An ambiguous portrait of pain Fluid identity, androgyny, suffering, and artistic creation in The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein, 1928)

Even if many of the pages written by Jean Epstein are dedicated to the intensity stemming from the close-up of the human face, when the images turn towards a portrait ( La Chute de la maison Usher) the rules of the game appear to be different. Based on a number of recent publications as well as on archival sources, this article studies the complex relationship between the body and the portrait, so as to enlighten one of the themes less explored and most fascinating in Epstein’s body of work.