár uses a shift in perspective to reveal that beauty and brutality are internally connected, whereas falsely progressive films blur or soften their critical edge.

C. Tár is criticized because it treats the heroine’s monstrosity as a removable illusion, just as Nomadland removes poverty from view.

D. Both Tár and Black Widow define liberation mainly as freedom from wired-brain mind control.

Select all statements that correctly connect the current section’s idea of parallax with prior critiques of ideology in film.

A. The philosophical parallax shift is not merely subjective; it suggests that a change in viewpoint can disclose a change in the object itself.

B. The critique of Luca says that antagonism is erased through an ideology of trust, friendship, and tolerant understanding.

C. The parallax reading of Tár says that the heroine’s artistic passion is unrelated to her monstrosity.

D. The critique of Nomadland says the film aestheticizes miserable lives into enjoyable lifestyle details.

E. The example of the postcard helps explain how a small shift can reveal a dimension previously hidden from view.

True or false: The current section’s claim that an epistemological shift in viewpoint can reflect an ontological shift in the object helps explain why Tár differs from a film like Luca, which the prior section criticizes for dissolving antagonism into tolerant understanding.

In the current section, the imagined intrusion of Breaking the Waves into Chernobyl would create a cinematic ___, because the same actors would suddenly make a serious technical scene shift into another dimension of meaning.

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Parallax, Pornographic Shifts, and Cinematic Doubling before Tár

Parallax, Pornographic Shifts, and Cinematic Doubling before Tár

练习题

According to the section, what is the common definition of parallax?

What is the philosophical “twist” added to the ordinary definition of parallax in the section?

Why does the section compare Taˊr to old soft-porn postcards whose image changes when viewed from another angle?

Which statements correctly describe the section’s use of Persona and Breaking the Waves? Select all that apply.

Which statements correctly describe the actor doubling between Breaking the Waves and Chernobyl, and the proposed intertextual intrusion? Select all that apply.

In the section’s philosophical account, parallax means that only the observer changes, while the object itself remains ontologically untouched.

The section presents Taˊr’s artistic passion and monstrosity as separate traits that have no internal connection.

The section’s imagined Chernobyl interruption would function like the earlier postcard example: a small shift reveals another dimension hidden within the scene.

In the discussion of Persona, the erotic power of the scene comes not from flashback images but from how Bibi Andersson ___ the event.

In Breaking the Waves, although Bess physically has sex with other men, the section says the true sex occurs in their ___.

Explain how the section uses the soft-porn postcard analogy to interpret Taˊr.

How does the section’s idea of parallax help distinguish Taˊr from a merely “decaffeinated” progressive film in the sense of the prior discussion of falsely progressive cinema?

Which comparison best integrates the current section’s account of Tár as a parallax object with the earlier critique of falsely progressive films?

Select all statements that correctly connect the current section’s idea of parallax with prior critiques of ideology in film.

True or false: The current section’s claim that an epistemological shift in viewpoint can reflect an ontological shift in the object helps explain why Tár differs from a film like Luca, which the prior section criticizes for dissolving antagonism into tolerant understanding.

In the current section, the imagined intrusion of Breaking the Waves into Chernobyl would create a cinematic ___, because the same actors would suddenly make a serious technical scene shift into another dimension of meaning.

Why does the section compare $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ to old soft-porn postcards whose image changes when viewed from another angle?

Which statements correctly describe the section’s use of $P er so na$ and $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ ? Select all that apply.

Which statements correctly describe the actor doubling between $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ and $C h er n o b y l$ , and the proposed intertextual intrusion? Select all that apply.

The section presents $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ ’s artistic passion and monstrosity as separate traits that have no internal connection.

The section’s imagined $C h er n o b y l$ interruption would function like the earlier postcard example: a small shift reveals another dimension hidden within the scene.

In the discussion of $P er so na$ , the erotic power of the scene comes not from flashback images but from how Bibi Andersson ___ the event.

In $B r e ak in g t h e W a v es$ , although Bess physically has sex with other men, the section says the true sex occurs in their ___.

Explain how the section uses the soft-porn postcard analogy to interpret $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ .

How does the section’s idea of parallax help distinguish $T \overset{a}{ˊ} r$ from a merely “decaffeinated” progressive film in the sense of the prior discussion of falsely progressive cinema?