Black Narcissus
Black Narcissus is a movie released in 1947. It begins with
a young nun, Sister Clodagh which along with Ruth, a sister who suffers from
her health, are the main characters that we follow. Sister Clodagh is at the
start appointed leader of a small covenant along with other sisters to
establish a new monastery in the Himalayas with the purpose to bring structure,
religion and order to the inhabitants of the neighbouring area. The house the
sisters moved into was infamous as a former house of ill repute. “Mopu was once called “The House of Women,”
as it was originally built for a local ruler to keep his private harem, and the
many erotic paintings that adorn the aged walls are testament to the carnal
pleasures that once took place there.” (Kendrick, s.d) This location plays a key role
in the sisters decent into sin. During the course of the movie the sister’s
faith is shaken and in some cases broken. Finally ending in tragedy in the form
of a death of one of the main characters at the climax of the movie.
At the beginning of
the movie the colours are held in mostly calm blue tones which illustrates
calmness, belief, sincerity and innocence of the untainted and faithful cast of
sisters. As the movie progresses the sisters begin to indulge into the baser
desires for a more sinful lifestyle, and with it the colours used in the sets
of the movie begin to take on a more reddish hue reflecting perhaps the
emotional state of the sisters. The room in the middle of the monastery is held
in blue but is the first room where a local girl dances in a sensual way, so
perhaps the calmness of the room is broken by that action as the twist takes
its course from then on. Also as the movie progresses the mountains, once in
white bluish tones begin to show orange streaks, maybe also used to demonstrate
the change in atmosphere. This movie also employs the use of colour on its sets
to reflect the time of year and season with colder bluish colours for the
winter season and brighter colours such as pink to reflect the arrival of
spring.
Figure 1. Ruth’s
Desire (c1947)
The movie is filmed
in London, but based in the Himalayas so most scenes have a matt painting to
show the surroundings of the monastery. The creators used the freedom of creating
whatever scene they wanted to their advantage “Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, shot their classic dark-comic
melodrama mostly on British studio sets, and the film’s very falseness—those
matte-painting vanishing perspectives and cinematographer Jack Cardiff’s
harshly exaggerated lighting cues—creates a psychologically charged space in
which an ungodly tragedy can unfold.” (Uhlich,
2012:2).
Figure 2. St. Faithful
(c1947)
As the sets are
paintings and not of real world, they give the impression that they are
supposed to look very realistic and to show the extremeness of the situation
the sisters are currently in. The set of the monastery/palace also goes against
the sister’s nature as inside are paintings and wallpapers depicting nude women
and lustful scenes in every room which leads to sinful desires and memories and
perhaps illustrates to the viewer the stark differences in the lifestyle of the
previous inhabitants to the new ones. These props are probably placed to stir up
old memories and thoughts of more exciting lives for the sisters.
Props in this movie
are used as metaphors, for example the house is full of bird cages which might
symbolise the captured feeling that the nuns may be experiencing. Birds are
meant to fly free and it is almost a tragedy that although they have wings and
the ability to go whether they feel fit they are trapped in a very small space,
a tiny viewpoint of the world they could experience which is an true metaphor
for how some of the sisters are feeling when looking back at their previous
lifestyles and imagining the lives they could experience instead.
Makeup and colour are also used on the actors heavily to
describe their emotional state and perhaps to some extent their corruption in
the eyes of the Christian faith. Ruth for example abandons her faith for her
own personal desires and immediately changes costume and make up and reflects
perhaps a demonic like spiritual state while the other sisters are never seen
in anything but their white bluish robes and natural faces, which might
illustrate their innocence and unwavering commitment. As Ruth dies she looks like
a much darker version of herself with reds and the sharper outlines of her
features emphasised much more with make-up then she was loyal to her faith. “Particularly affected is Sister Ruth - a
magnificent performance from Kathleen Byron - who conceives an erotomaniacal
obsession for Dean, and her final appearance in the film, gaunt and wraithlike,
is still one of the scariest moments in British cinema history.” (Bradshaw,
2005:2)
Figure 3. Black
Narcissus Horror (c1947)
Over all the movie makes impressive use of colour, props and
scenery to emphasise the emotional state of the scenes, actors and situations.
A lot of props are used as metaphors to bring home the underlying feelings of
the characters.
Bibliography:
Uhlich, Keith. (2012) Black
Narcissus. http://www.timeout.com/us/film/black-narcissus-3
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Bradshaw, Peter. (2005) Black
Narcissus. http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/aug/05/3
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Kendrick, James. (s.d) Black
Narcissus http://www.qnetwork.com/index.php?page=review&id=2412
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Illustration List:
Figure 1: Powell,
M. and Pressburger, E. (1947) Ruth’s
Desire [Still of Ruth] Available from: http://screeningfilm.com/events/black-narcissus/
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Figure 2: Powell,
M. and Pressburger, E. (1947) St.
Faithful [Still of the Monastery] Available from: http://thefilmemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/classic-throwback-black-narcissus.html
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Figure 3: Powell,
M. and Pressburger, E. (1947) Black
Narcissus Horror [Still of Ruth] Available from: http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/?p=19694
(accessed on 11/11/2014)
Woo, you got that up fast, good job! Great point about the makeup. (The detail they went into making Ruth wear even red eyeliner was hilarious.)
ReplyDelete:D well done, Mailin - *happy tutor face* ! And this is a thoughtful, insightful and engaging review.
ReplyDeleteVery well written!! :D And much better with the inclusion of the images...
ReplyDeleteJust one (tiny) niggle... make sure your bibliography is arranged alphabetically, so Bradshaw, Kendrick, Uhlich.