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Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017) by Chris Moukarbel

To me, this documentary was all about the art direction. Thoughtful, almost reverent music choices, slow motion used to effect, and a dash of blackout palate cleansers tugged each thread of this story apart like the ribbons of a birthday gift. 

Though many might criticize how tightly controlled this documentary is, it still revealed to me a side of Lady Gaga that I hadn’t known before, and sparked an entirely new interest in her music. If this is just a marketing ploy, at least it’s a terrific one.  

Now time for me to have a look at Banksy Does New York!

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Move it to the Music: Baby Driver (2017) by Edgar Wright

Baby Driver is what happens when a director decides he’s going to make a movie to match any film student’s geekiest fantasies and be fuckin great at it. 

This film was built around its soundtrack. Coffee machines, doorbells, and even graffiti on trees all make references back to whatever song is dominating the scene. All the characters seem to know way more about music than they should, but this is OK because the tracks are seriously awesome and watching every drawn breath be edited in time with the music is more deliriously satisfying than this tree stump falling back into place.  

Watch it once, twice, then watch it again. There’s something about highly orchestrated crime films that make them endlessly entertaining (read: Oceans 11, 12, 13...) 

If there’s one thing lacking in this movie, it’s the plot (what?! the plot?!). But yes, in the midst of crazy car chases, witty repartee, Ansel Elgort being cool, and a hearty helping of romance, there didn’t seem to be enough time to develop a smart storyline. But this hardly seems to matter, as the sheer brilliance of its execution (and the chemistry between characters), made this a joy to watch anyway. And if you take it to be an exploration into the fallibility of human nature, this script’s got it down pat. 

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Goodfellas (1990) Martin Scorsese

I really liked this review of the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGqFg5O7QMA

The minute the movie started I knew it was going to be a great ride but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it the whole time I was watching. If I had to pick out three things: 

- Great GREAT dialogue (did I say it was fuckin’ great?)

- Awesome pairing of music with action (goes to show you don’t need to be a high snob about it and only include shit no one’s ever heard to put together a great soundtrack) 

- Realism & Kinetic Cinema (are these two things? I think they go hand in hand. For an in-depth explanation of this point, check out the video) 

Really inspired me to learn more about I can keep my camera active during shots, to keep things natural and let “soundbites” emerge on their own. That said you do need a great set of characters to make this work. People you’d be happy just to sit around with all day, shootin the shit. 

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Miscellaneous Assignment Links to Vimeo

Final Project: 

https://vimeo.com/114823515

Sound: 

https://vimeo.com/112650175

https://vimeo.com/111781908

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Whores' Glory 35:01 – 36:42

The scene in which Glawogger introduces Faridpur is at once simple and extremely powerful. The setting is in stark contrast to the bright, flashy lights of Bangkok. The whore house in Faridpur can hardly be called a house at all—in this opening scene Glawogger presents it as a narrow alleyway, barely lit and erected by unfinished walls. Combined with the language and colors most of Glawogger’s audience will not be accustomed to seeing, the opening scene quite literally transports us to a different dimension, not only of the film but of the sex industry itself. Within the span of a few seconds, Glawogger effectively eludes to the startling socioeconomic and cultural differences that we are about to encounter between sex workers in different countries.

Sound plays a large role in Whores’ Glory. For the most part, scenes are accompanied by grungy, underground/indie music that is often associated with urban settings. L-cuts are common in this documentary to provide auditory continuity through the changing frames. Yet in this scene Glawogger chooses to begin only with diegetic sounds. A Bangladeshi prostitute becomes the center of our sensory experience. As she walks through the alley at the center of the frame, we hear her voice very clearly above the muffled ambient sounds around her. Beyond that, all we hear is the sound of her feet shuffling across the ground. For her feet are indeed shuffling; unlike the Thai prostitutes who clacked around in their high heels and perfectly curled hair, this woman appears to be moving through her overcrowded home in a pair of slippers, or perhaps barefoot. Once again, we are pushed to understand, at a visceral level, the socioeconomic conditions being presented to us.

Although the scene has been frugal with its use of sound, what we do hear is deeply disconcerting. Without the distraction of commotion, both physical and auditory, viewers are compelled to consider the woman’s words. She is harassing a client over the phone, using crude language to emotionally coerce this man into enlisting her services. We are given brief moments of distraction as new rooms come into view, but as they pass in and out of focus, the woman’s voice tugging evermore at our consciousness. As her voice carries through the alley with her, no one seems perturbed. The total lack of acknowledgement from others in the scene indicates that this is a normal occurrence—the expected behavior for a sex worker in this whore house. Thus the absence of sound is equally powerful as the inclusion of it.

Glawogger’s editing has made this scene a vision, at once beautiful and terrible to behold. The brief glimpses we are afforded of the vibrantly colored rooms in this alley are given passively, without explanation. It is precisely the otherworldliness of the setting which sparks a curiosity in the viewer, a fascination in this existence so starkly different from their own. We are all foreign observers, much like Glawogger himself, feeding our need to come into contact with this other reality. It is easy to imagine these shots portrayed in a different light may even create a desire to visit Faridpur, to see this urban exoticism for ourselves. Yet the sound that we are allowed, that is, the intensely uncomfortable conversation of a prostitute badgering her client for business, completely shatters the possibility of this mental journey. The truth of this scene makes it abhorrent, and pushes us away from the “exoticism” rather than into it. The disparity between the two reactions raises disconcerting questions about the morality of tourism. Is the “wanderlust” experienced by our generation just another form of cultural imperialism? How many times have we walked through the spaces of other nations and raised up our reflections against theirs, simply to point out and find amusement in the differences? How many times have we related the experiences gleaned through our travels without seeking to truly understand the realities faced by the human beings we have only briefly visited? To what extent did we begin watching this documentary with the same preconceived notions, and perverse desire to be entertained? With careful sound and image editing, Glawogger successfully incites in the viewer an unavoidable sense of curiosity and intrusion.

In its totality, Whores’ Glory is a perplexing layered story of sex workers around the world. Within the three cities visited, we are given a myriad of interpretations and opinions from both women and those surrounding them. Sex work seems at time oppressive, and at others a personal choice. It is sometimes fun, and at others terribly painful. If the movie can be separated into three ideological parts, this scene provides a succinct introduction to the frustration and cultural oppression felt by impoverished and marginalized peoples in the sex industry. 

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RED AND BLUE

RED AND BLUE

  EXT HIGH-RISE FIELD– NIGHT

  Establishing shot of the location, including time of day, emptiness of the halls

  INT RODIN COLLEGE HOUSE ROOM

  View of the room’s interior, as well as shot of the clock. It is 1:30 a.m. Close-up of ALICE’s hands, placing her flight tickets securely into a travel wallet. Clearly display details of flight destination, Yangon International Airport (RGN) in Yangon, Burma. Zoom out to reveal ALICE is standing by a half-packed suitcase, she appears exhausted. Turning, ALICE’s full laundry hamper comes into view. She sighs and picks the hamper up to finish her remaining laundry.

  INT RODIN LAUNDRY ROOM

  ALICE stands by the washing machine as she sets her phone alarm to remind her of the laundry. She exits the room, but the sound and image of the whirring washing machine remains.

  INT RODIN COLLEGE HOUSE ROOM

  ALICE enters the door, places the phone on the dining table and plops herself down on her couch. She lays down, picking up her book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A few moments pass and she yawns. Before long, ALICE has fallen asleep. Close-up to her increasingly limp hand resting over the edge of the couch, the book drops to the ground, and the scene ends.

  INT INTERROGATION ROOM – TIME UNKNOWN

  The room looks cold and utilitarian. There is barely any furniture, save two chairs and a small table. ALICE is sitting across from CHAOS, an unsmiling man dressed in full black suit and dark sunglasses. CHAOS sets his two closed fists onto the table and opens them, revealing a red and blue pill in either hand.

  CHAOS

(With mechanical indifference)

Well Ms. Lee, you know the drill.

ALICE

(Eyes wide with fright. She stutters as she speaks)

I…I’m sorry I’m not sure what you mea-

  CHAOS

(With a slight edge of impatience)

The pills, Ms. Lee. Red or blue? Time is almost up.

  ALICE

What? Uhm…I…I’m not sure, I…let me think!

  CHAOS

(Increasing annoyance and louder tone)

No, there’s no time left. Choose NOW!

  ALICE

(Frightened by his tone, she replies weakly)

  Wait…I…!

  CHAOS

(Booming)

MS.LEE!

  Suddenly a ball bounces into the room through the door, which is now slightly ajar. It rolls to ALICE’s feet. There appears to be a small note attached to it. ALICE turns to CHAOS, gauging his reaction. CHAOS is completely still. After a few moments, ALICE speaks up.

  ALICE

(Meekly)

Excuse me, sir? May I?

  CHAOS does not respond

  ALICE

Sir? Excuse me?

  Gaining confidence, ALICE calls out to him again. When he does not answer, she reaches across the table and pokes his face. CHAOS is motionless. Totally perplexed, ALICE keeps one eye on CHAOS and picks up the note. It reads, “Follow Me”. The ball rolls out the door, ALICE follows. The camera follows ALICE’s back as she opens the door. The scene ends.

  INT RODIN COLLEGE HOUSE ROOM - DAYTIME

  The other side of the interrogation room door transforms into ALICE’s dorm room door. The camera stays in front of ALICE as she comes through the door. She suddenly whips her head towards the clock, as if remembering something. It reads 10:10 a.m.

  ALICE

(In a slight panic)

Shit!

  ALICE races to the sink, splashes water on her face, and begins brushing her teeth. ALICE’s roommate TERESA’s reflection on the sink mirror comes into view behind her. She appears to have just gotten out of bed.

  TERESA

(Surprised)

Morning! Isn’t your midterm soon?

  ALICE

(Panicked muffled gurgling)

Yeah, god I’m about to be late!

    TERESA

(Clucking as she walks into the bathroom)

Is this the finance midterm?

  ALICE

(Spits into the sink)

Yes, ugh I hate this class.

  TERESA

(Cheekily) Alice, you hate all your finance classes. When are you going to stop letting your parents rule your life and actually make some choices of your own? You might just be depriving the world of the next Hemingway by traipsing off to Wall Street like the rest of us.

  ALICE

(Rolling her eyes)

Please, I’d be a Stephanie Meyer at best.

  TERESA

(Shrugging)

She still makes bank. What I’m trying to say is that this is your life to live, you know? Your parents are important and all, but one day you’re going to have to cut them loose. You know, (here TERESA grabs ALICE by the shoulders and makes a swooping motion with her arms) Just Let It Go!

  ALICE rolls her eyes and looks back into the mirror. As she fixes up her eyes, the words “let it go” reverberate all around her, rising in a crescendo. Teresa’s chatter can be heard in the background. She closes her eyes to shut the noise out, and the scene ends.

  Series of Flashbacks ensue:

ALICE’s voice can be heard, whispering fervent apologies.

ALICE

I couldn’t help it. How could I help it? I guess I could have helped it.

Series of images elucidate that ALICE had an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager, that she was ostracized by her friends as a result, and that her parents weathered the storm and supported her without criticism despite their own emotional turmoil due to the matter. 

ALICE

How can I let them go? The hands that never let go of me. But still, still...

  INT CHURCH – AFTERNOON

  ALICE is sitting in a pew. The camera zooms out and reveals that she is sitting next to GENIE, a lean man dressed in casual clothing and a horse head mask. GENIE appears to be praying. ALICE shifts uncomfortably away from him and stares back at the front of the church.

  GENIE

(with a slightly accusatory tone)

Why aren’t you praying?

  ALICE

(Startled by his voice)

I…I uhm don’t really pray. It’s not my thing.

  GENIE

Then why do you come here?

  ALICE

(Increasingly uncomfortable)

I don’t know. I always have. Who are you, anyway? I don’t know you.

  GENIE

I’m a genie.

  ALICE

(scoffs)

Yeah right, aren’t we all.

GENIE

Well, who are you?

  ALICE

I’m Alice. Alice Lee.

  GENIE

(scoffs)

Yeah right, aren’t we all.

  ALICE stares at him incredulously, and is about to protest.

  GENIE

(cutting her off)

No, really. Ask me for anything.

  ALICE

Please, stop.

  A silence falls between them. GENIE speaks up.

  GENIE

Why don’t you pray?

  ALICE

(Lets out a long breath)

I haven’t really prayed in a long time. One day I thought to myself, what if God actually spoke to me? What do I do then? I freaked out, wondering if I had to completely change my life and move to Africa or something, just cause I heard Him. (laughs) I don’t pray, so I don’t hear Him.

  GENIE

Wish for something.

  ALICE

(Looks at him incredulously)

Do I know you from somewhere? A frat party maybe?

  GENIE

You don’t need to be afraid.

  ALICE opens her mouth to reply, but she is cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. She only now realizes that her phone has been sitting on her other side the entire time. It is her younger sister, JEAN.

    JEAN

(Her cheerful young voice can be heard through the phone)

Hey Alice!!

  ALICE

(with an uncomfortable glance towards GENIE)

Jean, why are you calling—

  JEAN

OH MY GOD, I have to tell you what happened today. So mom was all like “Do your homework blab la bla���“

  GENIE

Make a wish, ALICE. I haven’t got all day.

  ALICE

(Impatiently addressing GENIE, before turning back to the phone)

Just wait a moment. Jean, what? Can you say that again?

  JEAN

No never mind, so when are you coming to visit us!

  ALICE

(this is clearly a sore topic)

I told Mom I’d figure it out later. I’m not sure what my schedule is this semester.

  JEAN

Come onnnnnnnnnn, I miss you!!

  GENIE

What do you want, Alice? Who Are You?

  ALICE becomes increasingly flustered, and motions for the GENIE to hold.

  ALICE

Hey, Jean, can you just wait for a sec I’m kind of busy right now…hello?

  The line is cut off. ALICE puts the down the phone and looks up, only to find that GENIE is gone. ALICE leaves the church and CHAOS is waiting for her by the doors, still holding out two pills. ALICE is suddenly angry.

  ALICE

(growling)

Fine, you want me to choose? Here, I’ll choose for you!

  Alice grabs both pills and stuffs them in her mouth. They both stand still as the pills take effect. Scene ends.

  INT RODIN COLLEGE HOUSE ROOM – NIGHT

  ALICE jolts awake and finds herself on the couch. Her phone alarm is ringing frantically on the table. She shakes off the last vestiges of her dream, takes the drying sheets from the dining table, and exits the room.

  END

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Synopsis

Red and Blue

Logline

This is the story of a girl searching for absolute truth. When she moves to a new country, novel experiences quickly erode her carefully constructed reality, forcing her to suspect her parents, her old friends, and even her own mind.

Pitch Paragraph

ALICE is an international undergraduate student from Myanmar, studying Finance at the UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. She appears to be exceedingly ordinary—a fulfillment of stereotypes. It is the night before her flight back home, and ALICE is scrambling to finish up all her last-minute laundry. She intends to wait up, but before long ALICE has fallen fast asleep on her couch. In her turbulent DREAMSCAPE, the following events ensue.

Synopsis 

Act 1 

ALICE begins the dream in a cold, utilitarian room. She is sitting at a table across from CHAOS, a stoic man dressed in dark glasses and a formal suit. Chaos holds out a red pill in one palm, and a blue pill in the other, asking Alice to choose. This is the beginning of Alice's journey, where she still believes that there is an absolute truth as long as she chooses to search for it. Yet Alice is held back as she senses that the truth may take her away from her comfort zone. Alice hesitates, and Chaos aggressively pushes her to make a decision. From the corner of her eye, Alice sees that a ball has bounced into the room, with a note attached to it. Unsure as to whether or not she is allowed to pick the ball up, Alice glances at Chaos for permission. After making several gestures and speaking up, Alice realizes that Chaos has fallen completely silent. She gathers the courage to reach over to him, and finds him frozen. Perplexed and a little frightened, Alice bends down to pick up the ball's note. It reads, "follow me". Alice follows the ball out of the room with trepidation.

Act 2 

Alice finds herself in her dorm room, and in the way of dreams it comes naturally to her to pick up her toothbrush and start brushing her teeth. ROOMMATE appears and asks Alice about her upcoming Finance midterm. Alice groans, clearly relating her exasperation with the class and the course. Roommate asks her when she will start standing up for what she wants, instead of deferring to her parents' wishes for every life decision. Roommate asks Alice when she will "let it go". This thought reverberates in Alice's mind as her roommates begins to relate the story of how she defied her own parents to do something and felt very happy with her decision. Alice looks into her reflects in the mirror, apparently searching for something. 

The audience is taken through a series of memories, from a difficult period in Alice's life. She finds out that she is pregnant, is ostracized by her friends, even those whom she thought would stick by her side. She recalls the disappointment and sadness expressed by her parents. A memory comes into view of a friend from college named TOM, who tells her that while he is liberal, he would find it difficult to be with a girl who has already been pregnant. Alice recalls that throughout this painful time, her parents still stuck by her and gave her all of their support even though they suffered greatly for it. Alice questions how she can "let it go" when her parents have never let her go in her times of need. 

Alice blinks, and finds herself in a dimly lit church, sitting next to GENIE. Genie is a lean man wearing a horse mask (reminiscent of a silly male Halloween costume). Genie is praying, and asks Alice why she is not doing the same. Alice explains that she has never prayed sincerely, because she is terrified of actually hearing God's voice and consequently having to change her lifestyle to suit His wishes. Alice remains unconvinced of Genie's true identity. Genie announces that he will grant Alice one wish, but she has to ask him quickly as he has made another appointment. At this moment, Alice notices that her phone is lying on her other side. Alice's younger sister JEAN is calling. Alice picks up the phone, and Jean's lively voice is immediately heard. Jean launches into a story about recent events in her life, while Alice attempts to explain to her own pressing situation. Jean repeatedly asks Alice when she will be coming home. Meanwhile, Genie presses Alice for her wish. He urges her to look into herself to see what she truly wants, and who she truly is. As the tension escalates, Alice tries to mediate the situation with both parties, but gives neither a definitive answer. Alice panics, Genie disappears, and Jean hangs up the phone. 

Chaos reappears in front of Alice, still holding the two pills. Alice angrily grabs them and swallows both. 

Act 3

Upon ingesting the pills, Alice jolts awake and finds herself on the couch. The phone alarm is ringing, indicating that her laundry is done. She switches of the alarm, shaking off the last vestiges of her strange dream. Without a specific conclusion, Alice takes her drying sheets from the table and exits the room. 

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My Thematic Premise

The thematic premise of my video will be cultural truth. Every culture, and even every family unit, develops a set of rules that its members can accept (if not fully agree and comply with). These rules govern the relationships its members forge with everyone around them, both foreign and familiar. At a glance it may seem that some cultures are stronger or “stricter” than others, but this is not the case. Individualistic cultures, while appearing to be more lax in governing relationships between its members, converts all latent energy to governing one’s relationship with oneself. This relationship is as consuming and exhausting as relationships within a group in a collectivistic culture. Nevertheless, while we are completely immersed in our own cultures, it is very difficult to question our norms. What happens then, when a member of one culture moves into the space of another? What happens when we realize that there are other, equally relevant “realities” that are different from our own? How does that affect the way we view our current relationships, and our sense of self? How does that impact the way that we search for happiness? I would like to focus specifically on the individual’s relationship with his/her family, because its dynamic is the most personally intriguing.

  A person’s relationship with her family is unlike any other. It is not like her relationship with her sexuality, or her gender. It is not like her political allegiance, or her religious beliefs. Family is not the “Other”, family is your own.  Family is not a movement or a force; it is your mother, your father, your brother. My video will explore the emotional and intellectual turmoil experienced by a female international student attending this university, as she struggles to separate and integrate the new cultural realities of America with the collectivistic culture of her homeland. Throughout her time at Penn, she continually faces the core dilemma of how much importance she “should” place on her family’s wishes. Through a series of flashbacks, I aim to create an impression of her family’s significance to her, and their notable contributions to her life thus far. Yet she also sees the personal fulfillment achieved by her American friends who choose to go their own way, and tastes some small victories of her own. She questions how much her dependence on her family’s approval has shaped not only her choices but her very personality—is her lack of confidence and her intense fear of shame a result of her upbringing or an inherent trait? On the other hand, she has also witnessed excruciating loneliness, a sporadic by-product of self-sustenance. She sees the transience and coldness at the heart of many relationships around her. In the idealistic and somewhat self-absorbed fashion of college students, she believes this point in her life to be crucial, an irreplaceable pivot along which her life will either shoot straight towards personal success and happiness, or spin off into indecision and regret. She sees the virtue in both “realities” and time is running out to make important choices in her life. I do not aim to promote a specific hypothesis, as this is an open-ended exploration of a question to which I have no answer.

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Hiroshima Mon Amour (44:44 to 1:06:52)

Hiroshima Mon Amour, released in 1959, is a drama film directed by Alain Resnais. Due to his previous documentaries, Resnais was originally commissioned to film a documentary of atomic warfare. What he delivered instead was a deeply disconcerting exploration of the human condition. Hiroshima Mon Amour eventually became one of the major inspirations of the French New Wave, and thus includes some of the non-linear construction and penetrating honesty that can be seen in later films. In this essay I would like to analyze the Tea Room scene, which places He and She at a riverside bar late at night. Running for approximately 22 minutes, this scene is one of the longest of the film. She recounts her life in Nevers, her German lover’s death, her resulting madness as well as her recovery. He probes her with questions, and reacts to her story. The Tea Room scene is at once a criticism of war, an exploration of the commonality in human experiences, and a discussion of the role of memory in our lives. These topics weave in and out of each other through a creative use of lighting, sound, composition, and dialogue. Each element will be discussed in relation to its contribution to larger themes.

The Tea Room scene is shot with an acute awareness of light. As with all aspects of the film, this serves a dual purpose of conveying visual and symbolic information. Light is used frugally; it is rare that everything is illuminated. On a basic level, the amount of light indicates the importance of a subject. Thus, throughout this scene She is highly illuminated, as if she were under a “spotlight” whilst relating her story. It also serves to separate past memories from present events, as all shots of her memory have a softer light quality. As the rippling river’s light reflect onto the characters’ faces, a dream-like quality is achieved in these shots. Resnais draws the audience into this twilight zone, in which the characters discard their individuality to become vessels for different ideas. Light becomes the medium for transformation, for the interchange of past and present. Quickly after the scene begins, He falls into the shadow and assumes the role of the dead German lover. She speaks directly to Him as if He is the lover, recounting the events that followed “His” death. When She is in the light, She is assumes the role of the “reasonable”, healed woman. She speaks quietly, and is even able to smile at her mother’s treatment of her. Yet once She falls into the shadow, she is incapable of calm—her voice begins to rise, tears roll down her cheeks—the dark has transformed her into a previous form, back into the mad angry woman of the past. She jumps into the light, screaming her discontent and thus pulls past into present, signaling a collision between suffering and healing, remembering and forgetting. This raises the question of whether She was ever healed at all, or if her current state was simply a façade, just another act for the French actress in Hiroshima. One is also forced to debate the necessity of memory; on one hand it is unimaginable to lightly forget such awful events, yet, what is the use of truly remembering if it only drowns you in debilitating agony?

Sound, both heard and unheard, is a powerful source of symbolism in the Tea Room scene. From the characters’ table, only faint sounds of chatter in the tea room and traffic beyond can be heard. The most distinct background sound is that of chirping crickets. On a technical level, these sounds successfully complete the setting of this scene. Moreover, the ubiquity of these sounds brings continuity to the cuts between shots in Nevers and Hiroshima (that is, noises of crickets or human activity is common and would be expected in both places, as opposed to being unique to one). Low background sounds, especially a lack of background music, forces the audience to focus on the characters themselves. The mood of the scene cannot be discerned by any other cues save the actors’ expressions and words—much like an actual conversation, the audience must be alert and cannot expect any outcomes by relying on the type of music coloring the scene. An interesting result of the lack of sound is that the audience’s minds are forced to fill in missing sounds for themselves. For example, in the cellar shots where She drags her fingers down the walls and licks them, the sounds of these actions are not given, yet they resonate with frightening clarity in my mind. Much like optical illusions in which the brain compensates for missing pieces of information by conjuring them, the lack of sounds is made up by our imagination, molding the viewing experience into a physically personal one. This is not to say that sounds are absent in this scene. When sounds are noticeable, they serve to blur the lines of reality and tug the audience closer to the twilight zone in which the protagonists reside. In the middle of the scene, a Japanese man puts on a song on the jukebox. The distinctly French quality of the melody raises ambiguity as to whether he is bringing France to Hiroshima, or Hiroshima to France. Towards the end of the scene, a Japanese woman can be heard singing, bringing the characters firmly back to Hiroshima. Sound is also used to build a sense of claustrophobia in the scene. For example, Her wailing moan is made far more terrible due to its unexpectedness. The moan is paired with not a shot of Her wailing, but her wide shot of her parents—this creates the impression that the wail is coming from her mind, possibly both past and present. For a moment, the audience is allowed to inhabit a mind in which there is an endless, tortured screaming.  When She speaks of the “Marseilliase” playing above during her time in the cellar, she exclaims that it is “deafening” and at that moment the background noise of commotion crescendo with her words. The noise, and the psychological pressure it creates, immediately drops off when the scene cuts back to their hands in present time. Another noticeable entrance of sound comes abruptly after He slaps Her face. The near silence that precedes this moment is immediately replaced by instrumental music and commotion; background noise sweeps suddenly back into the audience’s consciousness. This has the jarring effect of pulling viewers out of Her story and back into the Tea Room, reminding them that those were things of the past. Once again, Resnais eludes to the continuum of memory; with careful sound editing he draws the audience into the past and spits them back out again, probing them to question the role of history and the price one has to pay in order to move forward.

The Tea Room scene is beautifully composed. Its content ran the risk of producing one long, visually bland take. Resnais successfully avoids this by combining all the close-up shots at the Tea Room with a variety of other shots in Nevers. Every few moments the audience is granted a reprieve from the closeness at the Tea Room and when they return, its beauty remains fresh. This scene required the powerful dialogue to be accompanied by brief shots. Enough information had to be compressed to elicit emotional understanding from the audience. Some notable instances of this were the bedroom shot and the cat shot. At the line,  “I yearn for you so badly I can’t bear it anymore”, Resnais shows Her fitted at the far end of a small bed, staring quietly at the space available next to her. The suggestion of the missing German lover is so intense it is impossible for the audience to miss. This serene image is somehow more powerful than if Resnais had simply paired the line with a shot of Her weeping. When She introduced the black cat which visited her, He asked her “how long” she was in the cellar. She replied, “an eternity”. Shots of Her sitting at the steps and a close-up for her shadowed face appear. At first glance nothing is amiss, however Resnais included a brief high shot of the black cat to contrast the fact that the cat is moving, while the woman is not. In fact, the woman is so still in the two shots they appear to be photographs. This is essentially the woman’s “eternity” captured on film; a split second in time extended to infinity by a lack of movement.

Above all, this scene is heavily cloaked with Marguerite Duras’ intricate dialogue. Like all the other effects that have been discussed, the dialogue has a lilting, poetic quality which cements the dream-like atmosphere of the Tea Room scene. Duras uses repetition and non-sequiturs to create this effect. Yet the dialogue retains credibility through the way that specific details are highlighted while others are glossed over, much like actual human memory. For example, She remembers standing in the cellar at “six thirty” after her recovery, but cannot remember the moment of her German lover’s death. She speaks about the cathedral bells with wretched hatred, but in comparison calmly summarizes the actions that her entire town took against her. Parts of Her story are dispersed throughout the conversation to create an impression of the events she had to endure. Together, the characters use Her story to explore the nature of memory, knowledge, and the effects of war. The scene opens with Him asking Her if Nevers has “any other meaning in French”. She begins to describe it to Him, using statistical information, “Population 40,000”, much like a news article or a history book would describe distant victims of war. Unsurprisingly, He cannot “imagine Nevers” much like one cannot imagine the atrocities that are written about other places. Without experience one can only ever have a vague impression of events. Other allusions to war include Her time in the cellar. It is revealed that the cellar’s walls are caked with saltpeter. Also known as potassium nitrate, this compound is a component of gunpowder. “It’s deafening”, she says of the commotion that would go on above her every day. This is reminiscent of the air raids that plagued Japan throughout the war, and the experience of being in underground shelters. Ironically, the Marseillaise She was complaining about is the French national anthem. Furthermore, few shelters were actually constructed for Japanese civilians due to a lack of resources. Combined with the identity exchange between Him and the dead German lover, this scene thus explores the unity of human experiences throughout the war. France was a member of the Allied powers, yet the French lady fell in love with two men derived from the Axis powers. She hates her own anthem and mourns the death of her lover on the day of Nevers’ liberation. When describing Her lover’s dead body, She muses that she “couldn’t find the slightest difference between his dead boy and mine [hers]”. Basic human love has successfully transcended the complicated international relations of the time to illuminate a simple truth; in war there are no victors—to succeed is to destroy another, to win is to erode the humanity of your own countrymen. Her anguish is sharply contrasted by Nevers’ reaction to her love affair. They ostracize Her and throw her into the cellar, forcing her to forget. Here Duras’ stance on matters becomes more nuanced. The audience is first persuaded that remembering is the right path. Yet remembering causes Her to go mad, whilst the rest of Nevers moves steadily forward into the future. Hiroshima itself is shown to be such a place; memories of the atomic bombing have been neatly recorded and contained in the museum, but the city surrounding it is fiercely alive. The audience is asked to come to their own conclusion as to which scenario is better. Such a sensitive approach to the topic of war and atomic bombing is probably due to the political climate of the 1960s. In the post-war period it would have been dangerous to harshly criticize the West for its actions against Japan. The dialogue also explores if it is even possible to truly forget. The moment She becomes reasonable, a shot is shown of her going back to the Loire. She recounts being able to hear the cathedral bells again but the realization immediately triggers memories of her love affair. As discussed earlier, these themes are reinforced by the decisions made with lighting and sound.

At this point, most of the discussion has focused on Her. When one turns the lens on the male protagonist, intentions are more difficult to discern. Why does He display such a fierce, and almost perverse curiosity regarding Her past? Throughout the scene He probes Her like an interrogator, even shedding his own identity to play the role of the German lover and move the story along. At the end of the scene He is disturbingly joyous at the knowledge that he is the only one who knows. Yet the impression that He has made by trying so hard to draw the story out of Her is upturned when he slaps her soundly across the face. What were His intentions, and in what way do they provide the last clues to the meaning of this scene? I believe His final words provide a good vantage point to analyze these actions from. Twenty minutes into the scene, He speaks almost straight into the camera, as if half addressing the audience and half musing to himself. He indicates that the love affair itself is not special, as He predicts engaging in more of them “from sheer force of habit”. He will only remember Her as “the symbol of love’s forgetfulness”, and “the horror of forgetting”. Though the words are negative, His delivery of them is so impartial that one concludes forgetting, while horrible, is also inevitable. This may explain why He slaps Her. When She jumps back into the light, bringing past into present, it is as if she has leapt through time and erased all the progress that had been made up to that point. He slaps Her to jolt her back into the present, as a reminder that she cannot lose herself to her memories. It is at once horrible and necessary to forget. Yet if that is the case, why did He tease out this information at all, and why was he so pleased to be Her secret’s keeper? This information signals a clear shift of power from the French woman to the Japanese man. It a post-war world in which Japan has to doubly bear the weight of defeat because of cultural and political differences, I believe this is Resnais’ contribution to rebuilding Japan’s dignity. I am reminded of Churchill’s words, “history is written by the victors”. Though Japan is featured in this film as a victim of war, it nevertheless exists in the Western psyche as part of the “evil” Axis powers. Though the United States ruthlessly crushed a civilian city, it ultimately took pride in the decision because it “ended the war”. As the only keeper of Her secret, the Japanese man is now able to interpret it as he wishes (which he does immediately), and assign any meaning to it that he intends. The opportunity for the East to write Western history is an unprecedented opportunity.

The Tea Room scene was a visual delight. Resnais has utilized all the elements of film to create an emotionally stirring sequence. However, the scene’s true value does not lie in its beauty or the efficiency of its expression. I believe its timelessness is derived from the numerous questions that Resnais has raised, pushing the audience to form its own opinions. The above analysis is only one interpretation among many, and as a result Resnais’ work can be personally meaningful to anyone who watches it. 

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Yui under a harsh lighting scheme, unbalanced frame to create unease.

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Yui makes a coin disappear.

3-point lighting shot 

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Draft of completed product.

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Tenth shot: close-up shot of the character 

Relevant segment: 0:02-0:07

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Ninth shot: Second character is performing his daily morning routine. 

Relevant segment: 0:01-0:03

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Seventh shot: We reach the door where the second character is located 

Relevant segment: all

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Sixth shot: going up the stairs, travelling to the second character

Relevant segment: 0:01-0:04