As discussed in class, it was difficult to not analyze this film and just watch it for it's illustrious shot sequences and dream like qualities. I found it to be an oxymoron as a whole. For example, it was brought up in class the photograph in the reading. The picture of the garden where the people have shadows due to the placement of the light from the sun but the statues and the trees have no shadow at all. The director seems to do this throughout the film especially with his main character X. "X" doesn't seem to have a clue as to what is really, real. He claims to have met A a year earlier and he has been waiting for this whole time as per her request. He makes outrageous claims of raping her and her maybe husband shooting her but after realizing this is not what he wanted to come out of his story he retracted those statements and rewrote in his head what "truly" happened.
What really intrigued me about this film was the repitition. In the beginning of the film you hear a man repeating dialogue about the never ending hallways and the emptiness. You also see a bunch of repitition in the shots being taken for example the shots of the gardens and the rooms that A stays in. I feel as though this plays in part of X's psychological state. You know the saying that if you tell youself something enought times even if it is the farthest things from the truth you will start to believe it. Well I believe this is taking place with X. He is telling this story over and over in different sorts and versions like he is trying to convince himself that they truly happened or even more so trying to convince A that they really happened. I feel like this whole film is a maze trying to be figured out. You do not see the shots in sequential order, or like the reading states "linear fashion". As well as, the scenes and actions of the actors don't happen in compelete order or sense.
This story is truly dizzying, however, it was beautifully shot and the effects were stimuluating. No matter how dizzying the storyline it forces the viewer to continue to watch and figure out what the director is trying to say or get accomplished.
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I also found the repetition of this film to be really cool. The first couple of scenes with that looping monologue were so weird and haunting, alongside the fact that the rest of the movie was shot in the same endlessly repeating manner made me feel like we were stuck inside some sort of strange, time paradoxical, haunted house. Like you said, his own mental state that is obviously very deranged.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the repetition. I don't think he's deranged though--that would be assuming that there's some kind of 'normal' in this movie for him to contrast against, or that we're dealing with real people here.
ReplyDeleteI'd have liked to see you bring the reading into this.