Now this movie was definitely different. I'm really glad that our professor told us not to really look into the whole storyline aspect of the film and just "watch " the movie in all of its visual glory. I found it rather appropriate that this film was compared to a dream sequence in our class, because to be honest I was at times drifting in and our of consciousness. The funny thing about that is that every time I seemed to come out of slightly drifting off it seemed like I was watching the same scene over and over and over again, and at times I'm pretty sure that this is one of the feelings that the director would have liked everyone to experience at one point when watching this film. A dream sequence is a very odd and interesting concept to build off of that's why at times especially when watching this odd film I kinda connected it to some of David lynches work.
Alrighty well first off all the imagry in this movie was amazing. You can just see so many layers of angles built up when watching a variety of scenes in this film. For instance a favorite one of mine would be that they used a good deal of mirrors incorporated shots. The scene where the camera is slowly trucking in while we watch a mirror, that is looking at another mirror, that is yet looking at A, our female character. These well thought out shots brought me back to Citizen Kane and that one shot of him walking through his palace next to mirrors that just reflect into each other. These effects are just so fun to look at, and even though I didnt quite stay with the story I could gain something from what I was seeing.
An interesting thing that was talked about in class would have to be the game that is repeated constantly throughout the film. When I first saw it played I didn't really understand completely on how it was played and won, but as I continued to watch I noticed that M the husband, always won for some strange reason. It was further explained to us that it was because of some sort of algorithm used which would no matter what make the person who went second win.Now what is interesting is that I believe that X had a chance to go second , but managed to lose...ever time he lost and was stuck in this world of loss. Now the narration I could follow with the whole thing of X not being able to move on because A rejected him was kinda comparable to this game that is played. Loss is X's constant burden and curse that he has to live with.
The reading basically brought a lot of my questions together, the reason is as I read on I found that the over all structure of the mansion/hotel and the garden outside was basically the structure the mindset that was supposed to be felt. To explain this its like we are supposed to be stuck, like X is stuck in his progress in his relationship, and that he cant win, thus we are also stuck. Stuck in these long halls that are described in the mansion which is brought out by the cinematography of long trucking shots. Also the gardens are shown to be this twisting maze that seems impossible to escape from. All in all a mind twisting concept with some mind twisting characters not to mention an intense plot to go along with it.
Enjoy this one see y'all next time
I really liked your statement "Stuck in a world of loss." This really flowed nicely with some of the main points in the movie.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the comparison of the mansion to the Cartesian labyrinth is also very thoughtful. you definitely used the reading very well. Bravo.
It's weird because I didn't really think about the dreamy quality of the movie until we discussed it in class. I'm not gonna lie, I also felt like I was drifting in and out of consciousness while watching. I felt like there was something hypnotic in this movie, with all of the repetition, the monotonous, lulling narration, and just the confusion of everything going on.
ReplyDeleteThe mirrors also caught my attention. I think they added to the confusing, claustrophobic, trapped theme of the movie. Especially when they showed the reflection of a mirror in another reflection of another mirror, etc... it got very confusing.
Good job!
The dreamy quality of the movie was something I really enjoyed, and I agree with Beesknees when she said it was almost "hypnotic." Sometimes I didn't really know whether I was actually awake. When I first saw the game I was like, ummmmm what is this? I really got a sense of being trapped and mirrors just plain freak me out sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI like the conversation that we’re having about the mirrors. You and Oh Bees Knees mentioned the fact that oftentimes mirrors were being shown through other mirrors and so on and I think that this is a really cool idea. Not to get all philosophical but when we look at a mirror, we’re not looking at ourselves but an image of ourselves. The fact that Resnais sometimes uses multiple mirrors, shows that he’s almost breaking up the frame in a way that breaks down the reality of the character, focusing entirely on the image and form of someone rather than actually them. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteI really liked when you said, “Loss is X's constant burden and curse that he has to live with.” I think that the game is directly tied to X’s situation and you really make that clear in your analysis. I also like how you mentioned the long halls and twisting maze that are impossible to escape from. It makes me think of how location is tremendously important and how large of a role that plays in this film which, as we continue to look at more and more details, seems to use every element to create this feeling of being trapped in a nightmare.
I think this is a nice capsule analysis, and I like how you went with being sleepy in your discussion instead of just dropping it. I like the comparison to Lynch too--I think of the whole alienating geometry of the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks, except that Lynch has a certain good/evil polarity that this movie never really even bothers with. The most we get is a fantasy of evil deeds, hastily backtracked from.
ReplyDeleteA leeetle bit more of Cartesian duality and solipsism would have anchored this even more.