‘My Sister Reality’: The Franciscan Sources of Bazin’s Philosophy of Cinema

Modernist aesthetic theory has, since its emergence, often displayed indifference or even hostility toward Christianity. One of the most striking instances of this tendency in film criticism is found in the reception of André Bazin. Despite being one of the most influential figures in the history of film theory, Bazin’s frequent recourse to Christian imagery and ideas has frequently been treated with discomfort—by both his critics and defenders alike. These responses, however, tend to obscure the theological and philosophical background that informs Bazin’s references. His thinking is deeply marked by a Franciscan tradition that extends from St. Francis of Assisi and John Duns Scotus to the personalism of Emmanuel Mounier. Central to this lineage is a spiritual and philosophical intuition about the need to be fully present to the singularities of the world. Reading Bazin through this lens reveals not simply the influence of Christianity on his work, but more profoundly, the way in which a Franciscan philosophy of presence and love animates his philosophy of cinema. For Bazin, cinema’s revelatory power lies in its capacity to disclose, through attention, patience, and fidelity to the real, the presence of both visible and invisible dimensions of existence.