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July 14, 2009

Trouble Every Day (2001) - pt. 2

About 21 minutes into Trouble Every Day is an extraordinary sequence which, just the kiss that begins the film adumbrates Denis' thesis, deftly outlines the dynamics on which she lays her case. It begins in the hotel into which newlyweds Shane (Vincent Gallo) and June (Tricia Vessey) have just checked themseves (Shane identifies himself to the concierge as Mr. Brown - you can tell Denis is a fan). The sullen maid Christelle (Florence Loiret) carries their bags to their room, and as they follow her, Shane catches himself staring at her a little bit too intently.

They enter the room, and Christelle begins to make up the bed. June quickly, eagerly jumps in to help her. Shane unenthusiastically follows suit - and once again finds himself transfixed by the maid. This time, she notices. In a single shot, the camera tilts up from the sheets clutched in his hands to his jetlagged glower - and then from there it pans into a close-up of Christelle, who doesn't meet his gaze but seems entirely aware of it.

Moments later Denis makes a sharp turn into subjectivity by cutting out of the hotel room and into a close-up of Christelle as she pushes her housekeeping cart down the hall. This mimics the shot from a few moments ago, when Shane was following her; but now she's alone, and the camera is more closely bound to the nape of her neck, more in time with her step. The perspective, this time, is unmistakably ours - which is to say that, in the grand tradition of horror cinema, we the audience are being implicated.

But then, an aside: as she proceeds down the corridor, Christelle discreetly swipes a few single-serving jars of jam from discarded room service trays...

Now we're in the hotel basement, where Christelle is stashing her spoils in employee locker. A neat arrangement of jam and soap.

Why make her such a magpie, and why call such careful attention to it? Consider that Christelle is roughly the same age as June, of the same height and general shape, also a brunette. And that June's defining characteristics so far are trust, neediness and selflessness. Christelle has quickly and efficiently been established as her mirror image: independent, cunning, selfish...

...and, above all else, sexual. While June may not be a virgin per se, she's certainly virginal, and Shane treats her as such. Like a doll, like a little girl. On the other hand, we've just seen the manner in which he regards Christelle, and now we're invited to share that perspective. The camera slowly pushes in on her as she removes her maid's uniform, exposing her breasts. That she's not wearing a bra isn't a character detail (this routine will be repeated later, and she'll be wearing undergarments) but an overt statement on Denis' part. She is eroticizing Christelle through egregious nudity, in the same way that Kubrick exaggerated the sexual appeal of every woman Dr. Tom interacts with in the first half of Eyes Wide Shut. But what felt blunt in the Kubrick film here is as alluring as it is wanton (perhaps because two female filmmakers are so slyly playing with the idiom of the male gaze).

The next shot finds Christelle still in a state of dishabille, washing her feet in the sink, showing off the shape of her legs and participating in the time honored tradition of horror film heroines placing themselves in the most vulnerable positions imagineable.

Indeed, this is followed by a voyeuristic composition, peeking out from behind a laundry bin. Once again, a classic example of the male gaze (see Halloween, Mulvey, Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema, etc.), minus, at least in the literal sense, any actual male.

A noise echoes from somewhere deep in the basement, and a corresponding shot of the dark recesses of the locker room. In the distance, another employee can be seen leaving. Christelle is now completely alone. Denis cuts to another close up of her, as her eyes glance backwards - the inverse of her acknowledgment of Shane's gaze back in the hotel room.

And now we're presented, in turn, with the inverse of those two shots (the entire sequence - indeed, much of the movie - is built on such interconnected articulations). Out of the basement, back upstairs to the hotel corridor (Kubrick again). Also empty. And inside the hotel room, we find Shane, laying face down on the bed, his hand down his pants. He's alone. The sound of running water suggests that June is in the bathroom. He brings himself to a muffled climax...

...and with that the promise of that initial tilt-pan shot is fulfilled. I don't doubt that the entire sequence was meant to be taken literally, but it also functions as Shane's fantasy. Hence, the disembodied stalker perspective, and the overt eroticization (as mentioned previously, the next time we see Christelle disrobe, she's desexualized), and the plundered goods which, imagined or otherwise, give him a free pass to do with (his mental image of) her whatever he pleases. Or, rather, whatever he needs.

In interviews concerning her 2004 film L'Intrus, Denis has suggested that, in spite of the large cast and multitude of locations, there are only two actual characters in the film. I think Trouble Every Day can be read the same way; every character corresponds to some facet of Shane and June - egos, ids and whatnot, transposed or otherwise - and the horror each is trying to suppress within their own relationship. This interpretation is is a little difficult, considering how extensively Denis delves into the palpable specifics of the narrative - this is no ephemeral, Lynchian dream story - but there's an internal cohesion to it all that's impossible to ignore.

There is following the sequence above some business with pills and vivisected brains and lab coats and phone calls (all material deserving of their own discussion) and then: an addendum. Shane ventures into the bathroom, where his wife is taking a bath. June is fully exposed, but there's an awkwardness to her nudity; she doesn't seem to quite comfortably in either the tub or her own skin. Shane gives her a good, long look - one which Denis talks about in the interview I linked to in my previous post:

You know, in Trouble Every Day there is this scene where Vincent Gallo is looking at his wife taking a bath, and you can see pubic hair moving in the water. That's one of Stuart's songs. On his second CD there is a song called Sea Weeds and the story is just that. I truly wrote the scene because of that song

June awakens in the tub and is startled to see Shane standing over her.

He leans down, touches her tenderly and asks: "Are you frightened?"

Posted by David Lowery at July 14, 2009 3:41 AM

Comments

Posted by: KW at July 15, 2009 11:52 AM