Chrono’s Answer – The Fall
This was a tough one – Many iconic authors to choose from. Ultimately I wanted to steer away from Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, E. Nesbit, and Henry James specifically as I thought they might be the more “obvious” choices. Therefore the question was who do I want to choose?
I thought, What kind of movie do I want to see more of? Well, that answer was simple – Creepy slow-burner psycho-thriller; I honestly feel as though this is an underrepresented genre and I wanted to pick a story that focused on a character’s personal torment– I love movies that focus so closely on and through the character that you start to feel as they feel.
So, I turned to Ramsey Campbell, a modern master of the psychological thriller, and focused on his story “The Scar.”
Why? The story is simple, yet it offers an opportunity to take an average, struggling character, and put him in an absurd and horrifying situation – in my mind that is the core of a solid, unsettling film.
How? In conceiving this piece, I thought specifically of Black Swan and how Aronofsky artfully paints the tragic tale of a tortured heroine. The crux of the success results not only through film but through skillful sound direction that makes you feel as dizzily uncomfortable as the character Portman portrays. I had a similar experience when watching Punch Drunk Love – That was one of the first few raw character pieces where you felt what the main character felt, thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson’s weaving a dizzy combination of visual and sound effects.
I envision this movie to be in a similar style to the pieces above – Strictly first-person; not only will we follow Lindsay, but we will feel his self-consciousness, feel his paranoia and alienation – I want this movie to be a paranoid schizophrenic’s constant stream of consciousness – In particular, I’m thinking about how unsettled The Possession of David O’Reilly made me feel; closely following the unsettled and possibly unreliable narrator.
Who?
Cast of Characters
Lindsay: Lindsay is the intensely socially awkward and needy brother of Harriet and is in his 30s. Lindsay is lonely, alienated, and completely paranoid. Lindsay is the younger brother to Harriet, by about 10 years and clings to his sister and her children as his sole social interactions and the only people (he feels) cares about him – He desires so badly to somehow impress them, to gain their respect, to gain their thanks, but not in a malicious sense – He craves their praise and approval – He visits the family (Harriet and Jack Rossiter and their two children) once a week, on Wednesdays for dinner, and then goes to the pub around his house on Thursday nights with Jack. Lindsay looks forward all week to the Wednesday visits, but is incredibly self-conscious about his Thursday nights with Jack – He feels as though Jack makes this Thursday visit to satiate Harriet’s desire for her brother and husband to be close (Lindsay thinks Harriet pities him for not having any friends). Lindsay loves his sister, Harriet above all else.
As Harriet describes Lindsay to Jack in “Scar”: “You know I always had the best of everything and Lindsay never did – unhappy at school, always being put down by my father, never daring to open his mouth… He finds it difficult to talk to people…”
Lindsay is constantly caught in, and obsessed with, inaction – He sees violence happening around him and struggles with his inability to act. He sees Harriet’s perfect family and struggles with the inability to help, connect, or contribute to their family. He is obsessed with a book that he has read over and over again, The Fall, wherein “a man… whose friend is in danger from someone and he finds out – and he finally pulls this someone off a cliff and gets killed himself.” This scene – The scene of the friend pulling the victimizer off the cliff, is a scene/vision that Lindsay is obsessed with and constantly returns to. It is his symbol of his own vulnerability and his fear of acting as well as his desire to be a hero somewhere, in someone’s eyes.
Lindsay lives in Lower Brichester, the “seedier,” side of town and his apartment is a mess, something that he is profoundly self-conscious about and so never invites the Rossiters over. He has to walk through dirty, derelict streets and alleyways past an abandoned, broken house to get to the bus stop that he uses both to get to work (at the grocery store to bag groceries) and to get to the Rossiter’s house (to visit his family). Lindsay can also walk to the Rossiters’ house from his apartment, though it’s a significantly longer walk. Likewise, Jack or Harriet can walk from the Rossiters’ house to Lindsay’s, but would have to pass through dangerous streets and alleyways. The pub that Lindsay and Jack visit is within walking distance of Lindsay’s flat, through the seedy streets and passed the unsettling abandoned house.
Jack: Jack is Harriet’s husband of 15+ years. He is the well-to-do owner of a jewelry store, on the richer side of town, one which he inherited through his family. He is handsome, yet stern, and in his 40s. He’s loving, yet a no-nonsense sort of man, who seems to just tolerate Lindsay for the sake and love of Harriet. Jack is seen by Lindsay as an incredibly successful man, and the ideal husband, since to Lindsay, his sister’s life is the epitome of what is sacred and what he can never have. Jack is strained when near Lindsay, but does try to humor him for the sake of Harriet. Jack is very affectionate to Harriet and also very business-minded, his jewelry store being one of the prime concerns of his, after his wife and kids.
Harriet: Harriet is the beautiful 40-something sister of Lindsay and wife of Jack. She loves her brother Lindsay and worries about him, where he lives (constantly pleading with him to move), his lack of friends and social outlets. She is soft, though strong at the same time.
Douglas and Elaine: The Rossiter children, 8 and 10. They love their parents and Lindsay unconditionally.
Where?
Lower Brichester is the main location of the film, around Lindsay’s apartment. Incidentally, this is a common location that reappears in Campbell’s work and should serve as a pure metaphor of modern poverty and urban dereliction. Good description of Lower Brichester (taken from Wikipedia and Campbell’s "The Tugging") – While I have a clear vision of the city, I think that this description epitomizes what I’d want to capture on film:
The seedier side of town is known as Lower Brichester, a neighborhood described in "The Franklyn Paragraphs" as "the sort of miniature cosmopolis one finds in most major English towns: three-storey houses full of errant lodgers, curtains as varied as flags at a conference but more faded, the occasional smashed pane, the frequent furtive watchers." In "The Tugging", a tale with an apocalyptic theme, the neighbourhood is depicted as being in an advanced state of "dereliction":
Dogs scrabbled clattering in gouged shop-fronts, an uprooted streetlamp lay across a road, humped earth was scattered with disembowelled mattresses, their entrails fluttering feebly. He passed houses where one window was blinded with brick, the next still open and filmy with a drooping curtain.... (W)hole streets were derelict...gaping houses and uneven pavements.... Houses went by, shoulder to shoulder, ribs open to the sky, red-brick fronts revealing their jumble of shattered walls and staircases.
The observer finds himself sympathizing with the district's "abandonment, and indifference to time".
In particular, the location of the film revolves around Lindsay’s apartment, the bus stop, and the abandoned derelict building within view of the bus stop, which is one of the centers of Lindsay’s obsession.
What?
Themes
Alienation: The essence of Lindsay’s plight is alienation – He is alienated by society and feels even alienated by his own family. He is the symbol of the everyman who does not have a community to seek shelter in – and the communities that he sees are either violent, dangerous, and unsafe (Lower Brichester), or easily violated (the Rossiters). I find isolation and alienation to be a common theme amongst strong character pieces, and if done well it can truly strike a sympathetic and biting emotion with the viewer – I want the audience to feel this isolation and feel the uncertainty and fear that Lindsay has of his own corrupted surroundings.
Degradation of Urban Society: Lower Brichester is a frightening urban hole that houses the socially and financially bereft. This is a city outside of time, space, and even government, with either no police presence, or the presence of police that turns the other way. Lower Brichester represents the decay of urban society and how government/police ignore the crime and the corruption of the poor. This in itself is a single kind of horror – the idea that a community, a people can live without the protection of its state… As a result, the evil seeps out and starts to take over even the more affluent and supposedly protected parts (e.g. The Rossiters).
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