the Polyvision process, which used three synchro-
nized cameras (and three synchronized projectors)
to put three different actions on the screen simulta-
neously, as in a triptych, or to spread one vast com-
position across three screens. Napoléonconcludes
with not only such a triptych, but also, within each
panel, a rapid recapitulation of footage seen previ-
ously in the film—again a fluid demonstration of the
symbolic continuity of past, present, and future.
Suspense versus Surprise
It is important to distinguish between suspense,
which has been mentioned in the preceding discus-
sions, and surprise. Although they are often con-
fused, suspense and surprise are two fundamentally
different elements in the development of many
movie plots. Alfred Hitchcock mastered the unique
properties of each, taking great care to ensure that
they were integral to the internal logic of his plots.
In a conversation with French director François
Truffaut, Hitchcock explained the terms:
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let us
suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table
between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sud-
den, “Boom!”
There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but
prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordi-nary scene of no special consequence. Now, let us
take a suspensesituation. The bomb is underneath
the table and the public knowsit, probably because
they have seen the anarchist place it there. The pub-
lic is awarethat the bomb is going to explode at one
o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public
can see that it is a quarter to one. In these condi-
tions this same innocuous conversation becomes
fascinating because the public is participating in the
scene. The audience is longing to warn the charac-
ters on the screen: “You shouldn’t be talking about
such trivial matters. There’s a bomb beneath you
and it’s about to explode!”
In the first scene we have given the public fifteen
seconds of surpriseat the moment of the explosion. In
the second we have provided them with fifteen min-
utes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever pos-
sible the public must be informed. Except when the
surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected end-
ing is, in itself, the highlight of the story.^6
Because there are no repeat surprises, we can
be surprised in the same way only once. As a result,
a surprise, a being taken unawares, can be shock-
ing, and our emotional response to it is generally
short-lived. By contrast, suspenseis a moreReal-time relationshipMike Figgis’s
Timecode(2000; screenwriter: Figgis) offers a
dramatic and daring version of real time. Split
into quarters, the screen displays four distinct
but overlapping stories, each shot in one
continuous 93-minute take (the length of an
ordinary digital videocassette), uninterrupted by
editing.
(^6) Alfred Hitchcock, qtd. in François Truffaut, Hitchcock, rev.
ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p. 73.
ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE 153