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the audience recognizes as the “real world”, only to upend the audience’s expec- tations of reality through an affective crisis and subsequent coda yet remain within the “real”. Ricoeur places such great emphasis on realism in parable that the genres of fable, fantasy, and magical realism should be considered distinct from or even antithetical to parable’s aesthetic.17 Would not this need for realism in parable dis- qualify the majority of science fiction films, with their otherworldly and fantastical elements conflicting with realism? Yet this realist aesthetic is precisely why Carruth’s approach to sci-fi can be considered parabolic: through his emphasis of the ordinary natural world via his grassroots mise en scène, he highlights the incredible within the quotidian. For both Carruth and Ricoeur, the bewildering transcendent revelation manifests itself because the parable-world appears to be conventional and mun- dane yet reveals itself to be more than initially meets the eye (or ear, or soul). Car- ruth’s films are speculative fictions set in the present day; they contain no aliens or spaceships, no advanced technology or otherworldly beings. This parabolic narra- tive distinction of the numinous bursting through simplicity invites a polyvalence of interpretations even as it resists distortive hermeneutical approaches – it provides boundaries while allowing for imaginative interpretive play. This contrast between realism and extravagance gives rise to the metaphoric element of parables. Ricoeur posits that the metaphorical process provides the in- termediary link between the realist narrative and the existential interpretation.18 Similar to his larger study, The Rule of Metaphor, Ricoeur argues in “Biblical Her- meneutics” for metaphor as resemblance and redescription. True metaphors, for Ricoeur, are untranslatable; they are ontologically new descriptions of reality. This does not mean they cannot be paraphrased or described, but Ricoeur is quick to note that any such translation is “infinite”, meaning possible legitimate interpre- tations cannot be exhausted or reduced to mere propositional language.19 Thus, cinematic metaphors cannot be abridged to semantic synopsis or moral messages –parables are not mere didactic illustrations, but rather world-shattering polyvalent metaphors. Ricoeur puts it succinctly: “Metaphor says something new about real- ity.”20 Yet how do we discern a narrative is a parable with a metaphoric process as opposed to a mere story or some other symbol-laden genre, such as allegory or fa- 17 For instance, in R. Johnston 2014, Robert Johnston’s main example of film as parable is the fantasy film Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster, US 2006), which is decidedly unrealistic and moralistic in both form and content. Johnston thus appears to conflate magical realism with parable, whereas I would argue that these genres are similar but distinct. Following Ricoeur and Crossan, I propose that cinematic parables are more realistic, indirect, and subversive than fantastical, allegorical, and illustrative. 18 Ricoeur 1975, 75. 19 Ricoeur 1975, 80. 20 Ricoeur 1975, 80. Parabolic Transcendence in Time and Narrative | 21www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 17–36