Narration in the Fiction Film [Paperback]

David Bordwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 1987 | ISBN-10: 0415018773 | ISBN-13: 978-0415018777 | Edition: 1 New

Most films tell tales, but what does that involve? How do motion pictures tease us into building what we all agree to call stories? In this study, David Bordwell offers the first comprehensive account of how movies use fundamental principles of narrative representation, unique features of the film medium, and diverse story-telling patterns to construct their fictional narratives. The result is a pioneering, far-reaching work which will change the way we perceive narrative film—and which every serious film scholar, student or fan will welcome.

“This book is of crucial importance to film specialists. I cannot think that any film teacher/scholar would miss reading this work.”—Don Fredricksen, Cornell University

“David Bordwell’s Narration in the Fiction Film is a major contribution to film studies and to narrative theory. The work, I predict, will be widely read, praised, debated, and damned. Brodwell’s originality lies not so much in demonstrating the deficiencies of other theories, which he does very convincingly, but in the scope and design of his project, against which there is no competition of comparable intellectual weight.”—Jerry Carlson, DePaul University

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What is cinematic storytelling? How can we understand its technique and complexities? What are its extents and limitations? In this monumental work, David Bordwell catalogues every aspect of film narrative, offering insight into an amazing variety of fiction films. The author, who is as comfortable talking about Al Jolson movies as he is describing the career of Jean-Luc Godard, has made a major contribution to film studies and the field of narrative theory. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

'This book is of crucial importance to film specialists. I cannot think that any film teacher/scholar would miss reading this work.' - Don Fredricksen, Cornell University '

Narration in the Fiction Film is an excellent study of issues in the analysis of narrative and a major contribution to work on analysing film narratives. His studies of particular films in this respect are exemplery and illuminating.' - Elizabeth Cowie, University of Kent

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 New edition (February 5, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415018773
• ISBN-13: 978-0415018777
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Bordwell is Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in film from the University of Iowa. His books include The Films of Carl Theodor Dreyer (University of California Press, 1981), Narration in the Fiction Film (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (Princeton University Press, 1988), Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema (Harvard University Press, 1989), The Cinema of Eisenstein (Harvard University Press, 1993), On the History of Film Style (Harvard University Press, 1997), Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment (Harvard University Press, 2000), Figures Traced in Light: On Cinematic Staging (University of California Press, 2005), The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies (University of California Press, 2006), and The Poetics of Cinema (Routledge, 2008). He has won a University Distinguished Teaching Award and was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Copenhagen. His web site is www.davidbordwell.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious Film Theory, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Narration in the Fiction Film (Paperback)

As most films, like most novels, have some sort of narration flowing through them, David Bordwell's "Narration in Fiction Film" is a very useful and important book in the world of film theory. Laying out the different styles of narration into a few distinct categories and using a few films as examples by analyzing them in great depth (including Rear Window and Pickpocket), Bordwell takes a very deliberate and methodical approach to the delineation and understanding of films. The language he uses, such as the terms "syuzhet" and "fabula" to refer to different aspects of the plot, are difficult to comprehend at first but once learned provide a welcome ticket into the captivating world of film.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars teaches new ways of thinking about cinema, June 12, 2008

By 

Augustas B. (Media, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narration in the Fiction Film (Paperback)

I used this book for a cinema/media theory seminar as a freshman at Princeton University. It is demanding and just plain difficult at times (I personally found chapter 2 super confusing). However, it achieves its goal: it provides one valuable way to discuss movies - by focusing on the narrative and its workings (another way that comes to mind is Lacanian psychoanalysis employed by Slavoj Zizek). Along the way Bordwell gives us some very useful vocabulary: syuzhet , fabula, diegesis (the narrative space), self-consciousness and communicativeness, internal and external norms, etc. Have you ever asked yourself what difference it makes whether the music you hear in a particular scene of a movie is diegetic (e.g. comes from a radio situated in the narrative space) or non-diegetic (i.e. is super-imposed)? Or how the narrative makes use of your expectations and hypothesis-building? If so, you will probably enjoy this book.

The book also develops a valuable discussion of different "modes" of narration. Everyone knows the "classical" Hollywood narration (protagonist-driven plot, a problem that needs resolution, etc.). Bordwell uses the classical mode as the starting point to discuss the other ones. For example, Art Cinema narration depends precisely on violating the norms of classical narration. Moreover, Bordwell makes it easier to understand different modes by including long interpretations of various movies (Bertolucci's "The Spider's Stratagem", Bresson's "Pickpocket", Hitchcock's "The Rear Window", Godard's "Pierrot le fou" and many others).

It would be very hard to absorb all of this book. Personally, I forgot most of the nuances and arguments discussed and precise terms used to frame them. However, the take-away is a whole new way of thinking and talking about film.

5.0 out of 5 stars a reference tool and inspiration for any serious filmmaker or critic, June 12, 2011

By 

hungrylens - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Narration in the Fiction Film (Paperback)

very dense, very insightful, when i'm not sure how to make a scene flow i crack open this book at random. seven years in i still glean new ideas from Bordwell's analysis of old films.