“An Exercise in Discipline – Peel”
is the first film written and directed by Jane Campion. It is a
short film, running to eight minutes. However the director
establishes a feeling of menace from the start and maintains that
feeling throughout. It could be described as a road movie, although
the journey comes to a halt very early in the film.
The overt relationships between the
three characters are set out at the beginning with a diagram showing
a shallow triangle with Tim (played by Tim Pye) as brother/father,
Katie (played by Katie Pye) as sister/aunt and Ben (played by Ben
Martin) as son/nephew at each corner. They are non-professional
actors and give a believable performance. Ben was the only one to
pursue an acting career, much later as an adult. Use of the triangle
symbol evokes the idea of the 'eternal triangle', but also a concept
of equality and, in this case, circularity. In fact, the characters
take equivalent turns at being abuser and abused.
The action starts with a rhythmic
thumping of an orange thrown by Ben against the car windscreen while
Tim and Katie argue in a car while driving through the Australian
countryside. Tim stops the car to discipline Ben in a way which he
will soon regret and we are quickly overcome by an oppressive
inertia. This is conveyed by intense lighting (evoking heat), the
image of flies and a regular sound of traffic passing by. The sound
of the traffic is unsettling because we expect a disaster at any
moment as actions occur along the roadside. Sound effects are not
used often in the film, but when they are, they enhance the sense of
foreboding, such as playing Men at Work's 'Who Can it Be?' and the
tonal music when Ben examines the adult's faces (one of the few
non-diagetic elements of the film). An undercurrent of physical and
sexual violence, learned patterns of behaviour and absurdist
hopelessness is conveyed by symbols such as an inflated condom used
as a toy, mirroring actions and much else. Even the skin and hair
colour and the very facial similarities of the actors themselves is
filled with meaning. Be prepared for a trick in the scene I
mentioned when Ben looks closely at his father and aunt.
I enjoyed the film because it is like a
puzzle which can be partly solved, although the answers will never be
known for sure. There is little in the film which does not convey
meaning, so it engaged me fully for the whole 8 minutes. The
production standards are good, in so far as I am not conscious of a
film crew. The camera and sound quality is clear.
I would recommend the film. It would
most appeal to people who like to discuss a movie with friends or
those wanting a glimpse of Australian culture.
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