This movie would be very difficult to analyze with mise on scene due to director Lars Von Trier's Dogme '95 style of filming. The style utilizes handheld camera usage and no artificial lighting. That being said, what I can determine from this scene is that the priest is the dominant. Although he is behind the unconscious body of the main character Bess, one's eyes are drawn to the suspicious, angry emotions of the priest. Bess was returning to her ultra religious community from her first trial of her new scandalous prostitute life, and the priest has just driven off children from stoning her. Being the dominant, it is clear that he’s torn from helping the poor girl and shunning her for her whorish activities (which have a deeper meaning in the movie.) Again, due to Dogme ’95, the lighting is a little hard to pinpoint. Using the natural light of the Scottish highlands highlights the grim and bleak outlook on life that everyone from that community has. There is almost no sunshine in the whole movie, which gives it a dark and gloomy feeling that sort of predicts the outcome. The character proxemics are pretty personal, seeing as how her unconscious body is laying at the feet of the priest. This highlights his indecision to either help or leave her there on the ground.
The from this scene helps illuminate the overall message of the film: what is the correct way to be “good” and how one goes about doing so. The priest is doing what he feels to be good by following the rules of the community and shunning sinners. Bess is doing what she believes to be good by sleeping with other men to fuel her husband’s desires and to obey God by obeying her husband.
No comments:
Post a Comment