The Most beautiful man in the world was written and directed by Alicia Duffy in 2002. The film was nominated for various awards and won the Chicago intentional film festival award and the TCM prize.
The story is set around a young girl who becomes bored by sitting in her house all day, her mother seems to have no interest of interaction with her daughter, meaning she tries to find other forms of entertainment. She wanders off into the field in front of her house and comes across a stranger, this is stopped when her mother catches her outside and calls her back inside. The girl is then left back in the closed off house like before.
In this short film age is represented throughout. The mother is seen as an authoritive figure as she keeps her child in the house all the time, which could be seen as being for the child’s safety. As the child is young, it means she needs to be looked after by her parent or care giver. In this case this is done through hiding the daughter from the dangers of the outside world. Yet this can be considered as being too overprotective and by keeping a child locked up in the house could be a bad stimulation for the child and lead to boredom. The lighting in the opening shot from the television set, makes it seem as if her face is lit up, but there is a contradiction here as her facial expression shows boredom and no interest. This goes with the ideology that young minds need more stimulation in order to grow and gain knowledge. Yet the mother still chooses to believe this is the way to raise her own child.
The lighting in the house is dark especially compared to the light coming into the room when the girl stands and stares out of the window, this tells the audience that there could possibly be something brighter and of more interest for the child outside. The lighting of the house reflects the depression and boredom the character feels about being stuck inside the house.
When the girl is finally outside we see the first of many wide shots in the film. The fact that there are wide shots now that the child has gone outside shows there is more freedom, rather than the enclosed environment inside the house.
When the girl is out of the house she begins to play by herself. This is an unusual sight as most children play in groups, especially on the street environment the girl lives. This could be a result of her constant state of being locked inside the house, with her mother. But this may be a result of a dangerous neighbourhood which explains the reason as to why no others children are about and why she is so protected and sheltered.
However her play outside the house is short lived as the open fields laid out in front distract her attention. The way in which she tentatively steps toward the fence and hesitates in thought makes it obvious to the audience that she shouldn’t be going out toward the field and she knows it. The choice for the character is obvious at this point, either she goes back inside the house or goes out into the fields and play. This could be considered as a metaphor for life as to either play it safe and take no risks or experience the world first hand.
Making her decision known we see a close up shot of her face then a pan out toward the fields. The camera then goes back to a wide shot as she speed walks past the fence and out of the camera frame.
The dangers that come across can seem minor and innocent at first thought, however taking a closer look we can see that the director is showing that even the most innocent of actions can have major consequences.
In the background of the fields we hear the diegetic sound of cars and a main road, this lets us know that the environment isn’t as empty as first thought meaning that if the child wanders away from safety anything could happen.
As the girl wanders through the field we follow her actions using a tracking shot. The tracking shot comes across as unusual as if we as characters are following her, which makes us consider if anyone is watching or following her, leading to obvious danger.
This shot is combines with the diegetic sounds of animals, running water and grass hoppers, leaves you waiting for someone to jump out on her.
Whilst exploring the fields the girl is using all her sense to feel smell and hear her surroundings, clearly showing that this is an environment that is new to her which can be seen as unusual as most children spend most of their time exploring.
Another unusual shot is when she sticks the stick in the pond and we see her from under the pond, the sound is muted making it harder to hear and see the surrounding of the little girl. This could be a sign of how the girl is distracted and therefore vulnerable top her environment and the people around her.
The dog the girl has been with throughout the film suddenly runs off, the girl in a happy state runs after her dog but is stopped short when she sees her dog with a man. The man is topless and stroking the dog, the dog is showing obvious affection toward the man. This could mean that the dog knows who this person is. However the little girl does not seem to know who he is.
The fact that we see the man in the field makes you immediately question his intention.
The two characters interact with each other in two different ways. The girl seems cautious and doesn’t seem too sure about the man. On the other hand the man seems confident and sure of himself and surroundings.
The only line spoken between the two of them is when the girl says ‘That’s my dog’.
He simply smiles at her and walks toward her. He leans in and we switch to an extreme close up of the girls shoulder where we see an insect. The man picks the insect off and stands up. This may seem like an innocent thing to do however the way the man is set up to be topless, the girl not knowing who he is and his confidence around her could lead to suspicions about his intentions.
This image of the young child reminds us of innocents, a key sexuality theme.
An important moment happens once he has removed the insect and he smiles at the girl. She smiles back, seeing him as a friend rather than foe.
The interaction between the two of them can be interpreted differently from the mother’s perspective and the outside perspective we see the dangers of he being around this unknown man. This could be to do with current stories about child abduction or paedophilia within the media.
However from the child’s perspective this is another part of her adventure, something new to experience and feel. The fact that he interests her so much could be down to the absence of a father in her life.
The interaction is then disrupted by the presence of her mother. The man looks toward the mother a stays completely still. Using parallel editing we see different reactions which build the tension in the scene. The girl then turns to look between her mother and the man and starts to run.
The girl runs from the bright light outside back into the house. The editorial pace slows once again, slowing back down in towards the safety yet bland house.
When she enters the house we go back to scenes similar to earlier in the film. the mother walks out of the room and leaves her daughter on the dark stairs staring at the front door.
The way she is staring at the door is a way of saying goodbye to that little bit of freedom she just experienced. The dark light reflects the prison like feel to the house and the sombre atmosphere.
You could say this is a snap back to reality, as she experienced some of the world and was having fun and being stimulated and now she’s back to the oppressions of the house and her mother.
This film brings up several debates and thoughts, as we could assume that the man is really her father and that’s why he was fearful of the mother and also comfortable with being around the girl and the dog.
However this could also be interpreted as the man not being her father but simply being a strange who intends to involve himself in the girls life. This would then explain the mother’s cautiousness of the outside world and why the man is topless and wandering around a field.
Whether the man was a father, a friend or a foe, I think the director is commenting on the issue of age, sexuality and judgement. I feel that the director has cleverly intertwined the themes and issues of innocence, knowledge, childhood and expectations Vs reality together. The director has shown the dangers and the easy judgements and assumptions people can make without knowing the full story. Adding this though of age gender and the social environment that the character are in, are determining factors in what the situation between all three characters really is.
