Esse est percipi

- To be is to be perceived

According to Irish philosopher Bishop Berkeley “to be is to be perceived,” and this thought was what made the foundation for Samuel Beckett’s 22 minutes long black and white movie, simply titled Film.

On this website I will offer my own personal analysis of Beckett’s Film, while relating it to David Lynch’s highly disturbing Eraserhead - all with Berkeley’s “Esse est percipi” theory as the main instrument.

Before I start, I would like to underline that what follows is certainly not the only valid interpretation of these two multi-layered movies, and that my analysis is only meant to be regarded as one possible perspective out of many. With this in mind, let’s proceed to Beckett’s Film.

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