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“Absence” as an Attempt to Fill the Void Resulting from a Lack of Presence: A Narratological Study of the Film Absence by Ali Mosaffa from a Semiotic–Semantic Perspective
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Mohammad Hashemi   |
| Lecturer in Cinema and Dramatic Literature, University of Science and Culture & University of Art, Tehran, Iran |
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Abstract: (13 Views) |
In the film Absence, Rouzbeh Kiani travels to Prague to uncover information about
his father’s obscure past, visiting the apartment where his father once resided. He
discovers that recently, a man named Vladimír Zemánek, who lived in that apartment,
fell from the window and went into a coma following an irrational or possibly
hallucinatory act. As the film progresses, Rouzbeh gradually establishes a sensory-
perceptual and affective relationship with the world, encounters with things as they
are. This progresses to such an extent that the respective worlds of Rouzbeh Kiani and
Vladimír Zemánek fuse together, rendering the distinction between these two worlds
difficult or even impossible. The amalgamation of these two worlds and their narrative
trajectories generate an urge toward presence within the film’s narrative. The entire
narrative process of Absence is predicated on Rouzbeh’s constant encounters with
instances where a rift emerges between what things appear to be and what they truly
are. Following this semiotic-semantic intentionality, the aforementioned fusion of the
two worlds occur, inducing a state akin to hallucination, intoxication, and madness.
Corresponding to the film’s title, this signifies ‘absence’, or more accurately, a ‘lack
of presence’. This research seeks to address the following questions: First, in what
forms is the affective presence of Rouzbeh’s character narrated throughout the film
Absence? Second, how does the gaze emerge in relation to the semiotic world within
the film’s narrative? The aim of this study is to provide a clearer understanding of the
film’s narrative through a semiotic-semantic approach
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| Keywords: Semiotic–Semantic, Dazzlement) Gaze (, Absence, Ali Mosaffa, Intentionality. |
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2026/06/30 | Accepted: 2025/12/31
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