The border and migratory journey filmic representation : Three examples of contemporany cinema ; Représentation filmique de la frontière et du voyage migratoire : Trois exemples du cinéma contemporain

The border between Mexico and the United States is known for being one of the largest, busiest and most dangerous in the world. This "barrier-wall" is not only one of the most extensive, dangerous and crossed in the world, but it is also one of the most "porous" and the most filmed. This doctoral thesis focuses on the representation of that real and imaginary border in cinema. The purpose is to study what elements are used, which ones are reoccurring and how they are related in a corpus of three films whose constants are: the trip, the wait and the failure or success of crossing the border. The corpus is framed in Those Who Remind (Los que se quedan, Juan Rulfo y Carlos C. Hargerman, 2008), Norteado (Rigoberto Pérezcano, 2009), and A Better Life (Christian Weitz, 2011). Together these movies make a kind of a circle where the border, the journey and the crossing are rewritten. Our research is founded on the hypothesis that the trilogy represents the frontier in three stages or facets. From a physical or geographical point of view, in Los que se quedan, the border is perceived as a faraway place, it is seen from the “South”. In Norteado, the border gets closer until the immigrant crosses it. Meanwhile, in A better Lifethe borderline is situated far from the geographical line: In the “North”. The trilogy shows the movement of the border through the immigrant figure, in a trip which is performed in three moments. The spectator “constructs” the border through a migratory journey in three degrees, three faces and in three films. The concentration of Los que se quedan is on the characters rather than on the frontier as a space. Norteado focuses on two aspects: the border as a geographical place and what the character feels in transit. A better Life emphasizes on how the characters feel in front of the border. ; La frontière nord du Mexique est une sorte d’aimant qui attire d’immenses migrations humaines. Bien que cette «arrière-mur » entre les deux pays soit l’une des plus longues, dangereuses et traversées du monde, ...