Polyphony as the principle of narration in the biopic-portrait

The paper considers one of the principles of the screen biographical narrative, "polyphonic narration", in the framework of a narratology approach relevant to the study of telecommunication. Polyphonic narration involves a complex assembly composition of audiovisual material and subtle "film connotations" (K. Metz). On the basis of a critical analysis of the terms "collective biography", "collective narrative" used in the specialized scientific literature, the author makes a thesis about the relevance of introducing the opposition "polyphonic/monophonic narration" which is theoretically more accurate and more productive from the point of view of practical analysis of the portrait film as a biographical narrative. The need for research in this segment of the documentary on the national TV for is due to its popularity and rich traditions. The material for the "monographic" research of polyphonic narration as the principle of the narrative is a professionally recognized and awarded film by Elena Yakovich, Vasily Grossman. I realized that I died (2014). The author uses comparative analysis of individual fragments of the film to find the structural patterns of polyphonic narration in it. This paper shows how voices of 12 narrator characters interact with each other and with the voice of the author forming a single "voice line" narration which, in combination with synchronous or illustrating video, form the on-screen history, its content and drama. Analysis of the cutting options of such an interaction leads to a conclusion that the structure of the narration can have composite combinations similar by the connection method: two or more narratives of different characters, hard cut and forming a semantic unity. Their precise and logical design describes the narrative skill of the author who is the main narrator in the film. The analysis also shows that in the development of the story the interaction of the main narrator and narrator characters provides the continuity of polyphonic narration as the principle of narration. In the end, it is concluded that the consistent implementation of this principle provides the author of a biographical documentary narrative with the greatest degree of compositional and narrative freedom, allowing to create a compete screen story: in the studied case the dramatic story of the novel and the tragic story of its creator.

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