ABSTRACT
Dealing with Stanley Cavell’s notion of the cinematic “type,”I show that film characters cannot be fully conceived by the viewer and that characters always transcend both their presence in the film as actors (and therefore as individual human beings) and their cinematic role. The appearance in films of a person, of a human being, consists, according to Cavell, of a plurality of identities or existences. Film characters transcend their specific role in a certain film. We see in the film character the actor in his or her singularity and individuality: a flesh and blood human being. Watching the screen character, we also see the role played by this actor. How we perceive that role is influenced by our own cinematic experience with other characters played by this actor. Thus, for the viewer, a film character appears in a way that cannot be conceived in terms of a fixed and stable identity. Between the viewer and the film character, a gap is opened so that the viewer cannot fully grasp the film character.
