Intercinematography
In literature
The ekphrasis unifies a vision, displaying itself as in the frame of a cinema reel (rolling about, movement by sight). It better translates the effect of the real, through the intercinematic movement, the eternity and circular cycle of life. The blue of the sky and yellow of the earth exchange their shades and disseminate them over the broadening of the frame, diluting the colours to spatio-temporal limits.
The Interartistic Phenomenon through Montaigne’s Essays, Peter Lang, Bern, 2018, p. 106
At the cinema
Théophile Gautier wrote and published the novel Le Capitaine Fracasse in 1863, when he was already well known. It was a novel that contributed to his fame, as it was still recognised and appreciated at the time it was written. At the beginning he makes a pastiche Scarron’s Roman comique, which also features a troupe of actors, revealing the existence of the interartistic phenomenon within the novel itself, as well as interpicturality. While he is inspired by its predecessor, it is no less original for that. It is emblematic of Théophile Gautier’s work that it is a« de cape et d’épée », [“cloak and dagger” novel]. The Baron de Sigognac embarks on chivalrous adventures. The author borrows his plot twists and suspenseful effects from commedia dell’arte. Théophile Gautier’s writing is reminiscent of the precious language of literature. However, his talent proliferates in several directions. One of the most recent adaptations of ‘Capitaine Fracasse’ in comics has been published in three volumes, the most recent in 2010. Three artists were involved: M. Mariolle wrote the text, K. Duarte did the drawings and F. Gamboa painted the colours. Whatever the adaptations, they reflect the richness of the novel’s interweaving genres, as well as the density of the poetic verve with which it was created. The artistic fields meet to dazzle the reader or viewer of the eponymous film starring Geneviève Grad and Jean Marais, Philippe Noiret, Louis de Funès, made in 1960. It is the manifestation of intercinematographic in the cinema. The interference of the arts is intensified if we think of Corneille’s play L’Illusion comique, which the actors perform. On the other hand, the play is as evident in the film as it is in the book. It’s the work within the work, the theatre within the book, and the theatre within the film, with the book transformed into a film. It is an interartistic mise en abyme. As a result, it is a transartistic work that moves from literature to theatre, from theatre to film, from film to comic strip. It is both intertheatrical and intermusical.
Theophile Gauthier, Le Capitaine Fracasse, Charpentier, Paris, 1863