AUDIOVISUALITY AND THE CITY OF MARSEILLE, FRANCE: CREATIVITY, COMMUNICATION, REPRESENTATION

• Published in: Creativity studies 2019-06, Vol.12 (1), p.166-182
• Main Author: Martinelli, Dario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: audiovisual communication; Borsalino; film music; film studies; Marseille; Motion picture directors & producers; musicology
• ISSN: 2345-0479; 2345-0487
• DOI: 10.3846/cs.2019.5440

The Wicked City (director Peter Mak, 1992), House on the Waterfront (director Edmond T. Gréville, 1955), The French Connection (director William Friedkin, 1971), the obvious Borsalino (director Jacques Deray, 1970)… up to the recent Netflix series Marseille (creator Dan Franck, 2016–2018): when browsing the titles of the most important audiovisual representations of Marseille, one immediately notices how this city seems to (be made to) communicate a few recurrent topoi: the frontier city, site of mostly illegal activities and inhabited by a multi-ethnic (or rather stateless) community of gangsters, sailors, adventurers and prostitutes – ingredients often mixed with an abundant amount of charm and nostalgic fascination. Mostly informed by the theories and methodologies of film studies, musicology, creativity studies and communication studies, the present article aims to emphasize the consistence of significations conveyed by both visual and musical sources. As a case-study, the article shall focus on Borsalino, possibly – at the same time – the most famous film placed in Marseille and the most famous soundtrack (by jazz composer Claude Bolling) – both, it is argued, perfect syntheses of the above-mentioned topoi.