Panoptics, Surveillance and Concrete Abstraction: Modesty Blaise Beyond the Glitz

The panoramic view that we get from the Havengebouw in Modesty Blaise, directed by Joseph Losey in 1966, does not spectacularize the city, but rather the actions that take place inside it, by playing with notions of surveillance. In this case, the acts of seeing and being seen are in focus, and this is done through the relationship created through the shot between the cinematic apparatus, the viewer, the characters, the narrative and the city, which I will all describe in detail further on.