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Çağlayan examines the work of Béla Tarr with a focus on the main aesthetic functions of the long take, dedramatization and framing. While the long take is traditionally associated with cinematic realism, Tarr's combined choreography of dedramatization and claustrophobic framing strategies encourage sheer observation and contemplation in a way that transcends narrative motivation. Focusing on exemplary scenes from Sátántangó (1994) and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), the chapter argues that Tarr's unique mode of narration comprises references and allusions to modernist art cinema. Tarr's baroque camera movements are conceptualized through the figure of the flâneur, which enables audiences to be immersed in the film, while retaining a self-reflexive detachment. The chapter concludes with a discussion of nostalgia as a mode through which slow cinema revitalizes critical debates on modernist aesthetics.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-96872-8_2

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