The withdrawal of touch in close encounter: The tactility of facial close-ups in Ingmar Bergman’s films

This article focuses on the tactility of facial close-ups in Ingmar Bergman’s films through Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of touch. In contrast to the model of touch offered by phenomenological film scholars, which emphasizes the intimate and mutual contact between the viewer and the image, Nancy’s touch is a withdrawal or a degree of untouchability within contact, which can enable us to decode the ambiguity and tension within Bergman’s use of facial close-up more precisely. Both Nancy’s works and Bergman’s films follow a paradoxical logic in approaching the tactile dimension of aesthetic experience. By establishing a dialogue between them, this article explores how Bergman expresses the double effects of close-ups and creates the withdrawal of touch.