Biopics in the light: a view of biographical cinema from the metaphysics of the person, by Julian Marias

Abstract

This article aims to show how the writings of Julián Marías on biographical films or biopics, which are included in what he called “cinematographic anthropology”, have greater depth if they are considered in the light of a general theory of human life, understandable from the vital or historical reason and that will be formulated as a metaphysics of the person, which the philosopher defines as “someboy corporeal”. This will make it possible to establish an interpretative bridge between the writings of a theoretical nature and the cinema articles that the Spanish philosopher wrote for decades, on historical characters such as Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, El Cid and Jimena, Christina of Sweden, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sigmund Freud, Mata Hari, Van Gogh, Kafka or C.S. Lewis. Throughout his film writings, topics such as historical appropriateness, imagination (or lack thereof), the biographical argument or the ultimate reality of human life are frequently mentioned, which he has explained in great detail in his more theoretical writings. In conclusion, having posed with precise philosophical terms what is a biography and what is its metaphysical constitution, the articles of cinematographic anthropology of Marías can be interpreted as anticipations or extensions of his metaphysics of the person.