does not come in frames and cannot be suspended
in the same way. The freeze frame must either be left
silent (veryrare, either in mainstream oravant-garde
film) or itis domesticated by non-synchronous sound
suchasmusic or voice-over. But mostoften the synch-
sound continues after the freeze, emphasizing its
silenceas muchasitsstillness.When François Truffaut
endedThe 400 Blows( 1959 )onafreeze thesilence is
almost asstriking as the stillness.Antoine,thefilm’s
restless adolescent hero, is running away from the
world. Inthefinal act hefindshimself onabeachwith
nowhereleft to go.He slows atthewater’sedge. The
musicsurges while thesound of breaking waves marks
time. As Antoine turns fromthesea hiseyes look atthe
camera asifbyaccident.Thefreezeframe catches the
glance and zooms tighter into his face, which shows
no clear expression. Thesoundscontinue, but we sense
theirdisconnectionfromtheimage,cutting Antoine
off from his surroundings. In that freeze an abyss
opens up between the simplicity of what is seen and
the complexity of what it may mean. Antoine’s face
resembles a family snap but also a state identity photo. It could mean a
futureof frustration inschools and prisons orpossibleescape. Itcould sug-
gestrobust youth leading to alonglife orthe imminence of anearly death.
We cannot tell if this is Truffaut’s certainty about how to bring things to a
conclusion or hisapprehension. Through thestill he manages toend with-
out concluding, opting for what is in effect the essential openness of the
photographic image. Rather than taming it, Truffaut lets it loose in all its
multiplicity, creating whatis cinema’s most definiteandindefinite ending.^35
While the freeze frame may show the world at a standstill, it cannot
articulate theexperienceof such a state. Faced with a freeze the viewer is
thrown out of identification with the image and left to gaze upon its
sudden impenetrability. But there are a number of image forms that allude
to something between movement and stillness. Since around 1980 the
British filmmaker Tim Macmillan has been developing a technique known 57
43 Publicity still ofVeruschka fromBlow-
up(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966).