Movement Before Cinematography: The High-Speed Qualities of Sentiment

Abstract

Cinematography, and the philosophical critiques it inspired, has come to represent modernity. The 19th century ended with reduced photographic time exposures. The 20th century began by marking itself on a new cinematographic strip. Yet by examining more carefully these narratives of modernity it becomes clear that much falls between cinematographic frames, into its framelines. In particular, non-cinematographic philosophies of time and movement are erased from view. This article inquires into these philosophies and traces their influence on later critiques of cinematography launched by Henri Bergson and later transformed by Gilles Deleuze. It focuses on debates between the philosopher Félix Ravaisson and the revolutionary art critic Eugène Guillaume with the purpose of rethinking the relationship between philosophy and technologies of movement.