Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => Characters, Quotes & Scenes => Topic started by: chowhound on Oct 10, 2010, 04:26 PM
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I don't know how generally known is the connection between the "look" of the Twists' living room and the paintings of the 19th century Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi, so I thought I'd post this extract from an interview that Rodrigo Prieto, the director of photography, gave to the magazine, American Cinematography, in the January of 2006:
Their farmhouse is "very stark, with grayish-white walls," says Prieto. "I tried to do something very simple but with a powerful contrast, which is difficult to achieve in a white room, so I blew out the windows and made them bright spots while keeping dark shadows on the faces. For this scene, we were inspired by the work of Vilhelm Hammershoi, whose paintings are very moody but devoid of color. We used an 18K HMI as the main source, lighting from a large window next to the table where Jack's father talks with Ennis. The light was diffused with a 12-by-12 full grid that was as close to the window as the framing allowed in each shot. We had two 6K Pars over the smaller windows coming in as direct sunlight through the sheer curtains, and a 4K Par through the small window in the door. For close-ups, I added an Image 80 on the ground to give a sense of light bouncing off the floor, plus a single 2-foot Kino tube wrapped in 216 under the lens for a very slight glint in the eyes. The goal was to suggest that Ennis feels uncomfortable in the stale, monochromatic atmosphere."
I came across this in a review of an exhibition of his paintings that was put on in London a little while back. It may help to explain his appeal:
Hammershoi understands the power of negatives, the unsaid, the unshown. His art is full of refusals. The back-turned woman, revealing nothing of her mind; the unmotivated presence of these figures, haunting the rooms like ghosts; the doors closed or ajar, implying something hidden beyond; the apartments' unexplained emptiness, occupied only by light, or with a few isolated signs of life, like the Mary Celeste.
Everything conspires to create a mood of absence, loss, denial. Somebody is dead. Somebody is abandoned. Somebody is fatally repressed. Life is on hold, proceeding in a reduced, trance-like manner. Behind the scenes, on everyone's mind, there's a secret.
And Hammershoi embodies the unending and the unknown with his walls – those blank, flickering expanses, stretches of nothing that face out, flat-on to the picture surface. The paintings' viewers, like the figures in them, do a lot of staring at walls.
It is an intensely narrow art. You might think of Jane Austen's phrase – "the little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush" – but compared with Hammershoi's, her world is a herd
of elephants. And it's not just within the pictures that so little happens, but between them.
The second paragraph seems strangely apposite for the Twist household.
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Dear CH:
Thanks for posting this info and interview. Immensely interesting, I especially enjoy hearing the process and techniques used by the “creators” in developing this great work of art.
I am total unfamiliar with Hammershoi and will need to look up some of his work. This begins to explain the haunting appearance of the Twist house interior. This scene was quite shocking to me the first time I watched the film. Everything else in the film speaks of reality, if even in a somewhat glamorized way. This interior struck me as being the single element of artistic, almost surrealistic set design in the whole film. I say that only to mean that it didn't look like anyone’s real house, no one would really live like that out on the plains; it was too conceptual, too much of a conceit.
I'm not saying this was bad, or even out of place in the film, but it was striking in its discord from the rest of the film. I have assumed all along that this was intentional in order to set the stage for Ennis's epiphany with the shirts in Jack's closet. The interior had a vaguely religious feeling to me, like the stark whitewashed interior of an early mission church in the American west.
I will be most interested to view Hammershoi’s work when I've got a few minutes. Thanks again for this great post.
O0 O0
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Dear CH:
Thanks for posting this info and interview. Immensely interesting, I especially enjoy hearing the process and techniques used by the “creators” in developing this great work of art.
I am total unfamiliar with Hammershoi and will need to look up some of his work. This begins to explain the haunting appearance of the Twist house interior. This scene was quite shocking to me the first time I watched the film. Everything else in the film speaks of reality, if even in a somewhat glamorized way. This interior struck me as being the single element of artistic, almost surrealistic set design in the whole film. I say that only to mean that it didn't look like anyone’s real house, no one would really live like that out on the plains; it was too conceptual, too much of a conceit.
I'm not saying this was bad, or even out of place in the film, but it was striking in its discord from the rest of the film. I have assumed all along that this was intentional in order to set the stage for Ennis's epiphany with the shirts in Jack's closet. The interior had a vaguely religious feeling to me, like the stark whitewashed interior of an early mission church in the American west.
I will be most interested to view Hammershoi’s work when I've got a few minutes. Thanks again for this great post.
O0 O0
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi139.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq313%2Fjackster545%2FPC_307146_CN0286_07A.jpg&hash=d5ecc0fda5340febd326ba8651141413e73c8b2d) (https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi139.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq313%2Fjackster545%2F2000585211053495570_rs.jpg&hash=8cacfeaa5a4a2387304ff82c106155535883b138) (https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi139.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq313%2Fjackster545%2Fbbm16270xo.jpg&hash=fbb2bc73d7ac93009c4cb71ac00f3431f3689ec6) (https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi139.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq313%2Fjackster545%2FBrokebackMtn_a4252.jpg&hash=e357d31ecf27b85465c0e6a3c761f141b3b2f8dc)
Hi Jackster,
You write:"The interior had a vaguely religious feeling to me, like the stark whitewashed interior of an early mission church in the American west."
I find this a very appealing approach. It undoubtedly has the starkness you mention and the religious sense is enhanced by the pentecostal cross which is essentially the only wall hanging. The diffuse light also enhances the feeling of being in a church like space.
This starkness and diffuse light is essential for the contrast set up between this room and Jack's room. In contrast to the living room, Jack's bedroom has colours and a very varied collection of "things". There's the colourful bedspread and pillow on the single bed - note the reds - the desk with its toys and a rather crude, framed painting of cowboys herding cattle above, (could it be by Jack?), the rifle on the rack, the dresser with the baby boots, clock and covered wagon on top and, of course, finally, the shirts. The net curtains are not closed in this room but open, allowing natural light to fall and, of course, the window opens, allowing access to the outside world.
At the moment, I'm not quite sure what is to be made of this contrast but I'm convinced that there is a contrast and that it is deliberate.
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I am total unfamiliar with Hammershoi and will need to look up some of his work. This begins to explain the haunting appearance of the Twist house interior. This scene was quite shocking to me the first time I watched the film. Everything else in the film speaks of reality, if even in a somewhat glamorized way. This interior struck me as being the single element of artistic, almost surrealistic set design in the whole film. I say that only to mean that it didn't look like anyone’s real house, no one would really live like that out on the plains; it was too conceptual, too much of a conceit.
I so agree.
The Twist house somewhat reminded me of something I've seen before: some rooms of the old farm houses here up in the North have this same kind of look, sort of Scandinavian 'white on white'. I've seen it a couple of times in preserved farm houses dating back from the late 19th/early 20th century. The religious aspect is also present: even Pentecost & local sects.
Thanks CH for bringing this up.
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. . . For this scene, we were inspired by the work of Vilhelm Hammershoi, whose paintings are very moody but devoid of color. We used an 18K HMI as the main source, . . . light was diffused with a 12-by-12 full grid . . . we had two 6K Pars over the smaller windows coming . . . a 4K Par through the small window . . . close-ups, I added an Image 80 . . . plus a single 2-foot Kino tube wrapped in 216 under the lens for a very slight glint in the eyes. . . "
OK folks. I need some help here -
First: "we" who does he mean? Cinematographer, Set Decoration, Art Direction, Lighting, etc. etc. How does this work and who makes the final call? Do all these folks come up with a design scheme for the set and then the Director says, yes, no, I want this, I don't want that, etc?
Second: Do you know what all this equipment actually is? "18K HMI", "12x12 full grid", "2-foot Kino tube". huh? I think I know what a Par is, a type of floodlight (maybe), but I'm lost with the rest of this stuff. Any idea or explanation would be very enlightening for this amateur.
CH - I feel the same as you regarding the specific use of color and objects on the set. Very deliberate and very effective IMHO. All the more remarkable as none of this sparse character was mentioned in the SS.
rdx - I recall seeing views of these white+white Scandinavian farm houses in my architectural history courses, very good analogy.
Is Twist a Scandinavian name? #s}
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I really have nothing inside to add but enjoy reading all your takes on this very interesting subject. Great job and please keep them coming.
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OK folks. I need some help here -
First: "we" who does he mean? Cinematographer, Set Decoration, Art Direction, Lighting, etc. etc. How does this work and who makes the final call? Do all these folks come up with a design scheme for the set and then the Director says, yes, no, I want this, I don't want that, etc?
Second: Do you know what all this equipment actually is? "18K HMI", "12x12 full grid", "2-foot Kino tube". huh? I think I know what a Par is, a type of floodlight (maybe), but I'm lost with the rest of this stuff. Any idea or explanation would be very enlightening for this amateur.
CH - I feel the same as you regarding the specific use of color and objects on the set. Very deliberate and very effective IMHO. All the more remarkable as none of this sparse character was mentioned in the SS.
rdx - I recall seeing views of these white+white Scandinavian farm houses in my architectural history courses, very good analogy.
Is Twist a Scandinavian name? #s}
Hi jackster,
Can't help you much with your questions but here goes:
1. "We". In one of his interviews, Ang Lee speaks very highly of Prieto's work and the implication is that they worked very closely together when actually shooting the film. So "we" would undoubtedly include Ang Lee but don't know about the others you mention.
2. Haven't a clue. All that technical information is way over my head.
3. Twist. No it's not a specifically Scandinavian name except in the very general sense that it must derive from the "Germanic" side of the English language and not the "Romance" (Latin/French) side.
Annie Proulx says somewhere that she settled on that name "Twist" for Jack as "twist" can refer to the thigh muscles needed by a rodeo rider to stay on a horse or bull. However, I belong to the school of thinking which holds that what an author has to say about her or his work once it is in the public domain is of interest but should be treated as one interpretation but not necessarily the only one. There are other overtones or implications to the name Twist in addition to the one provided by Annie Proulx and these have to be considered as well.
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I notice that nobody - including myself - has commented on what Rodrigo Prieto says was the chief reason for making the living room look the way it does. He says: "the goal was to suggest that Ennis feels uncomfortable in the stale, monochromatic atmosphere."
Is this "goal" achieved? I suppose it is but I assume Ennis would have felt "uncomfortable", given the social situation he finds himself in, no matter what the setting. But I suppose this "uncomfortableness" is rendered more prominent by the stark Hammershoi type setting, rather than if the three of them had been sitting in comfy armchairs by the farmhouse fire.
However, as jackster and rdx have demonstrated, there's more to be said about the setting of this scene than what Rodrigo Prieto has to say in his brief comment.
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Some paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi, it seems to draw the scene at home Twist
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg830.imageshack.us%2Fimg830%2F4272%2Fhammershoituer.jpg&hash=9f6e0d52a77c8b0cce48cb02458d07327f235b42) (https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg830.imageshack.us%2Fimg830%2F9145%2Fhammershoisunlight.jpg&hash=ce6dee7bf02c9252bb4b03e7b7cc43d52be524fe)
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Some paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi, it seems to draw the scene at home Twist
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg830.imageshack.us%2Fimg830%2F4272%2Fhammershoituer.jpg&hash=9f6e0d52a77c8b0cce48cb02458d07327f235b42) (https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg830.imageshack.us%2Fimg830%2F9145%2Fhammershoisunlight.jpg&hash=ce6dee7bf02c9252bb4b03e7b7cc43d52be524fe)
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Thanks, WildcatIsle, for posting these Hammershoi paintings. They certainly help in illustrating what Rodrigo Prieto was talking about when he referred to Hammeshoi as the chief influence on the way the living room scene was portrayed.
I wonder when Prieto discovered the works of Vilhelm Hammershoi. He was unknown to me before I came across Prieto's reference to him in the interview for American Cinematographer. Had others heard of him before?
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I notice that nobody - including myself - has commented on what Rodrigo Prieto says was the chief reason for making the living room look the way it does. He says: "the goal was to suggest that Ennis feels uncomfortable in the stale, monochromatic atmosphere."
Is this "goal" achieved?
Good question. Here's my view - I think Prieto (along with Heath) succeeds in making us (the viewers) feel as though Ennis was uncomfortable. And I think, given the plot and circumstance, this is about best way to have achieved this feeling. Of course Ennis would probably have felt more uncomfortable in a starkly modern home, or one that was a kind of high Victorian excess of elegance, both something he was totally unfamiliar with. But none of these would have fit with the story plot of who and where Jack Twist came from. So, this house does seem to embody elements that both make Ennis feel uneasy and seem like the kind of place where the Jack Twist we know could have actually grown up. Not an easy trick especially when we know from the SS that Ennis " . . couldn't see much of Jack in either one of them".
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Everything conspires to create a mood of absence, loss, denial. Somebody is dead. Somebody is abandoned. Somebody is fatally repressed. Life is on hold, proceeding in a reduced, trance-like manner. Behind the scenes, on everyone's mind, there's a secret.
(The second) paragraph seems strangely apposite for the Twist household.
This, strangely indeed, echoes the situation in the house..the 'secret' that everybody knows but no one dares to talk about it..aloud.
First: "we" who does he mean? Cinematographer, Set Decoration, Art Direction, Lighting, etc. etc. How does this work and who makes the final call? Do all these folks come up with a design scheme for the set and then the Director says, yes, no, I want this, I don't want that, etc?
I think 'we' is everybody you mentioned..the director making the final call.
Second: Do you know what all this equipment actually is? "18K HMI", "12x12 full grid", "2-foot Kino tube". huh? I think I know what a Par is, a type of floodlight (maybe), but I'm lost with the rest of this stuff. Any idea or explanation would be very enlightening for this amateur.
I'd guess that these are lighting equipment and their Kilowatts, some of them arranged in grids & different kinds of filters etc.
rdx - I recall seeing views of these white+white Scandinavian farm houses in my architectural history courses, very good analogy.
Is Twist a Scandinavian name? #s}
Oh, interesting, thanks..you have had some courses.. #s} Well, Twist ain't Fennoscandian.. #)
Is this "goal" achieved? I suppose it is but I assume Ennis would have felt "uncomfortable", given the social situation he finds himself in, no matter what the setting. But I suppose this "uncomfortableness" is rendered more prominent by the stark Hammershoi type setting, rather than if the three of them had been sitting in comfy armchairs by the farmhouse fire.
I'd say definitely, the goal is achieved. As jackster wrote the interior is "the single element of artistic, almost surrealistic set design in the whole film". Yes, indeed, this interior is something completely different from the rest of the film: Ennis entered in an anti-Jack place.
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Remember when he mentioned his religious parents and how "fellas like you and me are going straight to hell." Its that puritan, brooding life that Jack lived in.
What I don't get is that seems more like an environment Ennis would have grown up in, judging from his character. Must have been a backlash.
Do we know anything like this from Ennis's past? I haven't read the book yet.