Lights in the Dusk was beautifully disturbing, and may speak best to those with an appreciation for the artistic layers of film creation, and variations on film noir. This film will return to you the morning after with haunting images of the inexpressive guard, and his fragility as a handsome dreamer whose sense of conquest and hope continues to fade away. The film is also a great object lesson in the seductive capacities of the blonde femme fatale. Their repeated encounters, purposefully contrived by her to satisfy her employer, reels our naive guard into a series of misadventures. As the leading man passively faces humiliation, brutality, rejection, social alienation, imprisonment, job loss, and an unending series of dreams that dissolve, one can sympathize when he is moved to take a vengeful action against those whose power have thwarted him repeatedly and successfully. Predictably, even this act of courage is blocked, and again, he succumbs to defeat. The cinematography is brilliant in reflecting the gloom of the leading man with well composed bleak settings and landscapes, including a colorless food grill whose proprietor is one of the few characters to evidence compassion. Cinematographer Tuomi gives the fragile leading man an ambient mirror across settings with Helsinki serving to contrast comfort and despair. It is the wishful fascinations of the leading man, and his willingness to sacrifice that cost him deeply. The film gets right under your skin as you dare to watch innocence burn.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Europe '51
(1952)
A grieving mother finds solace in service
24 September 2014
Do you remember when film featured up close photography, colorless images allowing character interaction to be the foreground, and spoken dialogs with noticeable pauses? Do you remember the last time a film haunted you? Correct
it simply flashed to mind without your invitation! If you can touch any of these viewing memories, this film may be worthy of 108 minutes.
Europe '51 is directed by Roberto Rossellini, and stars the stunning master of nuanced emotion, Ingrid Bergman. The 1952 film is set in Rome, post WWII, and features wonderful set designs to distinguish the comfortable life and the dire struggles known to the rest of us.
As Irene, Bergman undergoes a metamorphosis that will beckon the dark experience of an unexpected loss of a beloved, and the consequential deep fall into emptiness. Irene is first introduced to us as the consummate hostess with a natural grace and instinctive flair for entertaining. She ignores the voice of her only son repeatedly to fulfill her social obligations. Bonded by their time of closeness under the threat of air raids, Irene is no longer burdened to protect and comfort her son in the present post-war calm.
Her 10 year old son, Michele, takes his life after repeated, failed attempts to gain his mother's affection and attention. Irene is paralyzed by the loss, and her husband, George, accommodates her every wish until he comes to think she is having a love affair. The grieving mother finds solace in service to those in need, and her family is bewildered. Her long absences from home, loss of interest in social engagements, and avoidance of her husband leave her family troubled.
Irene is transitioning spiritually as a means to heal her loss. She is introduced to a family in need of assistance, and she finds great joy in acts of compassion. Irene assists this family to secure treatment for their sickly son, she then befriends a single mother of six dependents, and tirelessly administers care to a young, isolated prostitute whose life is yielding quickly to tuberculosis. Irene's deeds are in conflict with her social position, and neither her husband nor her mother can compel her return to them. Irene has become a passionate, driven arm of charity in service to her community. She can not return to the life she knew prior to the loss of her young, beloved son. Her family can not understand the sweeping changes Irene has internalized. They confine her to a mental institution. She accepts this placement, and silently radiates a saintly mercy as she encounters the helplessness of the other patients.
Fortunately, Rossellini allows you to script your own ending as you look upon Irene from behind the confinement of cell bars at the mental institution. She has been visited by her family, and the family of the sickly boy she assisted. After your viewing, it would be good to hear from you.
Europe '51 is directed by Roberto Rossellini, and stars the stunning master of nuanced emotion, Ingrid Bergman. The 1952 film is set in Rome, post WWII, and features wonderful set designs to distinguish the comfortable life and the dire struggles known to the rest of us.
As Irene, Bergman undergoes a metamorphosis that will beckon the dark experience of an unexpected loss of a beloved, and the consequential deep fall into emptiness. Irene is first introduced to us as the consummate hostess with a natural grace and instinctive flair for entertaining. She ignores the voice of her only son repeatedly to fulfill her social obligations. Bonded by their time of closeness under the threat of air raids, Irene is no longer burdened to protect and comfort her son in the present post-war calm.
Her 10 year old son, Michele, takes his life after repeated, failed attempts to gain his mother's affection and attention. Irene is paralyzed by the loss, and her husband, George, accommodates her every wish until he comes to think she is having a love affair. The grieving mother finds solace in service to those in need, and her family is bewildered. Her long absences from home, loss of interest in social engagements, and avoidance of her husband leave her family troubled.
Irene is transitioning spiritually as a means to heal her loss. She is introduced to a family in need of assistance, and she finds great joy in acts of compassion. Irene assists this family to secure treatment for their sickly son, she then befriends a single mother of six dependents, and tirelessly administers care to a young, isolated prostitute whose life is yielding quickly to tuberculosis. Irene's deeds are in conflict with her social position, and neither her husband nor her mother can compel her return to them. Irene has become a passionate, driven arm of charity in service to her community. She can not return to the life she knew prior to the loss of her young, beloved son. Her family can not understand the sweeping changes Irene has internalized. They confine her to a mental institution. She accepts this placement, and silently radiates a saintly mercy as she encounters the helplessness of the other patients.
Fortunately, Rossellini allows you to script your own ending as you look upon Irene from behind the confinement of cell bars at the mental institution. She has been visited by her family, and the family of the sickly boy she assisted. After your viewing, it would be good to hear from you.
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