MOP VAISHNAV COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

SCHOOL OF MEDIA

FILM STUDIES

FILM ANALYSIS SHUTTER ISLAND

AARTHI 0917104

CONTENT

CAST CREW SYNOPSIS NARRATION NARRATIVE CHARECTORIZATION FILM LANGUAGE PSYCHOANLYSIS

CAST

Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule Sir Ben Kingsley as Dr. John Cawley Michelle Williams as Dolores Chanal Emily Mortimer as Rachel Solando Max von Sydow as Dr. Jeremiah Naehring Jackie Earle Haley as George Noyce Ted Levine as Warden John Carroll Lynch as Deputy Warden McPherson Elias Koteas as Andrew Laeddis Patricia Clarkson as Dr. Rachel Soland

CREW
Story-Dennis Lehane (novel) Screenplay- Laeta Kalogridis Cinematography- Robert Richardson Editing- Thelma Schoonmaker Music Robbie Robertson Direction-Martin Scorsese

SYNOPSIS
It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/plotsummary

NARRATIVE
For the most part the movie unrolls in a linear fashion but is interrupted by montage of images which are the hallucinations of the protagonist. The plot is single stranded with only Di Caprios point of view. The films narrative is close ended, with the final dialogue of the protagonist providing a new dimension to the story, but this dialogue itself has created a lot of confusion among movie goers many interpreting it as Di Caprio being innocent and others claiming that he was actually the 67th patient and that he realizes it but pretends to have not recovered because he knew he could not live with himself and the memory of having killed his wife.

NARRATION
The narration of the film is restricted, the audience know only as much as the protagonist. The movie is the point of view of only Di Caprios character and hence is of subjective narrative. But at the end we realize that his point of view of is not reliable due to his unstable mental health. 2

CHARACTERIZATION PROTAGONIST
The protagonist of the film has a very strong role to play as the whole film his from his point of view. The characterization is complicated as the protagonist must look like a reliable source in the being but then when he is reviled to be schizophrenic it should be believable, hence hints must be dropped in here and there.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/1023

FILM LANGUAGE
How a films director uses the camera, lighting, and sound to create a mood and to communicate his vision is known as film language.3 The film language in a movie can convey a lot of things like the time period the film is set in, the location the story happens in and much more. As for Shutter Island the true stars of this film are cinematographer Robert Richardson, production designer Dante Ferretti, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.4 This is because its the ire atmosphere that is set by the cinematographer thats sets the mood for the audience. The crisp editing and tonal differentiation between the hallucinations and reality that helped make the watching experience more intense.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The tight framing and shots of the light house run a chill through even the spine of even the strong hearted viewer. The quality of each shot is so interesting and so visually pleasing, its hard not to notice how much thought and effort has been placed into putting together a film5

MIS-EN-SCENE
The location that the story is set in is totally cut off from the world and can be reached only by sea and the boat comes only once a week. The setting is very grim and cold 6which sets the tone for the emotional rollercoaster we are to take a ride on. The entire setting of scraggly rocks and deep jungle against a generally stormy, grey sky highlights the moodiness of the film; the elements of smoke and fog are also extremely significant motifs that are used to great effect. 7 Wispy, thick fog is also utilized almost invisibly in many scenes in this movie to emphasize the complexity and confusion of the situation, which similarly help overstate the noir-ish features of

3 4

http://www.frankwbaker.com/filmlanguage.htm http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2010/02/shutter-island-review.php 5 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80 6 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/1023 7 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80

the movie.8The props used and the costumes set the time of the fit perfectly in the 1950s. Di Caprios role is very heavily layered though the viewers realize that only around the end of the film, hence his confused acting worked well9, he employs a madness in his eyes which belie his smooth exterior,he10 has given a given a raw and intense performance in this movie11.But then Di Caprio is a pro at playing a mentally jinxed individual after having played it in various movies like Marvins Room, The Aviator and Inception. Sir Ben Kinsleys plays the precise remote man in charge12 with a "look at me" performance13. In fact the entire cast really highlights the quality of the screenplay, and in particular, Leonardo Di Caprio and Ben Kingsley really complement each other in giving powerful and convincing portrayals. Mark Ruffalo is also impressive as Chuck his accent just makes his character. 14The grey tint used throughout the film set the mood for a perfect psychological thriller which sends the audience for a toss. Visual elements of the film are also extremely well crafted in particular the dream sequences Teddy has of his dead wife. Without giving too much away, the use of colour, falling pieces of confetti, paper etc. and slow motion close ups of feet and hands help in exaggerating Teddys conflictions and issues within himself as he continues with his job on the island.15

SOUND
The background score adds to the gothic feel of the film. The background score used for Di Caprios hallucinations is strong enough to give the viewer a headache. No original score was written for the film. Instead, Scorsese made use of his longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson to create an ensemble of previously recorded material to use in the film.16 Sound wise, this film is also incredibly impressive. One scene that comes to mind is when Teddy and Chuck are caught in a severe rainstorm while at the graveyard on the island. Not only was the camera angles and
8 9

http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100215/PEOPLE/100219984 10 http://www.fullhyderabad.com/profile/movies/3659/2/shutter-island-movie-review 11 http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/shutter-island-touted-as-leonardo-dicaprios-mostintense-performance_100323561.html 12 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100215/PEOPLE/100219984 13 http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/movie-review-shutter-island-2010 14 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80 15 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80 16 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_Island_(film)#Cast

lighting perfect, the combination of the beating rain, howling wind and crystal clear vocals of Teddy and Chuck seriously makes the scene one of the most memorable.17

EDITING
The film is supposed to have taken its shape in the editing table, taking that into consideration the editor sure did his job well.

17

http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80

PSYCHOANALYSIS
Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and the psychodynamic approach to psychology. This school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. 18 The film taken up for analysis Shutter Island deals a lot with the unconscious, preconscious and conscious states of the mind. The protagonist in the film Teddy Daniels played by Di Caprio starts experiencing elaborate visual hallucinations shortly after he comes to Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. These hallucinations which start off looking like a ploy to tell the audience the protagonists past reappear numerous times to show that the surrounding have taken their toll on his mental health. As the film progresses the hallucinations get delusional. A delusion, false belief based upon a misinterpretation of reality. It is not, like a hallucination, a false sensory perception, or like an illusion, a distorted perception. Delusions vary in intensity, and are not uncommon among substance abusers, particularly those who use amphetamines, cocaine, and hallucinogens. They also occur frequently among individuals who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, or schizophrenia, and during the manic stage of bipolar disorder (see depression). Some common delusions include persecutory delusions, in which the individual falsely believes that others are plotting against him; delusions of thought broadcasting, where the individual believes his thoughts can be transmitted to others; delusions of thought insertion, in which the individual believes that thoughts are being implanted in his mind; and delusions of grandeur, in which the individual imagines himself an unappreciated person of great importance.19

The protagonist a U.S. marshal is disturbed by his own actions on the line of duty during the war, these thoughts come back and haunt him; but these are not his only hallucinations. After a while we realize that half of what we have viewed was a journey into the protagonists mind, and tend to recognize that the scenes with a grey tone where reality and the bright toned ones where his hallucinations. 20

18 19

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/psychodynamic.htm http://www.answers.com/topic/delusion 20 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/1023

The movie works on the principal that Psychoanalysis reassorts the maze of stray impulses, and tries to wind them around the spool to which they belong," Freud told George Sylvester Viereck in 1930. Or, to change the metaphor, it supplies the thread that leads a man out of the labyrinth of his own unconscious."
21

Shutter Island is not about what will be found at the centre of the maze but about whether one can escape the pathological maze of neurosis and fear. Finding an answer to this question is essential for the person who is mentally-ill and for the professionals who are trying to lay a safe route out this disordered maze.22 Dr. Naehring introduces one of the movie's most powerful themes: that theetymology for the word "dream" in German comes from "trauma" or "wound." He leaps from there to the idea of "monster" but there is also an etymological connection to "lie" and "deceive": both of which are decidedly relevant. In a world just emerging from war, murder, and the atrocities of the Nazis, we are asked to confront some of man's most inner evil: there indeed is a great wound to uncover here, lies being told, and monsters that lurk. In the end, Teddy faces a choice. His final words to us suggest that the choice he does make is both deliberate...and monstrous.23

21 22

http://theinvisibleprovince.blogspot.com/2010/03/shutter-island.html http://theinvisibleprovince.blogspot.com/2010/03/shutter-island.html 23 http://www.cincritic.com/2010/02/shutter-island-scorsese-makes.html