Component 2a: Essay (Performance)

Essay

The directors of both Pan’s Labyrinth and Wild Tales employ aspects of performance to convey meaning throughout their films in order to have a wide range of effects on the audience.

The basis of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth revolves around the civil war in Spain. An election in 1936 brought to power a leftist Popular Front government, that was followed by Fascist and extreme-right forces response, causing an army mutiny and coup attempt that turned into a civil war. The film is set in 1944 after the fascist victory as the remaining rebels are routed out and killed.

The sequence starts with Ofelia walking gingerly across the wooden floor, wary that her mother is tired and the floor is cold on her feet, moving to lie close to her on the bed, showing that the bond between them is strong and they protect each other, speaking softly to comfort her pain. Carmen is a rational mother, blaming the creaking noises that disconcert Ofelia on the wind whereas Ofelia is continually looking for the fantastical in all elements of reality such as what might be causing the noises. Ofelia is clearly disappointed that her mother decided to marry the Captain, lacking understanding about why she had to in order to survive but fails to show any animosity towards her as she cares for her as she is her mother, but feels that they are in this unsavoury situation because of her mother. Carmen is pregnant with Ofelia’s unborn baby brother and in great pain that continues to unsettle her. Ofelia leans over her stomach and whispers gently to the baby as she has a kind nature, supposedly comforting her brother to ease her mothers pain despite the fact that the baby is causing agony as she cares for them both as a maternal figure, beginning to tell him a story as the audience goes inside her mothers womb where her voice transitions to narration and takes on an echoey quality.

Ofelia continues telling her story until her mother falls asleep, shifting to focus on the Captain who sits with a precise and accurate posture in his separate room, fully uniformed as he is disciplined even when off duty with a calculating nature, gently caring for his gold watch which contrasts his brutality that he has shown so far in the film against those he views as inferior to himself. He begins by enquiring about the welfare of his wife, giving the impression that despite his cruel appearance he does care about her but then brushes the matter aside after the doctor confirms that she is fine, swiftly moving on to ask about his unborn son, preventing his own troops from delivering a message to him so that they might complete the task they were originally sent to the mill for to check that his son is doing well. The fact that he rejects the possibility of his baby being a daughter shows his attitude towards women, creating tension for the audience as he now has two vulnerable women staying at his place of residence who he is likely to disregard and unlikely to go out of his way to ensure their protection once he has the son that he desires. After he learns that his soldiers have captured two prisoners he heads outside to interrogate them. When interrogating the farmers, he disregards their possessions as he has a lack of care for the property of others, also implying that he has already made up his mind about what course of action he should take with them, meaning that when the farmers son bravely backs up his fathers statement that they are merely farmers, doing so in the knowledge that he is surrounded by armed and imposing soldiers, the Captain brutally beats his face repeatedly, leaving his body to drop lifeless to the floor, demonstrating the level in which the Captain’s callous extends too. His savage nature appears to be a predictable trait of his as the soldiers holding the father is able to move quickly out the way before he is shot, showing that his violence is predictable. Two innocent farmers now lye dead on the ground, but after discovering they were telling the truth about simply hunting for rabbits, rather than accepting any blame himself for not searching through the contents of their bag thoroughly, he puts blame on his soldiers who all stand to attention as he addresses them, fearing his command. The Captain need never shout or raise his voice as he shows what the consequences of disobedience will be through his collected and sadistic personality.

Another Global film that appropriately uses performance to convey meaning is the portmanteau film Wild Tales, with six different stories, all connected by themes of violence and revenge, directed by Damián Szifron.

At the beginning of the wedding sequence, there is shown to be a large group of guests sitting at tables, laughing and cheering whilst a montage of photos is projected onto a large screen in front of everyone, suggesting that this sequence is going to be taking place during a happy and joyful occasion. The room is filled with energy, moving to the pace of the music as people begin to dance around the room, further showing that this is a lively event. The bride and groom affectionately greet their in-laws with the bride, Romina, embracing her mother-in-law with open arms to show their love and respect for one another that will contrast later on in the sequence when Ariel’s mother will attempt to physically hurt Romina after she threatens her son. This affection sets up a cheerful atmosphere at the start of the sequence noticeably absent later on and also where the first dialogue is spoken, roughly one and a half minutes into the sequence, involving Ariel’s father-in-law congratulating him whilst also providing a passive-aggressive warning to him, implying that there will be consequences should anything negative happen to his daughter during their marriage, giving a sense of foreboding to the remainder of the sequence due to the themes of violence and revenge employed by Szifron throughout the film. Szifron also uses foreshadowing by separating Romina and Ariel when they are dancing which suggests to the audience that they will have a broken relationship in the future.

This lively scene then abruptly cuts to a scene where everyone is seated at tables eating and talking whilst the newlywed couple take photos alongside their relatives and Romina speaks to several in which she clearly tries to force a smile during their conversation to appear interested in what they are saying, often giving artificial responses which could show the audience a possible first glimpse of her fake nature that will grow even more apparent as her and Ariel’s relationship declines after the revelation that he has cheated on her. Her facial expression changes from happiness to appearing suspicious as she spots Ariel with a woman that she doesn’t recognise, slowing down her speech as she focuses on the woman and what they are saying, making it clear to the audience that she feels negatively towards this apparent flirting between her husband and this woman which makes the audience suspicious of Ariel too. This causes her to clearly become distressed compared with the confident swagger of the groom as he almost glides over to her, unaware that Romina suspects anything of him. His face and body language when being questioned by Romina as they take part in their first dance alludes to the fact that he is lying as feebly attempts to act oblivious, neglecting to make eye contact with her as he feels guilty and instead looks around the room at the guests as he cares more about what impression they have on him than being faithful to his own wife. Romina breaks down crying as she moves away from Ariel to dance with her father who seems to be much more empathetic than her mother in law, comforting her as she cries on his shoulder, making the audience sympathise with her more as she is presented as having a much more caring family than Ariel’s mother who seems to show a lack of understanding.

After storming out of the room to get some fresh air upon the rooftop of the building, a chef already up there unprofessionally smoking attempts to calm her down, using a gentle, soothing voice to make her feel safe which works initially in preventing the bride from stressing out any further. This is then however followed by a subversion of the audience’s expectations as Romina leans in to kiss the chef leaving both the chef and the audience in shock, showing how it was an unpredictable move brought on by a feeling of vulnerability now that she has been cheated on by someone she had faith in. This shock is also seen from Ariel who vomits after finding her on the rooftop having sex and threatening him in an enraged speech that transitions her previous feeling of vulnerability and frailty to power and strength as she plots revenge against him, threateningly pointing at him in an accusatory manner whilst yelling at him that demonstrates the suppressed anger she has towards his action. In order to cope with this after they both return to the hall indoors, Ariel drinks alcohol to calm his nerves down just as Romina had done when she feared he had cheated on her, making the drinking of alcohol a repeated device that shows how unstable the mindset of a character has become. This fails to stop his inevitable breakdown at the climax of the sequence, elevating his voice just as Romina had done previously on the rooftop so that she can understand how he is feeling, just as Romina had used shouting for earlier on. Although finally, Szifron chooses to subvert the audiences expectation again as Ariel offers out his hand to the dishevelled looking Romina in tears on the floor just as he did before the truth was uncovered when they first danced together, before proceeding to get intimate on the wedding table and causing a swarm of guests to flood out the door, suggesting that they have both re-kindled their once strong bond whilst showing that they need each other to remain happy as they both end up in abhorrent states of mind when apart.

Both Szifron and del Toro use aspects of performance to convey meaning throughout their films so that they have a wide range of effects on the audience. Del Toro utilises it to show characters react to key information and how certain actions will affect them. Szifron, on the other hand, uses it to allow the audience to understand the mindset of a character and how they changes over time.