Order, Truth, Beauty: The Poetics of Mac-Mahon

Abstract

In the early sixties, the cinephiles of the Mac-Mahon aproached the journal Cahiers du cinéma: during a short period of time, they were protected by Éric Rohmer and their influence on the journal grew quickly. The macmahonians advocated for a transparent mise en scène, a cult of certain virile actors, an eulogy of violence and, in general, a categorical, intolerant and dogmatic tone of writing, with a strongly belligerent attitude. Their perspective created a discontent among some of the established critics of Cahiers du cinéma and the group ended up moving to the journal Présence du cinéma that, since then, became the propagandist organ of the macmahonian doctrine. This article studies the implications of this absolutist poetics (defined by Daney as a “right wing bazinism”) which tried to rehabilitate Aristotelian assumptions in the precise moment when modern cinema was more inclined to put into practice Brecht ideas.