Narrative technique · used in 3 films
Presenting a paradise or a golden past as seductive, then revealing it as a trap that corrodes the characters who chase it.
Examples
Danny Boyle · 2000
The island is gorgeous, but the community survives on one rule: nobody may bring in outsiders or leave with the secret. When a shark attack tests that rule, the leader chooses the secret over a man's life.
Where to see it: Christo's injury: After the shark attack, Sal will not allow any doctors on the island, and the islanders leave Christo in the jungle to die.
Jonathan Glazer · 2001
The film opens with Gal baking by his pool in the Spanish sun, a boulder rolls down the hill behind him and lands in the water. The villa looks like paradise, but that first shot tells you something heavy is coming down. When Don arrives, the sunshine starts to feel like a cage.
Where to see it: Opening pool scene: Gal sunbathes by his villa pool and a boulder tumbles down the hillside into the water. It sets up the idea that his peaceful retirement can be crushed at any moment.
Woody Allen · 2011
Gil wishes he lived in the 1920s. Adriana, who is from that time, longs for the Belle Époque. When they get there, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin and Degas say the Renaissance was the best time. Gil realizes the present always feels a little unsatisfying, and he decides to stay in Paris in his own time.
Where to see it: The Belle Époque. A carriage takes Gil and Adriana to the Moulin Rouge, where the painters name the Renaissance as the golden age.
Questions