The conflict of points of view in screenplay narrative: A Fragment of the Empire by Ekaterina Vinogradskaia and Fridrikh Ermler

Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema. 2021. Vol. 15. No. 3. P. 195–205.

Sergei Ogudov

This article is devoted to a study of point of view in screenplay narrative. Starting from the concepts of Monika Fludernik and Manfred Jahn, who investigated focalisation derived from the principles of morphological poetics, the analysis follows the gradations of point of view and its transition from narrator to character, using the example of the screenplays for the film A Fragment of the Empire. Changing point of view corresponds to the transformation of the literary scenario into the director’s script and is presented as conflict: in the scenes of the return of memory, the character transitions from a naive ‘folkloric’ vision of the world to madness, which later finds its reflection in the film.

Keywords: нарратив, советское кино, narrative, point of view, точка зрения, Soviet Cinema, режиссерский сценарий, литературный сценарий, literary scenario, director's script