The Cinematic Sublime in Tornatore's La Leggenda Del Pianista Sull'oceano

The phenomenon of the sublime in an artistic context, with particular reference to the innate properties of an object and its affective impact upon the subject, has generated considerable philosophical and aesthetic debate since the writings of Dionysius Longinus, whose authority on the issue went largely unchallenged until the Enlightenment. Longinus's conception of the sublime in artistic terms centred on the fundamental premise that a work of art should be overwhelming and awe-inspiring in terms of its effect on prospective audiences; this principle, though, was combined with the condition that the validity and resonance of the art form in question should be acknowledged by the broadest possible cross-section of people. Sublime art therefore ‘takes equally with all sorts of men. For when persons of different humours, ages, professions, and inclinations, agree in the same joint approbation of any performance, then this union of assent, this combination of so many different judgements, stamps a high and indisputable value on that performance’. In their theoretical reworkings of the qualities of the artistic sublime with regard to oratory and music, Enlightenment writers including James Burgh and James Beattie continued to draw on the principles elucidated by Longinus, Burgh declaring that ‘the true sublime consists in a set of masterly, large, and noble strokes of art, superior to florid littleness’, while Beattie's observations about the inspirational qualities of music also considered its effect upon the human spirit: ‘Music is sublime, when it inspires devotion, courage, or other elevated affections: or when by its mellow and sonorous harmonies it overwhelms the mind with sweet astonishment.’

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