Author：Lesley—a film lover
Blog 1: The Eternal Love
In the end of Theo Angelopoulos’s film Eternity and A Day, there is a long shot lasting 445 seconds from 1:58:33 to 2:05:58. It is the last shot of the film. After bidding farewell to the Albanian boy, Alexander returned to the house near the sea, where he spent most of his greatest days from childhood to the early days with his wife Anna and other family members, to spend the last minute before going to the hospital. The house bearing spirits and beautiful memories of Alexander now were sold and became decayed and empty. Nothing left, the happy family in this house had gone.
The Long Shot
For Angelopoulos, the lengthy, continuous shot is his natural choice (Horton, 2010, p.23). The long shot builds the entire slowly developing scenes around the characters, and develops an atmosphere for the viewers to feel and to catch the small trivial details in the film. As Angelopoulos said, his long takes is “a living cell which inhales” (Horton, 2010, p.23). Horton also stated the power of the sustained tracking shots is for audiences to immerse themselves to the space and place in movie where the characters live in.
Time, Place and Space
Angelopoulos is recognized in the innovative way of releasing the memories of protagonists by giving a flashback (Bordwell, 2005, p.148), which is to employ the time, place and space.
At 1:58:33, it begins at the door opening with Anna’s voice which let the past day scene gradually appearing with the rectangle frame created by the door frame. The door is as a border which connects the present and the past, a border which separates the dark inside standing only Alexander with loneliness and sadness and the bright beach and sea outside. The camera, which is slowly pushed out moving straight forward, works as both the eyes of Alexander and the audiences. By crossing the gate, Alexander saw the celebration day for the baby’s birth. He saw his family singing, playing music and dancing at the sea horizon in a line. Anna felt the arrival of Alexander and walked to him firmly. At this moment, the time actually is intertwined or disappearing in other word. The beach as a unique place, creates a space let Alexander at present join the previous event, so he could then talk with Anna, and danced with her. As Horton said,
Transcendence of time and place has become a major theme in all of Angelopoulos’s films, one that manifests itself in the triumph of individuals over time, place, politics, and history at a particular moment. (Horton, 2010, p. 26)
The signs of the transcendence of time and space, except the door, are reflected throughout the shot. Alexander entered the imagined world of the past sweet day as the image of the present self. For instance, dressed in a black rain-drenched trench coat, Alexander entered his family in white. He was supposed to be also wearing white. His family and Anna looks still young, but Alexander's face is wrinkled, his hair and beard is gray. When Alexander talked to Anna, there was no reply because actually there was no one in reality.
At the end, at 2:03:19, Anna run out of the camera, and the music stopped, representing the disappearance of the illusion.
The directer employed this technique here bring Alexander the last comfort for his last minute in this place. This magical transition from reality to Alexander’s imagination is reasonable because of the eternal beach, sea, the wave sound and Alexander’s love to Anna.
Alexander’s Love to Anna
For Alexander’s love to Anna, Angelopoulos is master at using mise-en-scène to express it by putting Anna in the center.
At 2:00:07, a lower angle shot was used since the sea level is a fewer higher which keeps a distance from the upper third of the screen. Anna stood in the center of a cross-shaped wooden walkway, and the vertical one of which divides the composition in half, causing the audience to focus on Anna. Companied with the camera angle and composition in this scene, Anna dressed white surrounded by blue sea and sky and her face could not be seen clearly, which makes Anna just like the Muse. The sense of stage in depth also lays stress on Anna, who stands at the front and looks bigger, and throws the small background people out of focus. By employing a tracking shot, camera gradually approaches Anna when Alexander walked to her, which makes her look larger. As a result, it also intensifies our focus on Anna as the protagonist of the scene.
At 2:01:37, dancing also highlights the vital state of Anna in Alexander’s heart. Other family members danced around Anna and Alexander, who play the function of the center of the scene, constantly changing their positions, while the couple always stayed in the center of the picture with a small range of movement, which is convenient for the audience's eyes to track them continuously and steadily. In this scene, Alexander, dressed all in black, looks outstanding as he entered the crowd who dressed in white. For Anna, who danced with him in a tight embrace, is also distinguished from others by the black color.
In Alexander’s mind, Anna is always who he loves most. Therefore, the protagonist of his imagination is her. In this way, the director employed mise-en-scène to emphasize her centrality from both the perspective from Alexander and the audiences.
Reference List:
Bordwell, D. (2005). in light: on cinematic staging. California: University of California Press.
Horton, A. (2010). The master of slow cinema: space and time--actual, historical, and mythical--in the films of Theo Angelopoulos. Cineaste, 36(1), pp. 23-27.
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Blog 2: The Ominous War And The Unhappy Marriage
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born in post-war West Germany, which was busy in reconstruction after World War II and enjoying a brief boom in the 1950s called the “economic miracle”. However, the film industry in 50s was repressed. It was because the government prohibited to the sensitive theme such as the Nazis, and people in Germany intentionally avoided the topic of war because of the scars it brought (Wang, 1994). In order to change this situation, the Oberhausen Manifesto was released in 1962. It gave birth to the New German Cinema which with the aim to reflect the past disaster under the fascist rule, and prompt people to rethink of the dark history (Wang, 1994, p.24). When Fassbender entered into the film industry, he coincided with this period of artistic innovation, so he inevitably contributed his enthusiasm in to it. Therefore, both the historical context (the WWII) and the cultural context (the New German Cinema) had a great influence on Fassbender's film The Marriage of Maria Braun which was shot in 1978 as one of his master pieces. The film interwove the historical trauma of the Nazi war with the dark images of the post-war reconstruction of Germany from the perspective of the hardships of marriage facing by the heroine Maria Braun.
History
Firstly, the film contains a detailed and restored depiction of the history. The cruelty of the war and its remaining influence can be discovered through Maria's daily life. On the beginning of the film, Maria and Hermann got married in the shabby wedding registration office where hanged on a portrait of Hitler and suffered air attack in accident. Finally they lied on the ruined ground to complete the registration. However, the just been married Herman was conscripted, leaving Maria alone.
Even the war was over, the shadow of it was still everywhere. The train stations were plastered with missing people notices. Maria and other women roamed around the station and streets carrying boards with their husbands' name and photo, hoping to see their loved ones again.
Money and jewels were no longer worth anything. After the war, what Germans needed are food, firewood, alcohol and tobacco. In shadowy alleys and run-down houses, people traded their beloved things for what they needed. Maria, for example, exchanged her mother's jewel brooch for a bottle of wine and a suitable dress.
In addition, there is a bar opened on the streets by German to specially serve the American soldiers. Maria found her precious job here, which was to company the American.
Fassbender did not deliberately give detailed descriptions of the ruins and German civilians who suffered after the disaster, and many of the sufferings appeared on Maria's journey on the street and in the conversations with others. The life, which Maria experienced daily and made her feel numb, could have an impact on calling the audience to face the cruelty of the war.
Character Development and Historical Influence
In addition to showing the history, the director Fassbinder made use of the transformation of Maria's character to reveal the influence and connection of the past to the reality. According to He (2006), the emotional fate of the character is the historical epitome of the society.
In the beginning, Maria was a pure girl, sacredly treated her marriage and deeply in love with Hermann. Even forced by life, Maria worked as the bar hostess and still said that she only sell beer, not sell her own. That all changed when her friend brought back news of Hermann's death. From then on, Maria began to indulge her emotions and use the status of the American soldier to receive rich life supplies for herself and her family. All the transition happened because of the inevitable consequences of World War II. The war made Maria's life difficult and caused her material poverty, and it also took her husband Hermann away (though later it explained that Hermann was only captured), leaving her emotionally empty.
In the economic reconstruction period after the war, in order to adapt to the change of times and obtain material enjoyment, Maria sold her beauty and body, regardless of moral condemnation. She fell into the arms of a third man, the textile mill owner Oswald, and became wealthy. At this time, Maria's personality was seriously split, the state of her mind was distorted (Huang, 1987, p.125). To further exemplified this, there is a scene could indicate the change of Maria. When Maria visited Herman in prison, she told him that she loved him, but also told him about the affair between her and Oswald in a calm and cold tone, as if it was a normal situation. When the economy in Germany took off and people were busy making money, Maria gained a rich material life, but her spirit was already extremely poor. At this time, she believed that affection could be used more in exchange for benefits.
According to He (2006), the protagonist Maria was the product of the history and the age. Her split personality in the film not only reveals the human alienation by the tragic aesthetic, but also intensifies the director's criticism of the World War II, the post-war Germany and the German nation (He, 2006, p.95).
In keeping with the aim of the New German Cinema which is to recall the reflection on the WWII, Fassbinder shot the film to show not only the devastation that the war left Germany, but also the indelible trauma that left its people. The misfortunes on Maria's marriage was a consequence of the war. The ominous aftermath of the war emerged at the beginning of the film, the moment Maria registered her marriage.
Reference List:
He, C. G. (2006). 历史创伤的反思，传统艺术的创新 [Reflection on historical trauma and innovation of traditional art]. GUANGXI SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2006(7), pp.92-96.
Huang, S. X. (1987). 赋予形象以历史的思辨力——《玛丽娅·布劳恩的婚姻》赏析 [Analyze the Characters From the Perspective of History -- Appreciation of the Marriage of Maria Braun]. Contemporary Cinema,1987(01), pp. 123-133.
Wang, Y. (1994). 战后联邦德国电影对纳粹主义的反思 [Reflection on Nazism in Postwar German Cinema]. Teacher Education Forum, 1994(2), pp. 23-26.
