ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the use of the enunciative device of the letter in the European Francophone essay filmthrough the analysis of five works: Lettre de Sibérie (Chris Marker, 1957): Letter to Jane (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, 1972), Lettre à Freddy Buache (Jean-Luc Godard, 1981), News from Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977) and Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983). It shows the relevance and evolution of the epistolary device as an enunciative device of the essay film, moving from the modern letter-film to the postmodern epistolary film. In these works, the epistolary device enables critical thinking aboutreality in different spheres and through various procedures: using imagination and subjectivity, analysing images, generating their abstraction, exploring alterity and reflecting on postmodernity.
