THE SCHOOL OF PERSONA: DON'T LOOK BACK

Persona / Don't Look Back

Vertigo. Images. Mulholland Drive. Always Shine. There’s countless psychological thrillers that deal with the duality, multiple personalities & parallel worlds surrounding women. With the exception of Vertigo (1958), I feel like the aforementioned films can be traced back to Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (obviously with the residue of Hitchcock’s Vertigo and perhaps a pinch of Maya Deren’s Meshes Of The Afternoon, but Persona remains the #1 film with the most influence when it comes to movies in that lane).
I say all this to say that Marina De Van’s sophomore film Don’t Look Back is often left off the list of Persona-influenced films when, in my personal opinion, it fits right in with the Mulholland Drives & Always Shines. Part of that has to do with the fact that Don’t Look Back is a little underseen (in the United States it was distributed by IFC films which means its theatrical release was limited in comparison to other movies). Another reason this film is often forgotten about is because it struggled to match up to De Van’s excellent debut In My Skin. Not only did In My Skin leave some large shoes for Don’t Look Back to fill, but De Van was heavily associated with the New French Extremity film movement and her follow-up feature was a more conventional thriller and less “extreme” or “transgressive” as a lot of the other New French Extremity films.

Even I felt Don’t Look Back was a little “Meh” at first but after a recent re-watch (after over a decade) I’ve come to realize that not only is it a solid film, but - as I mentioned at the start of this piece - De Van’s sophomore feature has some strong visual & thematic connections to Persona and other movies in that lane. 

Like any film dealing with duality & questionable identity (like Persona), Don’t Look Back has tons of imagery that focuses on mirrors & reflections (that kind of goes without saying when it comes to movies like this)

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

I’m fully aware that there are countless movie scenes with mirrors & reflections. Even scenes where people change & morph in to another person...

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

But obvious mirror scenes aside, there are minor visual similarities between Don’t Look Back & Persona that speak volumes and make the connection stronger...

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / Don't Look Back

Imagery aside, both Persona & Don't Look Back are partially about mental breakdowns centered around female-specific traumas (similar to Mulholland Drive, Images, Always Shine and so many others). In Don't Look Back we follow a woman (Sophie Marceau) who slowly starts to lose a grip on reality and morph in to another woman (Monica Belucci) due to a mental break brought on by fatigue (as the movie unfolds we come to discover there’s a lot more to everything than just fatigue).

So while Don’t Look Back is somewhat underrated and a little underseen for understandable reasons (and it’s not on the level of a Persona, but still...), perhaps it deserves to be given a second (or first) chance with all the aforementioned cinematic influences & connections in mind.

THE SCHOOL OF PERSONA PART 2: MOVING IMAGERY

A few years ago we looked at the (possible) influence of one of my personal favorite shots in all of cinema in the form of the young boy touching the screen in Ingmar Bergman's Persona.

But that's just one shot. The entire film is influential. So we're gonna give Tarkovsky a rest and take a look at some more forced comparisons & reaches between Bergman's masterpiece alongside a collection of more recent films.

Enjoy...


I wanted to start this piece off with the one & only piece of definitive validation...

Persona / White Face

and here we have a co-sign from the star & director of White Face...

Persona / Get Out

Persona / Get Out

Persona / Freeze Frame

Persona / Dillinger Is Dead

Persona / Safe

Persona / Poltergeist

Persona / Blue Velvet

Persona / Carol

Pinnland / 
Inland Empire

Persona / Don't Look Back

Persona / 
Closer

Persona / The Blackout

Persona / A Zed & 2 Noughts

Persona / Solaris

THE CINEMA OF...

It was another great & somewhat diverse year in the "Cinema Of..." series. In an effort to save you some time, I compiled them all in to one post (click each of the images to go to the individual pieces).

KATHRYN BIGELOW

TERRY ZWIGOFF

YORGOS LANTHIMOS

PHILIP RIDLEY

MARINA DE VAN

PETER GREENAWAY

PATRICK HORVATH & DALLAS HALLAM

PAUL VERHOEVEN

BILL DUKE

THE CINEMA OF MARINA DE VAN TOLD THROUGH IMAGES & STILLS

Marina De Van is a director/writer/actress that walks along her own unique path. With five feature films and a handful of shorts under her belt she has not only made a dent in the art house world (The New French Extremity scene to be specific), but has also carved out her own little niche and breathed life back in to genres like Body Horror and the Psychological Thriller (I consider her feature debut In My Skin to be one of the best films of the last decade).
Marina De Van is an important female voice in modern film. While filmmakers like Catherine Breillat tackle the subject of sex & sexuality among women (especially young women) and Claire Denis focuses on the (sometimes) taboos of interracial relationships often told from the perspectives of (white) women, De Van focuses on sanity, repressed memories and the female psyche.
Her films are defiant & challenging. Why is it that when a male director gives us an unflinching (yet tasteful) look at sexuality, blood & violence it’s ok, but when a woman does it, it causes a mini-uproar? Films like History Of Violence & Eastern Promises (Cronenberg) & Bug (William Friedken) are met with generally open arms while In My Skin (De Van), Trouble Every Day (Denis) & Anatomy Of Hell (Breillat) were all met with initial hostility & pushback. These are the kinds of questions that come about when discussing her work.

Marina De Van isn't exactly a household name but just about all of her movies are available on every major streaming platform. Hopefully this piece will inspire some of you to seek out her work and get familiar.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN / FEMALE LEADS

Mental illness affects us all. It doesn't specify according to gender. However Marina De Van focuses on mental illness among women. Her films are very "female-centric" and there's a lot of estrogen in the cinematic universe of Marina De Van. Who knows hormones & the mindstate of women more than a woman herself? That's not to say a man couldn't direct a film about mental illness as it pertains to women but wouldn't you want to see a woman do that first?

Now that we're in an era where folks are pushing for female filmmakers now more than ever, perhaps Marina De Van should be considered a varsity-letterman in that movement...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Dark Touch

Le Petit Poucet

8 Women (directed by Francois Ozon but written by Marina De Van)

See The Sea (directed by Francois Ozon but written by Marina De Van)

La Promenade

Alias

Bien Sous Tous Rapports

L'Epicerie

with that being said...

TRUAMATIC EVENTS & TRIGGERS

In her feature film debut (In My Skin) we see our main (female) character develop a newfound fascination with cutting & self-mutilation after she takes a nasty fall at a party (the fall just triggers something dark that was already inside her).

In Don't Look Back we see a woman struggle with a split personality disorder brought on by something triggered from her past. Dark Touch is an allegory for child abuse (the child in this case happens to be a little girl) while Alias deals with a woman struggling from an unknown tragic event that stopped her modeling career...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Dark Touch

Alias

LONELINESS & DEPRESSION (mostly among women but with a few exceptions)

The traumatic events from the above category often leads to depression and characters isolating themselves from others...

Alias

Psy-Show

In My Skin

Dark Touch

THE FEMALE FORM

Marina De Van doesn't shy away from showing the beauty that is the female body. While a lot of female filmmakers avoid gratuitous nudity & "eye candy", De Van embraces the female form (In My Skin almost doubles as an excuse for her to show off her own beautiful body). 

And because we're seeing the female body through the lens of a woman, it ends up being tasteful...

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back

La Promenade

La Promenade

Alias

Alias

See The Sea

BLOOD & BODY HORROR

I'm sure De Van would dismiss the idea of being labeled as a "horror director", but a large majority of her films feature blood, murder, mutilation and the occasional supernatural character.

She's also one of the leading voices in the current body horror genre although you'd never know that because most cinephiles with an opinion on said genre cant get past David Cronenberg. But almost everyone one of Marina De Van's films features gruesome body transformations (Don't Look Back), body dismorphia (Le Petit Poucet) or severe self-mutilation (In My Skin).

Don't Look Back

In My Skin

In My Skin

In My Skin

Dark Touch

Le Petit Poucet

Le Petit Poucet

TRANSFORMATION/METAMORPHOSIS/SURROGATES…

Characters in movies starting out one way then changing in to someone/something new is hardly unique. But in the word of Marina De Van it’s incredibly drastic and sometimes jarring. In See The Sea we watch a character take the place of someone after violently murdering them. At the start of In My Skin we watch a relatively happy person slowly change to a darker version of herself. In the appropriately titled Alias we see our main character ditch a party by making her housekeeper take her place (no one notices). And Don’t Look Back is about a character with multiple personalities disorder.

See The Sea (a new mother takes the place of the original mother at the end of the movie)

two different versions of our protagonist in In My SKin

transformation in Don't Look Back

switching identities in Alias

DARK LIGHTING

I'm not sure if this is intentional or not but what makes De Van's films work so well is that a large majority of her work is lit very darkly which adds to the mysterious ambiance. Marina De Van works almost exclusively within the horror & psychological thriller genres so dark color palettes & nighttime settings only enhance the scary/uncertain mood...

Don't Look Back

In My Skin

In My Skin

Dark Touch

La Promenade

Alias

VISUAL SIMILARITIES & (POSSIBLE) INFLUENCES ON MARINA DE VAN

Crash (David Cronenberg)/ In My Skin

Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel) / In My Skin

Bladerunner (Ridley Scott) / In My Skin

Repulsion (Roman Polanski) / Don't Look Back 

Altered States / Dont Look Back

RECURRING SHOTS: MIRRORS & SELF-REFLECTION

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet

See The Sea (directed by Francois Ozon but written & starring Marina De Van)

Dark Touch

In My Skin

Alias

Alias

SPYING & VOYEURISM

Horror, Psychological thrillers & The New French Extremity are the common genres that are associated with Marina De Van but she also dips her toes in to the neo-noir genre. We often find the characters in De Van's films creeping on others (La Promenade) or spying in an effort to uncover the truth (Don't Look Back).

In My Skin

In My Skin

La Promenade

Don't Look Back

CRITICISM OF (SOME) MEN

This one is a little complicated...

While she isn't calling out all men on their bullshit, De Van certainly shines a spotlight on the very real (negative) characteristics that do exist in some men.

The men in the films of Marina De Van are often monsters (Le Petit Poucet), aggressive (Dark Touch), aloof (Don't Look Back), weak & pathetic (Psy-Show) or aggressive & self-centered (Marina De Van's boyfriend in In My Skin is so self-absorbed that he isn't supportive of his girlfriend who is clearly suffering from severe mental illness).

Dark Touch

In My Skin

In My Skin

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet

Psy-Show

Criminal Lovers (a film about a male sexual abuser inspired by a poem written by Marina De Van)

THE PRESENCE OF CHILDREN

The idea of "the past" is an overlooked element in the cinematic universe of Marina De Van. It's easy to forget when you're dealing with body mutilation & extreme violence but flashbacks (Don't Look Back), repressed memories (Dark Touch) and the past (Le Petit Poucet) are key elements within her work and they are usually manifested through the children in her films...

Dark Touch

Don't Look Back

Le Petit Poucet