There is a scene in the film Dogville where the police are outside questioning the residents of Dogville about Grace's whereabouts when the seemingly honest Chuck is threatening Grace with force and informant, then raping her. This scene appears in Chapter 6 “In Which Dogville Bares Its Teeth”, and it starts at one hour and thirty-four minutes into the film and lasts about three minutes (von Trier et al., 2003).
The white lines represent the walls, doors and windows, and it is actually that the police and Chuck are in two different spaces separated by the walls; however, due to the transparent visual effect set on the stage, the audience is presented with two simultaneous scenes: one is Grace's pain, she is threatened and raped by Chuck; on the other side, the police are questioning the villagers.
Koutsourakis(2013, p.167) argues that in the rape scene, von Tier manipulated the limited space and arranged a variety of body postures and attitudes, revealing the collective dimension of an individual's behavior. Firstly, the camera follows Chuck as he approaches Grace and begins a sexual flirtation (figure 1). As Chuck puts his body on top of Grace, the camera moves away to capture a police officer questioning and searching for Grace's information. The camera then cuts to the rest of Dogville as they chat or conduct their daily routines. It is shown by panoramic lens that the other people are doing various things "outside", while the rape going on "inside" in the same frame (figure 2). The transparent stage scenery makes the audience feel that the other people in the story seem to be able to see what is happening in Chuck's house, but just choose to ignore and be indifferent, which strengthens the drama of the scene and its emotional guidance to the audience.
This highly dramatic scene is actually attributed to the use of "stage" throughout Dogville. The film is three hours long, but what is surprising is that the whole story takes place on one stage. The stage represents a "dogville" that is flat rather than three-dimensional. The stage is divided into large and small areas by lines (figure 3). The film uses panoramic shots to present the whole picture of the Dogville to the audience. Aerial photography of the town not only gives full view to the social structure as the setting of the film, but also reflect the biblical implications of the film that can be interpreted as the perspective of God (Jovanovic, 2017, p. 195). The closed square represents the houses of the villagers. The places decorated by the brush are currant fruit showers. Except for some props that have to be used on the stage, such as clocks, benches, mines, etc., other props are turned into abstract lines. Even the dogs in Dogville are shown in front of people in the outline drawn (figure 4). Therefore, on this stage, the performers need to complete the actions and convey the information without the help of props. The expression of the movie picture completely depends on whether the actors' performance is vivid or not.
It is such a perspective-stage setting that makes Dogville unreservedly present. Although it can fit several scenes that are happening into one shot, the story plot doesn't interfere with each other, and the characters are doing their own things in their own space; while what it shows the audience is a straight forward revelation of good and evil. In real life, through a door or a wall, a person can disguise or become someone else. Because a door or wall is a barrier between people and the outside world, closed the door, people can do whatever they want in the enclosed indoor space, while the people outside know nothing about it. Without these objects, however, one would appear naked before the eyes of others. Indeed, the dogville in the film has no doors or windows,breaking the line between public space and the private world. The scene that shocked the audience is Chuck raping Grace in public and in full view, and then go out as if nothing had happened after raping Grace. Dogville makes possible a perspective that is impossible in real life, exposing the ugliness that the characters try to hide.
The second time Grace was raped was in Ben's truck full of apples (figure 5). Here, a long shot from above shows the ugly and dirty humanity of another townsman, Ben. It's not the same as Chuck's first rape on the"dramatic stage" —— this time it takes place in a closed truck, but the director still makes it transparent. Bida (2018, p.140) has pointed out that the intrusions into the private space don't change as the scene changes, the cloth covering the truck becomes translucent, to mimic the invisible walls of the town. Eventually this long take ends with dogs barking and towns people uncovering the translucent cloth - her escape is a failure (figure 6). Invisible walls and translucent coverings have a voyeuristic effect and show that towns people are accomplices.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the blind people in the dogville are given the image of gentlemen. He took great care of his personal appearance, tried to hide his blindness and always kept his clothes sharp. In order to make the blind face the reality, Grace pulled open the curtain of the blind man's room, and the beautiful scenery was outside the window. The light outside the window was orange, representing warmth and grandeur (figure 7). And the blind man's love of light is also a symbol of the pursuit of good things. However,when we go back to the same scene again, after Grace is locked in chains, leaves are falling outside the window. Through the window with the curtains drawn, the camera shows the blind man molesting Grace (figure 8). Pervasive perspective makes it impossible for bad desires to hide.
Many seemingly good and kind people are exposed to the evil of human nature on the perspective-oriented stage of dogville. Transparent visual effects in shot become a testing ground for good and evil.
Reference
Berrie, G., Brokempe, B., & Børglum, L. (Producer), von Trier, L. (Director). (2003). Dogville [Motion Picture]. Denmark: Fjeldabe Films AS.
Bida, A. (2018). Welcome as House Arrest in Lars von Trier’s Dogville. In M. Palgrave(Ed.). Mapping Home in Contemporary Narratives (pp. 133-147). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97967-0_9
Jovanovic, N. (2017).Brechtian Cinemas: Montage and Theatricality in Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, Peter Watkins, and Lars Von Trier. Nenad Jovanovic. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Koutsourakis, A. (2013). Politics as Form in Lars von Trier: A Post-Brechtian Reading. doi: 10.5040/9781628928846
