French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Fiant, The Attraction of Silence
Art and Visual Culture
The Attraction of Silence
Antony Fiant
Yellow Now Editions
12,00 € — 96 p. — ISBN 9782873404673
Even though it is called for on most sets before every take, silence in cinema is difficult to sustain. Instinctively associated with emptiness, nothingness, contemplation, passivity, suspended time, death, or even the impossibility of an event, silence is feared. The attraction of silence—whether manifested or endured by filmmakers and characters in the fifteen films gathered here (from Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince to Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, by way of Miklós Jancsó's Silence and Cry)—must therefore be understood as an aspiration that is never truly realized or satisfied. Silence in cinema is always relative, disrupted, broken, shattered, irregular, temporary, and altered.
Yet it in no way paralyzes meaning, narrative, or emotion; instead, it temporarily restores
the upper hand to the visible, even if not granting it complete autonomy. The motif of silence—explored through four approaches interspersed with close-ups on silent moments—will thus be highlighted here for its capacity to stimulate both fictional and documentary narratives. Consequently, the question must be asked: what compensates for it? Indeed, silence very quickly became a highly effective dramatic device, not when considered in isolation, but through its confrontation or juxtaposition with the components of the soundtrack: speech, music, and sound effects. In other words, silence needs them to resonate, rather than establishing itself as a fourth component.
*
Antony Fiant is a professor of film studies at Université Rennes 2. He works on the aesthetics and dramaturgy of contemporary cinema, both fiction and documentary, with a particular focus on subtractive cinema and the representation of peoples. He contributes to several film journals (Trafic, Positif, and Images documentaires) and is the author of four essays, including: Pour un cinéma contemporain soustractif (2014, Presses universitaires de Vincennes) and Wang Bing. Un geste documentaire de notre temps (2019, éditions Warm). He also co-edited, for Yellow Now Editions, with Gilles Mouëllic and Caroline Zéau, Johan van der Keuken. Documenter une présence au monde (2020, "Côté Cinéma").
*
Table of Contents:
Minute of Silence (Bande à part by Jean-Luc Godard) /// Chapter
1. Doing Away with Silent Cinema: A History of Emancipation
(The Student Prince by Ernst Lubitsch) – Silent Cinema to the Rescue
of Speech (Silence Is Golden by René Clair) – A Neo-Silent Fable
(Juha by Aki Kaurismäki) /// The Silence of Abraham Bomba
(Shoah by Claude Lanzmann) /// Chapter 2. Silence as an
Act of Resistance (The Silence of the Sea by Jean-Pierre Melville,
Silence and Cry by Miklós Jancsó, Libera Me by Alain Cavalier) – Compensated
Silences – Dramaturgical Experiments /// Minutes of
Silence (Ten Minutes of Silence for John Lennon by Raymond
Depardon) /// Chapter 3. The Escapees, the Thief, and the Fugitive. (A
Man Escaped by Robert Bresson, Marnie by Alfred Hitchcock, Essential Killing by Jerzy
Skolimowski) – Sonic Threats – Protective Sounds /// The Silence
of Gao Ertai (Beauty Lives in Freedom by Wang Bing) /// Chapter
4. Silence of Art, Art of Silence (Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni,
The Quince Tree Sun by Víctor Erice, Paterson by Jim
Jarmusch) – First Inquiring with a Look – Taking Action – Emerging
from Silence /// Minute of Silence (Afriques: How Are You Doing with
Pain? by Raymond Depardon).
Antony Fiant approaches film studies through the lens of contemporary aesthetics and dramaturgy, examining how subtractive techniques shape both fiction and documentary works. His academic background at Université Rennes 2 informs this study of cinematic quietness, connecting him to critical discussions found in prominent journals like Trafic and Positif. This publication builds upon his previous research into minimalist filmmaking practices, offering readers a focused investigation into how filmmakers manage the tension between auditory absence and narrative progression across diverse cinematic traditions.
The book will prove especially useful for film scholars, students, and cinephiles interested in the mechanics of sound design and visual storytelling. By analyzing specific works by directors such as Robert Bresson, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jim Jarmusch, the text addresses fundamental questions about how dramatic tension functions without dialogue. It helps readers understand silence not as a void, but as an active component that interacts dynamically with speech, music, and ambient sound to shape the viewer's emotional and intellectual engagement.