Opening Scene Of The 1962 Film L Eclisse
The opening scene of the 1962 film, L’eclisse, is quite strange from an editing standpoint. While I can not exactly understand what the actors are saying to do lingual differences, I notice the pace and cuts feel unnatural and highly forced. After analyzing the clip, I believe this was all intentional by the director, Michelangelo Antonioni.
The scene begins in the apartment of what appears to be a couple. The couple seems to be in a rather big argument. However, there are no clues or evidence that indicates what caused the disagreement. The atmosphere seems tense and both characters have bleak looks on their faces indicating there is a problem between them. There is also not a lot of communication between the two. The woman is seen standing, …show more content…
First, the arrangement of objects creates links to each character. Beginning with the man, in the opening shot you see a stack of books with a white object on top. It is revealed this is the man’s arm. As the scene progresses, the man is often off-frame and not centered. This shows the man is being objectified similarly to several other items in the apartment. On the other hand, the woman moves around constantly. The director made it very clear and important that the woman had to be moving at all times. For example, in the scene were her still legs are in view with the chair legs, she makes a conscious effort to dissociate with the stillness. As previously stated, the clip has an unusual editing pattern. This can be attributed to the flawed continuity editing. While continuity editing is meant to allow the viewer to engage themselves fully in the image, making the cuts seem to be part of the diegesis, L’eclisse does not do this. For instance, the opening scene shows the man sitting down and looking off into the distance that could be assumed to be an object or a person. When the scene cuts, it shows the woman turned away, looking out a window of the home. Instead of cutting the clip slightly earlier to have the woman facing the man, creating an eyeline match, the director creates a spatial disorientation for the viewer. As the clip progresses, there are several more flawed continuity cuts distracting the
The scene begins in the apartment of what appears to be a couple. The couple seems to be in a rather big argument. However, there are no clues or evidence that indicates what caused the disagreement. The atmosphere seems tense and both characters have bleak looks on their faces indicating there is a problem between them. There is also not a lot of communication between the two. The woman is seen standing, …show more content…
First, the arrangement of objects creates links to each character. Beginning with the man, in the opening shot you see a stack of books with a white object on top. It is revealed this is the man’s arm. As the scene progresses, the man is often off-frame and not centered. This shows the man is being objectified similarly to several other items in the apartment. On the other hand, the woman moves around constantly. The director made it very clear and important that the woman had to be moving at all times. For example, in the scene were her still legs are in view with the chair legs, she makes a conscious effort to dissociate with the stillness. As previously stated, the clip has an unusual editing pattern. This can be attributed to the flawed continuity editing. While continuity editing is meant to allow the viewer to engage themselves fully in the image, making the cuts seem to be part of the diegesis, L’eclisse does not do this. For instance, the opening scene shows the man sitting down and looking off into the distance that could be assumed to be an object or a person. When the scene cuts, it shows the woman turned away, looking out a window of the home. Instead of cutting the clip slightly earlier to have the woman facing the man, creating an eyeline match, the director creates a spatial disorientation for the viewer. As the clip progresses, there are several more flawed continuity cuts distracting the