Lumen Autumn 2025 - Flipbook - Page 39
“A FILM MUST HAVE A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE, AND AN END…
BUT NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER.”
Some directors have made their reputation on using “real time”
storytelling – that is, a sequence presented exactly as it occurs,
without any edits or jumps in time. Think of the opening moments
of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958) or Robert Altman’s The
Player (1992), or the ‘Copacabana’ scene in Martin Scorsese’s
GoodFellas (1990) - all employ long, continuous shots, with
no cuts.
Time loops and repetition in film often feature characters
experiencing the same events multiple times, with subtle variations
or changes that reflect their growing understanding of how the
time loop works, and crucially, how to escape it. The most famous
example here remains Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day (1993),
ostensibly a comedy that in fact explores weighty themes of fate
and free will.
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s most memorable films was Rope
(1948), which unfolds entirely in “real time” (he shot in continuous,
unedited 10-minute takes). Another example is High Noon (1952),
in which a town marshal prepares for a showdown with a group of
outlaws set to arrive on the noon train. As the clock ticks closer to
midday, the tension rises. It’s a fabulous “race-against-the-clock”
film that reminds us that Hollywood has often used time creatively
to evoke heightened emotional responses.
Phil Connors, a cynical weatherman, finds himself trapped in a
loop, reliving the same day over and over again. As Phil repeats the
day, he evolves, and his mood shifts from frustration and despair
to eventual self-improvement. The time loop serves as a metaphor
for personal growth and the potential for change, as Phil learns to
become a better person through his repeated experiences.
Slow cinema evokes emotion in a very different way.
Once a decade since 1952, the British Film Institute’s inhouse magazine, Sight and Sound, has polled film makers, critics,
curators and programmers from around the world, asking them to
name their 10 best films ever made. In 2022, the winner was Jeanne
Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080
Bruxelles (1975). Its plot? A mother
performing domestic chores in
microscopic detail, including peeling
potatoes for 20 minutes.
If all of these loops and backwards-forwards motions seem like
narrative gimmicks designed to hold our attention, then check out
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood (2014). This marvellous work uses
cinematic time as both a narrative and thematic element. Filmed
over the course of 12 years, the film follows the life of a young boy
named Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he grows up.
Jeanne Dielman is a perfect example
of ‘slow cinema’ – a filmmaking style
known for its deliberate pacing and
minimalistic storytelling. These films
are not afraid to take their time. But
they use “real time” in a different way
to Hitchcock – they are not thrilling
or exciting; rather, they showcase the
mundane and the ordinary and ask
us to contemplate the world in newer,
slower ways.
Science fiction films have
traditionally been the genre best adapted to temporal distortions:
Star Trek (1966) used warp speed and Star Wars (1977) used light
speed. These films often transport us to mysterious dimensions
where the usual rules of time no longer apply. 12 Monkeys (1995),
The Terminator (1984) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) deliberately
contort time to disorient and confuse us through their use of time
loops and time dilation.
The real-time ageing of the actors adds a deeply affecting layer
of authenticity to Boyhood: we see Ellar imperceptibly grow from
a child to a young man. As a meditation on the fleeting nature of
childhood, Linklater’s film reminds us of the passage of time and
the inevitable changes that come with it.
Linklater is not done with temporal experiments just yet –
his current project is Merrily We Roll Along, an adaptation of the
Stephen Sondheim musical which traces the lives of its three
protagonists over twenty years… in reverse. Linklater plans on
filming a scene every two years, which means we’ll likely see the
final version in the early 2040s.
Flashbacks and flashforwards are also common techniques used
to reveal key plot points at critical moments. In The Godfather Part
II (1974), Francis Ford Coppola uses flashbacks to tell the parallel
stories of Vito Corleone’s rise to power in the early 20th century
and his son Michael’s consolidation of power in the 1950s.
Dr Ben McCann SFHEA is Associate Professor of French Studies –
and an avid film scholar and writer.
The contrast between past and present creates a compelling
comparison between father and son and highlights the themes
of legacy, power, and the cyclical nature of violence seeded
throughout both films.
LUMEN
