Rohmer's Les amours d'Astre et de Celadon as a systematical synthesis for Bazin's space-based adaptation theory

This article expounds ric Rohmer's adaptation theory, both through his early writings on the subject (heavily influenced by Andr Bazin's filmic ontology) and some of the films he made after he became a director, that is, his cinematographic adaptations from other art forms. After this overview, a close analysis of his very last film (Les amours d'Astre et de Cladon) follows, because this film can easily be considered the ultimate manifesto for Rohmer's adaptation theory. According to it, cinema is more than a simple art: it is the art that bears the strongest connection with reality not because it can reproduce reality, but because it can grasp reality's spatial coordinates. This is why cinema should merge itself with the other arts: because it can transfigure an artistic language (simply put: an art form) into a purely spatial asset. Dealing with a different kind of art, cinema turns the sign into space.