ABSTRACT
Recognising the possibility of interpreting white images according to the hermeneutic logic of the pettifogger’s subjective experience unlocks the potential for many of the symbolic and associational aspects of the imagery to be interpreted with much greater narrative clarity. Narrative scenes in The Pettifogger are punctuated by episodes of poetic imagery that can be seen to function according to a vertical logic of expression rather than a horizontal narrative one. The film begins with a twelve-minute prologue during which many of the images that will come to feature prominently in the rest of the film are condensed into an incomplete preview of what is to come. A subsequent image of a policeman suggests that the pettifogger has committed a theft or similar crime.
