What filmmaking techniques does Dark Waters use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Dark Waters (2019): Ordinary Person in Extraordinary Plot, Betrayal and Withheld Truth, Obsession as Structural Engine and Small Town as Moral Geography.

Who directed Dark Waters?

Todd Haynes directed Dark Waters, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Far from Heaven (2002), I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017).

What films are similar to Dark Waters?

Films that share techniques with Dark Waters include Everybody Knows (2018), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Prestige (2006), Amadeus (1984).

Drama · Thriller

Dark Waters

Todd Haynes, 2019

A corporate defense lawyer in Cincinnati takes a case from a West Virginia farmer whose cattle are dying, and finds that DuPont has been hiding the harm from a chemical called PFOA. Based on a true story, it shows how a legal fight can take over many years of one man's life.

2 Narrative 1 Psychology 1 Cinematography

At a glance

Dark Waters is a 2019 drama and thriller film directed by Todd Haynes. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Everybody Knows uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Ordinary Person in Extraordinary Plot

Dropping a normal citizen with no special training into a conspiracy or crime. You identify with them because they are as unprepared as you would be.

How this film uses it

Robert Bilott is a corporate defense lawyer. Taking on a huge company is a job he has never done. You follow him as he finds out what he is facing at the same speed he does.

Where to see it

The first visit from Wilbur Tennant. The farmer arrives with a large set of videotapes and asks Bilott to investigate why his cattle are dying.

Psychology

Betrayal and Withheld Truth

Driving drama from what one person hides from or fails to do for another. Loyalty goes unrewarded and silence works like betrayal.

How this film uses it

The drama comes from what DuPont knew and kept quiet. Bilott reads through hundreds of boxes of discovery documents and finds references to PFOA. Company tests had linked it to cancer and birth defects, and the findings stayed private.

Where to see it

The boxes of documents. DuPont sends hundreds of boxes after Bilott asks for broader discovery, and he finds the repeated references to PFOA.

Narrative

Obsession as Structural Engine

Building the whole plot on one character's fixation with a person, goal or rival. Every scene ties back to it, and the obsession keeps feeding itself while it destroys them.

How this film uses it

Bilott keeps going long after a normal lawyer would stop. Seven years pass with no results from the science panel, and the case strains his money and his family. The story is built from years of him refusing to let it go.

Where to see it

The wait for the science panel. Years go by without a result, and Bilott is under financial and personal strain.

Cinematography

Small Town as Moral Geography

Treating a small town as more than a setting. Its buildings, lighting and relationships show the community's values and limits, which shape what the characters can do and what gets destroyed.

How this film uses it

The film keeps returning to the Parkersburg farm, the landfill uphill from it and the people living nearby. The place shows you who gets hurt when a company hides what it knows.

Where to see it

The class action fight. Bilott seeks medical monitoring for Parkersburg residents, and local protests make the case national news.

Questions

Dark Waters: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Dark Waters use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Dark Waters (2019): Ordinary Person in Extraordinary Plot, Betrayal and Withheld Truth, Obsession as Structural Engine and Small Town as Moral Geography.
Who directed Dark Waters?: Todd Haynes directed Dark Waters, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Far from Heaven (2002), I'm Not There (2007), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017).
What films are similar to Dark Waters?: Films that share techniques with Dark Waters include Everybody Knows (2018), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Prestige (2006), Amadeus (1984).

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