Reading The Robe: Bazin and Widescreen

Abstract

This article examines Bazin's theory of cinema through his reaction to widescreen technology. Bazin endorsed CinemaScope as a means of enhancing cinematic realism, but was critical of its launch vehicle, Henry Koster's The Robe (1953), which recounts the story of a Roman consul whose acquisition of the dead Christ's robe leads him to convert to Christianity. To emphasize the photographic trace of the real that defines his ontology of cinema, Bazin refers to relics alleged to retain the outline of Christ's features after contact (the Veil of Veronica, the Turin Shroud), so The Robe inadvertently offers a crass thematization of Bazin's theory of cinema, uncomfortably mimicking Bazin's belief that film carries the imprint of a once-living presence. However, on closer inspection, instead of demystifying Bazin's theory of cinema by removing its religious garb, the critical encounter with The Robe demonstrates its complexity by revealing its multiple layers.