Abstract

The following paper will present some outcomes of research into the topic of clairvoyance in a European context and the depiction of the spiritual in film in order to suggest that a cultural analysis of the perception of the angelic imaginary can offer insights into the interrelation between the subject areas of cinema and consciousness. This research on clairvoyance began in 1997 as part of an interdisciplinary study arising out of the disciplines of Cultural Anthropology and Film Theory at the University of Amsterdam: it focused on the phenomenon of the clairvoyant perception of angels and compared this with the treatment of the spiritual in film. One major outcome of this study reveals a significant correspondence between the general cinema experience and the clairvoyants' perception of apparitions: both could be adequately described as multi-sensorial experiences reaching beyond the audio-visual perception into a stimulation of an internal affection (in the Bergsonian use of the term) imbricated with thought, memory and association, embracing the importance of the often underrated sensations of touch, smell and emotions. What follows will summarize these insights and situate them within a broader theoretical context, in which the work of Henri Bergson will be revisited through the subsequent insights of Gilles Deleuze in order to re-evaluate Deleuze's contribution and place my own research within an interdisciplinary framework of Philosophy, Film Studies and Cultural Anthropology.