Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

The underlying theme of the film Sunrise: A song of two humans was the struggle
between good and evil. To briefly summarize the plot of the film it's the story of the
husband character trying to kill his wife. With the influence of this mysterious city
woman character they scheme a murder plan. n class we spoke about our various
interpretations of the movie. The general consensus of the film was the struggle of light
versus darkness. The wife character represented the light. The city woman character
reflected the darkness. Another interpretation of the film was that the story was more of
a horror movie. n this interpretation of the movie, the city woman was a vampire type of
character with her powers she seduced the husband into killing his wife. My
interpretation of the movie is a bit different but it still related to our horror movie
interpretation. n this paper propose to point out how the husband suffers from split
personality, and how the city woman character was just a fantasy concocted by him.
will use various sequences from the movie to prove my point.
During my second viewing of the film, found it interesting that in the sequences
where the city woman and the husband are interacting the shots are different than rest
of the film. The sequences are filmed in a way so that we are always peeking into what
the city woman is doing before coming in touch with the character. During these shots
we get shots of city woman getting ready to go out as if we're inside someone's fantasy
before she crosses paths with the husband.
The beginning montage of the lively scenes of the city, mixed in with the hustle and
bustling sounds of the city are surrounded by this dreamy look and feel and are also
encased in this soft vignette. t gives me the impression that what is in front of me is
someone's desire to get out of their ordinary lives and move into a more modern city life.
Following this sequence is the first time we get to see the character of the city woman.
n this normal camera angle we see and empty room being lit by a candle as the
mysterious city woman walks into the frame. We are seeing into her room and being
voyeurs as we see her fix herself and get ready to go out. We see the camera pan as
she walks out and afterwards a crane shot following close behind her. We see our first
shot of the husband and he is sitting in a chair looking depressed and worn down. The
husband seems to have been troubled before coming into any contact with the city
woman, he ignores the city woman the first time and stands up and stares at his wife
when she walks in. He is giving his wife a look, as if she is the only thing holding him
back from being free and being in the city. My second sequence that will use is their
first face to face meet up that took place in the swamp. The tracking shot follows the
husband through the brushes and foliage, the interesting part is that after that the
camera pans from the husband it goes into its own direction, through the bushes and
once again we are peeking into the city woman moments before the husband walks into
the frame. Once again, we are being filled in to what the city woman was doing, as if
again we are being taken out of real life and into a fantasy that is going to take place.
These two sequences believe support my theory that the city woman is just a figment
of the husband's imagination. While there might have actually been a woman from the
city who arrived into his town, believe that our husband character has gone through
some sort of depression and in the back of his mind has had this whole scheme
planned out in the back of his mind. The city woman acts as a sort of alibi or maybe that
extra push that makes him think that he could actually go through with it. might be
reaching a little here, but to me it seems a little farfetched that a city woman would visit
all the way back here to seduce a farmer into killing his wife while she gets pretty much
nothing out of it. Adding a little more to this also would find it a little hard to believe that
a city woman would have this whole plan thought out, flipping the boat over and
knowing to gather bulrushes in order to stay afloat during it. To me it sounds like the
subconscious of the husband character trying to carry out his evil plan through this
fictitious city woman character.
n this section will point out the husband split personality, but mainly focus on
the dark side. will also point out how his dark behavior is triggered in situations where
the city woman has no influence on him and has nothing to gain from it, thus making her
sub conscience he can easily turn off. The most important sequence that supports this
is boat long shot where he is seen hunched over slowing dragging his feet towards his
wife. Why does he suddenly change his mind? To me it's similar to story of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde, momentarily his good conscience steps in before his darkness takes full
control of him and has a moment to reflect on the actions that he was about to take.
This sequence makes the city women obsolete, she never really did have complete
control over him, his actions were still his own. The next shots happen while he's in the
city. The husband has already decided not to kill his wife and he is now completely in
love with her. Our first chance to see his personality change in front of our eyes is the
salon sequence where the husband character is getting a shave and a man in a suit is
getting awfully close to the wife on the couch while she waits. He quickly takes out a
pocket knife and slowly moves into at his neck, an exaggerated aggressive reaction that
points out that it doesn't really take much to set him into a rage. Once again though he
has full composure and chooses to scare the gentlemen in the suit than actually cause
any harm to him. Not far from the salon scene we see something similar happen during
the ballroom shot. A light shove of encouragement by another person in the ballroom
again makes his whole demeanor change; he is now focused on him and walks towards
him in a very hostile way. All of these sequences suggest that the husband has had
control over everything since the beginning. The city woman character has nothing to
gain from him hurting any of these people from the city and she would have figured out
that the husband didn't carry out with their original plan out.
There are various shots that support my views that the real villain in the movie
was the husband all along. There are two sequences in the movie involving animals that
are very suspicious of his actions. The horse in the barn after he comes home to is
suspicious of his actions, as well as the house dog that follows his owner into the water
to save her from her death. As a dog owner find it that my dog can actually tell when
things are out of the ordinary. Both animals react to the presence of the husband. When
the city woman was standing in front of their house there was no reaction from any of
the farm animals. The animals are clearly getting a bad energy from the husband since
he created the fantasy of this city woman making decisions for his life. The next shot is
the husband laying in bed while the camera is firmly place on him. As he wakes up the
camera zooms in right into the bulrushes which are hidden in the garage, clearly
pointing out how his conscience is telling him to do the right thing. Another observation
that made during my second viewing noticed that before any interaction with city
woman begins he stares at his wife as if he's scheming up this plan to kill her. think his
guilty conscience is what made the animals fearful of him but it also was the reason that
made him stop himself before he actually went through with it. The most important
sequence that supports my theory comes at the end of the movie where we see the city
woman being driven out of the town in a horse carriage. The way that whole sequence
is shot is a blurry scene with a vignette around the image, to me it indicated the
husband character finally overcoming his whole dark side and he's finally free and back
to the way he was before he had these murderous feelings.
n conclusion, the various points focused on the angles and camera work on
various sequences that make us voyeurs into the city woman, the husbands' moments
of split personality in the city and the rest of the sequences support my idea that the
husband was the main villain of the film. There might have been an actual city woman
who did visit the town, however do believe that the city woman that was portrayed in
the film was just the husband sub consciousness trying to justify his intentions.