ABSTRACT
An impressive example of the elusive third figure of the archaic can be found in Dušan Makavejev’s feature Love Affair, or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (Ljubavni slučaj ili tragedija službenice PTT, 1967). The movie’s complex narrative structure unfolds around a tension between progressive and regressive time. However, at the centre of this tension now stands an abject image that serves as a blank point around which the film attempts to develop its meanings. Love Affair can therefore be regarded as a film that revolves around a raw, naked image. As will be shown, this allows it to probe into various modes of discursive domination.
