Spaces of Critique & Transformation in Bande de filles
tomes on cinema have less overt political engagement , but a much wider scope than Augé ’ s “ anthropology of the near .” Rather , Deleuze seeks a total philosophy of film , a language to describe cinematic form and comprehend its potential as a reflection of human thought . It ’ s a grand , winding work that theorists are still teasing apart more than three decades after its publication . One of its most enduring contributions is the notion of any-space-whatever ( espace-quelconque ): “ A perfectly singular space , which has simply lost its homogeneity , that is , the principle of its metric relations or the connection of its proper parts , so that the linkages may be made in an infinite number of ways . It is a space of virtual conjunction , grasped as pure site of the possible ” ( Deleuze 109 ). 6
This conception of cinematic space may at first appear most at home in the abstract experimental films that abound with time-images and crystalline regime , but any-spaces-whatever are a product of film form that can appear in nearly any movie . For Deleuze , the concept begins with the close-up , a technique to which he assigns three conventional functions : individuality , socializing , and relational or community ( 141 ). However , it achieves these often by abstracting its subject ( usually the human face ) from all spatiotemporal components ( Bogue 48 ). This decontextualization “ extracts affects ” ( 50 ); it imbues the cinematic image with particular emotive power that Deleuze parallels with religious iconography ( 50 ). Sciamma ’ s propensity to stay close to her subjects illustrates these functions and their paradoxical effect . Marieme is alone in her school , even when speaking with an instructor . The camera ’ s unflinching gaze simultaneously exalts her expressions and isolates her . Yet when it lingers on her shy flirtations with Ismael she is connecting — socializing . When Lady gazes into the camera , lip-syncing to Beyoncé ’ s “ Diamonds ,” the shot creates a complicated relationship
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