An icon and cine film: the concept of reverse perspective by Pavel Florensky in Sergei Eisenstein's works

Sergei Eisenstein and Pavel Florensky are notable figures in Russian culture of the beginning of the 20th century. Despite the fact that the film director and film theorist never met the philosopher and theologian, there is a noticeable similarity in the methodology of both cultural figures. Both Pavel Florensky and Sergei Eisenstein noted the significant role of the categories of space and time; both willingly used the concept of «reverse perspective». Pavel Florensky was one of the first Russian thinkers to theorize this concept in detail. This way of depicting space and time took a special place in his philosophical picture of the world. At the same time, «reverse perspective» was the subject of many film criticism works by Sergei Eisenstein. The Soviet director repeatedly used this way of depicting space as an artistic device. The article discusses the understanding of the concept of reverse perspective by the philosopher and theologian Pavel Florensky and the film director Sergei Eisenstein. The general provisions of the philosophy of space by Pavel Florensky are presented, as well as some aspects of the space depicted on an icon. There is a similarity in the interpretation of the concept of reverse perspective by Pavel Florensky and Sergei Eisenstein. The paper considers the structural correspondence between Pavel Florensky’s ideas about the space of an icon and Sergei Eisenstein’s ideas of editing and framing. In the conclusion of the article, common features in the understanding of a film frame by Sergei Eisenstein and icons by Pavel Florensky are revealed. Both cultural figures note that the violation of the habitual, familiar to the eye, arrangement of objects in space can open up new meanings of the depicted. For Pavel Florensky, an icon is a link between the upper and lower worlds. For Eisenstein, a mise en scène built in reverse perspective is a way to enhance the emotion of the film and open up new facets of what is depicted. Reverse perspective as an artistic technique is also actively used by modern cinema.