The question of whether focusing on narrative in a film is a "criminal error" is an interesting one, especially in today's climate of Hollywood blockbusters in which narrative has been pushed to the forefront. Although films such as Len Lye's Free Radicals and David Brook's Member (both experimental films without any form of narrative structure) prove that films do not need a narrative to be meaningful, it is hard to argue that all films should conform to their standard. In the end it seems the key is to be able to present a narrative while still taking advantage of the benefits of the film medium in order to make that narrative stronger. After all, if one simply intends to present a narrative, the novel is a much better medium in which to do it.
One of these advantages is, as Walter Benjamin says, the ability to "[extend] our comprehension of the necessities which rule our lives." Benjamin presents the idea that one of the key benefits of film is its ability to slow down reality, allowing for closer examination. So while having a narrative in a film in itself is not a criminal error, giving up the benefits of film in favor of narrative might be.
One can examine this concept in the context of Amelie and Fight Club. In Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet takes advantage of the benefits of film in order to highlight and make fantastic the elements of Amelie's life that would otherwise seem mundane. In this way, the benefits of the film medium are used to supplement and add depth to the narrative by drawing into focus aspects of the world created within the narrative that might not otherwise have been evident. In a story that focuses so much on finding the fantastic within the ordinary, it is important that the cinematography mirrors this idea in order to fully draw the viewer in. In my opinion, Amelie is a movie that succeeds in not only presenting a narrative, but also in using the benefits that film offers in order to make the narrative stronger.
Fight Club, I think, also succeeds in this sense. Through visual cues (such as having one frame of Tyler Durden spliced into the beginning of the film), the narrator’s sub-conscious is drawn into focus in a way that would not have been possible in a medium other than film. While Amelie brought into focus the fantastic elements of reality, Fight Club instead reveals the self-destructive and violent tendencies of the human sub-conscious. Like Amelie, Fight Club successfully exploits the benefits of film in order to make the narrative have a deeper and stronger impact on the viewer.
There are many examples of successful films with and without narratives, and both are fully capable of having a meaningful impact on their viewers. It would be ridiculous to say that film must not have a narrative or, vice versa, that it must have a narrative to be successful. However, the films that have always seemed the most complete to me are those that are able to use all the benefits of film technology in order to further develop and support their narrative.
