0039
Still life; or, perhaps – still, life. On the surface, the water is dead calm, even with undercurrents. If it wasn’t for the recorded sound of the waves, this shot of domestic life would have been mistaken for a diorama. (But then, it fits the standard: the lack of motion in family life is reassuring, until it becomes terrifying). The frame is split in three, as good or bad things come in threes. On the right, the hearthstone and some unexpected food – the basics of life; on the sinister side, natural light, the cowboy-slash-sailor, wavy curtains, dirty glass panes, the old tape recorder, a miniature boat – all the elements of uncertainty; in the middle, a throned matriarch whose eyes open slowly, sitting below the image of Christ as a child – like an icon of the Russian tradition with the blind saint who always appears with her eyes closed. That's how church treats its Medusas. The film starts allowing them to see.