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To start with, from the Boll stories we cut a lot, really enormously. Even thoughwe cut in the Brecht novel, we had a very different attitude. We cut there, but wedidn't cut in whole blocks, only between blocks. And then with the Corneille!T"A#$ we didn't cut at all. And we didn't cut at all in %choenberg. Also withBrecht, when we cut we didn't cut the interior, so to s&eak. We didn't cut into the

economic discourses, but only made anecdotal cuts. %o there we didn't really &utBrecht in uestion.

(n the case of %choenberg the differences between the film and the o&era starte)ternally. The first change we made relates to the %choenberg*s intentions, butnot to the te)t itself. "e wrote out detailed instructions on the si+e of the chorus.(t involved having some &eo&le actually singing, and others ust filling u& s&ace.We decided to kee& the chorus small and limited to &eo&le who were reallysinging.

%econd, and this is much more im&ortant, when %choenberg worked out hisscenes for the stage, he didn't have to imagine them in a very &recise manner. "eimagined a number of scenes, within which several things would be going on atthe same time. -ittle by little the o&era advances in simultaneity. We reduced thissimultaneity to a succession for the film.

Third, in a&&roaching the idea of the burning bush, there is not only a bush, butthe bush transforms itself. There are the sky, the rocks, and the mountain. (ngoing through this, there is not ust a refutation of the bush, as we said before,but the film also asserts a continuity. That is, all the themes of the film are there,even the mountain. (n the second &art of the first scene in the dialogue with thebush, there is this continuity which we introduce, which is not seen by%choenberg.

Then the &resentation of things not in a simultaneity, but a succession. #ow whatdoes it mean to systematically transform a simultaneity into a successionWithout making it overly systematic or evident, we &ut the te)t in uestionthrough reali+ing a continuity that in a way demystifies things, that demystifiesthe drama from the beginning. This demystification &roceeds not only from theestablished continuity, but because everything takes &lace (n the sameam&hitheater, e)ce&t for the third act.

-ouis %eguin wrote in the Quinzaine Litterairethat the am&hitheater transformsall the theatrical re&resentation into /acobin theatre, meaning that really in an

historical sense. (t is in classical decor. %uared stones and all. Well0adustedstones and nothing else1 Which for him is classical decor. The idea of the o&enair, the conduct of the drama within this o&en s&ace, for him makes the o&erainto /acobin theatre. 2$

%o there are several little subversions that &ut the te)t in uestion. There is asimilarity in the way that we have treated the dramatic simultaneity of

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%choenberg and what 3odard does systematically in #45E6! 7E48, even if hisway and our way of treating the story seem on first look com&letely o&&osed.

Jump Cut, no. 29:2;, 2, &&. >20>?co&yrightJump Cut: AReview of Contemporary Media, 2, 9@@?

Straub flming hierarchies

Straub-Huillets refusal of aesthetic hierarchies means that an actor, a tree, a rock, a piece of

music or a literary text all have an equally valid material presence which demands to be

filmed with the utmost diligence and respect.

Actor and language

Derided by Kluge for using language as an object

Image of landscapeYet another favourite quote of Straub-Huillets is attributed to Czanne: Look at this

mountain, it was once fire.

Equally notorious is what in French criticism has come to be known as the Plan straubien

(Straubian shot), which can roughly be defined as a pan or tracking shot of a landscape

lasting up to several minutes in duration. While these shots have greatly contributed to the

notion of Straub-films as boring and unwatchable, they are crucial for Straub-Huillets

pedagogic project of teaching people how to see and hear. The spectator is encouraged

to look at the images with the same care and receptivity as Paul Czanne when painting the

Mont St-Victoire

Andi Engels128

Cameron, Ian Alexander,eds. Second Wav. New York !raeger "#$%&. !rint.

The sound is not an illustration of the picture and the picture is not illustration of the sound,

but sound and picture form and entity

'uillet(StraubCha, )heresa 'ak *+ung., eds. Aaratus, Cinematograhic AaratusSelected Writings. . !rint.

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Camera movements almost never occurring to accoman+ actors, butto relate them or oose the grouings, hence the sound has notreason to change lace -#$/

)he music is divided into the measures that constitutes it shot0

1ocation

2Coming to understand a location is like understanding an+thingelse3.)he technicians did not have the right to set 4oot on the sace, excet4or the actual flming in secifc cases, such as when a boom wasneeded, and then, the+ went care4ull+, and I alwa+s watched them4rom the corner o4 m+ e+e so that didn5t crush an+ o4 the lants6

7.8. Straub and 9. 'uillet interviewed b+ Anne(8arie :aux and 7ac;uesAumont, Art ress ##% -Setember #$