|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Discuss the set extract from All About My Mother, commenting on the film’s mise-en-scene.
There are lots of themes in All About My Mother that are subtly introduced in the first five minutes and thirty seconds. Firstly, I will attempt to describe the shots in the sequence and their immediate connotations, then relate them to the themes within the overall film. ... Music accompanies the opening – music that is both mournful and hopeful, fast and slow, high-pitch plucked Spanish guitar contrasting with low-pitch plonky piano. The music also changes time signature more than once – indeed, for the first thirty seconds, it is very difficult to distinguish a time signature at all, such is the convoluted nature of the piano piece. ... Yet it fits with the piece perfectly – at once intriguing and pleasing the listener – a reflection of the film, perhaps. The music obviously affects how we interpret the images on the screen, and when shown a drip bag (backwards to our eyes – heightening the alien-ness of the machinery) as the opening image, the mournful tone of the music suggests a death or similar tragedy. ...
We tilt up to see Manuela; dressed in a nurse’s uniform – as Emma Wilson describes her (in her argument for seeing Manuela as the virgin Mary) – “The camera moves up to pause on Manuela’s face as icon. ... Manuela’s face is calm and contoured, but barely readable: it figures as veil concealing and containing her emotions.” (2003:66)
There is a cut to a wider shot of the hospital room – Manuela’s body replaces her face’s position at the right of the frame, keeping the focus on her and reducing the left side of the screen to mere background. The actors heighten this by hardly moving at all, and the set and props are almost uniformly grey. There is one small patch of red and three small patches of green, but these match with Manuela and the other nurse’s uniforms, helping reinforce this background effect. ... This could be interpreted as Almodóvar’s reference to his own usage throughout the film of very obvious signs, more often than not in bright primary colours. For example, characters intended to be seen as positive are often wearing red (Manuela, Agrado and Rosa) and negative characters are often seen wearing blue (Rosa’s mother).
Manuela enters from the left, continuing the motion she left the last frame with – what’s noticeable is the pause on the door before she arrives, as if to highlight the importance of the signs in the film. ... This might be a continuance from the last idea – the doorframes infringing on the frame could represent the frame, and the camera’s obvious movement through the door and after her could tell us that we are going to be following her. ... As the film includes transvestites and other minorities in this solidarity of sisterhood, it seems only logical that minority religions (in Spain at least) should not escape this togetherness. The set also appears to be a personalised desk, which creates this link between the two characters, as well as their friendly tone as they discuss the near-deceased’s details. ... Having established Manuela’s job, we cut to her home. The contrast is as clear as possible – after the cold grey sterility of the hospital, Manuela’s kitchen is deliberately a feast of colourful life.
Approximate Word count = 2840
Approximate Pages = 11.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|