If the first few episodes of Normal People were like white water to me, then E08 started to be amazing, and E09 made me emotional. There is a sharp contrast between the bright Tuscany in summer and the gloomy winter in Sweden.
This episode mainly revolves around the relationship between Marianne and her new passer-by boyfriend, and it can even be a separate set. In this episode, from the profile of Marianne's life in Sweden, the audience can deeply understand Marianne's inner state. If the previous article explains her experience in her original family and growing up, this episode not only tells us her final self-character, but also reveals why she became what she is today.
03:40
Marianne's hesitant but firm answer says it all:
Boyfriend: "What do you want? I really like you."
Marianne: "That, I don't want that. I want, if anything, the opposite of that."
The hesitation in her tone came from not knowing whether to ask her boyfriend
Say it all, not from not being sure if it's the truth.
Marianne knows everything.
05:50
Connell and Helen are sweet and lingering, and cut shots in the order of face, hands, upper body, and whole body (the screenshots can't be put up), and finally return to the depiction of the two and their separate facial expressions. The whole picture is balanced and white balance. The tones are warm and full of tension.
Next, the perspective returns to Marianne's side. It is also sex with a partner. The sex scene takes less than 5 seconds. Only a close-up of the hand is made. The color tone is cold. Recognize whose hands are these within 5 seconds, and what kind of power relations they represent. Here Marianne's image is [upside down].
The next conversation between Marianne and her boyfriend deepened this impression. The stark, still, wide-aperture close-up of Marianne goes on for a while, giving a feeling of wasted and devastated, physically and mentally.
11:45
In the following narration, a large number of sound-preceding treatments are used to intensify the appeal of the sound narrative and the flow of the audience's common emotions. In the overhead shot at 12:04, the intensified gloom and vignetting are used to lighten the background of the eyes and part of the face. This processing makes the picture feel mysterious and obscured. The emotional narrative here is indirect. Concealed and complicated, whether it was Marianne to her mother, or herself to herself. The close-up here goes up and pushes, with a feeling of pushing away. Marianne's image is still [upside down].
The next three sets of shots in the dark tone reflect her depressed psychological state from different angles such as objects, framed compositions or silhouettes.
16:00
Although there are bright snow scenes cut in next, the occasional dark tone still pulls the viewer into that mood. For example, the shot of this spiral composition amazes me personally. This is a rare angle in the previous episodes, which brings a feeling of incomprehension and powerlessness.
It is not difficult to find that in this episode, the use of overhead shooting angles is used a lot of times, which intensifies the portrayal of the weakness of the characters.
This episode is the climax of the film. Connell's caring narration is in the background as her boyfriend gives her tough orders to do hurtful things in the name of love. The sound and picture separation here is just right.
Voiceover (Connell): "Did I do something stupid, I'm so sorry if that's the case, you didn't do anything wrong, you didn't have any problems."
Boyfriend tried to bind her: "Open your eyes for me."
Voiceover (Connell): "You're a good person. I know the real you. … Just because someone else has done bad things to you, including me, doesn't mean you deserve it. There are many others I love you and care about you, and I want you to know."
The voice-over ended, and when she returned to the set, Marianne cried and rejected the hurt from her boyfriend.
19:50
After leaving the darkroom, the dark tone changed to the middle tone, and I came to the open and beautiful snowy ground. The background sound was a quiet natural sound, and the colorful clouds in the sky were just right.
Notably, this echoes a shot of Marianne walking down the streets of Sweden at the beginning of the episode. At that time from the sun into the darkness, now from the dark room into the wilderness.
Psychoanalysis one:
The black brother in this episode is no different from the role function of the previous ex-boyfriend, brother, and mother. Marianne has been inflicted huge damage, even if people walk out of the original family and out of the town, her own heart has never come out. She has been subconsciously looking for opportunities to repeatedly experience various injuries, actively or passively creating an environment to experience pain, the principle is that the subconscious hopes to reverse the situation in the experience (compulsive repetition). But most people don't even realize that they are in this unsolvable circle for the rest of their lives.
The world was doing her harm with impunity, and only Connell apologized to her, and hopefully helped her interrupt the repetition. Their way of getting along is more equal and communicative. Of course, this is also related to the fact that Connell has already completed the injury in high school.
I haven't watched the next few episodes yet, so the above analysis is for reference only.
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