Mosaic space and mosaic auteurs : Alejandro González Iñárritu, Atom Egoyan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Michael Haneke

Abstract

In this thesis I propose approaching multi-strand films in a way that extends our focus beyond narrative strategy, arguing that the assemblage of narrative threads in fact infers a larger spatial mosaic. In this mosaic, spaces with diverse socioeconomic and geopolitical backgrounds, historical implications, and virtualities are interwoven through a variety of cinematic means, which include not only narrative but also editing, framing and mise-en-scene. In addition, I demonstrate that in certain auteurs’ works the construction of filmic mosaic space correlates with the bringing-together of film professionals, locations, financial resources and distribution routes across borders through the auteurs’ travelling. Hence this thesis lies in the intersection between the cinematic manifestations of mosaic space, spatial representations, and transnational filmmaking networks facilitated by authorship. Since the term “mosaic” is used here as a spatial metaphor to connect the interlinking concepts of space, narrative, and authorship, I term the travelling auteurs “mosaic auteurs”, the multistrand narrative “mosaic narrative”, and the assembled film space “mosaic space”. I will use the filmmaking contexts and film works of Michael Haneke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Atom Egoyan and Alejandro González Iñárritu as examples, and the spatial theories of Marc Augé, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Saskia Sassen, Mike Featherstone among others to explain the dynamism of spatial configurations.