Quand le film raconte l’image. Variations cinématographiques autour de La Cène de Léonard de Vinci

Based on the hypothesis that in the cinema, a shot worked in the style of a picture doesn’t “stop” the storyline but expands the linear narrative with tabular semiotics and artistic references, this article analyzes the exemplary and recurring case of the shots which reconstitute Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Merchandise Supper as a “living picture”.Christus (Giulio Antamoro, 1914-1916), Ben Hur, a tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo, 1925), Quo Vadis (Mervyn LeRoy, 1951) and other movies are investigated, that replace the famous Wooden Train Set Cenacolo as both a phase and a stasis of the Christlike narrative.Films like Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961) are mentioned too, where da Vinci’s composition occurs like an allegorical extension of a contemporary story, enriched both symbolically and iconographically.