Pour une approche esthétique, technologique et procédurale de la fabrication des atmosphères : étude de Roma d’Alfonso Cuarón

Abstract

In Roma, Alfonso Cuarón builds a world with a very singular atmosphere, at once a meticulous, documented reconstruction of the 1970s Mexico City and an intimate, detailed re-creation of memory. This article looks at the procedures involved in creating this singular universe and questions the fabrication of atmosphere in cinema. It articulates aesthetic, procedural and technological choices, as the film mobilises immersive technologies in a production that, in many ways, sits on the margins of a dominant production system that is very much the testing ground. Atmosphere here derives not only from the precision of the reconstruction, but also from its articulation with the technologies adopted and the method of scripting and shooting the film. Drawing on Gernot Böhme’s seminal work Aesthetics of Atmospheres, and in particular his concept of “tuned space” and “ecstasy”, we show how atmosphere goes far beyond the question of sets, sound and visual ambience, and even goes beyond what is visible on screen: it stems from the articulation of the film’s spaces and the affects projected onto them. Aesthetic-technological choices aim for an ecstatic presence of things, from which the atmosphere emanates.

Keywords

• atmosphere
• cinema
• historical reconstruction
• memory
• sets
• technology