Monumental composition with leitmotif principle — music and image obey overarching dramatic architecture. Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Trier deploy total artwork.
Wagnerianism in film does not function as a quotation or reference, but as a structural principle. You are working with an overall architecture in which music, image, editing, and narration do not run sequentially, but are interwoven—like the leitmotif system in Wagner's operas. A motif (visual or acoustic) returns, mutates, is counterpointed. This is different from mere film music that "underscores" a scene. In Wagnerianism, the music is the dramaturgical blueprint.
On set, you notice it immediately: the staging becomes monumental. Not in its rawness, but in its formal condensation. Symmetries, deep spaces, figure constellations—everything follows a symphonic logic. Kubrick in 2001 works exactly like this: the slow floating through black spaces is rhythmized like an adagio, not like real time. Tarkovsky in Stalker—endless journeys through identical spaces—only becomes understandable when you realize that each space is a variation of a single motif. This is musical thinking within the image space. Lars von Trier understands this too: his maximalist tableaux function like opera scenes where no detail is accidental.
Editing becomes a score. You edit not according to story logic, but according to image rhythm. A cut lasts as long as a musical phrase demands. This frustrates normal viewers—too slow, too dark, too little plot. But this is intentional. Wagnerianism demands that the audience recognizes and enjoys form itself, not just follows the plot.
Practically, this means you need a visual grammar that repeats. Colors, camera movements, image compositions—these are like leitmotifs. A specific shade of red always returns in scenes of "inner truth." A specific camera movement (e.g., a dolly-in in symmetrical space) signals: we are now entering another level. This is not metaphorical—this is the skeleton of the narrative. The sound designer and composer must work on this blueprint from the beginning, not just be added in post-production. Wagnerian film is total design, not decoration.