Thoughts on the close-up (1)

"There is no close-up of the face. The close-up is the face, but the face precisely insofar as it has destroyed its triple function [individuation, socialization, communication] - a nudity of the face much greater than that of the body, an inhumanity much greater than that of animals."

(The Brown Bunny; Vincent Gallo 2003)

"The close-up has merely pushed the face to those regions where the principle of individuation ceases to hold sway. They are not identical because they resemble each other, but because they have lost individuation no less than socialization and communication. This is the operation of the close-up. The close-up does not divide one individual, any more than it reunites two: it suspends individuation ... It absorbs two beings, and absorbs them in the void ... The facial close-up is both the face and its effacement." -- Gilles Deleuze

(The Brown Bunny; Vincent Gallo 2003)