The consideration of cinema in the context of its ontology, epistemology and aesthetics involves an appeal to its components such as the status of representation, aesthetic attitude, realism, as well as the ‘effect of reality’. In this article, problem statement can be justified by the need to identify the reasons for the interpretation of Andre Bazin's conception of realism by adherents of the subsequent theory of cinema according to the criteria of perception, the ideological potential of an image and the indexical argument. The shift from the research of realism to the effect of reality is due to the possibility of distinguishing the first concept on the source of the formation of the cinematic image and the effect derived from the procedure of representation, directing its ‘work’ ultimately to the viewer.