ADM245 Symbolism in Film - Journal

Zheng Jiayin U0930491A

28 Lengkong Satu (S)417503 onetwozhree@gmail.com (HP)91086783

Film as a symbolic construct which one can watch over and over again and uncover new meaning each time TOOLS TO ANALYSE FILMS: Religion, Self/Society, Environment, Demonic and Divine, Subject matter, Vision/imagination of filmmaker (what meaning is he trying to create?), Stylistic features (e.g. framing, lighting, colour) and repetitive images (methods that the filmmaker uses to convey meaning)

In one of our readings, Symbol and Association, Kenneth highlights the greater importance of associations over symbols.

Burke

That is, we must not interpret symbols without relating them back to the context, the before and after. Symbols ( recurring motifs) require a contextual analysis.

Red Desert / Antonioni

Film centres around the mental instability of its disaffected female protagonist, Giuliana, who is utterly unable to reconcile herself with the industrial landscape that envelops her Returns to Antonionis predominant theme of modern anxiety and ennui. Red Desert is his first colour film, filled with painterly compositions Recurring motifs and cinematography FOCUS ON LEGS - Giulianas mental instability reflected in her physical instability o o o Almost loses her footing on the bridge Afraid of going up to the radio telescopes Last scene on the ship: Giuliana tries to find footing on a plank

- Legs showing human intimacy, or a lack thereof o o o o o Milli spreads her fingers across Corrados knee Ugo pats Lindas leg Corrados sexual frustration (kicks apart the wall planks) Giulianas sons sudden inability to walk a pretense to gain his moms attention/affection Images of infantile paralysis in magazine

- Giuliana steps on the newspaper in slow motion (an act of stopping time?) TEMPERATURE - Observance of temperature o o At the start, Giuliana takes her own temperature and that of her boy Ugo takes her temperature

- Giulianas chilliness (shes always putting on coats and gloves and extra clothing) is an indication of her inability to synchronize herself with her surrounding environment; her body is rejecting the outside FEELING OF BEING TRAPPED - Giuliana moves across every room until she can go no further, then backs up against the wall (persecutory behaviour?) PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCING - Distancing through haze, smoke, which relates to Giulianas own haziness and disconnection with the world; her mental dissolution and chaos o o o Blurry visions, people and objects meshed together People in silhouettes, uncertain forms Out-of-focus people in the distance v.s. her in focus (when they emerge from the hut)

- Things seen through thick glass - Forgetfulness o Giuliana frequently forgets what shes talking about, and forgets Corrados name once

COLOURS - Interiorization of environment depiction; colours we see are not actual colours but reflect Giulianas interior state o Subdued lighting and white walls in the corridor as she goes to visit Corrado resemble a hospital ward; Giulianas white gown marks her as a patient (her frame of mind mentally ill and trying to overcome that) Sudden switch of colours, e.g. colours of stalls fruits change to white; exaggerated, unrealistic colours in motel The motel room turns pink after they have sex

o o

- Blue: 1+1=1 (represents to her an ideal oneness, as seen when her son combines two drops of liquid together; Giulianas imagination of her childhood is blue and is the only scene thats completely without fragmentation) FRAGMENTATION - Intentional breaking up of frames, fragmentation of vision e.g. by bed frame, rope, chain - Breaking up of shack piece by piece - Shots through grids, screens (separated from the world) - Acts as a potent visual outcome of Giulianas delicate grip on reality and sanity where illusions jut out of her psyche like these grids do in the frame

SELF-AWARENESS - Looking into the mirror - Sticks her head into a map to find a place of oneness somewhere in the world BOATS/SHIPS - Symbol of voyage/travel/escapism - Boat of her little boy; sailing ship of her fantasy - Maxs pier-side shack is perhaps a getaway from reality (but even here Giuliana cannot escape from illusory sounds and visions that clash against the reality of everyone else) - Gyroscope to keep the top from falling over (used to stabilize ships) o Which recalls the point of physical instability just now: Giuliana also dreams about solid ground shifting under her and she would slide into nothing Paradoxical inversion in the idea that solid land is so unstable, while something floating on the water could be so steadfast

- But when Corrado invites her to leave with him on a ship, she isnt ready to leave her family behind FILMING/FRAMING - Close up of Corrados shoulders during intercourse recalls the humanlike rocks Giuliana saw in her imagined childhood realistic scene juxtaposed with the unrealistic - Many scenes filmed from the back of peoples heads - Wide, expansive views of industrial wastelands that make the human figures seem diminutive SOUND - Everything was singing; operatic soprano voice, electronic/synthesized sound effects, work sounds - Violently discordant sounds in the opening montage to establish a sense of unease with the modern world - Serves as a refrain of Giuliana slipping from reality o Unsettling droning buzz in the sex scene

MAN BECOMING MACHINE - Men in factory watching over dials - Ugo describes his wifes mental condition as shes not quite in gear, treats her almost like a machine

- Giulianas son, at such a young age, already plays with robots and chemical sets; she is confronted with a toy robot rolling back and forth across the floor in his room - His feigned paralysis may also be an insight into a possible future as a dehumanized, robotic worker within the industrial factories MORE ON GIULIANAS IMAGINED CHILDHOOD - Scene shot in stark contrast to the rest of film, without any visual manipulations o No filters over the lenses, no artificial burning or painting of anything in front of it, no use of the technicolor film to make certain colours unnaturally vivid

- Giulianas dream departs from suffocating modernity, and is significant in its return to the films overarching motifs of ships, water, and sound, of visual and aural apparitions that signify reality and sanity slipping away - When her sons question interrupts the dream, Giuliana is forced back into reality and quickly descends into a waking nightmare

Tokyo Story / Ozu

Considered the best film of Ozu, relates back to his distinctive film techniques and themes NARRATIVE STRUCTURE - Minimalist storytelling: Ozu directs silences and voids - Use of ellipses, in which many major plot developments are left out/occur off-screen, leaving only the spaces between them E.g. Parents journey to Tokyo is not depicted, and we only know about Tomi falling ill on the train and her critical condition in retrospect + City of Tokyo barely depicted (even though the film is about the parents visiting Tokyo!) - Purpose? To focus on the nuances of character interactions - By omitting scenes of intense drama and action, Ozu is in fact commenting on the impact of these scenes - Importance of the omitted scenes in the narrative shown via memory: the short descriptions of the lives of people they discuss locate the drama of their own lives within a context they are all part of a larger picture - Mundane, slice-of-life story which centres on the humanity of characters - Transitions through narrative scenes interposed by a series of brief insert shots of mundane life situations (coda)

e.g. Favourite recurrent images trains, clotheslines, billowing banners, teapots, pastoral scenes, children walking, books, travel via trains (only seen from outside) - Purpose? These filler scenes remind us that the story takes place in the context of everyday life The symbolism of recurring motifs will be elaborated on later - Adheres to a family-tree order of narration o o After leaving their youngest child, Kyoko, behind, the Hirayamas are shown visiting their children in descending birth order First they stay with Koichi and his family, then with Shige and hers, then with Noriko (who married their third-born child), and finally with young Keizo in Osaka Offscreen, they have visited Keizo first en route to Tokyo, but Ozu portrays only their stopover during their return trip partly to allow us to form expectations about how hospitable their youngest son will be, but also to respect the family-tree structure

MOOD - Almost austere; Ozu usually eludes moments that Hollywood films use to stir emotional reactions from the audience, thus eschewing melodrama E.g. Shukichis tragedy (loss of wife) not manipulated for dramatic effect - Dignified severity - Smiling, polite ways; real feelings hardly exposed/expressed - Formal speech, controlled demeanour of parents v.s. Shiges casual behaviour - Quintessentially Japanese: highly ritualized etiquette of Japanese social interactions - Agonizingly non-confrontational emotional landscape; implicit emotions, not expressed - Character-driven emphasis on quiet and intelligent conversation - Meditative quality; simple, calm affairs tinged with nostalgia - However, there is a lack of sentimentality in approaching the subject of nostalgia o o Feeling of nostalgia is created only when the ability to construct and ideal exists Instead there is a resignation (fatalism) associated with a Buddhist frame of mind

ZEN BUDDHISM - Cyclical nature of life

- The concept of Mu o o o o Experience life in a void Non-self (muga); selflessness/compassion Acceptance of death and loss; continuation of life Family unit: cosmic cycle, foundation of Buddhism

- Fatalistic determinism: when both Shukichi and Tomi encourage Noriko to forget about Shoji and remarry - They tell Noriko that to occasionally forget her late husband is not selfish at all, but an honest acknowledgement that hes gone - When they speak about their son, it is respectful but never imbued with the attitude that Shoji was ideal in any way (Noriko admits his faults readily) - More than any other character, Shukichi seems to have a deep-seated understanding of the inevitability of the passing of time and of death and its necessity to the continuation of the life-cycle - Rather than complain about his children (and grandchildren), Shukichi states quietly times have changed, we must face up to it, perhaps we have expected too much of our children - Shukichi acknowledges that hell be lonely after his wife dies, but does not lament his own sadness - In a morning-after scene filled with considerable emotional tension, the newly widowed Shukichi unexpectedly mentions that the day will be hot; a sharp interruption to ground his tragedy in the cycle of life and death - At the end, Noriko sweet, filial Noriko warns Kyoko that it is a natural process of life that one will grow distant from his parents - Noriko takes the gift of time (the watch, a keepsake to remember the deceased Tomi by) and travels back to her home, aware of and resigned to the cyclical nature of life and death as life comes to an end, new life begins - Death as a passage to Buddhism - Film ends in the same way as it begins (neighbour dropping by to enquire after elderly couples well-being), only with Tomi gone now BUDDHIST IMAGERY - Onomichi, where the film begins and ends, is the place where Buddhism was established in Japan, and has hills filled with more than thirty temples and shrines (including Jodo temple, a Buddhist landmark) - Body of Tomi buried in one of these temples; in fact, the couple lives right beside the Jodo temple - Riverside Buddhist stone towers and statues carefully integrated as backdrop in many scenes

- Small Buddhist images are embedded in the garden wall of the Onomichi house o When Noriko and Shukichi converse, the backdrop alternates between clotheslines and Buddhist artifacts

- Buddhist funeral rites COSMIC ORDER - Onomichi is not only the seat of traditional family life but represents a larger, cosmic order; Shukichi and Tomi delight in returning to its order in the world - Order is present in the simplest of affairs (each small action accorded the greatest respect) o o o o o o Cleaning e.g. bathing, laundry, hot spring, funeral rites, Kyoko picks up stray dirt in the classroom Fanning Packing e.g. Noriko tidies the room after Tomis funeral, just like how the latter neatly folds her clothes when packing for travels Arranging mattresses/bedding Eating e.g. at childrens homes, friends, bar, bathing resort, restaurant (after funeral) Other repetitive everyday actions

- Nature also symbolic of cosmic order o o o Little English reader: Spring is here, it is April now Morning after his wifes death, Shukichi slips into the garden and lightly comments on the good weather Tomi goes for a walk with her impudent grandson, who yanks flowers from the soil (an act of destroying nature)

3 JARRING SCENES OF DISORDER - Number one: Ill-mannered grandchildren - Number two: Youths making a racket at the hot spring resort - Number three: Inebriated old men, including Shukichi (first time he has gotten drunk for years; ironic when considering his past career, which has to do with keeping order) - Also, when Kyoko expresses outrage over her siblings disrespect THE OCCUPATIONS OF CHARACTERS - All related to order and harmony! o o o Doctor (Koichi): sustaining/saving lives Beautician (Shige): restoring order/beauty of hair Teacher (Kyoko): bringing up/nurturing children Head of education board (Shukichi); Police chief; Head of military affairs

THEME: GENERATIONAL RIFT - No delineation of good or bad characters in film - Concept of time: where Shukichi and Tomi are located in the past, relative to their children, Isamu and Minoru (the grandchildren) are naturally located in the future - Noriko is the only member of the second generation who is able to connect with Shukichi and Tomi in present time PROTO-FEMINISM - Female characters exhibit an independence and intelligence that depart from more traditional views of women FRAMING - Ozu often begins a scene with an empty room or outdoor space and allows people or vehicles to enter the space - Then he maintains the shot until the conversation or activity has reached an end, sometimes even waiting for characters to exit the room, leaving viewers to contemplate the empty space - Purpose? In keeping with Zen philosophy that conceives of an eternal emptiness through which transient events and people briefly pass (captured by memory; also showing a movement through time) - Also shows the relationship between the exterior and interior world of human beings - When characters move within this stable space, and Ozu never moves the camera, we become keenly attuned to the body language and nuances of their movements, thereby increasing the tension between external and internal, expressed and hidden FILMING TECHNIQUE - Tatami shots (camera placed at low height, eye level of person kneeling on tatami mat) - Pared-down approach to filmmaking o o Static, no tracking shots, panning Simple, direct 180-degree cuts (no dissolves, fades, wipes)

- Every shot equal, same angle, one after another in a systematic manner, like a ticking clock - Reverse angle shots, camera placed right between 2 conversing persons (does not cut away from a speaking character in dialogue scenes) v.s. Hollywoods shot-reverse shot pattern

- His hallmark filming tactic of facing the characters directly places audience within the space of the film, so we are more receptive to the characters SOUND - Non-diegetic music (background music which cannot be heard by films characters) is not played in any scenes other than transitions - Diegetic sounds e.g. empty track, then the train comes and goes similar to the eternal emptiness method of framing - Sound of fan and clock ticking marks the passage of time; its a lifecontinuing sound - Everything (clock, fan, water, boat etc) has an inherent beat in them; the world is singing, again? MOTIFS: TRAIN JOURNEY - Metaphor for passing of time and change; inevitable passage of time MOTIFS: CLEANING - Images of water and smoke: poignant symbols of that which is transitory EMPHASIS ON EDUCATION - A learning journey from birth till death - Keizos insight which came late: None can serve his parents beyond the grave

Passion of Anna / Bergman

Passion refers to deep emotion or a source of emotion, but also to great suffering, originally that of Jesus on the cross Last instalment of Bergmans island series; it is a self-conscious film about deception, spiritual exhaustion and physical and psychological violence, set under a backdrop of public skepticism towards Christianity SUFFERING OF THE CHARACTERS - Andreas emotional suffering o o Andreas is separated from his wife, and lives in social isolation In the films opening sequence, he stares off at the sun that hangs low and dim (its edges made ragged by a telephoto lens) while repairing the roof, and the sun suddenly disappears into the gray-blue haze reflecting Andreas spiritual emptiness He has a tryst with Eva and later becomes romantically involved with Anna, but is incapable of real attachment

Ex-wife accuses him (in a flashback) of having cancer of the soul; Andreas is unable to open up and overcome feelings of deep humiliation and failure Haunted by memories of her; their sexual experiences a counterpoint to the lack of passion between him and Anna

- Suffering of Anna, the titular character o Comes off as an overzealous Christian who preaches about spiritual perfection and honesty in a relationship (using her own lost marriage as the ideal model) But the audience, as well as Andreas, knows that this is all deception and lies: through the phone call and her husbands letter, which warned that her unreasonable demands would lead first to "mental and psychical violence," and then to physical violence Manuscript shown many times with ominous intensity She is unable to accept the truth that her marriage was a failure and that she murdered her husband and son Black-and-white dream of Easter Sunday, and a woman waiting for her son to be sent for execution Anna receives no salvation; her religious devotion is a self-deluding cloak for her guilt about the past, and there is every indication that her perverse character will lead her to commit physical and psychological violence again and again

o o o o

- Evas unhappiness o o o Lives without grounding and a sense of self Knows only her responsibility to others; she seeks affection everywhere, loves her husband but feels unneeded by him Acutely feels the pain of failed human relationships

- Elis indifference o o Cold and apathetic; has no passion / finds no meaning in the projects hes involved in When he shows his incredibly extensive collection of human portraits to Andreas, he says: "I don't imagine that I reach into the soul with these photographs." cynically states that the smiling photograph of his wife was in fact taken when she was having a severe migraine; his portraits do not point towards the truth Its ironic that he spends so much time on the study of humans yet is completely detached from humanity Knows about his wifes affairs but does not do anything about it

o o

DINNER SCENE - Each character is filmed separately (in a baton-passing manner) as they speak, to focus our attention on their individual natures - Here, Eva recalls her introduction to God, illustrated in one of her children's book (symbolically titled Light) as a handsome old man hovering

just above the earth. When asked if she still believes in Him, she looks at her husband hesitantly and asks: "Do I?" - This reveals her lack of self-belief, needs affirmation from her husband to anchor her opinions MOTIF: HANGING - Alluding to Christs crucifixion - World in film composed of victims and hangmen; repeated appearances of hanging motif in many forms o o o o o o o o o o o o Dog hung in the woods by an unknown madman Dog tag around soldiers neck in the distant Vietnam War relates back to the hanging of the dog Bird with broken neck Annas dream of a young man sent for execution The deliberate car crash which killed both her husband and son (they suffered a cut throat and broken neck) Johan, who was wrongly accused of committing acts of animal cruelty, commits suicide by hanging himself Elis arranges the angle of Andreas vulnerable, exposed neck as he takes his photograph Andreas: I am a whipped cur (again, reference to the dog) Andreas tries to chop Annas head off with a hatchet Horse dragged by the neck Anna mock-strangles Andreas in the house Teddy bear charm fastened by its neck in the automobile swings around wildly as Anna tries to kill Andreas in a car accident

DECONSTRUCTIVIST FILM DEVICES - Actors commentary on their roles interrupts the films narrative, informing how we should feel about the characters o Anna wears a big red hat in the interview, which symbolizes her characters show of religious fervor and shrouding of truth from herself and others In the interview, Evas actress is filmed under very bright sunlight; flare that whitens the screen mirrors her uncertainty and blankness Elis filmed with empty lampshades around him and artificial light represents his indifference and lack of human empathy

o o

- The commentary removes us from the fictional dream and makes us aware of their roles as a performance - Also, the directors behind-the-scene presence is felt strongly through his voice-over narrative at key points and his off-camera questions to the four actors - Scratched lenses and uncorrected muted colour, which set the tone for the film

FRAGMENTATION - A fragmented film which stitches together a mosaic of main narrative, liveaction (interviews with the actors) and the directors commanding presence - Anna drops a huge bowl of milk, which splinters completely BLEAK, INDERTERMINATE ENDING - In the final frames of the film, Andreas paces back and forth in a barren, watery landscape, and it is filmed over and over again until the image decays and becomes gradually more indistinct until his body is a mass of floating splotches of colour - Andreas crouches like a dog

Man with a Movie Camera / Vertov

A 1929 silent documentary film, product of the Kinoc movement which disavowed the use of intertitles, the help of a script and the help of a theatre (actors, sets etc); in other words, it deeply opposed narrative and drama DOCUMENTARY: TO CAPTURE LIFE UNAWARES Vertov "directed toward the creation of a genuine, international, purely cinematic language, entirely distinct from the language of theatre and literature" Anti-narrative and romanticism, Vertovs motive was to chronicle fragments of actuality and show us the honest truth of perception; a new, mechanical way of seeing Film credos "Life as it is" (to record life as it would be without the camera present; the accidental quality of life) v.s. "Life caught unawares" (to record life when surprised, and perhaps provoked, by the presence of a camera) Shooting all of daily life (progression through a whole day): from a woman getting out of bed to various activities/sports and late-afternoon entertainment THE POWER OF MOTION PICTURE Vertov is eager to show us the capacity of Kino-Glaz (Cine Eye), which shows a deeper truth that cannot be registered with the naked eye e.g. image of gigantic eye overlaid on camera lens; wild panning of camera too rapid for the human eye to process Technical experiments and camera manipulations: Jump cuts, freeze frames, staggering fast motion, slow motion, repetitive movements, overlay / double exposure, split screens (top half and bottom half), extreme close-ups, Dutch angles, tracking shots (sometimes combining a

few of these techniques self-reflexively), footage played backwards, stop motion animation, parallel scenes jumping back and forth Man with a Movie Camera emphasises that film can go anywhere: E.g. the film uses scenes such as superimposing a shot of a cameraman setting up his camera atop a second, mountainous camera; superimposing a cameraman inside a beer glass; filming funerals, marriages, births etc Man with a Movie Camera was made with propagandistic intentions Portrayal of electrification, industrialization, and the achievements of workers through hard labour His ideology: To align man with machine, for contemporary man to become more efficient and precise like a stopwatch Uses sequences of childbirth (image of camera overlaid on child) and woman rousing from bed to herald the coming of a new Modernist landscape; people waking up to a new way of seeing

CELEBRATES THE PROCESSES OF A FILMS CREATION Camera work Editing Projection Vertovs mode of filmmaking is based on the rhythm of machines, bringing creative joy to all mechanical labour Simultaneous, brisk activity; orderly, rhythmic motions Winding of camera (a circular motion) is a central motif this is paralleled to the workings of machines, forms of transportations in the city

The proletarian work of mining is also an important symbol of the processes of a films creation Gathering ore Gathering images: Throughout the film, we are shown how Vertov mines his images / how the views are shot Melting the ore down Editing Metal Film projection; the final output

Editing as a sculptor of meaning, which is paralleled with... Beautification, cosmetics ordering, shaping of appearance; the use of scissors (These scenes are interspersed with film editing sequences: cutting negatives with scissors and cementing them back together in an coherent manner) Exercise body shaping, editing of human physique

Editing as magic, an act of imagination Children watching and laughing without context, but later we see that they are watching the magician Carousels covering fades to reveal interior (Vertov is showing us a little bit of magic, in relation to the magician scene)

In a fantastical animated stop motion sequence at the end of the film, the camera takes centrestage and does a little performance for the audience Filmmaker is just a behind-the-scenes worker who helps to bring the vision of an ideal Soviet society and the magic of Kino-Glaz to the big screen

8 / Fellini
Sigmund Freuds On Dreams
dream theory plays a significant role in understanding the underlying meaning of this film, which is an interplay of different states of consciousness: (1) Dream as a wish fulfillment (2) Dream process: the coherent material about which one is dreaming is condensed, distorted, disguised, and put into unintelligible symbolic form Latent content of dream transformed into the manifest content Intended to make a science fiction film (spaceship that will take everyone away from Earth), but ends up making an autobiographical one in which he tries to incorporate his own memories, he as an established director who struggles to create Later on, he departs from making the film and moves into his imagination celebrating the imaginative power of the filmmaker Fantasy and live-action intermingled. Signifiers of switch: nose, glasses Repressed sexual/phallic symbol: launching pad for spaceship. This is traced to Guidos first sexual arousal as a young boy, which was squelched by his strict Catholic educators The sexual forces directing Guido never appear as they are, but as indirect representations (symbols) WISH FULFILLMENT The imaginary parade at the end of the film is a tribute to his creative energy stemming from eroticism/libido; here, he receives acceptance from everyone and is at the centre of things It is a harem fantasy that assembles all the women in his life Saraghina, his wife, his mistress etc His anima (the soul of imagination), the spaceship, is still in place, not disassembled as it is in actuality The magician stands for Guidos imagination, asa nisi masa, his animating spirit

Spellbound / Hitchcock
Love story, detective story, psychoanalytical story all in one, together with Hitchcocks signature suspense-engineering

Spellbound was the first film to use psychoanalysis as a plot device in suspense/thrillers, where an analyst would solve a mystery instead of the more traditional detective or private eye; reconstructing the crime scene, in a sense Our story deals with psychoanalysis, the method by which modern science treats the emotional problems of the sane. The analyst seeks only to induce the patient to talk about his hidden problems, to open the locked doors of his mind. Once the complexes that have been disturbing the patient are uncovered and interpreted, the illness and confusion disappear... and the evils of unreason are driven from the human soul. - Introduction to Spellbound Hitchcock was well aware that the film was a fantasy, announcing at the very beginning that the film is simply a story taking place in a Freudian world; we should therefore see it as such The basic idea: neurotic symptoms are a symbolic reaction to a psychological shock and that the memory of the shock. Its associated feelings are so distressing that they need to be banished from conscious recall by the mind's defence mechanisms, resulting in amnesia. In the film, we follow Freuds free association method to uncover the events behind Ballantynes psychosis By following the associations which arose from the separate elements of the dream divorced from their context, I arrived at a number of thoughts and recollections, which I could not fail to recognize as important products of my mental life. Freud Ballantynes fear of black lines on a white surface traced to lost/suppressed memory (first of Dr Edwardes death, then of him fatally knocking his brother into sharp, pointed railings as a child) But psychoanalysis is invariably prefaced by a judgment on the part of the self-observer to the effect that they are senseless or unimportant...it was this critical attitude which prevented the subject from reporting any of these ideas, and which indeed had previously prevented them from becoming conscious. In the film, Ballantyne dismisses Dr Petersons psychoanalysis as hooey; his memories would never have been recovered had Dr Peterson not intervened After her repressed memories had been revived of a particular period during which she had consciously not loved her husband, her symptoms cleared up and her resistance against the interpretation of the dream disappeared. Freud speaking about his patient Her symptoms of mental illness owing to such repression; perhaps she felt guilty Very much the same as Ballantynes guilt complex; once he regains his repressed memories of accidentally killing his brother, all symptoms disappear and he reverts to a normal life

Diagnosis for Ballantyne guilt complex resulting in repression of memories Also for Dr Peterson: when she and Ballantyne kiss for the first time, we see an ornate door slowly opening, to show another door that slowly opens, etc. the doors are a meaningful symbol for Petersons awakening sexuality All in all, Spellbound explores themes that are central to Freud's work, such as the unresolved tension between 'material reality' (what actually happened) and 'psychical reality' (what our conscious allows us to believe happened). The fantasy itself is a version of the Oedipus story, with incestuous desire and repressed guilt, with a few other riddles for the viewer to solve thrown in. There is also the idea of 'the old making way for the new' both in the abstract sense of the old ideas on how to treat the insane making way for the new, Freudian ideas, and the actual sense of being replaced by younger staff, or new people in a relationship.

Blow Up / Antonioni
Self-consciously existential dissection of swinging London EXPOSES THE ARTIFICIALITY OF SIXTIES GLAMOUR AND THAT OF OUR SUAVE MALE LEAD The glitter of fashion shoots is revealed to be pathetically artificial and made in an anti-human spirit we are repelled by the photographers treatment of women Sex simulated in one of the shoots, and once done, he discards the model casually Romp with the two birds is only a game to him Vapidity and fakeness of the models in the second shoot are exemplified by the exposed clothes tags and pins which hold the clothes and immaculate coifs together, although this cannot be seen from the front Everything is meaningless; the protagonist buys a propeller (an aesthetic object) precisely because it is useless Whats it for? Nothing. Its beautiful. His superficiality: it is ironic that hes a nifty real estate operator running around on his Rolls Royce, yet he is making his claim to fame on the basis of the suffering of poor men in the dosshouse Instructs his assistant to burn that lot [the dosshouse clothes he wore to blend in with the others]: how easily he discards it; once he has taken photographs of Londons discarded people, he can now continue his rich and exciting life as a fashion photographer Political commentary here treated as a joke: poster that demonstrators planted in his car flies out without him taking any heed this shows us the extent of his political commitment; he is not committed to bettering the lives of other human beings Protagonist beats off everyone one else for a piece of the Yardbirds smashed guitar, but once out of context, the hard-won object loses its significance, so he dumps it by the sidewalk

Fake altruism: he pretends to return the negatives that Vanessa Redgraves character wants, but ends up giving the wrong ones; she, too, fools him by supplying a bogus phone number Photography seen in terms of an exchange: for sex or money Everyone is looking for an alternate happiness outside swinging London e.g. Ron (his publisher), antique shop owner, escape via drugs/grass, the merrymaking of mimes

DIFFERENT STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS Mental projections, memories, fantasies, illusions, dreams The whole film is a trip / a world of make-believe The protagonist is not picked out for us at the start; we think hes one of the homeless men until he hops into his Rolls Royce sudden dislocation in our perception Later on, he sees his furtive doppelganger and gives chase but never got to find out who that is Absurd conversations: This is a public place. We have a right to be left in peace. No, we havent met. Youve never seen me. Disorientation: I am in Paris Veruschka, at a London house party In the end, the imaginary takes over the actual: the protagonist hears sounds of a tennis ball bouncing back and forth at the mimes pseudotennis match, then he abruptly vanishes into the grass field

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ART AND REALITY They dont mean anything when I do that, just a mess. Then afterwards I find something to hang on to, like that leg. And then everything sorts itself out and adds up. Its like finding a clue in a detective story. Bill on his paintings The connection between Bills abstract art and the protagonists grainy photographic blowups is made via a passing comment of Sarah Miles character: Looks like one of Bills paintings. Looking as a motif: Protagonist trying to probe the meaning of external reality, what exactly happens at the park as he blows the photos up bigger and bigger; the idea that by getting into finer detail, reality will be revealed But that is not the case! As the pictures get blown up, they become grainier and resemble Bills abstract paintings more and more. The association with Bills art would connote that there is no inherent meaning to these images, all meaning is pinned on/imposed afterward

SELF-REFLEXIVITY The protagonist is a direct stand-in for the artist powerful, creative visionary who generates meaning Antonioni doubles as the photographer in certain scenes, operating the movie camera behind the still camera e.g. in the fashion shoot with Veruschka, the movie camera parallels the movement of our protagonist, panning up just as he goes for a tilt shot

Gap between what protagonist sees and what we see: angle of filmmaker; Antonioni foregrounds his own presence here, impinging himself on this reality to make the film Juxtaposing, or putting together, many still photos through a temporal sequence to creative meaning/narrative exactly what film is about! Protagonist traces the eyeline match of Vanessa Redgraves character to find out what she is looking at mimics the way motion pictures are made, cutting from shot of person looking to what he is looking at The constant parallel with actual filmmaking techniques makes us aware of Antonionis presence in the film and his responsibility as filmmaker Film as a construct; putting together things to offer an interpretation of life/reality Like what we do: Develop a narrative of our lives, allocate meaning to things that happen to us we are directors too! Things will not make sense until you look at an image in context with all the other images, in a chain The story (shown in photos): Playful flirting Hugging She looks away (camera pans over to a face in the bushes, a gun) But meaning is never displayed directly and unproblematically; things dont add up, truth not easily visible I saved his life: Protagonists first version of the reality turns out wrong, man is in fact dead Under the revealed image there is another one more true to reality, and another reality never seen, not until the decomposition of every image. Antonioni Protagonist goes back to reality to verify the constructed meaning he placed on the images; he has to now find Ron to attest to what he sees with his own eyes (the corpse) seeking to validate his subjective impression through an interpersonal authentication, for meaning to be established But later on, all meaning breaks down, reality breaks down; the protagonist gives up on his relentless pursuit of concrete meaning, gets absorbed in an illusory tennis match, and finally, fades into grass

Muriel, or The Time of Return / Resnais

The title The Time of Return indicates the films engagement with memory, while Muriel, in the context of the film, is the name of a torture victim in the Algerian war which had recently been brought to an end Central theme: the juxtaposition of old and new; challenge of reconciling a remembered or imagined past with the life of the present Resnais gives further insight on this: I write and make films to return: its always the problem of memory regained. In 1943, in the train, I lost my memory and struggled for hours. I suffer from an extraordinary amnesia: I

have, so to speak, no childhood reminiscences, something which drives my mother to despair. I have worked a lot in time and on the theme of recollection. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE Screenplay structured into the five unified acts of a traditional play introduction, rising action, climax, reversal, and resolution Act I unfolds in a straightforward and linear way, with concrete setting. Within this classical narrative framework, Resnais interweaves multiple storylines that play off against each other both psychologically and thematically. While that overarching structure is straightforward, and many scenes are finely-wrought: some sequences, especially in Acts II and IV (with characters traipsing all over Boulogne), exist as dizzying montages in a rush of quick shots. Resnais carries the technique a step further, and occasionally uses Cubistlike compositions, with an isolated and geometrically composed face, arm, or just a hand representing the entire person Many of these abstracting effects have poetic impact, and the fragmentation provides more than narrative momentum; it viscerally depicts the characters' broken lives it lets us feel how they experience their world. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONFLICT As Alphonse at one point tells Hlne, without understanding the implications, "Every person is a private world." The conflicts, both psychological and moral, come from the gaps in understanding between each character just as they so often do in our own life experiences. Each character has a different take on what happened, and what it means now emotionally. This, of course, ties them into knots. For some the result is like a sexual farce, but for others the pressure leads to violence. As in most Resnais films, before and since, characters are arranged in interlocking triangles, as we see here in the main groupings of Hlne, de Smoke and Alphonse; Alphonse, Hlne and Franoise; Bernard, Marie-Do, and Robert. The film is also structured around the internal/psychological level: every major character also interacts with their own (false) memory of who they were; when those fantasies push against other character's self-delusions, violence erupts. USE OF SPACE (GEOGRAPHICAL AND COMPOSITIONAL) Resnais presents two, or three, different Boulognes: There are the medieval parts of the city, which escaped destruction in the war, next to the soulless box-like buildings springing up everywhere after contractors have demolished whatever stood there before.

Perhaps the single most resonant image in the film is of the lone building on a vacant hillside. De Smoke remarks that it was built unawares on subsiding soil: now everyone is just waiting for the looming hulk to fall. Resnais includes about a dozen different shots of this edifice throughout the film, associating it at various times with most of the major characters including Bernard who (typically) photographs it which solidifies the metaphorical connection between the structure and the characters. The third view of Boulogne is from the book of postcards that Franoise flips through (its paralleled earlier by Alphonse showing Hlne postcards of Algeria turns out that's as close as he ever got to the country, despite his lies of having lived there for 15 years) It provides a patently artificial gloss on the locale. Boulogne as the setting, but as a coastal city between land and sea, ancient and modern it fits perfectly with the key theme of thresholds. OBJECTS AND INTERIOR SPACE The film uses recurring images and descriptions of physical objects to reveal character, rather than psychological analysis: e.g. Hlne is surrounded by antiques (wasted life resembles these dusty antiques). Bernard is constantly documenting with tape-recorders, notebooks and cameras. Bernards faded, sun-flared 8mm films are the closest he can get to admitting his personal connection to the Algerian War. Alphonses photographs dont reveal much about his involvement in World War II. He goes so far as to say it was a good life for him! Both men are dishonest in their memories about war and its relation to reality. Note how the imagery of doors suffuses this film, from its very first shot. Characters are forever going out, coming in, or hovering at doorways and for good metaphorical reason. Doors are tight liminal spaces, connecting both inside and outside just as this film is about the boundary between past and present, internal and external, subjective and objective, memory and desire, and the unsettling space in between, forever ill-defined. Also, Resnais combines spatial and temporal dislocation in Hlne's large white apartment, which feels sterile despite its being stuffed with antique furniture and knick knacks from several centuries. As Bernard grumbles early on, he never knows what (historical decorative) period he's going to wake up in mixing of time periods. Hlne is constantly both literally and metaphorically selling out their furnishings from under them, day after day (hopefully earning enough to pay her gambling debts and the rent, in that order), and replacing them with new old items. CENTRAL MOTIF WATER AND RAIN This motif is presented most often in dialogue, with several references to leaky roofs (in Bernard's childhood room, and now in his studio); and in

Franoise's gushing account, of a huge ocean liner that she saw beached just off the coast, with people scrambling to get to shore. Striking 'water scene': When Hlne leads Alphonse and his "niece," fresh off the train, around Boulogne, it begins to rain, at which point Resnais has a montage of several rapid shots of the three, each of whom vertiginously dashes straight towards the camera, over and over, as if they were splashing up against the lens (or shooting for it). Irony of water imagery: These people are utterly parched On yet another level, the water imagery parallels with theories of the flow of human perception and memory and the elasticity of time, with past and present bending around each other Cinematic psychological time FILMING TECHNIQUE Muriel is the first time that Resnais famous for his use of tracking movement employs a static camera. A better visual parallel for the characters is unimaginable: a fixed point of view, but frames filled with endless motion, as characters come and go, sometimes at breakneck speed. Yet it's really an illusion: they may be scurrying about, but the camera is bolted to the floor as static as the character's constricted inner lives This visual strategy connects with Resnais's depiction of the characters' varied, and often self-deceptive, perceptions through nervous jump cuts and frantic montages He never employs a single omniscient point of view, as in traditional moviemaking, because the characters' conflicted points of view are never unified. And although they may be in the same physical space, often they are not in the same psychological time. They are in a labyrinth of their own Every person is a private world. USE OF COLOUR (MURIEL IS RESNAIS FIRST COLOUR FILM) On the most basic level, the muted earth tones that predominate reinforce the drabness of the characters' lives. Those dull colors also make eye-popping the first time we see a bold primary: right outside Hlne's flat is massive red elevator, that feels once seductive, frightening and mocking. That conflicted effect is exactly right, since the elevator yet another threshold image represents both freedom and constriction. FRAGMENTATION (IN SOUND)

Sound used in evocative ways: In the opening scene, of Hlne eagerly trying to close an antiques sale, Resnais underscores the visual fragmentation of dozens of quick abstract shots of objects and parts of the characters bodies (tellingly, we never see them whole) with an aural counterpoint, as we hear only isolated bits and pieces of Hlne's sales pitch and the customer's reactions. Resnais introduces all of his major themes visually, aurally, and metaphorically a sort of multimedia overture for all that is to come. Key concepts of film also encased within a comic song sung a cappella by Ernest, Alphonse's brother-in-law: Cars aren't the only things that go fast. It's infuriating, Time flies in such a crazy hurry too. Take it easy, Mr. Time. Slow down, there is a turn. My hair is gray, but only yesterday I was a child Already. ....... There's happiness around, But we can't see it. We like to fear the future, Regret the past and say, "Already, already, already..." The song's ideas about time passing, and how our subjectivity keeps us from achieving happiness are the film's. The lyric's montage of quick, sharp verbal images (as seen in the full sung) also recalls Resnais's fragmentary approach to some scenes. SELF-REFLEXIVITY Resnais tips his hat to the 'well-made play' aspect of this drama, by having Hlne, at the start of one of her trademark big dinners, draw back a large theatre-like curtain, revealing the players (the banquet guests). Life is like a banquet where some perform well, and some badly. Roland The role of Bernards visual documentation (photography), aural records, writing in preserving memory THE FOLLY OF RETURNING TO AN EARLIER TIME AND BRINGING IT TO THE PRESENT What makes this destructive is the role that subjective fantasy plays in distorting how the characters see the present Some forces are so strong like the murder of Muriel for Bernard, or the desperate hope of Hlne for rekindled passion with Alphonse that they blind the characters to the fact that they can never go back again. And as we

can see, no war, whether World War II or Algeria, can be blamed for the failure of Hlne's adolescent love to return, any more than Alphonse's longago undelivered letter to her would have changed their relationship. Time only moves in one direction (it "flies in such a crazy hurry") and never allows for a genuine return.

A Man and a Woman / Lelouch

Films not for the head, but the heart Lelouch A Man and a Woman has a sensual beauty and flow quite unlike Muriel, which was extremely trying upon first viewing. (Muriel is probably a film for the head!) TENSION BETWEEN THE SPONTANEOUS AND THE SCRIPTED The man, Jean-Louise Duroc, represents free, spontaneous existence, while the woman, Anne Gauthier, represents a meticulously designed life His profession: racing driver, hers: a scriptwriter He is in a business that is free from planning and order (speed of driving dictated by fluctuating weather conditions), unlike her trade

Annes husband was a film artiste (acting out a script), but he was killed by explosives (an unscripted accident) THE UNPLANNED The cat, bounding dog on the beach, children Jean tries to assign his son Antoine certain lines, but the latter does not follow the script Artless way of living, living in the moment e.g. Jean letting his very young son steer the vehicle The unstructured life has, doubtlessly, its share of accidents: Annes husbands freak accident, Jeans wifes suicide, Jeans racing mishap Jean is aware of this and playfully trips his son, exposing him early to the accidents that come hand-in-hand with such a life Love is also an unplanned incident! (falling in love, the fever, heart throbs) Anne frolicking in the snow, animal-like, with husband Anne sends a telegram to Jean with a hastily-added, impromptu confession of love Jean painstakingly scripts, rehearses and edits his response for his get-together with Anne, but none of it is executed because Anna is not home; instead, he joins her at Deauville (their respective childrens school) in an entirely spur-of-the-moment decision

Like Muriel, memory and fantasy get in the way of life as it is lived

Just when Jean and Anne are about to consummate their relationship, Anne recalls actual scenes of romance from her earlier life with her (deceased) husband, and is unable to continue On the solo train journey back home, Anne imagines a happy outcome in which Jean shows up at the station and they embrace but this scripted scenario probably only exists in her mind

Life is what happens when youre busy making other plans

Fall / DeWitt
Abstract cinema Experimental, non-narrative visual / sound experiences with no story and no acting; completely abstract symbols Fall is a 1971 student protest film against US involvement in the Vietnam War Consistent throughout the film is a man on parashoot, alluding to the war He is likened to Icarus, the son of master craftsman Daedalus, who took flight by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and the melting wax caused him to fall to his death. The myth is usually taken as an example of hubris or failed ambition. This myth is transposed on the parashooter, who is nullified between the sun and ocean; he explodes, and the military explodes as well Other war imagery: airplanes, dropping of bombs through rectangular slots (bomb navigator) Reference to US: appearance of an eagle Aural effects: whirring helicopter sound in the background, trumpet call traditional call to battle, actual radio speeches about combat zones in an unintrusive manner Manipulation of image: blotches, fractured frames (war violence that breaks the world apart); parashooter squeezed and distorted

Report / Connor
Experimental documentary; A report on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, or a report of a gun (an explosive noise) [First half of film] Connecting elements of filmmaking and other images to JFKs life and murder Film leader/head: length of film attached to the head of a film to assist in threading a projector Kennedy shot in the head Crosshair for projectionist rifle crosshair

Countdown: similar to countdown of rocket; Kennedy established space programme in United States Bulb being shattered, like Kennedys head Cookie crunched Shot of Kennedy with the pope, performing the bread breaking ceremony (alluding to the breaking of Christs body) Refrigerator door opening JFKs regime: new frontier, doors opening, great expectations Closed door of waste disposal JFKs death Upside-down images e.g. casket carried upside down at funeral Gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed in police station before he could be indicted or tried Bullfight bull, which was eventually stabbed to death, represents Kennedy Pop art Kennedy as pop icon, arriving at commercial status (he is the mascot for air tickets, soap etc) Looping footage, to recapture/relieve the moment The transition from flickering images to total darkness mimics the final moments of Kennedys life; losing consciousness Distressful radio commentary to abject silence, to indicate death

[Second half of film] Composed of footages from all over the world, outside Dallas, except for the radio track, which comments on Dallas everyday scenes, making the sequences feel continuous (but the radio track is NOT AT ALL connected to the images shown) Rapid flashing of images: from Kennedys inauguration to his funeral Stock footage of feature films e.g. scientists building rocket Eternal flame that burns at Kennedys casket Slow-motion smashing of bulb Pressing the sell key

Scorpio Rising / Anger

Groundbreaking in its time; Scorpio Rising is a 1964 postmodern experimental film that features themes of leather-clad bikers, the occult, Jesus and Nazis, and it appropriated popular culture. There is no dialogue. Scorpio: eighth planet of chaos; death The characters worship no God, simply the nihilistic thrill of motorcycle racing, drug culture and death noose in the guys room On one level, this film captures the underground scene at that time, similar to Blow Up it employs a fashion photography / editorial magazine style of shooting to document how the male characters dress, repair bikes, lounge in bed reading comic books etc etc; these shots are very much posed

The film also incorporates popular TV footages, toys, posters, enamel paintings of Christ, Nazi checkboards etc; encompasses all the knick knacks of consumer culture On another level, things in the film take on new meaning through the act of juxtaposition Male initiation rites, like the rites of Nazi The bike clubs are homoerotic groups, and they function like terrorist cults, coming into society and wrecking it filmmaker compares this to Christianity (all male apostles, no marriage: vow of chastity still customary in Roman Catholic churches) and Nazis Features 12 rocknroll songs about typical swooning-girl macho-man heterosexual love, but the film transforms its meaning by putting these songs in the context of homosexuality (still illegal at that time)!

Raise the Red Lantern / Zhang

Often interpreted as a veiled allegory against authoritarianism: "Songlian is the individual, the master is the government, and the customs of the house are the laws of the country. It's an archaic system that rewards those who play within the rules and destroys those who violate them." SEQUENTIAL COMMENTARY Songlian passes someone elses wedding procession, but goes the other way their path differs, she is on her way to becoming a mistress, non-ceremonial Feet: Assertion of independence Songlian walks to the house herself without waiting for the escort Master Chen prescribes a foot massage for the new concubine, which makes her uncomfortable at first (but as soon as she is attuned to this privilege, she suffers withdrawal symptoms when she no longer gets to enjoy it) Master of the house says: A womans feet are the most important. As long as the feet rest comfortably, everything will flow smoothly. And these women will be able to serve men better. Seeks to control his concubines by tending to their feet, making them agreeable and submissive (v.s. Songlians act of walking at the beginning) Still shot of her passively answering questions / receiving instructions with an expressionless face (those who control the conversation, her mom and her husband, their faces are never shown at such moments) Masters commanding voice: Go and raise the lantern. (Her head turns) Yes, that one. Hold it higher. Tilt your face up. When she obeys with visible reluctance, he remarks, University graduates are indeed different. Not used to female behaviour that departs from eager and complete subservience.

Masters face is never clearly shown, the sense of unknown increases his power; power which one cannot grapple with Sole lamp surrounded by red lanterns symbolizing her powerless position? Private action of undressing observed through the red veil privacy usurped Bathed in red light, a POSSIBLE hint at all-controlling Chinese autocracy, surveillance Red = power Before consummation, she requests him to dim the lights, but he refuses, stating that his purpose of lighting so many lanterns is to able to see everything clearly He adds, Isnt it wonderful to have everything so brightly lit? (Sinister laugh), which prompts her to bury herself under the covers Complete dominion Acts of rebellion are best conceived in the dark, so his insistence on absolute clarity of sight robs her of such freedom A prolonged shot of the outside (nighttime) with all the brightly lit red lanterns a show of power? They are the masters sentinels that enclose the action indoors Wherever the master goes, the lights follow Reusing the same views over and over again, whats the purpose? E.g. the outside, in front of the bedpost, the sole lamp She observes herself in the mirror, holding up the red lantern (a small figure behind the bright lantern) self-aware; powerless, she watches as she submits herself to male authority Traditional rules to be strictly adhered to After reciting the house rules to Songlian, the first mistress says, , a reaction against the huge age gap between the master and his new mistress First mistress is in a state of resignation (of her age, how she is always passed over in favour of the younger concubines), telling Songlian to get along well with the others with a touch of irony, meditating with the beads He behaves almost like an emperor! = , . Pretentious! Such pomp and grandeur (cymbals, drums etc), all 4 mistresses gathered outside their individual abodes, just to hear the masters decision on who hell pick to spend the night with Songlians starting to enjoy the special treatment, the foot massage and such, slowly assimilating herself into the highly regimentalized environment where

tiny privileges are meted out to those in the masters favour, to bend them to his will Third mistress Meishan takes things into her own hands by feigning illness to make him go over, but Songlian stops him Operatic singing comes from her as well (Songlian, annoyed, goes to confront her) Small figure moving through the palatial abode, overwhelmed by stone Face off! Its better to be awake, for sleep will muddle your senses who is your real enemy here? The master is carrying on with the maid. Songlian, disgusted (but unable to reprimand him), brushes him off and he easily discards her Before that, he reminds her sharply of his power, HE is the one who decides who gets royal treatment and who doesnt (will not tolerate her temper) Withdrawal symptoms of having no foot massage! Sound of a ghost massage coming from next door Abandoned shoes inside the locked, old room? Previous death in the house? Masters anger at Songlian for not dutifully staying in the house awaiting his arrival like she should, goes to the 2nd mistress Zhuoyun instead Careers/education they have to give up for this Mistresses hung in the room for committing adultery (while his adultery is legal) So Songlian now has power over Meishan because she knows about the latters affair with the physician She also discovers her maids private lantern collection and voodoo doll of herself (provided by her sole ally Zhuoyun; now Songlian knows her twofaced nature!) Songlian, and the first mistress flute-playing son stand at two opposite doorways. That long gaze. What could be but never will be The master confiscated her flute, so that she wont be distracted. Reveals that he had burnt it. This reminds me of the Cultural Revolution: Mao Zedong burnt everything the intellectuals owned, that symbolized knowledge and cultural history Offers to replace it, but come on, the flute was something her late father left her! Downcast eyes, silence, cant lash out at the man All the women develop their own coping mechanisms first mistress is absorbed in Zen-like meditation, the second is a scheming smiling villain (she operates in the background), the third carries on with the physician,

the fourth (Songlian) will eventually get destroyed by her own knowledge and her resentment of the environment she is in Zhuoyun goes to Songlians abode to flaunt the masters attention on her, who wants her hair shorter so that shell look more youthful; she requests Songlian to do the job Snipping her hair off, such a portentous dreadful sound Accidentally (?) snips off her ear, cuts through her deception and benign facade Face of Bodhisattva, heart of scorpion Film divided into Summer Autumn Winter Next Summer sections of development, flashed at the start they serve to foreshadow the sequence of events that unfold in each section; cyclical; Spring is not present! Songlian feigns pregnancy, attempting to garner the majority of the master's time and, at the same time, a calculated move to become actually pregnant. But when it is discovered to be a sham, the master orders Songlian's lanterns to be covered with thick black canvas bags indefinitely. All the talk about RULES and TRADITIONS (Some altered e.g. Songlian eats at her own abode instead of with the other mistresses; Some broken and punishment meted out e.g. Songlians fake pregnancy, Yan ers personal storage of lanterns). Ultimately, the master makes the decisions. Songlian starts to become a perpetrator herself, insisting on punishing the servant girl Yan-er for her transgressions, but after Yan ers death, she begins to find everything meaningless. The whole fuss over the lanterns and gaining the masters fancies. Its all playacting. Meishan, third mistress All of them are putting on a show, to please the master, vie for his attention Her operatic singing, (connotations = farce, false show) turns out to be the most honest sound reverberating through the film Dehumanized society (Songlians realization reflected in the wintry grounds) Previously thought that the dilapidated room was for suicide, but no, all the women were hung to death by men The emotional trauma of witnessing Meishans murder (vehemently denied by the master) drives Songlian to insanity Overlapping images of the red lanterns: her wandering mind

The Spirit of the Beehive / Erice

Like Raise the Red Lantern, this film is interpreted as a subtle criticism of Francisco Francos dictatorship Symbolism here serves as a smokescreen; By making a film rich in symbolism, the message embodied could slip through the censor's office without fuss SEQUENTIAL COMMENTARY Anas drawings in film opening: Magician / creator figure, pocket watch, mobile cinema a childish counterpoint to the important events / elements of the film that will slowly unfurl Film within a film; we watch the filmgoers as well as the film Frankenstein

The authorities are using the Frankenstein film as a warning to the population about man's godless creations which have to be killed for the safety of the public A veiled propaganda attempt to justify the violent overthrow of the elected government in the civil war by intimating the monster to be the "godless" socialism of the Republic Given the similarity of the names Frankenstein and Franco, the portrayal of Frankenstein may symbolically represent Franco and his dictatorship The film Frankenstein also plays an important role by affecting the reality of Ana (she is drawn to the monster in the film and feels that she has something in common with the young girl on screen possibly their fate will be the same as well)

Loss of self, loss of capacity to feel life Billowing smoke from the train, Teresa enveloped in smoke Beehive window panes (hexagonal panes, honey-coloured light) individuals in the family as bees Fernando, the father, is entirely preoccupied with beekeeping and spends most of his time studying their life cycle and writing copious notes. He conducts various experiments on the bees and unsuccessfully attempts to force them to build a beehive in a crystal-like structure he has created. His lonely wife Teresa maintains a secret correspondence with a distant lover, and spends her day attending to this. Husband and wife rarely converse, paying little attention to the girls who are left to their own devices for most of the day. Disintegration of familys emotional life is symbolic of the emotional disintegration of the Spanish nation during the civil war Framing: view of rural rooftops outside (one half) + Fernandos silhouette through the honey-hued translucent pane (the other half), while Dr Frankensteins voice continues in the background

Doors of mini religious cabinet opened to reveal Mary, while a toy chimpanzee (monster!) stands at the side in jarring contrast; Catholic/Christian family Isabel tells lies to hide her ignorance; contrived story about spirits Ominous approaching footsteps of the monster? Turns out to be the father in an adjacent room, brewing a medicinal concoction Lack of dialogue/communication and the frequency of whispering Someone to whom I recently showed my glass beehive, with its movement like the main gear wheel of a clock [hence the frequent display of the clock pendulum are we human pre-programmed? Or do we have free will?], someone who saw the constant agitation of the honeycomb, the mysterious, maddened commotion of the nurse bees over the nests, the teeming bridges and stairways of wax, the invading spirals of the queen, the endless varied and repetitive labors of the swarm, the relentless yet ineffectual toil [possible allusion to human society under Fascism; ordered, organised, but devoid of any imagination], the fevered comings and goings the call to sleep always ignored [camera showing Anna and Isabel sleeping], undermining the next days work, the repose to death far from a place that tolerates neither sickness nor tombs. Fernandos journals Why did Fernando cancel out the last line in his journals? (Someone who watched these things, after staring in awe, quickly looked away, his face showing a nameless and sad horror.) Estranged relationship between husband and wife, each in his/her own private world: They do not appear in the same frame, we only see his shadow shuffling about the bedroom while Teresa pretends to be asleep MONSTER 1: Paper mannequin Don Jose (a manmade monster used to exemplify anatomical concepts in class): he is missing vital organs which students identify and pin on What is the heart for? For breathing. Misidentification of bodily functions/organs Intestines instead of lungs Ana completes Don Jose by putting on eyes for him (Don Jose can see now); her own distinctive features being her big, innocent brown eyes. The act of placing the eye onto the paper mannequin is symbolic of giving life to the monster the second monster will later materialize as the republican fugitive that Ana meets in the barn Howling winds as Isabel pretends to communicate with the monster Isabels trickery is very much integral to Anas confusion between fantasy and reality; later, she completely gives up on the external world for her own imagination Shadow play: Isabel as dog, Ana as bird; dog nips the bird Mother Mary holding the hand of a child, guiding him forward Isabel guiding Ana forward

Father and daughters picking mushrooms, they learn to differentiate the good from the poisonous; he warns them against picking those which theyre unsure about But first you have to promise never to tell your mother. He crushes the demon mushroom underfoot, Ana watches in dismay Long and winding path on horse (Fernando), and on bike (Teresa) Theres definitely something about these doors! Doors opened in a row * The doors of his study (mind) have the cellular hive structure; by opening them he opens his mind to a more receptive state Isabel directs Ana, making her do things ranging from harmless fun to hazardous The train represents the astral path to the divine as can be seen later on when Ana and Isobel press their ear to the railway track waiting for the arrival of their guiding spirit. Significant passage read in class: Now neither malice nor hatred, nor even fear of change, I only feel thirst, a thirst for I know not what. Rivers of live, where have you gone? Air, I need air! What do you see in the darkness that makes you silently tremble? [we see Ana near the end of the film trembling at the sight of the monster, before closing her eyes in total acceptance] I see not but only stare like a blind man facing straight into the sun [later we see Ana staring up into the sun, covered by clouds, before closing her eyes]. I shall fall where the fallen never rise. [Ana seems to be looking for something in the well, expecting something to rise from it] Ana visits spirit at the well on her own, Isabel watches from behind * Filmmaker employs the use of fadeouts, one scene connecting to the next; layering, overlapping [Isabels face fades into that of a black cat, visibly annoyed by Teresas discordant piano-playing To my dear misanthrope - Teresa Isabel smearing blood on her lips with her middle finger after strangling the cat] builds up to the morbid/callous scene where Isabel fakes death Another religious portrait: St Jerome removing lions paw (spirit of lion becomes mans ally after its dangerous nature is slain) Isabel plays dead, dog barking outside, beehive door is opened Dog barking (as though at unseen spirits), cutting into the silence of Isabels death, making it more real and unsettling

Ana loses faith in her sister after finding out that its all a farce (she had always depended on her sister for advice and information); now she withdraws into her interior realm Music grows more sinister as she watches the girls take turns jumping over the bonfire, flickering shadows Silhouette of Isabel: slow mo, freeze frame When the girls depart, Ana tries to keep the dying fire alive by throwing in branches MONSTER 2: Hurtling train, man (republican fugitive) jumps from it Anas refusal to communicate with her sister Her sleeping face mirrors that of the fugitive in the barnhouse symbolic of Annas alienation from her sister, and her gradual move towards the monster (the fugitive) The two develop a wordless bond; Sparse scenes, little drama Man gets gunned down (by fascist forces) in the dead of night... Family meal in silence, until Fernando plays the music from his pocket watch (which had been with the fugitive); Ana looks up in a mixture of confusion and guilt? She goes to find the man, uncovers signs of his murder in the barn, becomes wary of her father rejects the people around her, and reality Everyones calling out for Ana Nighttime search for the missing Ana is very much akin to villagers hunting down the monster in Frankenstein So is Ana the monster? External monster surrogate (the republican soldier) found in daytime is dead, Ana comes to terms with the monster within herself very similar to Lord of the Flies! Ana touches a demon mushroom, knowing full well that it is poisonous Teresa burns her letters to her mysterious lover/friend/relative, perhaps to symbolize her resolve to stop seeking escape and focus her attention on the family she had neglected MONSTER 3: Quavering reflection by the lake (where Frankensteins monster was at in the movie); Ana morphs into the monster! She sees the monster approaching her her grasp of reality has completely given way to imagination now And, trembling, she gives herself up to the monsters embrace

In the film Ana has watched, this is the place where the monster (accidentally?) kills the girl Ana, the girl, is knowingly replaced by Ana the monster The aftermath: She hardly sleeps. She wont eat or talk. Light bothers her. She looks at us as if she didnt recognize us. Its as if we didnt exist. Under the effects of a powerful experience referring to the poisonous mushroom she had possibly consumed, or a psychological one? Fernandos observation about the bees in his journal is repeated, except this time we are looking at him from OUTSIDE, through the beehive panes he, or rather the entire family, is our true subject of observation, they are the bees! ([We], after watching these things, quickly looked away, [our] faces showing a namesless and sad horror.) Flickering shadows of branches and dogs barking incessantly at night, disturbing Isabels sleep ad making her fearful Again, the motif of one door/window closed, another open All light extinguished Ana opens the beehive panes and steps into the balcony (dogs barking is deafening), faces us and says, Its me, Ana invoking the monster, inhabiting the monster Final shot of Ana turning back and looking into the house SELF-REFLEXIVITY: TESTAMENT TO THE LIBERATING POWER OF FILM The family and its unreflective, repressive structure are challenged, not by a political rally or an act of terrorism, but by the sublime subversion of the cinema. In Fernandos sleepy Castilian village, the only excitement is stirred by the movies, a fantasy realm to which the villagers devote themselves, desperate for an imaginative alternative to the dry routine of their days. One Saturday, a particular film, James Whales striking Frankenstein, is shown in the town hall. For Fernandos daughter, Ana (Ana Torrent), the film erupts from the screen, shattering the smooth surface of her days, and tossing her into a series of mystical adventures and hallucinations which offer themselves as a kaleidoscope of exciting, incredible alternatives to the dull mental regimentation of Francoism. AVIARY V.S. THEIR HOME Like the bees in Fernando's experiments, the children are also unwitting subjects of an unnatural, artificial environment. In essence, Ana's misguided actions mirror the illogical behavior of the disoriented bees attempting to adapt to an inorganic crystal beehive. Isolated from a natural environment, Ana, too, lacks a logical frame of

reference. Her attempts to incarnate the spirit of the monster is a naive attempt to reconcile her own confusion. BARN: SITE WHERE ANA CREATES HER FANTASY WORLD In context to proceeding events in the film, the barn is where the spirit of Frankenstein becomes flesh and blood when the fugitive jumps of the train and chooses this place to hide out. It also serves as the place that severs Anas connection to reality when she finds the blood of the man after hes been assassinated. EXISTENTIAL ISOLATION The script is laconic (many of the best sequences are entirely silent), and the shooting style says it all. Each member of the family is introduced separately, in a different location: the spartan cinema, the teeming beehive, the hushed room, reminiscent of Vermeer, where Teresa writes her letter to an unknown man. Not once in the films ninety-nine minutes do they share the same frame. Typically, in the one sequence when all four are together, a family breakfast, Erice films each of them on their own. Because Erice rarely gives us an establishing shot to set up the action in such scenes, we feel as lost and disoriented as his child protagonist. Framing, too, is used to suggest existential isolation. In one moving sequence, when Fernando joins his wife in bed, she feigns sleep. Erice trains his camera on her watchful, fearful face, while her husband is reduced to indistinct offscreen noise and murky shadows cast on the bedroom wall.

Persona / Bergman
ABOUT THE TITLE A Bit of Cinematography was the original title, making Bergmans intentions behind this film clear To explore the narrative and technical capacities of the cinematic medium, and to call attention to the processes of the films creation Persona: (1) character played by an actor; (2) versions of self that all individuals possess SEQUENTIAL COMMENTARY Opening sequence: An image of light from the lamp of a film projector, film running through the spools. Followed by a series of images that includes a spider, a montage from silent comedies, a spike being driven through a man's hand (crucifixion?), and faces in a morgue. The film then cuts to an enigmatic picture of a young boy watching and caressing women's faces that appear on a giant screen directly in front of him.

Horror/dramatic soundtrack, followed by sound of dripping water, then the unsettling music returns after boy awakes A poem about the situation in which Persona had originated Bergman Almas obsession with Elisabet, who has stopped talking after a theatrical Elektra performance (Elektra is one of the most important myths in Greek mythology. In Sophocles' Elektra, the central theme is her psyche, her human condition, the lament of a woman who shut herself in her immense sorrow.) Alma wakes in the middle of the night with this thought: Its funny. You can go about as you please, do almost anything. Ill marry Karl-Henrik and have a couple of children which Ill have to raise. All of this is predestined. Its inside me. her designated roles in life; shes fascinated by how Elisabet shakes off hers by becoming mute and immobile But at this point she is not yet aware of the concept of role-playing, she is fairly content with the lifestyle she has (Its nothing to think about. Its a safe feeling. I have a job that I like and enjoy. Thats good too.) Visible distress at Viet priests self-immolation Doctor: Dont you think I understand? The hopeless dream of being. Not seeming, but being. In every waking moment aware, alert. The tug of war what you are with others and who you really are. in relation to our projection of self to others, our taking on roles A feeling of vertigo and a constant hunger to be finally exposed. To be seen through, cut down... even obliterated. Every tone of voice a lie. Every gesture false. Every smile a grimace. Commit suicide? Thats unthinkable. You dont do things like that. But you can refuse to move and be silent. Then, at least, youre not lying. You can shut yourself in, shut out the world. Then you dont have to play any roles, show any faces, make false gestures. Youd think so but reality is diabolical. Your hiding-place isnt watertight. Life trickles in everywhere. Youre forced to react. Nobody asks if its real or not, if youre honest or a liar. Thats only important at the theater, perhaps not even there. Elisabet, I understand why youre silent, why you dont move. Your lifelessness has become a fantastic part. I understand and I admire you. I think you should play this part until its done... until its no longer interesting. Then you can leave it, as you leave all your roles. Mysterious male narration appears! Their harmonizing; comparing hands (bad luck, Alma says); Bergmans signature framing faces and bodies blending into each other Jagged rocks (one of the subliminal images interspersed with the opening credits) Bergmans central theme of Gods silence in a book that Alma reads: The painful insight into our earthly condition has worn out our hope of a divine

salvation. (I dont believe that, Alma responds.) Side note: Bibi Andersson always plays the nave one who believes in God, yet knows not why Almas fiances criticism of her ambition-less, zombie state (not referring to career or school grades, but her lack of engagement or understanding of human nature our tendency to play-act) Alma (meaning soul in Latin) speaks of a strong conviction in oneself and in life, which she admires/believes in Her lack of worth to husband (not real to him) Role reversal: Alma has always played the role of a listener, but now divulges her emotional problems while Elisabet listens Elisabets motherly affection, stroking Almas face Gets into the heart of things: An abortion that pricked her conscience Awareness of role-playing creeps in... Is it possible to be one and the same person at the same time? I mean, two people? Somehow...I think I could change myself into you if I tried. I mean, inside. You could be me, just like that. (Snaps fingers) Hears Elisabets voice but thinks that she imagined it; thats the start of many imagined sequences Ghostly scene of Elisabet in white, flowy nightgown, walking in through the swishing white curtains and leaving through another doorway; her image becomes foggy in the distance Iconic cinematic sequence where Elisabet and Alma swap faces and hair, repeated twice later on: thats when their identities start to meld together (Looking directly at us/camera/mirror) Scene immediately after: rocky shoreline again (Elisabet emerges and snaps a photo of us) Elisabet taking photographs and Alma posing for her Elisabet as the observer, studier of human psyche (in preparation for an accurate impersonation); Alma is the subject This sets up for Elisabets confession to the doctor that its very interesting studying [Alma], which Alma unfortunately discovers Letter to the doctor, who understands her: My dear, I could live like this forever. Silent, living a secluded life, reducing my needs, feeling my battered soul finally starting to smooth itself out. Alma takes care of me, spoils me in the most touching way. I believe that she likes it here and that she's very fond of me, perhaps even in love in an unaware and enchanting way. In any case, it's very interesting studying her. Sometimes she cries over past sins, an orgy with a strange boy and a subsequent abortion. She claims that her perceptions do not correspond with her actions.

 Alma finding out about this detached, clinical observation is the turning point of the film Glass shatters, Alma leaves a shard on the ground for Elisabet to step on Smoothes her hair to the side (significant gesture) and lifts the blinds over one side of her face to meet Elisabets gaze; expression of vengeance Spoilt film; Eyes symbolising changing perception Blurry to sharp focus Rocky coastline again Alma is wearing sunglasses for the first time in the film; she is already prepping herself for assimilation into the role of Elisabet (sunglasses as a self-protective barrier) Harsh, hostile voice; tries to distance herself from Elisabet and reinforce the nurse-patient relationship they had (to override this affectionate friendship theyve built, which Alma feels that Elisabet has betrayed) Fly buzzing around Alma as she speaks whats the significance? Why is Elisabet cutting up the pages of the play? Alma hurling accusations at Elisabet while being repulsed by her own behaviour, clichd lines of a spurned lover in a play that shes spouting (shes very much aware of the role shes acting out now and hates it) You have used me. For what, I dont know. Now that you dont need me anymore, you throw me away. Oh, yes, I hear how false it sounds You used me and then you threw me away. Thats how it is, every word. And then these glasses! (throws them onto the ground) Almas mental dissolution: Elisabets betrayal is largely conceived in her own mind Scuffle followed by Alma attempting to splash boiling water on Elisabet; in shock, she screams out No, dont do it! (this isnt imagined, right?) Alma, getting into the mind of Elisabet, invents her probable thoughts at the brink of death: That scared you, didn't it? For a second, you were really scared, right? A real fear of death, huh? "Alma has gone crazy," you thought. What kind of a person are you? Or maybe you thought, "I'll remember that face, that tone of voice, that expression." Then she grabs Elisabets cheek violently, a twisted reflection of Elisabets motherly touch earlier Elisabets mocking/teasing laughter: appears thrice in the film (1st: her performance in Elektra, 2nd: in response to the melodramatic, amateurish radio play, 3rd: good-natured amusement at Almas childlike playacting, which comes across as a dismissal)

Mirror stand at the foreground resembles a crucifix Does it have to be like this? Is it really important that you don't lie, that you tell the truth, talk with a genuine tone of voice? Can you live without talking freely? Lie and make excuses? Isn't it better to give yourself permission to be lazy and lie? The dilemma between being true to yourself / living without hypocrisy and taking on roles that society requires you to (because thats just the way things work); Elisabet is bent on being honest, thus isolating herself, Alma questions the need In Passion, Anna (played by Elisabets actress) is fixated on a farcical concept of honesty to cover up her guilt and perverse character (Bergmans films are always self-referential) Alma makes wrong judgments: The doctor said youre healthy, but I wonder about your madness. Youre acting healthy so well that everyone believes you. Elisabet is indeed mentally sound, Alma is the one going to pieces, with her sudden awareness of role-playing (the roles she had were all along carried out instinctively, until she became alert of it). Her subconscious absorption of Elisabets identity was met with her own disgust. Ive learned so much from you Elisabet reacting to the picture of Holocaust: boy and other victims arms raised in surrender Start of Almas dream sequence: For a moment she is unable to lift herself from the bed or speak the same state as Elisabet Incoherent fragments of words (in Elisabets voice) coming from the radio set Analyses Elisabets facial flaws: I can see the pulse on your neck. It has a scar you normally cover with makeup. Alma seeks vengeance by cynically reassessing the image she once perceived as glamorous, exposing its blemishes and deception Reversing her hallucination of Elisabets late-night visitation, studying the subject as she sleeps; this time it is Alma who views Elisabet in a distant, judgmental way and far less kindly than Elisabet viewed her Cruelly stripped of her romantic notion that artists like Elisabet create out of compassion, Alma now believes she sees her idol for what she is and finds her wanting Ill find out what he wants from us. Out here, far away in our solitude. their identities have merged Husbands hand reaching out for Alma, whom he mistakes as Elisabet, her hand flies to her throat (now her hair is combed like Elisabet)

Dont you think I understand [your condition]? again Denies that she is Elisabet at first, but later embraces the identity fully, even assuming the sexual duty of a wife (she imagines Elisabet watching them with anxiety) Elisabet, from behind (now dressed in black robes to signify that it is a dream), guides Almas hand to caress her husbands cheek; he is wearing sunglasses too! She complies, saying, I love you as much as ever. Elisabets husband making professions of love that I assume she didnt get from her fianc, whom she is not real to: You love somebody, or say you do. Its tangible, like words. To see each other like children, tormented and helpless, lonely children. In this fantasy, Alma places Elisabeth in the foreground, facing the audience helplessly, while she replaces Elisabets role at her back (take note of the framing here: one half of Elisabets face is cut off, and Almas face is shown only in side profile) Im cold and rotten and indifferent. Its all lies and imitation. Almas struggles against her impersonation of Elisabet The texture of Elisabets face is shown very clearly under the light here, and as usual, with one side in darkness Elisabet hiding the photo of her boy under her outstretched hands Almas monologue shown twice from different angles; Alma looks very much like Elisabet here, with her black costume and hair in a band Light cast on only one half of the face, all the whiteheads on full display Close-ups, still shots so we get to observe the complexity of their psyche; focus placed on BOTH the storyteller and the listener Almas tone switches to one of dismay and desperation: No. Im not like you. I dont feel the same as you. Im Sister Alma. Im only here to help you. Im not Elisabet Vogler. Youre Elisabet Vogler. Tries to reassert their separateness, but her speech disintegrates, and the separate halves are fused Nurse outfit, intimidation, belligerence: Ive learned quite a lot. Consciously returns to her original role, where she is in control of herself. Faces bow forward and come together in darkness

Brilliant play of light/dark; dark figures against blinding light it always feels as though they are on stage, situated under carefully manoeuvred stage lights Focus on Almas fists hammering the table Alma speaks from behind but Elisabets lips move Us, we, me, I... Many words and disgust, unbearable pain, the nausea. Alma cuts her arm, pushes Elisabets head down to drink her blood; vampiric draining of identity Ensuing violence everyone is capable of violence deep down Nurse-patient role under hospital setting reverted, but this time Alma chooses to say nothing, instructs Elisabet to repeat it after her That hair-exchanging scene is repeated Alma stands in front of the mirror, smoothing out her hair, scene is again transposed on this one Statue with eyes carved out, vacant Interjection of Elisabets role-playing as Elektra shows us that she has returned to theatre Film ends with an image of the projectors arc lamp, again, alerting the audience out there in the dark that this is all an artificial construction on the filmmakers part; now we are released and are free to create our own meaning and readings of his work SELF-REFERENCE Bergman always brings in familiar elements from his own films; all these visual signs and symbols are interconnected, building on previous works; thus crafting his distinctive visual language ERA OF DECONSTRUCTION In Persona, Bergman deconstructs the filmic process and exposes it to us, just like Vertovs Man with a Movie Camera and Antonionis Blow Up Deconstruction = taking systems and beliefs apart, until everything ends up being nothing (the only word which Elisabet unmistakably speaks in the whole film) Nothing: the meaningless of it all. Bergman felt that his own life was just a play to cover up emptiness and boredom, and that there was only one way to

avoid desperation: "To be silent. And to search behind the silence for clarity."