Far From Heaven Film - Essay Example

Reading Film Table of Contents Introduction 3 A Short Sequence that Lasted Long 4 The Reason for the Representation 6 References 8 Bibliography 9 Introduction Cinema has been a very strong medium of art since inception. This form of art has been able to establish itself as the strongest mouthpiece of any director, writer or of any creative artist. Cinema also forms a great medium to reach out the voice of an author or director as it is a mass media. ‘Far From Heaven’, released in the year of 2002 is a creation of one of the most intelligent and idiosyncratic directors of the contemporary cinema, Todd Haynes. The film is uniquely beautiful and religiously follows the visual style of apparently seeming women’s picture encapsulating the lush visual style of 1950s. The film is a superb blend of sexuality and racial prejudice. The film captivates one of the brilliant performances by Juliana Moore. With a vulnerable emotion and strength of mind, she portrays the emotion of a housewife whose spouse has a covert gay life. It’s amazingly true that a movie like ‘Far From Heaven’ has that stylish finish along with tremendous emotional compulsion. This is a rare blend indeed and the greatest achievement with this particular film is the immaculate compatibility between the crew and the stars that make every moment of the movie artificial As well as deeply felt. (Indiana University, n.d.) Bret Fetzer has rightly observed, “Far From Heaven is ingenious and completely engrossing” (Fetzer, n.d.). A Short Sequence that Lasted Long In a film like ‘Far From Heaven’, the ambience of the narrative and the projection of the theme are never obvious. Yet, the film slowly enchants its spectators and one doesn’t need to wait for long to experience complete entwinement with the film. The film is extremely sensitive and far from being a mere domestic melodrama of Whittaker family, the movie is a strong portrayal of myriad social consideration that transports the film to a realm of difference from the ordinary movies of the same genre. Picking up a particular scene from the movie with so many emotionally exuberance is very difficult. Yet, the scene which forms the most sensitive and most climactic scene of the entire film demands a detailed description. The scene to be noted is where Cathy Whittaker, played by Julianne Moore finds her man Frank, played by Dennis Quaid, in the arms of his gay partner. Undoubtedly, Moore reaches the league of the contemporary actresses after this brilliant performance. The language of camera transcends any narrative incorporated in this scene and the feeling and the expression of Moore is equally mind-blowing. The cinematography, score implementation of light editing and sets make it a complete visual. The visual effect used at the backdrop of the scene makes it so compatible with the plot; expression and feel of the scene that it feels like those are made for the film only. The cinematography of the film is brilliant and cinematographer Edward Lanchman ASC, whose first collaborative venture with Haynes was awesome, was most brilliant indeed in this particular scene. As Edward said, “We wanted to create a saturated ‘Technicolor’ look, but we didn’t want to use digital methods. I exposed the film stocks one to two stops over the recommended exposure to create a dense negative” (Silberg, 2002). This feel was more prominent in this scene. The use of music and light are created with a feel of foreboding in this scene. For the usage of score and lights, Haynes himself commented, “I also think the lighting style helps to create a kind of intense foreboding and a sense of danger” (Silberg, 2002). The setting of the movie and this scene in particular matches the era of 1950s. The costume and the props are incorporated keeping in mind the background era of the plot. The scene where Cathy Whittaker finds her husband in the arms of another man is completely out of her imagination and scheme of things. One side, her expectation and satisfaction with her “happy days” and on the other hand, her realization of a breaking dream is very difficult to fit into a scene that is so determining and climactic to the plot of the movie. In this place, the subtleties of editing become important and the scene is brilliantly edited with the miracle usage of colors by Lanchman. The close shot of Moore’s expression and the numbness of her eyes along with the amorous lusty jesters which Moore discovers is well fitted into one frame so brilliantly that it appears to be parallel and simultaneous without any fault. The detailed cinematography, music, costume and light of the movie are done to portray a complete look of 1950’s. The detailed work was accomplished with a vision so that the rich stylistics are portrayed superbly discarding every scope of artificiality for the film and the scenes created. The Reason for the Representation The climactic scene where Cathy finds her man in the arms of his gay partner is obsessive and determining. It completely changes the course of the plot. This scene can be taken as a divide between the seemingly “happy days” of Cathy with which she feels absolutely contended and the beginning of a new phase in her life which is completely dark and full of foreboding. Cathy brings dinner to her husband’s office to surprise him and she gets the surprise of her life when she awfully watches her husband kissing another man. This scene speaks so many things. Encapsulating the entire theme of the movie this particular scene stands uniquely stunning in the history of Hollywood cinema. Cathy’s silence after the betrayal speaks about the social inhibitions of women to digest most of the things around them in a patriarch society for the sake of the family, social respect and their own future. Haynes wanted his audience to feel the surreal along with the characters portrayed amidst the stereotypes of the domestic drama and a reality too hard to face archetypal of the 1950’s society. He wanted us to see through this scene, the social stigma which an American lady fears about and to their very unconscious falls prey to the clutches of the social scandals. If this would have been the film of Douglas Sirk starring Lana Turner as Cathy then we would have seen her fighting with her man to save the marriage, but the greatest difference of the scene is that Cathy doesn’t finds her man in the arms of another woman. In her case she had to first understand and discover properly what to fight and with whom to fight and tired, depressed and aback by the behavior of her husband, she advices him to consult a psychiatrist and herself finds solace in the company of her African American gardener. In this way, to her utter ignorance, she herself indulges into a scandal. Through this scene Haynes tried to create the mood which is his sole objective to make a film with a backdrop of 1950’s in 2002. The film with its rich aesthetics and stylistics true to the era of 1950’s cannot be considered as a domestic drama. Though it is conceived in the tradition very much similar to the time of Douglas Sirk but Haynes takes the leap which is very much evident from the portrayal of his climactic scene. He wanted to recreate the feel of a past era through technical prowess and thematically transcend the genre which he attains through this scene. This scene also marks a change in the trajectory of Cathy’s character and we can feel her opening up gradually. The film “Far From Heaven” is remarkable for its technical aspects and thematic innovations with the surprising blend of emotional exuberance. The film bears the signature of the Hollywood’s one of the most intelligent and smartest directors, Todd Haynes (Dujsik, 2002). References Dujsik, M. Mark Reviews Movies. Far From Heaven. [Online] Available at: http://mark-reviews-movies.tripod.com/reviews/F/farfromheaven.htm [Accessed March 10, 2010]. Fetzer, B., No Date. Far From Heaven (2002). Amazon. [Online] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Far-Heaven-Julianne-Moore/dp/B00005JLQH [Accessed March 10, 2010]. Indiana University, No Date. Far From Heaven. The Black Film Center. [Online] Available at: http://www.indiana.edu/~bfca/collection/films/films_F.shtml [Accessed March 10, 2010]. Silberg, J., 2002. Interview by John Silberg. American Cinematographer. [Online] Available at: http://www.theasc.com/magazine/dec02/far/index.html [Accessed March 10, 2010]. Bibliography Cook, P. & Bernink, M. The Cinema Book. BFI Publishing, 1999. Lodge, D. & Wood, N. Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. Longman, 2000. Read More