Emphathy and Humour in Look Both Ways: An Extension of Deleuzian Cinema

This paper explores director Sarah Watt's innovative technique in the 2005 Australian film Look Both Ways. In this film, Watt explores the inner thoughts and the mostly death-related fears of her characters, but with humour. She directs the viewer to 'look both ways'; that is, from the point of view of the spectator and also from the point of view of the characters. Gilles Deleuze's system of cinema in Cinema One: The Movement Image is discussed to enable an understanding of how Watt's technique engages the spectator at a level of emotion and empathy.