Abstract
Between 1947 and 1973 a handful of ocularcentric psychoanalysts turned to observational film to inscribe infant subjectivity. In doing so, they significantly informed the field of child development. In light of this history, this article interrogates the construction of infant subjectivity on screen. It does this by intersecting practices of looking in psychoanalytic infant observation with those of observational film, and explores their confluence in James Robertson's film, A Two‐Year‐Old Goes to Hospital (1952). Understanding is advanced by making evident that both domains draw on realist aesthetics and linear temporality in their representations of subjectivity. It argues that this increased awareness may inform the reappraisal of documentary film as a methodology in infant mental health research. Observational documentary may integrate diverse ways of looking in the field and develop greater reflexivity around the construction of subjectivity inherent in all infant observational practices.
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