"Tannhäuser Syndrome" and Traumatic Artistic Experience in István Szabó’s Film "Meeting Venus"

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to highlight the intertextual ties that permeate the structure of the film ‘Meeting with Venus’ (1991) by I. Szabó, through the prism of a generalized artistic code – ‘Tannhäuser syndrome’. The research methodology involves an interdisciplinary approach that combines semiotic analysis, the theory of intertextuality, the nosographic approach, and historical and cultural research methods. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that, for the first time, the art-historical potential of the concept of ‘Tannhäuser Syndrome’ is realised as a methodological tool for exploring the interaction between opera and cinema, using the structural features of Szabó’s film as a case study. Conclusions. The use of the syndrome of the opera hero as a metaphorical matrix of the created film turns out to be a fruitful directorial approach, as a result of which a voluminous multilayered text with significant intertextual potential appears. Manifesting itself at the levels of characters, authors, and the entire work of art, the ‘Tannhäuser syndrome’ hierarchises the structure of the film, strengthens the meanings embedded in it. In the context of the nosographic approach, a ‘telescopic’ connection of the ‘Tannhäuser syndrome’ with the peculiarities of the life and creative path of R. Wagner and I. Szabó has been revealed in the structure of the film. The functions of musical quotes as carriers of the generalised artistic code of the opera have been determined.