P4 Time-Image Research ProjectP4 THEATER · DELEUZE
Speech, people & world

Speech act and a people to come

acte de parole / peuple à venirspeech act / people to come

01

Concept definition

The storytelling speech-act crosses private affairs and politics, produces collective utterances, and prefigures the people who are missing.

02

What the concept explains

Speech here does not express the content of a completed community; it acts by changing speaker, addressee, circulation, labour, resources, or authority. A people remains to come because collectivity must be produced through those changes rather than presumed as a homogeneous whole.

Fabulation: How the Speech Act Prefigures a People to Come

Diagrams and film passages

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Preparing to revive the beluga hunt

Three islanders confer above the river while one holds a wooden post or tool.

Preparations for the beluga hunt begin with a riverside discussion.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:10:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:09:30—00:10:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:10:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official free NFB stream in French with English subtitles. Download-to-own covers personal use worldwide or classroom use in Canada; it excludes public screenings and non-educational institutional use. An institutional licence covers institutional settings and free public screenings.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Three island men confer above the river; one handles a wooden post or tool. The hunt concerns the beluga, locally called marsouin blanc.

Sound

French location dialogue discusses preparations still to be made; the official player supplies English subtitles.

Relation to the concept

Deliberation convenes a shared project and begins reorganizing participant positions.

Sources and further reading

  • Cinema 2: The Time-Image

    Minnesota 1989 translation: ch. 6, pp. 150–153; ch. 8, pp. 221–224 · Perrault: the white whale and fabulation in chapter 6; storytelling speech-act, fishing action, memory, and a people to come in chapter 8.

  • Bilibili · 牛仔C麦 · user-provided public repost page

    00:10:00 · Preparations for the beluga hunt begin with a riverside discussion.

  • Pour la suite du monde — English version

    Official free NFB stream in French with English subtitles. Download-to-own covers personal use worldwide or classroom use in Canada; it excludes public screenings and non-educational institutional use. An institutional licence covers institutional settings and free public screenings.

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Low-tide knowledge is spoken back into use

A man in a cap stands beside a building in winter, raising a hand toward his mouth.

The elders restate the rule that the work must follow low tide.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:15:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:14:30—00:15:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:15:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; this window was checked against the official player.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Older islanders converse face-to-face beside a building in winter.

Sound

The dialogue specifies that the work must take place at low tide.

Relation to the concept

Speech preserves and transmits a rule for action.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Announcing the project to the island

A bespectacled man speaks to another man outside a wooden building.

The shared project reaches islanders through face-to-face explanation.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:20:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:19:30—00:20:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:20:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the 00:20:00 anchor is verified and the displayed window locates it.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

A man explains the project to two others outside a wooden building.

Sound

The exchange frames the task as informing residents and drawing them into a collective intention.

Relation to the concept

Announcement and persuasion establish a collective position.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Financing the revived hunt

A seated man speaks during an indoor meeting, shown in profile.

The meeting translates the hunt into financing and equipment.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:25:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:24:30—00:25:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:25:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the viewing link establishes image access, while textual locators are listed separately.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

A seated man speaks during an indoor meeting; the frame concentrates on his profile and expression.

Sound

The discussion calculates a purchase in units priced at 500 dollars.

Relation to the concept

Meeting speech distributes commitments and resources.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

On the river, the hunt becomes an origin story

Several men gather on a working boat as the river moves behind them.

The river journey unfolds alongside a story about the hunt's origin.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:30:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:29:30—00:30:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:30:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the atlas paraphrases rather than reproducing extended subtitles.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Men cluster on a working boat while the river continues moving behind them.

Sound

Conversation invokes earlier times and attributes the practice’s invention to Indigenous inhabitants before the settlers.

Relation to the concept

Boat dialogue circulates origin through collective enunciation.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

How to outwit the whale

A bespectacled man speaks indoors and gestures toward his chest.

An elder explains how a hunter must outwit the whale.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:35:00
Discussion passage
approx. 00:34:30—00:35:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:35:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the 00:35:00 anchor is verified.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

An older man speaks indoors and gestures toward his chest while others listen.

Sound

He explains that the hunters must be more cunning than the whale.

Relation to the concept

Speech calls participants into the role of capable hunters.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Setting posts in the tide

Three people steady an upright post together, with water behind them.

Deliberation, roles, and materials become shared construction in the water.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
00:43:56
Discussion passage
approx. 00:43:35—00:44:13

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 00:44:02 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the 00:44:02 visual anchor and scene dialogue are verified.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Several islanders stand knee-deep in the tide among rows of set posts, steadying and adjusting an upright post; the sequence turns to the water, post rows, and close views of hands.

Sound

The dialogue discusses spacing posts about one pace (roughly three feet) apart, how water entering the boat impedes the work, and earlier labour in the water wearing leather boots.

Relation to the concept

Earlier speech acts acquire consequences in collective labour.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Workshop debate over the origin of the posts

Two men converse beside a furnace fire in a workshop.

The origin of the post structure remains unsettled in a workshop exchange.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
01:10:00
Discussion passage
approx. 01:09:30—01:10:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 01:10:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the record separates speech within the film from historical verification.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Two men converse beside a furnace fire in a workshop.

Sound

The exchange asks where Indigenous people obtained the idea for the posts.

Relation to the concept

Dispute keeps historical narration collective and open.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Gathering around the captured beluga

A group gathers on rocky ground above the water.

Islanders gather around the result of the hunt as collective labour gains a visible consequence.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
01:30:00
Discussion passage
approx. 01:29:30—01:30:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 01:30:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the 01:30:00 image and dialogue are verified.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Islanders gather around the captured beluga as it is prepared for transport; the sequence cuts to a speaker beside a vehicle and to the assembled group again.

Sound

The dialogue expresses joy after the capture and mentions God; no formal prayer is identifiable in this window.

Relation to the concept

The shared result joins earlier speech, financing, and labour.

Sources and further reading

Pour la suite du monde

Pour la suite du monde (1963)

Supported by the scene

Delegating a spokesman at the aquarium

Three men converse in an outdoor area of the aquarium, with one positioned between the other two.

The group delegates one member to speak for them inside an institutional setting.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
01:40:00
Discussion passage
approx. 01:39:30—01:40:30

Official NFB English-version stream; anchor 01:40:00 verified. The displayed window locates that anchor; narrative boundaries await shot-level review.

Watch the still's moment

Official NFB full film; the 01:40:00 anchor is verified and the displayed window locates it.

Still checked: 2026-08-13 · Carrier access checked: 2026-08-13

Image

Three men converse in an outdoor area of the aquarium; one occupies the position between the other two.

Sound

The exchange explicitly delegates one participant to speak for the group.

Relation to the concept

Delegation turns an individual voice into a position of collective enunciation.

Sources and further reading

From the Cloud to the Resistance

Dalla nube alla resistenza (1979)

Atlas discussion reading

Speech does not explain the land; voice and fields inscribed by struggle must be read together.

A suited man speaks frontally before green fields whose cultivated strata extend into the depth of the frame

Speech does not explain the land; voice and fields inscribed by struggle must be read together.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
01:10:00
Discussion passage
01:09:35–01:10:25

The monologue-in-the-fields passage was frame-checked.

Watch the still's moment

Complete Bilibili carrier; the shot at 单片 01:10:00 was checked frame by frame, and the still and timestamp come from the same public upload.

Still checked: 2026-08-14

Image

The man speaks at the field's edge while crops, paths, and parcels remain clearly visible behind him.

The shot does not cut to dramatic action as an illustration of the speech.

Sound

The man delivers Pavese's text in a continuous, measured voice without erasing the outdoor sound field.

Relation to the concept

The land is read as a stratum marked by struggle while speech crosses without exhausting it; the two series reconnect history at their respective limits.

Sources and further reading

Black God, White Devil

Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964)

Atlas discussion reading

Bandit, mythical figure, and speaker are compressed into one face while allegiance remains in motion through speech.

Corisco stares frontally beneath a leather hat hung with coins, black streaks across his face, while Manuel's head enters from below

Bandit, mythical figure, and speaker are compressed into one face while allegiance remains in motion through speech.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
01:30:00
Discussion passage
01:29:40–01:31:00

The verbal challenge between Corisco and Manuel was frame-checked.

Watch the still's moment

Complete Bilibili carrier; the shot at 单片 01:30:00 was checked frame by frame, and the still and timestamp come from the same public upload.

Still checked: 2026-08-14

Image

Corisco's coin-hung hat, facial streaks, and frontal close-up bind costume, body, and mythical identity.

Manuel enters only from the lower edge, so their positions are not stabilized by balanced shot/reverse-shot.

Sound

Corisco challenges Manuel in loud, rhythmic speech closer to public performance than private conversation.

Relation to the concept

Figures change allegiance among peasant, believer, bandit, and myth; the collective is not pre-completed, and Corisco's performative speech turns that absence into a condition of creation.

Sources and further reading

The Hour of the Furnaces

La hora de los hornos (1968)

Atlas discussion reading

The photograph is held for several minutes, turning projection from argument into a direct demand on the audience.

A black-and-white photograph of Che Guevara's face after death fills the frame, his open eyes directed toward the viewer

The photograph is held for several minutes, turning projection from argument into a direct demand on the audience.

Open full-size still
Displayed still
第1分段 01:22:30 / Part 1 01:22:30
Discussion passage
第1分段 01:20:00–01:24:50 / Part 1 01:20:00–01:24:50
Carrier part
1

The extended final image of Che Guevara in part 1 was frame-checked.

Watch the still's moment

Complete Bilibili carrier; the shot at 第1分段 01:22:30 was checked frame by frame, and the still and timestamp come from the same public upload.

Still checked: 2026-08-14

Image

The same death photograph continues to fill the screen; eyes, wounds, and facial texture are not quickly displaced by another montage item.

Sound

The extended still is supported only by continuing percussion; no character dialogue supplies the audience's conclusion.

Relation to the concept

The prolonged gaze of the death image and percussion turn the absent revolutionary into a direct relation of address, presupposing a revolutionary audience able to respond and continue the action.

Sources and further reading

  • Bilibili · The Hour of the Furnaces, part 1

    第1分段 01:22:30 / Part 1 01:22:30 · Complete Bilibili carrier; the shot at 第1分段 01:22:30 was checked frame by frame, and the still and timestamp come from the same public upload.

03

Films and scenes

Identification poster for Pour la suite du monde
Meets the test · 1963Pour la suite du monde

Deliberation, financing, division of labour, and delegation let speech change who can act, who represents the collective, and how the practice continues.

IMDb identification poster ↗

Related film readings · 9 films

Moi, un noir · 1958 — Borrowed names, post-recorded voices, and lived experience rewrite one another. Fiction opens minor speech and collective enunciation.

Pour la suite du monde · 1963 · Meets the test — Deliberation, financing, division of labour, and delegation let speech change who can act, who represents the collective, and how the practice continues.

Black God, White Devil · 1964 — Popular myth, trance, violence, and shifting allegiance reveal a missing people and the task of creating them.

From the Cloud to the Resistance · 1979 — Mythic text, postwar resistance, and filmed land form distinct strata. Speech acts awaken the image’s historical pressure across irrational cuts.

The Hour of the Furnaces · 1968 — Montage, intertitles, pauses, and discussion organize projection as political action. Because the film presupposes a revolutionary people available to be addressed, it becomes a decisive comparison for testing the boundary of Deleuze's claim that the people are missing.

This Is Not a Film · 2011 — A filmmaking ban confines the director to his apartment, yet phone, domestic camera, taped floor, and an unmade screenplay reassemble a cinematic machine. As Panahi speaks shots, blocking, and space, the absent film acquires form through voice and gesture.

Readings in the same thematic group

Jaguar · 1967 — Participants narrate and perform their journey after the fact, making filmmakers and characters become other through the story.

Police, Adjective · 2009 — Dictionary, blackboard, command, attitude, and rank assemble bodies into institutional ritual; gestus is a configuration of social relations.

A Ridiculous Kind of Country · 1970 — Isolated figures question Québec belonging from different positions, turning country into a problem no single representative can close. Disagreement, relay, and transformation form collective utterances directed toward a people to come.

04

Criteria

Who speaks, to whom, through which path, and which conditions, responses, and consequences does the image show?

05

Distinctions and counterexamples

Political dialogue, slogan, polyphony, interview, or a leader saying ‘we’ does not automatically make a people. If speech only explains a completed action and changes neither addressee nor actual relation, it remains representation.

Common confusion: Criterion: speech and image produce new collective utterances while retaining the gap of a people not yet formed.

06

Texts and sources

Cinema 2, ch. 8

  1. 01
    Cinema 2: The Time-Image

    Authoritative source for the standard translation, translators, ISBN, and publication date.

    View source and edition →
07

Research disagreements

D2

Replacement or coexistence?

The time-image reverses the subordination of time to movement; both regimes persist and can shift locally within one film.

D4

Taxonomy or generator?

Fixed labels invite mere example-hunting; an open taxonomy requires new concepts to transform existing relations and explain across cases.

D7

How do we use Deleuze precisely?

Test four layers: sensory-motor relation, actual/virtual circuit, audio-visual connection, and regime of truth.

See all debates
08

Where contemporary images push this concept

Public identification image for A Night of Knowing Nothing: how a love letter folds into collective struggle

Counterexample against conceptual overreachCandidate reading · versioned passage review pending

A Night of Knowing Nothing: how a love letter folds into collective struggle

The letter voice-over joins private separation to student struggle, but a collective theme alone does not make a speech act that produces a people. It first serves as a counterexample, requiring analysis of whether an utterance changes relations among political positions in the archive rather than making them agree through narration.

Scope and limits If anonymity erases differences among students, classes, and political positions while an authorial voice unifies the archive, speech has not generated a collective relation; it has occupied the collective's speaking position.

A concept relation that remains contestedCandidate reading · versioned passage review pending

Dahomey: restitution is not a return to the origin

The Fon-language object voice is a constructed filmic voice, whereas the university debate consists of situated student utterances; they are not the same kind of speech act. The contested issue is whether editing lets disagreement continue to alter restitution or uses the object voice to prewrite the students' conclusion.

Scope and limits If sound design assigns the objects a unified position in advance and absorbs student speech as confirmation, the work speaks on behalf of a people; the issue is then representational authority, not the production of a people.

Counterexample against conceptual overreachCandidate reading · versioned passage review pending

Pepe: the hippo refuses translation into a human allegory

Polyphonic animal narration sets a counter-boundary for the speech act: voicing need not automatically converge into a people, especially while species, language, and geography remain dislocated. The work's force may lie in refusing a unified collective name.

Scope and limits If analysis cannot show whose relation speech changes and declares a people merely because voices and languages multiply, it reduces opacity to a quantitative marker and the conceptual edge should be withdrawn.

  • FIDMarseille: Pepe official materialFestival official page · nonhuman narrative factsA festival description of ‘nonlinearity’ does not prove a nonhuman time-image; log the specific relations among language, river, and violence.
  • Sanjay Surin: The right to remain opaquePeer-reviewed article · nonhuman subjectivity and formal opacityThe article is a contemporary scholarly extension, not a Deleuze primary text; nonhuman politics still returns to language and shots.
09

Concepts to distinguish

Compare them