Through the Looking Glass: Chabrol’s Mirrors and the ‘Crystal-image’
In close conversation with the previous chapter, Deleuze’s concept of ‘crystal-image’ is used here to explore various reflexive structures and show how pivotal they are to the construction of an aesthetic of opacity. Mises en abyme, mirror images, widespread theatricality help interrogate the fluid and playful relationship between illusion and reality. Like Magritte and Renoir, Chabrol excels at subverting the representation of reality by making it look oneiric or uncanny, sometimes through a mere detail. Through the key examples of La Fille coupée en deux as ‘crystal-film’ and L’Enfer as paranoid narrative, this chapter examines how and to what extent Chabrol challenges the status of the image and the reception process.