19 July 2024
Beneath the Roses: Cinematic Photo Study
In a captivating photograph from Gregory Crewdson’s Beneath the Roses (2003-5), the cinematic image depicts an average suburban scene with a striking irregularity – a beam of light, shining down like a spotlight from the sky down on a lonesome person. Upon even a cursory glance at this vivid image, the viewer can quickly imagine the narrative that might unfold within the world of the still. Perhaps a UFO is hovering slightly above the frame, readying to snatch the person from the ground and whisk him or her to an alien planet. Maybe the person finds themselves within a dystopian society, and a secret government agency has finally located the last person needed to aid in the fulfillment of their revolutionary mission. To me, it seems that the person standing in the light beam is about to embark on the adventure of the supernatural thriller variety. Clearly, if one were to contextualize this still within the narrative of a film, the imagined story easily takes the characteristics of a surrealistic style. The unconventional visual structure and details, the dreamlike imagery, and the psychological depth all point toward a film style of surrealism.
The objectively abnormal happenings taking place in the image are not the only surrealistic factor of the still – rather, the style emerges from the cumulative effect of the individual details of the mise-en-scene and composition. Elements such as lighting, space, scale, costume, and décor all contribute to the supernatural effect of the image. The most compelling of these is Crewdson’s use of lighting. Without the abnormal lighting, the scene would likely locate itself within the style of realism, rather than surrealism. The bright beam of light creates an intense juxtaposition with the low-key lighting of the background. With a closer look, it is evident that the use of lighting in the rest of the image is just as eerie as the bright column of light. The homes are strangely lit – from within, yes, but also from an unseen light outside of the house. The glow takes on a streetlamp effect, but with no streetlamp in sight. Similarly, there is a runway of light with no visible source, glowing down the side-yard that appears to belong to the person standing under the lightbeam. It is almost as if the narrative follows the person stepping out of the house, the walkway of light unconsciously guiding their feet forward. The smokey haze created by the lighting on both sides of the image contributes to the dreamlike feel of the surrealistic still. There is yet another unusual element of lighting adding contrast: the shafts of light down the road. Their intermittent spacing is reminiscent of streetlamps, but the shafts are strangely concentrated, creating no warm haze but rather making distinct streaks across the pavement. It is also worth noting here that the small streams of light exist only in front of the house that is further back in the image, stopping before they reach the house in front of which the person stands. Overall, the lighting creates a stark contrast with the familiarity of the realistic suburban background, creating a disquieting and enigmatic feeling in the viewer.
Another formal element that reflects a surrealistic style is the use of space. The use of deep focus holds both planes of the image in sharp focus, adding to the realism of the setting and allowing deeper juxtaposition with the supernatural occurrences of the foreground. Lending itself to the supernatural narrative, the use of deep space allows a three-dimensional world to unfold inside of the one-dimensional still. Additionally, the long shot scale gives the viewer a better vision of what might really be happening here; our understanding of the narrative would be quite different if the scale was a close-up of the person standing in the light. Despite the small scale of the “object” of the person standing, the landscape of the background fills the screen, with the outline of the trees and the horizon of the houses informing the surreal aspect of the narrative. Both the costume and the décor are commonplace and familiar to the suburban neighborhood that they paint. The somewhat baggy clothes are so common that it is even difficult to assign a gender to the person standing, which adds to the mystery of the image. The décor – including a color house-flag, a red hard-cooler, and a variety of common cars – is equally typical, but not without intrigue. There seems to be trash or debris floating in the air around the haze of the lightbeam. Another interesting element of the décor is that the majority of the cars are tightly parked in the yard of the house to the right of the frame, with just a single sedan parked near the house to the left. This detail, coupled with the streetlamp-like shafts of light stop before reaching the house in the front, creates a juxtaposition between the two homes. It seems like there could even be a neighborhood party or routine game of poker taking place at the house on the right, with a person, barely noticeable, staring eerily through the screen of the door. The person in the light, standing with a six-pack of beer in hand, seems isolated from the dark, yet lively background. All of these elements contribute to the psychological expression of the surrealistic film still, as the abnormalities draw the viewer in and invite them to make sense of the scene for themselves – what could be happening here, and what might it mean?
Borrowing from the common film and television science-fiction trope of the alien abduction, this image turns a familiar suburban neighborhood into the scene of a supernatural awakening. This narrative can be so easily imagined because of the relationship between the lighting, space, scale, costume, and décor. These elements all synthesize into a surrealistic style so captivating that the viewer cannot help themselves from envisioning the otherworldly story taking place. Right before our eyes, the juxtaposition of a familiar setting and a supernatural phenomenon unfurl a speculative, dream-like world in the style of surrealism.
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