All-Russian State University of Cinema, named after S.A. Gerasimov
From the point of view of the film, a miracle is a powerful twist, working on the principle of "the impossible has become possible." In addition to the fact that a miracle is an inexplicable event from the standpoint of "worldly consciousness" (Mircea Eliade's term) and improbable when trying to determine cause-and-effect relationships, it inevitably involves the spatial model of the film, since it involves overcoming the impenetrable boundary between the sacred and the profane. Based on the results of the analysis of a number of theoretical works, the following artistic topologies of this opposition in cinema are proposed:
- E. Benveniste's concentric model, implying the placement of the holy area in the center of being, then an intermediate protective zone of the institutional sacred and an external zone of ordinariness — for example, A. Tarkovsky's film "Stalker" is based on such a model;
- the model of coacervation of the sacred according to J. Bataille, who argued that the sovereign sublimation of sacredness takes place far from the center of religious and other power — according to this principle, The Butcher Boy functions (directed by N. Jordan);
- the model of elimination of the sacred according to E. Levinas, where the sacred as a deceptive institutional prevents a person from approaching the genuine divine and therefore must be destroyed — see the painting "Adam's Apples" (directed by A.T. Jensen).
Thanks to laughter, the distance between the sublime and the base disappears, pathos decreases, which opens up the opportunity to talk about the miracle in a language accessible to the viewer, removing fear and awe of the sacred. In addition, laughter acts as a human manifestation of subjective activity that encroaches on forbidden boundaries — thereby opening a space for the contact of the sacred, divine and profane, forming a portal for the phenomenon of a miracle.
Sacred (from Latin “sacer”), due to its linguistic and cultural ambivalence as a pure saint and wild demonic, harbors the potential for ridicule, which opens up wide prospects for creating stories about a miracle realized in the comedy genre.
