ABSTRACT
The relationship of actor to character is fundamental to all film acting and so provides the starting point for any discussion of film acting. For Vsevolod Pudovkin, the “basic contradiction” of film acting was found in how “the image the actor builds as his work develops, on the one hand is constructed out of himself as a person with given individual characteristics, and on the other is conditioned by the interaction of this personal element and the intention in general of the play.” 1 If the “person with given individual characteristics” can be interpreted as the actor, “the intention in general of the play” describes the role or character played by that performer.
