Watching this superb movie for a second time it struck me there are a great many respectful nods to other great films, as Tarantino would do in a later generation, although RWF was less overt than QT. It's not a film of movie quotes but it does seem to cherry-pick some great style cues and techincal effects from earlier works. The sound design makes great use of amplified ticking clocks, tapping crutches and creaking doors much as Serio Leone did in his Westerns (the opening sequence of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST for example) The framing of shots includes a lot of large wide-angle close-up faces , or parts of faces, mouths, eyes (again like Leone), while some of the complex reflections-through-glass evoke Hitchcock and the use of deep-space within the rooms and hallways is very like CITIZEN KANE at times. During the titular game sequence characters asked a question and pondering thier reply all seem to spend some moments moving around between static groups or individuals before speaking - this is extremely stylized and drawn out, which rather brings to mind LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD. The way the wife and the mistress physically intertwine at times is evocative of Bergman's PERSONNA and the way the mute Liv Ullman character morphes into the chattery but insecure Bibi Anderson character. And talking of mutes, there's the mute Nanny acting as the disabled child's only real freind and relying on her for communication, again referencing PERSONNA. On the flip side shots of characters moving wordlessly around in the empty echoing halls forshadow Kubrick's interiors in THE SHINING - was Kubrick a fan of Fassbender perhaps? Maybe this is just the way I saw the film this time round. Did anyone else pick up on these moments of cinematic deja vu ?
Packed with Great Movie References
The sound design makes great use of amplified ticking clocks, tapping crutches and creaking doors much as Serio Leone did in his Westerns (the opening sequence of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST for example) The framing of shots includes a lot of large wide-angle close-up faces , or parts of faces, mouths, eyes (again like Leone), while some of the complex reflections-through-glass evoke Hitchcock and the use of deep-space within the rooms and hallways is very like CITIZEN KANE at times.
During the titular game sequence characters asked a question and pondering thier reply all seem to spend some moments moving around between static groups or individuals before speaking - this is extremely stylized and drawn out, which rather brings to mind LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD.
The way the wife and the mistress physically intertwine at times is evocative of Bergman's PERSONNA and the way the mute Liv Ullman character morphes into the chattery but insecure Bibi Anderson character. And talking of mutes, there's the mute Nanny acting as the disabled child's only real freind and relying on her for communication, again referencing PERSONNA.
On the flip side shots of characters moving wordlessly around in the empty echoing halls forshadow Kubrick's interiors in THE SHINING - was Kubrick a fan of Fassbender perhaps?
Maybe this is just the way I saw the film this time round. Did anyone else pick up on these moments of cinematic deja vu ?