Just another interpretation to the tennis ball scene in Blow Up described by Stephen Brophy: What if the subject of the film was about the protagonist's arrival at a recognition of what is truly real - or probably better: of a more authentic "ground of being". I think then we are to understand the camera in front of his eye as signalling a kind of existential blindness. (Jack Nicholson's profession of "reporter" serves the same purpose in *Passenger*). The camera in front of his eyes means doesn't see the murder happening in front of him, he doesn't see the corpse, although Antonioni has fixed it so that anyone who watches the film more than once can make it out behind the tree. When he does see the corpse after his struggle to understand what happened, he doesn't have the camera in front of his eye anymore and he doesn't even take pictures of it. The confrontation with death and the follow up inability to make himself heard produces some kind of recognition. And ...big lead up to what I wanted to say in the first place.... When he gets to the mimes playing tennis that morning, this transformation has occurred: he now can recognize ("see") what is authentic, what is pretence. He puts his camera down (significant, I think) to pick up the ball and throw it back. We hear the pock pock sound of the ball because the soundtrack conveys this new vision through sound - neat trick - and signals his knowing participation in pretense. Oops, just read to the end of the digest and saw Aaron Curtis's reply. Couldn't have said it better. I've come into this thread late. Has anyone mentioned the article in Yale French Studies 60 that gives a taxonomy of diegetic and non diegetic sounds? I'm sorry that I don't have it in front of me, and don't remember the name of the author. Cordially, Marta Braun Marta Braun c/o Franceschetti Film and Photography via Pandolfini 16 Ryerson Polytechnic University 50122 Firenze 350 Victoria Street Italy Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Canada E-MAIL: [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]