Starting from the thesis that empathetic processes can be directed towards absent figures and must therefore extend beyond the immaterial cinematic image as representation, Patrick Kruse develops a model of empathy that integrates insights from the fields of cognitive reception theory, neurophysiology, and neurophilosophy. This representation-component model not only provides a new definition of empathetic processes but also clarifies the role of the viewer's imagination in the reception of films. Above all, it offers compelling approaches to explaining how empathetic processes are structured and what exactly they refer to in the reception of films—a topic that is currently contentious in media studies discourse. This model is intended not only to address a current issue.