Raymond Bellour's 'L'entre-Images' Explores the Space Between Media

Raymond Bellour's book 'L'entre-Images', published by Éditions de la Différence, examines the transitional space between photography, cinema, and video—what he calls the 'entre-images' (between-images). Bellour, a writer, critic, and theorist of literature and cinema, argues that this space exists between representation and de-representation, combining stillness and movement, figuration and disfiguration. He analyzes examples from films such as Jean-Luc Godard's 'Numéro deux' and 'Sauve qui peut (la vie)', Michelangelo Antonioni's 'The Mystery of Oberwald', and Chris Marker's 'La Jetée', as well as works by photographers Duane Michals, Jim Bengston, Eric Hartmann, and William Klein. Bellour draws on pictorial sensibility (Nicolas Poussin) and literary references (Henri Michaux, Henry James, Stendhal) to explore how these between-images metaphorize the creative process. He connects Stendhal's 'Henri Brulard' and its 167 drawings to early photography by Daguerre and Talbot, and invokes Freud's concept of the 'mystic writing pad' as a model linking optical and writing machines. The book also acknowledges contributions from linguists like John Searle and artificial intelligence researchers who have mapped similar terrain. Louis-José Lestocart wrote the article.