‘The Limey’ (1999) – Steven Soderbergh. Opening Scene Analysis.
Steven Soderbergh has been praised for his ‘striking cutting strategy that plays with time and representations of the processes of consciousness’ (Goss, 2004). This is shown especially in ‘The Limey’, which uses many different techniques in order to depict the emotions and motives of the protagonist, the genre of the film and therefore what can be anticipated. Throughout the film we follow the character Wilson through LA as he tries to learn what happened to his daughter, Jenny. Soderbergh uses narrative structure, as well as mise-en-scène to portray Wilson’s memories and his thought processes, therefore representing him as unstable, which explains his motives throughout the film.
Soderbergh appropriately uses mise-en-scène in the first scene to indicate the characteristics of the main protagonist to the audience. After an extended focal change, a close-up of Wilson (Terence Stamp) immediately implies that this man is the main character. ‘Lighting can convey meaning and mood in subtle yet significant ways’ (Phillips, 2005, p70), which is especially true for ‘The Limey’; the use of lighting in this shot tells the audience that Wilson is strongminded and inquisitive, judging from his stern facial expression. The soft, high ratio lighting is clearly only on half of his face, meaning the director has chosen to use a fill light slightly for dramatic effect. This usually connotes that the character has a sinister side, which foreshadows the reveal of Wilson’s criminal history. Soderbergh has also made the character look directly into the camera, using a direct mode of address and therefore breaking the fourth wall and causing the audience to feel uncomfortable as they would not have expected this. When Wilson arrives at a cheap looking motel, it is clear that he is only planning on staying for a very short time, which is conveyed through the prop of a small briefcase. Soon after, a plane is seen flying over-head of the motel, signposting that LAX airport is in close proximity. This implies that Wilson is in quite a rough area of LA, possibly foretelling that there will be violence in the film, therefore signalling the crime-thriller genre of the film.
The scene ‘presents a jumble of material that is not easily reconciled as a coherent narrative chain’ (Carruthers, 2016, p11) which is confusing to the audience as now they do not know what moment in time they are watching. Is it after all of these events have taken place and they are being shown these through Wilsons memory? Or is it an indication of what is to come? Perhaps Soderbergh has done this to challenge the conventions of fiction film and cause the audience to rethink the familiar signifying that the rest of the film may not be as predictable. This is reinforced towards the end of the opening 3 minutes when we see a series of shots that do not seem to be in chronological order, including mid-shots of Wilson on a plane, over the shoulder shots of a picture of who we assume is his daughter, and close-ups of the same girl but as a child.
The cinematography in the opening sequence is successful in demonstrating the protagonist’s motives for the rest of the film. The use of a camera pan at the airport shows the audience Wilson’s point of view, as it is an eyelevel shot. The audience are immediately informed that they will be following Wilson throughout the film. The shot then cuts to a mid-shot of two policemen talking, which notifies the audience the setting of the film being in LA. It also reinforces that this is what Wilson is looking out for, again expressing the genre of the film and Wilson’s criminal tendencies, as he is always being aware of police officers. Soderbergh has used editing techniques to portray Wilson’s point of view to the audience. We see Wilson reading about the tragic death of a young girl, followed by a cut of an older Jenny looking out of a car window. Soderbergh has used parallel editing here to tell the audience that they will be viewing the film through Wilsons eyes. It also tells us that the narrative will continue to reveal more details about Jenny and her murder.
This opening sequence uses audio to represent Wilson’s memory, and portray an unorganised narrative structure, once again. The film begins with a black-screen and what we can only assume is diegetic audio of Wilson saying, ‘tell me…tell me about Jenny’. It is unclear whether this is the character saying this within the fiction of the film, or if it is asking the film itself to tell a story. Palmer states that this feature marks ‘The Limey’ as a ‘considerable departure from the norms associated with mainstream/commercial cinema’ (Palmer, 2010, p93). Either way, it immediately presents quite a chilling sequence, and sparks confusion in the audience as they do not understand when it was said. When the camera focuses onto Wilsons face in the close up, it is clear that it was him who was saying the words. The non-diegetic audio of the song ‘The Seeker’ by The Who begins playing. This song was written in 1999, which is when the film is set, however the band were formed and were very popular in the 60’s, which was when Wilson committed his series of crimes. This again ties in with the idea of the fragmented narrative structure being due to Wilson’s disordered memories, and the reason the tragedy happened is essentially because of his time in jail. Another piece of audio used is the non-diegetic soft humming used in the montage sequence of Wilson’s memories and shots of Jenny through her life. The song is Donovan’s ‘Colours’ which can be argued as a ‘distinctly nostalgic’ (Palmer, 2010) piece of music. Soderbergh has chosen a perfect song to fit this montage as the audience are being shown parts of Wilsons memory, such as the close up direct mode of address shots of jenny as a child. However, other shots such as the mid-shot of Wilson on the plane are rather ambiguous, as the audience does not know whether this is before or after his trip to LA.
To conclude, ‘The Limey' uses particular narrative style and techniques to establish the significant details of the story, character and narrative focus. Soderbergh presents the idea of an un-chronological narrative through the mise-en-scène, cinematography, audio and editing to stray away from the conventional narrative techniques of fiction film.
Bibliography:
· Carruthers, L. (2016). Biding Our Time: Rethinking the Familiar in Steven Soderbergh's The Limey - The European Humanities Research Centre of the University of Oxford
· Goss, B. (2004). Steven Soderbergh's The Limey: Implications for the Auteur Theory and Industry Structure. Popular Communication, 2(4), pp.231-255.
· Palmer, R. and Sanders, S. (2010). The philosophy of Steven Soderbergh. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
· Phillips, W. (2005). Film: an introduction. Boston: Bedford St. Martins.