Personal Images

I recently came across this quote from Christian Petzold, explaining his inspiration in becoming a filmmaker:

“The book Mr. Hitchcock, How did You do that? (Truffaut/Hitchcock 1966/1982) and the horrible suburban sprawl devoid of cinema, markets and ideas – the idea was to create images of those things.”
(From https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/flm/20367776.html?forceDesktop=1)

Apart from the rather delightful German title of "Truffaut/Hitchcock", I was struck by the idea that his impetus for filmmaking was so simple as to 'create images' of his immediate environment. Simple, but also deeply personal and unmistakably political in implication. Petzold's depiction of place in his first three TV films (PILOTINNEN [1995], CUBA LIBRE [1996], DIE BEISCHLAFDIEBEN [1998]) is certainly stirring. The idea of spaces 'devoid' of anything is particularly potent, with images of vast public spaces emptied of people recurring again and again. 

I began to think of other filmmakers that might have been moved by a similar inclination, and honestly, the first and most powerful comparison to me seemed to be Steven Spielberg. Thinking especially of E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, Spielberg's representation of suburbia, and the family unit within a suburban landscape seems his most powerful inclination. Another interesting comparison, is that both filmmakers were eventually moved from representing their immediate, personal milieu to embodying historical images. It seems to me then, that the urge to create personal images is deeply political as well, suggesting something of a national chronicler. 

Personal images are strongly tied to ideas about auteurism as well. Many of the French New Wave filmmakers embody this idea. Godard's BREATHLESS, and particularly his A WOMAN IS A WOMAN are notable for placing genre cinema into spaces familiar to Godard himself. 

A question which I think can continue to be explored is what makes personal images distinct from an outsider's view of a certain milieu. I don't think it could be claimed that one creating personal images necessarily has a deeper insight. Indeed, often the depth of insight of an outsider is such that people assume the images are personal, such as with Satyajit Ray and PATHER PANCHALI, though he was adapting another's novel and did not live in similar circumstances. Perhaps there's also something incidental about personal images, as if the filmmakers want to relocate the world of cinema into their personal space, rather than necessarily make films about their personal space. Of course, even in this idea we find exceptions (for instance, Debra Granik's exploration of Missouri in WINTER'S BONE), but I think it's maybe closer to the truth. It speaks to quite an organic split in some filmmakers, between the cinema and reality, which is as excited by the possibilities of both. 

From PILOTINNEN (1995)