Cinema Philosophy, Modeling Method, and the Problems of Decadent Cinematic Work of Art

The article produces interpretation of cinema through the re-construction of a multi-level pattern of the "decadent" film. This pattern descends from the author’s reconstruction of the similar pattern of a work of art in general, which includes a number of levels (anthropological, narrative, and world-view levels) and codes (thanathological/code of death, feminological, code of overman / of degeneration, code of insanity). The cinematic work of art includes in its pattern a number of specific levels: morphological, stylistic, intertextual, rhythmical, audial, tactile, montage, as well as specifically cinematic and narrative levels. Morphological level in the "decadent" film is regarded as a basical one as it constitutes both plastic structure of the filmic reaity and chronotopical shape subjected to the fluent and open composition, shaped as the "coup de fouet" visual line. Stylistic level is regarded as its sub-level oriented towards art nouveau aesthetical principles. The rhythmical level is also directly related to the morphological as that fluent and hectic first of all as a camera movement. The audial one is determined by the general rhythm of the complex soundtrack, including music. The rhythmical level is also related to the rhythm of montage, which is highly symbolized in the decadent cinema. The tactile level includes the complex extrascreen sensuality since the decadent cinema from E. Bauer (1913) regards the touch as a screen symbol. The intertextual level constitutes both the complex intertextuality of art nouveau visual and symbolist literary texts and the specific cinematographic intertextuality.