Antoine’s World: A Five Film Parisian Journey Toward Self-Reflection

[自発展開型]
長谷川恭平（経済学部3年）
指導教員：エインジ, マイケル

要旨

This study performs close readings and analyses of the five films in Francois Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series. Through close reading, the study reveals patterns and motifs through the films; then proceeds to interpret and analyze the key motifs. Those are found to be: first, select monuments in Paris; and second, a fascinating oppositional relationship between “interior” and “exterior”. This analysis reveals the function of the space as a means both of narrating the story and of projecting the character’s internal, subjective state. Audiences gain subjective access to protagonist Antoine’s internal state via a system of codes based on external phenomena, and can identify with him. Further, this use of mise-en-scene to indicate subjective states fosters audience immersion into the world of films, which is both Antoine’s world and Paris itself. However, the final film in the series detaches the audience from Antoine, and exhibits self-reflection within the film. These techniques suggest a new relationship between audiences and the films.