Haptic visuality is a cinematic concept that transforms how audiences engage with films by emphasizing the tactile and sensory elements of images. Rather than focusing solely on visual clarity, this approach encourages viewers to “feel” the textures, surfaces, and sensations on screen, creating a more embodied, intimate experience. By slowing down the gaze and drawing attention to physical details, haptic visuality fosters a deeper emotional connection, as viewers are not just observing a story but are physically and emotionally immersed in it. This technique, seen in films like Beau Travail and In the Mood for Love, bridges the gap between the viewer and the cinematic world, offering a more immersive and emotionally resonant experience.
Exploring Haptic Visuality in Cinema: Touching Through Sight
Haptic visuality refers to the sensory experience of touch and vision working together to create a more immersive and tactile understanding of the world. It challenges the traditional separation of the senses and emphasizes the importance of bodily engagement in visual perception. It involves not only seeing an image but also feeling it through touch or bodily movement. This multisensory approach allows for a deeper connection to the artwork or object being perceived, as it engages both the visual and tactile senses simultaneously.
Defining Haptic Visuality
According to Oxford’s A Dictionary of Film Studies, Haptic Visuality is defined as, “A sense of physical touching or being touched engendered by an organization of the film image in which its material presence is foregrounded and which evokes close engagement with surface detail and texture. This mode of engagement can take various forms: for example, the viewer may be invited to contemplate the image itself rather than, say, being pulled into a narrative flow; and/or the viewer may become immersed in, or pulled into, the images on the screen and the sensations they produce.
The term emerged from the field of film theory, particularly influenced by the works of scholars like Laura U. Marks. Laura Marks’ (2020) haptic visuality theory is based on this idea, which states that the audience and the film are two distinct bodies placed opposite one another. In haptic visualization, the eye behaves just like the organ of touch. Haptic vision is the opposite of optical vision, with the body being more involved in the haptic vision process than in optical vision. This study raises the issue of how films also reveal non-visual senses as a multisensory experience area in this reciprocal interaction, whose conceptual framework is formed by Marks’ ideas.
Marks defines haptic visuality as containing some of the following formal and textual qualities: grainy, unclear images; sensuous imagery that evokes the memory of the senses (i.e. water, nature); the depiction of characters in acute states of sensory activity (smelling, sniffing, tasting, etc.); close-to-the-body camera positions and panning across the surface of objects; changes in focus, under- and overexposure, decaying film and video imagery; optical printing; scratching on the emulsion; densely textured images, effects and formats such as Pixelvision; and alternating between film/video. The haptic image is in a sense, ‘less complete’, requiring the viewer to contemplate the image as a material presence rather than an easily identifiable representational cog in a narrative wheel.
Haptic visuality blurs the line between the viewer and the screen, offering a more immersive experience. It engages the viewer’s body and senses, often evoking an intimate connection to the film’s material world. Rather than being passive spectators, viewers are encouraged to become active participants, almost as if they could reach out and touch the textures and surfaces they are seeing.
Historical Background
Haptic visuality is a film theory concept that emphasizes viewers’ tactile, sensory engagement with the images on screen, making them feel as though they are touching what they see. Coined by Laura U. In “The Skin of the Film” (2000), the term contrasts with “optical visuality,” which focuses on clear, identifiable images and intellectual interpretation. Haptic visuality, on the other hand, emphasizes texture, surfaces, and blurred or fragmented images that evoke a sense of touch, prompting viewers to experience film through their bodies.
The theory has roots in phenomenology, particularly in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work on embodied perception. Marks and other scholars, like Vivian Sobchack, have extended this to film, suggesting that cinema can engage viewers’ senses beyond sight, creating a visceral, immersive experience. Haptic visuality often appears in experimental and intercultural cinema, but mainstream filmmakers have also adopted its techniques. Directors like David Lynch, Claire Denis, and Wong Kar-wai use close-ups, fragmented imagery, and textures to evoke a tactile response. For instance, Deni’s Beau Travail (1999) uses lingering shots of skin and muscle to draw viewers into the characters’ physicality.
As digital technology and virtual reality advance, haptic visuality finds new relevance. Virtual reality experiences often incorporate haptic feedback, allowing viewers to physically feel sensations tied to the virtual world they are immersed in. Even in traditional digital cinema, directors use high-definition imagery and sound to evoke a tactile sense of space and texture, heightening sensory immersion.
Ultimately, haptic visuality expands the possibilities of how audiences engage with film, transforming cinema into a multisensory experience that bridges the gap between sight and touch.
The Emotional Impact of Haptic Visuality
One of the key emotional effects of haptic visuality is its ability to evoke deep, visceral responses from the audience. This occurs because the viewer is not merely watching a story unfold but is emotionally and physically drawn into the sensations the film portrays. For example, in films like Claire Denis’ Beau Travail (1999), the emphasis on the tactile qualities of skin, muscle, and sweat creates an intimate, sensory connection between the audience and the characters. Close-up shots of the soldiers’ bodies emphasize the texture of their skin and the movement of their muscles, making the audience feel as though they are touching and experiencing these physical sensations. This tactile focus mirrors the characters’ emotional states—particularly themes of repression, desire, and isolation—thereby deepening the emotional impact on the viewer. The proximity to these bodily details encourages an empathic response, as the viewer feels the characters’ struggles in a more embodied way.
Haptic visuality also breaks down the traditional distance between the viewer and the screen, fostering a more immersive and intimate cinematic experience. By evoking the sense of touch, filmmakers can bridge the gap between the physical and cinematic worlds, making the audience feel like they are part of the on-screen world. This is particularly evident in Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000), where the sensual, textured visuals—the rich fabrics of cheongsams, the dim lighting, and the close-up shots of seemingly inconsequential details like hands brushing or cigarette smoke curling in the air—draw the viewer into the tactile environment of 1960s Hong Kong. These sensory details evoke an emotional intimacy that resonates with the film’s themes of unspoken desire and longing, allowing the viewer to feel the emotional tension between the characters in a more embodied, sensory way. The use of haptic visuality here transforms the cinematic experience from one of mere observation into a deeply immersive and emotional engagement.
Laura U. Marks argues that haptic visuality offers a more effective, bodily way of viewing films, often found in intercultural and experimental cinema, where filmmakers use it to evoke memories, emotions, and sensory experiences that resist easy visual identification. Marks’ work, alongside contributions from scholars like Vivian Sobchack, who explores how cinema can be experienced through the whole body, emphasizes that film is not just a visual medium but one that can engage all the senses. By employing haptic visuality, filmmakers invite viewers to engage with cinema in a tactile, intimate way, fostering a more profound emotional connection to the images and narrative.
Examples of Haptic Visuality in Cinema
Several filmmakers have employed haptic visuality to great effect, creating films that evoke a tangible, physical experience. Below are examples from notable movies that highlight this unique visual approach.
1. “The Piano” (1993) – Directed by Jane Campion
In The Piano, Jane Campion uses haptic visuality to create a visceral connection between the audience and the characters. The film’s central character, Ada, is a mute woman who communicates through her piano and touch. Campion frequently uses close-up shots of Ada’s hands on the piano keys, the grainy textures of her clothing, and the wet, muddy New Zealand landscapes. These images evoke a tactile sense of touch, making the audience feel the cold, damp earth or the smooth, polished surface of the piano.
Through haptic visuality, the audience can almost feel the textures that define Ada’s world. Campion’s deliberate focus on tactile sensations helps to convey Ada’s silent but deeply emotional inner life. The film becomes more than just a visual narrative; it becomes a tactile, sensory experience.
2. “In the Mood for Love” (2000) – Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love is often celebrated for its lush, evocative cinematography. However, it also serves as a prime example of haptic visuality. The film uses texture-rich imagery to create a feeling of intimacy and longing. The slow, languid shots of close-up details, like the fabrics of cheongsams, the damp walls, and the soft glow of street lamps, immerse viewers in the tactile world of 1960s Hong Kong.
The camera often lingers on the subtle physical interactions between the characters—barely touching hands, the rustle of clothing, and the brush of hair—all of which evoke the sensation of touch. By focusing on these tactile details, Wong Kar-wai creates an atmosphere of sensuality and yearning, making the audience feel the emotional textures of the characters’ repressed desires.
3. “The Skin I Live In” (2011) – Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In is another example where haptic visuality plays a crucial role in the storytelling. The film’s thematic focus on skin as a site of identity, transformation, and trauma is enhanced through haptic visuality. Almodóvar’s camera often lingers on the surface of skin, whether it’s the silky smoothness of a newly constructed face or the rough textures of scars.
By focusing on the tactile experience of skin, the film intensifies its exploration of physicality and identity. The haptic quality of the imagery makes the audience acutely aware of the body’s surfaces, evoking an emotional response to the transformations and violations that the characters endure.
4. “The Tree of Life” (2011) – Directed by Terrence Malick
In The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick uses haptic visuality to evoke a sensory connection with the natural world. The film’s sweeping shots of nature—blades of grass, swirling water, the rough bark of trees—are captured in such a way that the audience can almost feel the textures of the Earth. Malick’s close-ups of natural elements encourage the viewer to engage with the imagery on a tactile level, feeling the softness of the leaves or the warmth of sunlight on the skin.
The combination of macro shots and slow, meditative pacing allows the audience to linger in these sensory moments, making the natural world a palpable, almost living presence in the film.
Critiques and Debates Surrounding Haptic Visuality
While haptic visuality has been praised for its ability to create more immersive and tactile experiences for viewers, it has also been the subject of criticism and debate. Some critics argue that haptic visuality privileges touch over vision, leading to a devaluation of the visual sense and a reliance on physical sensation.
Others argue that haptic visuality can be exclusionary, as not all viewers may be able to fully engage with artwork through touch or movement. This raises questions about accessibility and inclusivity in the art world, as artists must consider how to create experiences that are engaging and meaningful for all audiences.
Overall, the concept of haptic visuality continues to be a topic of discussion and debate in the art world, as artists and theorists grapple with questions of perception, embodiment, and the role of senses in artistic experience.
Conclusion
Haptic visuality is a powerful cinematic tool that allows filmmakers to transcend the boundaries of sight and evoke a multisensory experience. By focusing on texture, surface, and the sensation of touch, directors can create a more immersive, emotionally charged experience for the audience. Films like The Piano, In the Mood for Love, The Skin I Live In, and The Tree of Life demonstrate how haptic visuality can deepen the connection between viewers and the images on screen, transforming the act of watching into something more tactile, sensual and profoundly moving.
