Wednesday 4 July 2012

001 Peel Jane Campion's First Film


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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