#possibly The Shining for the former (eg that overhead shot of the staircase) but i don't remember the film enough to analyse it

[vagueeyes]

So one thing we all know about DIDDLE DIDDLE DUMPLING is its use of symmetry. Today, I took a further look and tried to examine how the characters' costumes are a part of this.

In the commentary, r&s talk about how the symmetry was not in the script, so this was very much brought to life by Guillem Morales/DOP John Sorapure/production designer Simon Rogers/art director Elizabeth Bromby. Reece, in particular, remarks on how beautiful the episode is shot and that you can tell it's composed:

It's got that sort of orderedness – is part of the creepiness, I think. It creeps into the dread of the episode and how this mania grips this man, and how he can't let go of this idea of putting things right in his head.

Which does mean that, if David is seeing symmetry everywhere, then, to me, the house itself represents his mind.

Here are some frames where I think the colours of David's clothes often match with whatever room he's in (aided by the lighting, I'm sure), and the camera is positioned in a way to suggest that he's blending in with the house (or about to be swallowed by it?):

The family mirror each other too, such as the patterned shirts and similar colours/tones:

It even extends to non-family characters!

When I got to the Chris/lunch scene, I only realized then that this is probably the only time where Louise is dressed in colours that are not similar to David. If anything, the colours of her dress seem closer to Chris' shirt:

When Ted comes into the house, he's dressed in a shade of green, the same as David's running shirt - perhaps to give you the (false) sense that maybe he is the real owner of the shoe?

In the ending though, David's blue jumper sort of puzzles me. Is he still blending in, or is he not because he's finally unraveled? I was always struck by the way he's standing in between the two chairs, with the curtains (mostly) drawn.

As if he's finally been engulfed by the house.

Note: huge props to this fantastic review, which pointed out a lot of things I never realized!