While the conjurors photographed by Valérie Belin certainly display evident dexterity in their handling of cards, no illusions are worked in front of our eyes, unless it be that of the cinematic character that the artist bestows on these genre scenes: the magic of the image thus does not derive from tricks so much as from a manner. This aspect, which is typical of the style in which films are made, has to do with the recording of movement – the magician’s performance – in the photograph, but also with light. Evoking both the old-fashioned style of the Harcourt studio and the dynamic lighting effects of cinematic computing, used to infuse video games with realism, this dematerialises the actor, who, in a sense, merges with the dynamic of his gesture. His posture, which is indeed detached from the action that is occurring, generates a dichotomy in the photograph between fixity and movement and, by extension, between obsession and action, melancholy and power.