The likes of Tom Six and Eli Roth seem to have brought around the idea that to make a disturbing movie, you have to take violence and sadism to an over-extreme level, in order to shock the audience. Gone also is the idea of a violent movie being of any category other than Horror.
David Lynch's twisted classic Blue Velvet proves, rather like Silence of the Lambs (1990) went on to, that the human mind, and all its conceptions, can provide all the trauma a well-made movie needs, but it depends on the best of acting and film making techniques.
Over 25 years since its release, Blue Velvet has not only gone on to gain recognition as one of the best films ever made, but has been thoroughly analysed in terms of psychology, symbolism and meaning, by many people in various fields. Lynch's 'neo-noir' approach and use of surrealism carry his deeply psychological story, paralleling Lumberton, your typical small-town that strikes me as a cross between Eastwick and Amity, and the sick, seedy underworld it invisbly inhabits.
Chipper young Kyle MacLachlan stars as Jeffrey Beaumont, the good-kid hero, home from school while his father is in the hospital. While walking through a nearby field, he discovers a severed human ear, which he rather casually places in a paper bag, and takes to Detective Williams at the police station. He's reunited with the detective's daughter Sandy (Laura Dern) with whom he went to school, and she offers him pieces of overheard information about the ear to satisfy his burning curiosity. These little clues lead him to sneaking into the apartment of battered nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) to investigate.
While there, the strangest of exchanges takes place. Dorothy comes home unexpectedly, causing Jeffrey to hide in a louvred closet with which he becomes well accustomed by the end of the movie. She soon finds him, and holds him at knifepoint, but finds him beautifully fascinating, and there is an instant strange attraction between them. He is soon thrust back into the closet when the key figure in the whole 'ear case' shows up at the apartment, and Jeffrey is forced upon the answers he so naively sought.
It is in these harrowing scenes that a wonderful level of realism is used. Despite Rossellini being a model, Dorothy's undressed frame is tragic. Her breasts and stomach droop a little, her bouffant wig is thrown to the floor, her underwear is simple, unflattering black. She's far from the sexualised victim in a lot of movies, who, despite her ordeal, looks perfect in lacy lingerie, but the real exploitation comes from Frank Booth, who has kidnapped her husband and son, and is using her as a sexual slave. It's a terrifying, courageous performance by Isabella Rossellini, who embodies a woman broken from the outside in.
I imagine all those fortunate enough to have never witnessed anything like what Jeffrey does will be overcome by MacLachlan's crackling emotions, as his innocent mind is overcome by the cruelty and evil he has discovered. As the audience are, he is truly shocked at what lurks in the underworld of his sweet little town, and how incorrigible the villain (Dennis Hopper) is. Having formerly seen him mainly in suave, smart-ass roles, the depth and engagement in MacLachlan's performance is surprising and stunning to me. Jeffrey echoes the audience's emotions of frustration, bewilderment and trauma.
Many actors and actresses rejected various roles in this picture because of its violent sexual content, and it's easy to see why they didn't see it as a risk they were willing to take. The movie depicts despair and evil in their rawest, and most realistic forms, and even the 'happy ending' does little to comfort our depressed souls. Blue Velvet was on my mind for days after I watched it, its presence really stayed with me. But somehow, it's a movie I'm glad I watched, and know I will watch again at some point. The quality of its overall effect is so overwhelming, it's so wonderfully made, that I can't help but watch it in awe.
No comments:
Post a Comment