Rather than begin my investigation by studying a particular film’s use of landscape (its symbolism, function, etc.), I have chosen instead to query the very notion of cinematic “landscape.” Why? Quite simply, because on reflection it seems to me that there is nothing obvious about landscape when it comes to the cinema-at least in the sense that the term assumes in the other visual arts. This last qualification is necessary, I would add, because “landscape” has so many different meanings, a fact that complicates matters a great deal.