비가시계에 대한 홍상수의 영화언어 -<풀잎들>을 중심으로-

Abstract

If we reinterpret Hong Sang-soo's film using Lacan's concepts, it can be said to be a cinematic linguistic experiment on the invisible world and the Real. <Grasses> can be said to be the film in which film language in this regard is most actively expressed. In <Grasses>, a space appears as a scopic field where the characters' look intersect and invert. The characters look at others and are conscious of others looking at them. And between them, an exchange of desires takes place. The characters try to become the objects of others' desires, and because of this, double double and perverted attitudes sometimes appear. However, because they consider themselves to be the subject of the ‘eye(look)’, they cannot sense the dimension of the ‘gaze’. Because they have a sopic drive, they are conscious of the look of others, but it only stays at the level of ‘look’. The narrator in the film also reveals the limitations of ‘look’. By exposing the imperfections of the narration, the ‘lack’ of the human eye and the impossibility of gazing at the Real are further emphasized. Because the narrator's voice-over is expressed as if he is acting as a complete viewpoint subject, paradoxically, the ‘gaze’ of the gap that the eye cannot reach becomes more prominent. In <Grasses>, the film language that suggests blind spots, invisible world, and ‘gazing’ can be broadly summarized into two categories. First, it is through ‘gazing’ located on the external screen. This is a kind of anonymous point of view, revealed through the character’s ‘gesture’ itself, suggesting ‘the thing’ beyond the linguistic level of the Symbolic. While the gaze of the external screen is located outside the frame, the invisible world is also evoked through anamorphosis within the frame. In particular, the ‘another shadow’ that passes by in the shadow shot creates an anamorphic effect and distorts the character who is pouring out a confident discourse. In addition, common features in both methods are out-focusing or soft-focusing, and overexposure. This filming method directly reveals the limitations of the gaze and makes the character itself feel like a ‘stain’ or an anamorphosis. Hong Sang-soo seems to be increasingly radically experimenting with film language as ‘evidence’ for a world that is being seen but not seen. And this seems to require escaping from the desires and fantasies created by the look.