The Ring Of Monocromatic Houses Essay - 979 Words

The choice of the setting itself, narrowed by an architectonical ring of monocromatic houses, echoes the same sense of claustrophobic immobility to which Jefferies is subject. While he is a temporary prisoner whitin his own flat, his possibilities as an observer are similarly limited and so are the spectators’ ones. Additionally, an intense orchestra soundtrack, involving either light-hearted violins and grave drums to fuel the viewers’ curiosity, is progressively softened as the characters awake and start practicing their habits, according to the stereotyped lifestyle each of them unconsciously embodies. Therefore, after the credits, a barely distinguishable threesome appears on the top edge of the frame, standing on a corner terrace, as to represent its marginality. Subsequently, the camera flows on the main building, enclosing its windows and producing a meta-framing mechanism, which might be defined as a cinematic matryoska effect. In the matter of the opening scene, the framing arrangement is a pre-eminent feature. The eye of the camera is always working within the courtyard, occasionally shooting sparse glimpses from the road. One might find interesting the initial state of the leading character, whose face is shown through a medium shot, sleeping on a wheelchair he is temporarily confined to; in terms of perspective, this is the only moment throughout the whole film in which the camera does not matches Jeffrey’s view. The viewers are provided with an autonomous