Interaction, Resistance and Cooperation: An Analysis of the Filmed Subject’s Role in and Influence on their Film

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of filmed subjects and their role in and influence on the films they appear in, specifically in the case of documentaries. Two case studies are analysed to evaluate the extent and nature of this influence. The first case is Chris Marker and the SLON collective’s documentary Be Seeing You (À bientôt j’espère, 1967), about a strike by workers at a French factory, whose criticism of the workers led Marker and SLON to take a different approach in a second film, Classe de lutte [Class of Struggle] (1969). The second case involves Pedro Costa’s film Ossos [Bones] (1997), shot in the Lisbon neighbourhood of Fontainhas. The residents’ reaction to the film, along with other factors, prompted the director to make another film also set in the neighbourhood, In Vanda’s Room (No quarto da Vanda, 2000). A comparative analysis of the first and the second film in each case allows an evaluation of the influence of the people filmed on the filmmakers’ approach. In both cases, substantial changes—both to the narration and to the use of cinematic language—suggest that the auteur’s perspective as a component of film analysis should be complemented with the examination of the filmmaker’s interaction with the filmed subjects and the influence they have on the film.