Haptic film spaces and the rhythms of everyday life in São Paulo in Lina Chamie’s A via láctea

Abstract

Abstract In dialogue with Henri Lefebvre’s concept of ‘rhythmanalysis’ and Giuliana Bruno’s notion of ‘haptic cinema’, this article examines the ways that Brazilian director Lina Chamie’s 2007 film A via láctea explores imagined and material experiences of everyday life in the megalopolis of São Paulo. It suggests that a rhythmanalytic approach to the study of film spectatorship can offer new perspectives on multisensorial engagement with the cinematic city that move beyond the traditional focus on gaze in film studies. Via close ‘readings’ of the form and content of the film, the article explores how the cinematic apparatus (e.g. camera placement, editing, soundtrack) can create a haptic filmic space for viewers, where the multiple, contradictory temporal and spatial rhythms of urban environments can be felt and ‘touched’. The article contends that by placing the notions of rhythmanalysis and haptic cinema into a productive dialogue, we can explore new ways to link socialscience-based urban studies and humanities inflected film studies in critical engagement with both the imagined and material city.