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Dustin Watts
ReplyDeleteProfessor Manuel A. Pérez-Tejada
ENGL 1101 D2
12 March 2009
Fear and Fairytales
When first handling the DVDs, one can see little difference between Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Amèlie) and The Pianist. Their surfaces both shimmer; then we press play. A world of differences unveils. Suddenly we are compelled to fear or the odd wonder of a fairytale. How can this be? Amèlie and The Pianist, influenced by several European countries, utilize the cinematographic techniques of pace, color scheme, and sounds so as to create different meanings on the same screens.
Amèlie is an imaginative “fable filled with longing (and) a heroine who constantly flirts with failure.”1 Entertaining and lighthearted, the film is reminiscent of a fairytale. The Pianist, on the other hand, chronicles the frantic attempts of Wladyslw Szpilman, a Jewish pianist, to survive in Poland during the rule of the Nazis in World War II. It is seen as a “tour de force of claustrophobia and surreal desperation, and Mr. Polanski (the director) ruthlessly strips his Szpilman down to the bare human minimum. He is neither an especially heroic nor an entirely sympathetic fellow, and by the end he has been reduced to a nearly animal condition -- sick, haggard and terrified.” The two stories develop such vastly different tones from a variety of international influences.
The Pianist shares its French influence with Amèlie, but is also associated with Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom. Critics praise Amèlie for its “French heart” and ability to “get the smile”3. Most of the praise for The Pianist, on the other hand, is for Adrien Brody’s wonderful acting.2, 4 Having a compilation of national influences seems to impact on the presentation of the film. To start, The Pianist as a story involves many more cultures than Amèlie simply because it is set during World War II when the European countries were trespassing borders. Each country that contributed to the film was somehow involved in the War and was able to represent their own perspective on the ordeal and show a good face. The innocent slaughter of the Polish beckons the audience’s sympathy, and we internally celebrate their fated rebellion against the Germans. The UK and France are praised by the Szpilman family for the decision to enter the war on the side of the Poles. Even the Germans were redeemed when one of their officers helped the pianist, a Jew, to live the last days of the war in hiding that he might see freedom. Such a hybrid of viewpoints may be responsible for the accusation of the The Pianist “occasionally hackneyed,”4 rather than exuding the idiosyncrasy of Amèlie.
In The Pianist, one’s national identity became a matter of life or Holocaust death, a theme that The Pianist reveals as unnecessary and absurd namely through the atrocities of “random violence”2 directed at the Jews. The involvement of multiple countries in The Pianist also makes it more universally applicable than Amèlie. Narrated entirely in French, Amèlie and has a storyline that quickly shifts between locales more unique to French culture like cafès, a sizeable adult store, and metros. The Pianist, in contrast, is spoken in English with some interjections of German. While the setting of The Pianist is Poland, we can be more culturally familiar here since any place in desolation may be like what Glasgow slowly morphed into.
The striking contrast in pace between Amèlie and The Pianist is strikingly apparent from the very beginning of each film. Critic Elvis Mitcell says the film “has the reflexes of a predatory animal” and “atheletic”1 pacing while critic A.O. Scott feels that The Pianist was “(approached) with a calm, fierce authority.”2 The director of Amèlie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, intentionally tells the story at a rapid pace, moving quickly between events and maintaining an ever-moving rhythm. The pace is sustained well by camera angles that are constantly moving around and highlighting certain elements of scenes such as words on posters and exaggerated facial expressions with varied paces of zooms. The Pianist, however, has a calmer pace from the very beginning that director Roman Polanski adeptly quickens it at opportune intervals to induce tension. For example, Wladyslw Szpilman is introduced to the story playing a mellow, gorgeous piano piece. Within moments, bombs explode around the city while he is playing his piece. He refuses to stop playing, characterizing how he and his family do not wish to change their own pace at the will of the Germans. A bomb breaches the window, however, and urges him to flee into the dusty streets.
The choices of the color palates represented in Amèlie and The Pianist are purposefully distinct. The colors in Amèlie are obtrusively bright, saturated, and warm. Mitchell notes that, “Mr. Jeunet soaks each frame with sepia and greens.” He then draws the conclusion that “the sepia indicates that Amèlie takes place in a dreamscape Paris,” and that “the green gives the picture a trippy atmosphere, as if it had been dunked in absinthe.” The scenes are so highly refined that the presentation of the film may be seen as “sterile”1. Amèlie is almost always clothed in red and in focus, making her the distinct focus of every scene in which all else subconsciously falls the peripheral despite her quiet personality. All of the characters have distinctive color themes that match their demeanor. Their clothing matches the interior of their apartments frightfully well, and the colors chosen for them are appropriate for enhancing their eccentric personalities.
The colors that we find in The Pianist are very earthy and muted, “reconstruct(ing) the look and rhythm of life in the ghetto with care and sobriety.”2 The distinctive colors in Amèlie accent the ideas of the characters having very eccentric personalities that their lifestyles are built around. The muted colors of The Pianist, however, seem to function more as a camoflauge for the people with the scene. This reinforces the audience’s understanding that Szpilman is on the run hiding from the Germans. There are no flamboyant colors. Even the blood of those killed is not of the sanguine that so often enhances the gore of war films. In the scene where the Jews are herded away like cattle in the railroad cars, we see Szpilman walking through disregarded bodies and strewn luggage. There are pillows littered throughout the scene which all happen to be of a red and pink motif. The muted color scheme, however, causes all of these pillows not stand out in this scene, but the objects with the totality of the situation. Likewise, red portions of the German uniform and red dresses are faded in the same manner. Individualism is lost as everything blends together in a mass of chaos and murder. The Germans, Jews, Polish, and Russians are all trapped in the same plight, gunfire and hatred all around.
The sounds presented in both films also play a large role in our interpretation of them. Amèlie features a variety of exotic sounds that we perceive through the attentive and imaginative ears of the character Amèlie. Fantastical sounds draw attention to interesting discoveries. We are introduced to Amèlie’s fascination with sound from the opening credits of the film in which she is doing many childish things, most of which produce an interesting sound that is layered over the music of an accordion. She plays with a glass harmonica, spins a coin on a table, and blows away a ring of red paper. The Pianist features a wide spectrum of sounds. There are lots of gritty noises of feet shuffling over gravel that contribute to tensions in the situations coupled with the melodies of a piano that can be both mournful and uplifting depending on the point at which it is being played in the story.
The directors of Amèlie and The Pianist develop very different tones by utilizing different cinematic effects in ways that enhance the story and manipulate the mood of the viewers. The bright colors, fast pace, and exotic sounds of Amèlie contribute to the notion that this story is like a fairy tale. The muted colors, usually slower pace, and variety of sounds in the Pianist contribute to the solemn mood portrayed in the film. So, through different influences and by utilizing cinematic effects differently, the directors were able to enhance the experiences of the stories and lead us into very different mental states. Films are a great deal more than the story. So, we handle the DVD once more and look beyond the shimmering surface to the essence of the art. Many countries have poured their resources into the disk and used the art of cinematography to tell their story. How the techniques are used affect our psychological understanding of the story so then we may fully feel the fear or find a fairytale.
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteMitchel, Elvis. New York Times. 12 March, 2009.
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B03EEDD1130F931A35752C1A9679C8B63&scp=1&sq=Amelie%20Review&st=cse
Scott, A.O.. New York Times. 12 March, 2009.
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9E0DE1DA113CF934A15751C1A9649C8B63&scp=2&sq=The%20Pianist%20Review&st=cse
Higgins, Bill. ‘Amelie Smiles on L.A.. 12 March, 2009.
http://www.variety.com/vstory/VR1117854096.html?categoryid=38&cs=1&query=Amelie&query=Amelie
Allen, Keith. The Pianist(2002). 12 March, 2009
http://www.movierapture.com/pianist.htm