The Veiled Image: The Luminous Formless

Cinema was invented, praised and sold as the most perfect reproduction of the real world. In its automatism however, such perfection is prone to mistakes and lapses. This text addresses one of these mistakes: the ‘veiled’ (or overexposed) image. The veil may result from a luminous or a chemical accident. Light may enter the camera in a devious or excessive way, creating all sorts of figures that seem to float in the image, or blurring it entirely. In the case of analogue cinema, a reaction may occur that will affect the film stock in its very materiality. In such cases – and in a few others that are here mentioned – the question is to determine what we see in these forms which undermine the reproduction of appearances. Is it a glimpse of the ‘realness’ of reality – a fantastic world in itself – or just a meaningless accident? The answer depends on the idea one has of cinema in general.