내면의 외면화: 로저 미셸의 <더 마더>

Abstract

The Mother (2003), directed by Roger Michell, is a solid and well made film, touching at least two uncomfortable themes not usually explored in the cinema: denial of love of mother for their own son and daughter, and lust and passion in the third age. This film explores the inner world of a widow who wanted to try something she never had in her life, and solace on someone who is there for her to shoulder on. Backing up moderate storytelling with abundant imagetelling, the work achieves an aesthetic completion. The aim of this article is to study how the director visualizes and externalizes the inner and the state of mind of May and main characters in The Mother. For this purpose, shot analysis which is a shot-by-shot breakdown was applied. In this film, the director shows the theme effectively by using various devices such as second frame, spatial composition and technique of contrast through juxtaposition and collision of images. Throwing the heroine and the leading characters into diverse second frames, or separating them with perpendicular composition, Roger Michell expresses their oppressive and alienated inner world in The Mother. In the same shot or passing through shots and sequences, contrasting various forms of images, for example, the position and direction of character and scene, composition, color, camera angle, lighting, objet and atmosphere etc., he succeeds in representing pictorially May’s internal and hidden desire. With moderated music, pictorial contrivances rather than narrative embody and deliver the theme. In short, the pictorial devices in the film, show effectively the mentality and the inner world of main characters, difficult or unsuitable to express through the first narrative.