Glad to see you here everyone! I am an amateurish film critic and you can call me Syrup. Now I am a year 3 student in Communication Studies, from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. This semester, I learned a module called European Cinema and watched several interesting films. Today, I will focus on a shot in Dogville (2003) and share my opinions about this film. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.
Lars von Trier, the director of Dogville (2003), expressed his direct criticism of American capitalism and values in this film (Habash, 2017, p.25). Dogville consists of nine chapters and the director’s attitude toward capitalism can be found in many details in the film. The shot I plan to analyse in this film blog is a fragment of Dogville, ranging from 2:02:22 – 2:02:43, about 19 seconds.
This shot is at the end of chapter seven, when the heroine Grace follows Tom’s suggestion to escape the Dogville by hiding in Ben’s truck but failed. Due to charging Grace with stealing old Tom’s money, dwellers decide to make “a kind of escape prevention mechanism” to keep Grace staying in the village. Thus, Grace is forced to wear dog Moses’s collar, with a bell on it, and a waste wheel is connected with her collar by a metal chain.
The shot begins with a medium shot of Grace. Grace firstly said, with looking down at the wheel: “I have to figure out how I’m going to get into my house.” Not getting a response, she looks up and asked, with the bell ringing on beside her neck: “Or is that part of the punishment, having to sleep outdoors?” When hearing her doubt, old Tom immediately occurs in the frame and walks close to Grace and explained: “No, no, no, Grace. Don’t think this as a punishment. Not at all!” The shot changes into a medium two-shot. Then he turns and points the chain: “Bill, he made the chain long enough so that you can sleep in your bed.” The camera turns and shoots the chain from a high angle as old Tom speaking. The shot ends with a medium shot of dwellers’ lower bodies and the chain.
The medium shot is used almost throughout this clip. As Lynch (2020) suggested, the medium shot allows the director to achieve a balance between capturing details and emphasizing the scene (Figure 1). Thus, at the beginning, the shot not only captures Grace’s expression, clothing and body language, but also include trees, a bench and other dwellers. Firstly Additionally, Grace’s clothing is worth paying attention to as well. After she became a labour in Dogville, she seldom wears her long and luxurious black overcoat, which she wore on the day she fled to the village. This also indicates the transition of her identity – from a delicate girl to a humble labour, which aims to emphasize that once a person become a pure labour, the value of his labour has become independent from himself (Habash, 2017, p.27). When it comes to dwellers surrounding Grace, it can be found that Ginger gazes at Grace with compassion in her eyes, and this frame indicates that in the offscreen space, other residents surround Grace and stare at her as well. The angle of camera shooting is noteworthy. From an angle facing Grace, it can be inferred that the camera makes audience stand on the position of other dwellers, to observe what happens distantly. In addition, although we can find sympathy in Ginger’s eyes, she neither prevents the humiliating behaviour nor comforts Grace. It can be inferred that even if Ginger considers the behaviour unreasonable, she is afraid to express her objection. Additionally, it is interesting that Tom, Grace’s lover, is not in the crowd surrounding Grace. Combing the plot before this shot, he sits on a bench far away from Grace with his head bent, not facing them. As the person Grace trusts the most in the village, Tom fails to help her. Habash (2017, p.35) points out a detail in the film that the day Tom tells Grace that he seems falling in love with her is the 4th of July, the only day Grace can have a rest. This can be interpreted that love is vulnerable when facing capitalist oppression and exploitation, and love can only exist “as a break in the tale of exploitation” (Habash, 2017, p.35).
Moreover, old Tom’s reaction to Grace’s words is also worth discussing(Figure 2). He has not said anything until Grace seems disgruntled at the way she is treated and queries whether the mechanism is a punishment. He firstly walks towards Grace and reaches out his hand, touching her arm – this gesture can be understood as a friendly behaviour in the daily life. At the same time, he repeats “no” for several times in order to deny Grace’s query firmly. However, the explanation and comfort given to Grace seem to be ridiculous: we have considered the problem of sleeping and using a long enough chain, so the mechanism is not a punishment. These unreasonable words reflect the unequal relationship between Grace and dwellers in Dogville – they even disdain to make up a rational explanation. This is a blatant disrespect on Grace. Meanwhile, when old Tom talks to Grace, the camera stays in its position, instead of moving ahead and turning to shoot his face. From Pippin’s (2016) point of view, to some extent, shooting character’s back indicates hidden secret and back can be interpreted as the most vulnerable part of body. Hence, it supports that old Tom pretends to show his kindness to Grace. Obviously, Grace has lost her identity of a person and become a commodity under Dogville’s exploitation (Habash, 2017, p.25).
Thirdly, Grace’s obedience to dwellers’ abuse is one of the most important causes that leads to her tragedy. Combining plots happen before this shot, she does not argue or reject to villagers’ unreasonable and offensive behaviour. The only thing she does is to keep silent and stoop, to accept Ben’s strengthening on her collar. She tends to shoulder all responsibility, including figuring out whether she is able to take the wheel back to her home. Meanwhile, her query about the mechanism is also strange and her tone is gentle: instead of regarding the mechanism as a shame, she asks if the inconvenience of sleeping is a penalty. Her question shows that in her subconscious, the existence mechanism is rational. In other words, she has lost her dignity and accepted her lower status under such circumstances. Combing the sound effect – ringing of the bell on her neck – with her words, the scene seems ridiculous.
(Word Count: 1028)
Reference:
Habash, N.L. (2017). Critique of Calculation : Labour, Productivity, Limits, and Love in Lars Von Trier’s Dogville. Revue Canadienne d’Études Cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 26(1), 24–44.
MasterClass. (2020). Film 101: What Is a Medium Shot? Understanding the Essentials of Using a Medium Shot in Film [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is-a-medium-shot-understanding-the-essentials-of-using-a-medium-shot-in-film#8-different-types-of-medium-shots
Pippin, R. (2015). Psychology Degree Zero? The Representation of Action in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers. Critical Inquiry 41, pp.757-785.
Trier, L. von (2003). Dogville. Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, UK; France, Finland, Norway, Italy: Zentropa, Isabella Films, Something Else B.V.
