The Most Beautiful Man in the World is a five minute low budget film that was written and directed by Alicia Duffy. It was filmed in 2002 and the film was nominated, in 2003 for a BAFTA award, for the best short film. However, this short won two international awards and the TCM prize at the London Film Festival in 2003. In 2009 Alicia Duffy went on to direct her first feature length film ‘All Good Children’.
This short film initially highlights the effect of bad parenting and child neglect. The protagonist within this film is a young girl, who does not spend most of her leisure time constructively when she is in the safety of her own home and she watches, what would be considered too much television by most viewing audiences. Her mother is never seen directly interacting with her daughter, which I believe could be because of her lack of parental motivation. This personal assumption is supported by the fact that the young child is allowed by her prime care giver to watch late evening television which is indicated in the opening scene and she awakes the following morning on the floor of the lounge next to her faithful and loyal companion – a female dog. The technical element of lighting here is used to communicate meaning to an audience and the first shot of the young protagonist is a dark close up shot which clearly identifies a negative feel.
As the film progresses the child is clearly bored as she listens to her mother conversing in idle gossip with a friend, so therefore she seeks entertainment in the street. As she plays repetitively going around in circles on her bicycle, her mind seems to wander and from her emotional facial expressions, it is read that she longs for something to stimulate and interest her. Opposite her house there is a stretch of waste grassland and her curiosity gets the better of her as she wanders off to explore its nature and occupying contents. Whilst devouring and soaking up the beauty that surrounds her, she meets a man that is not known to her and to her anguish her mother catches her and she is clearly not amused by the girl’s behaviour. The film concludes with the child back in the safety of her own home, bored and longing for attention, excitement and fulfilment.
This short film cleverly depicts several technical elements such as sound and lighting which all add to the verisimilitude of construction. Sound in particular, was highlighting what the audience could not see visually. For example within the series of opening shots of the young girl, who is shown with lifeless energy overlays the off camera sound of the mother having conversations with various people; both on the telephone and in person. This clearly sets up the image that the mother has a poor attitude, and demonstrates that she is more concerned with her own social life over that of her own child’s wellbeing.
The child’s age within this short has an important representation, as it touches on the key themes of innocence and boredom. The mise en scene that surrounds the young girl from within her home depicts her class and status and the financial side of her life. The basic furniture in the untidy lounge is a specific representation of low class status and the low key lighting from within the safety of her home signifies her boredom and her willingness to seek adventure. A particularly clever technical element is shown between two slow contrasting shots; when the child is lying on the floor of her lounge, with a careless attitude. The first shot is a close up, that shows the exit of the mother’s legs and the dog when the diegetic sound of the telephone is ringing. When the young protagonist is completely alone she is displayed in a wide shot which indicates her loneliness. These slow edits match the slow and lethargic action, being portrayed in this particular scene. To support this key element of loneliness, the child is again shown in wide shots, whilst cycling, repetitively in circles on her bicycle.
A sharp focus pull was particularly effective in this short film, and this was used to attract the audience to the girl’s cautiousness, before she explored beyond her mothers’ boundaries. The focus pull shot highlighted the girl’s face and then it focused back to the grass wasteland. This shot is basically depicting her thoughts and the need to explore. The close up emphases on her face is indicating her inquisitiveness, but yet deviousness and the close up focus of the grass wasteland is an inviting invitation to explore the forbidden region and this is also enhanced by the diegetic sound of grasshoppers.
The close up shot that follows depicts the young protagonist deep in thought with a fence separating her from the wasteland. This shot conveys a sense of boundary between the young girl and the grass wasteland; hence it is easy to walk around the fence as in a sense to defy her mother’s boundary. The mise en scene for these outside scenes signifies two different contrasts here. The road area is dull and grey and the sound of cars that can be heard in the background indicates the boredom factor. While the grass wasteland, reflects different shades of green in the sunlight, which seem warming and inviting symbolising inquisitiveness and excitement.
This scene follows a series of quick editorial cuts, of close coverage shots of the girl exploring. The intention of this technique is clearly to transfer some of the fast flowing excitement that is being experienced by the girl to the audience. This also symbolises the passing of time. The camera takes two different approaches here from first focusing on her face to convey her facial expressions of delight and curiosity to following her actions of happiness and stimulation as she explores the different textures of grass and insects that surround her. This camera tracking style together with the vivid diegetic noise of birds, insects, water and slight breeze all portray a sense of suspense or uncertainty of something yet to come. Through a unique shot from under rippling water of a small pond, the young girl’s face is seen and at this point in time all the other diegetic sounds have ceased. The only sound that can be heard is whooshing sound of the water as it twirls around the stick that the protagonist is playing with. This adds further suspense and an indication that is not predictable. My immediate and initial thought at this particular moment was that the young girl might fall into the pond, but the director clearly chose to film this editorial sequence to create an ambience of suspense and not the obvious.
When the young girl hears the sound of her dog delighting in a friendly manner, the camera tilts up to reveal a topless male stranger. This would rise initial questioning from a viewing audience about the man’s intentions towards her, as her vulnerability and innocence were previously displayed in the mise en scene around her, this could suggest the theme of sexuality. However, the director’s choice of costume here can be justified by the fact that it is a hot summer’s morning and the child herself is dressed accordingly for the season, therefore it is not unusual to see a topless man.
The only spoken dialogue, between the characters is the girl telling the stranger that the dog is hers. - ‘That’s my dog!’ The editorial sequence that follows depicts a series of close up shots showing the characters facial expressions towards one another. The male stranger clearly expresses a smile in the form of friendship towards the girl and in return she indicates her politeness by sharing a smile back. The way this interaction between the two characters has been filmed has created a sense that the male actually knows the young girl and is trying to gain her trust so that she would perceive him as friendly. This can also be clarified by the previous tilt shot of the male stroking the dog, as most dogs would be weary of strangers. Although the girl clearly does not know the stranger, the editorial sequence of facial expressions indicate that she is not disturbed by his presence and is soaking up his undivided attention. This is quite evident in the close up shots in the insect scene; where the stranger in question, carefully removes a bug from the young girls shoulder.
Their encounter with one another is interrupted by the appearance of the child’s mother. The close up shot of the stranger depicts his facial expression of uneasiness and disheartenment, as this particular shot relays a message that the male clearly wanted to spend more time with the child. There are then a couple of alternating shots, which create added tension between the three characters.
This is the first time within this short that we are shown a picture of the mothers face. The close up shot displays her motionlessly staring across at her daughter and the male in question. This shot can be symbolised as a confirmation that the stranger is actually known to the mother, as she offers no attempt to approach or call her child back to the safety of her own home. Up to this point there has been no known representation of a male figure in the protagonist’s life which indicates a key theme that the mother is facing single parenthood. The focus pull shot that clearly shows the girl looking towards her house at her mother, suggests a distance and negativity between both the stranger and the mother and that the mothers continuous stare is having an impact on both the protagonist and the male stranger. As the child hastily rushes back to the house it is through the diegetic sound of her breathing and her foot steps on the ground that show she distinctly knows, she has crossed her mother’s boundaries.
Once back, inside the home, we are shown the mothers arm slamming the front door shut and it is through this action of body language that indicates her annoyance of the child’s betrayal. Moreover, it could be said that if the man was unknown to the mother, then why did she not say anything to the little girl?’
The dark interior of the staircase brings back the child’s negativity, her boredom and her low self-esteem. The high angle camera shot looking down the stairs depicts the child sitting on the bottom step. This is particularly effective as it is defining that a child would look down when being punished, consequently sitting on the ‘naughty step’. This is associated widely in the media and in programs like ‘Super Nanny’, as a form of punishment and a place to reflect on one’s naughty actions. The child’s reflection to her own actions are symbolised through a close up shot. Her face expressions then alter to a more inquiring look, maybe comparing the kindness and beauty from within the stranger to her mother and why the stranger’s identity was never revealed.
The film concludes with a fade in, close up shot of the protagonist back in the dark gloom of her reality, watching television. – Life as usual.
This short, but yet intriguing film allows a viewing audience to imagine, capture and identify certain characteristics from the designed composed shots, together with the implemented sound design, lighting and mise-en-scene.
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