The unconscious is structured like cinema.

Freud called dreams the "royal road to the unconscious." Lacan gave this notion a Saussurean twist, evoking the centrality of the signifier, famously stating: "the unconscious is structured like a language." So there we are, at the intersection of the image and the word, caught between sight and sound - is this a blueprint for the ever-elusive unconscious? I think so, and poets would agree with me. Cinema captures the stunning chemistry between dreams and language in a most unique way because there seems to be a direct pathway between the projected story and the spectator's heart. Cinema, therefore, is a fantastic device to locate the unconscious and I thought it would be fun to write a blog about the process.

I should say, I don't intend to dwell on obscure references in psychoanalysis or film because I want this to be an inclusive atmosphere for sharing ideas. I don't proclaim to be an expert in these fields. Kenneth Rexroth said: "The accepted, official version of anything is most likely false. All authority is based on fraud." Cinema, like poetry, is too beautiful, too marvelous, to be reduced down to tedious struggles of expertise. That's not the point of this blog. The pursuit of the cerebral is fine and good, but not at the price of the visceral. So if film pulls at your heart strings and you are looking for a device to enhance the quality of your experience as a spectator, then I would suggest psychoanalysis.

Herewith a clip from L'année dernière à Marienbad (Dir Alain Resnais, 1961), a film that highlights the aspect of repetition in language, producing a dream-like element in the story: