The film Primo Amore by Matteo Garrone is dark, depressing and not
easy to digest, quite literally. It deals with the issue of the
falling self esteem of women and the obsessive behaviors that stem
from this insecurity, also the control and power some men exert on
these women to manipulate them into what they find as beautiful,
instead of seeing beauty in the original body.
Although this film was well done and portrays an important message,
it was still very unnerving to watch. Admitted the film was shot to
be dark and somber, it’s not the reason the audience may have found
it to be disturbing. Maybe not even the fact that the movie showed a
woman starving under the control of a man. The most shocking thing
about this film was the deterioration of the characters, namely the
way they transformed from civilized humans and broken down to vicious
beasts by the end and how the camera catches these changes.
From the beginning, you can tell the man Vittorio is an odd
character, saying to his blind date Sonia, “I thought you would be
thinner.” This is a particularly shocking thing to say to anyone at
all, nonetheless someone you have just met. It is only later that we
see that Vittorio isn’t just rude; he’s vicious and controlling.
“You can only
eat when I’m around,” he tells her and she nods shyly
.
In the beginning Sonia was, or seemed, very confident in mind and
body, shown to us as she poses nude for an art class that she works
for. Compared to then, she seems faded and manipulated, almost afraid
of Vittorio wrath. The way the film was shot you can also see that as
she sheds off the weight and starts to become skeletal, she also is
shown by the camera as disappearing as a human being. There are many
shots of her that are focused on her back, particularly her spine. It
has become the most protruding area on her body, the jutting out
bones as if they were covered by philo pastry. Another way she is
shown to fade is the lighting and focus. Like someone running for
miles without water, the camera becomes blurry when showing her
perspective. That and the washed out lighting and dull colors used
for her as opposed to the beginning where everything was more yellow
and bright.
The point at which
they both finally snap is the end. Sonia, after presumably starving
herself to the point of sickness for a man who doesn’t truly love
her, starts eating against Vittorio wishes. When he is shown by the
camera in the restaurant, he is blurry and dark yet the plate of
pasta is in focus and shining like gold. This foreshadows her return
to consciousness and control as she ignores him and ravenously tries
to devour everything in sight. Next, she is shown in a dark stone
room, naked and curled up in a very animalistic sort of way while
Vittorio rages and roars. He isn’t just seen as simply rude but
dangerous and uncontrollable as the blazing fire next to him embodies
his wrath. Sonia also decides to unleash her inner self and does what
any furious, starving animal would do; she kills him.
This movie not only deals with the issues of self-image and
obsession, but also portrays what it takes to turn an ordinary human
being into something less than human when a simple necessity is
ripped away. It was shown appropriately by means of camera work and
lighting, giving the audience a disturbing insight as to what the
human body becomes when pushed to the limits, becoming animalistic
and eventually forcing them to rely on basic instincts of survival,
even if it means killing.
No comments:
Post a Comment