Cinematography technique · used in 4 films
Using one enclosed outdoor space, often seen from the main character's position, like a theater stage. Several stories and key confrontations play out there at once.
Examples
Jean Renoir · 1939
The grounds of the château include gardens, corridors and a greenhouse. They become a stage where you can see class barriers dissolve and form again. The physical space mirrors how shaky the social order is.
Where to see it: The mistaken-identity climax at the greenhouse. Schumacher takes Christine for Lisette, then takes André in Octave's coat for Octave, and shoots him dead.
Alfred Hitchcock · 1954
The courtyard holds the Songwriter, Miss Lonelyhearts, the Newlyweds, Miss Torso, the childless couple with the dog and the Thorwalds. Each window is its own story, and each one comments on Jeff and Lisa's relationship. I feel like the courtyard is a carefully designed collection of short stories that also adds up to one argument about marriage and loneliness.
Where to see it: Jeff's survey of the courtyard at the film's opening. The stage is set and all its players are introduced.
François Truffaut · 1970
Antoine works in the courtyard of their building, dyeing carnations while neighbors look on. The shared space makes his small failures public. It also turns the building into a little theater for the marriage.
Where to see it: The carnation dyeing. His experiments with colors backfire, and he loses his job.
Roman Polanski · 1976
Trelkovsky's window looks across a courtyard to a shared toilet room, where neighbors stand perfectly still. He studies them from his window. Later he sees himself standing at his own window, looking back with binoculars.
Where to see it: The courtyard window: Trelkovsky sees neighbors standing motionless in the toilet room. Later he sees himself at his window with binoculars.
Questions