The Missing Image. The Cinematic Scene and the Absence of the Autobiographical Subject in Moving Image Media

Abstract

This text takes up Rithy Panh’s film L’image manquante (Cambodia/France 2013) in order to question any simple application of notions derived from the theatre in a consideration of the complex operations of the scene within moving image media. Two main questions structure the reading of this film, both of which demonstrate in different ways how the specific historical and medial form of a scenography of the subject works in moving image media: firstly, to what extent does the specific scenic structure of moving image media differ from one that takes place in a situation of spatial co-presence (such as, for example, in the theater, therapy, performance art, or everyday life)? Secondly, to what extent does audio-visual subjectivation, which happens by means of the film camera and the soundtrack, call into question the role of the human hand and eye, and therefore the perceived appearance of a cinematic subject in the autobiographical form?.