Visual Theme of Hands and Barriers

[a_contemplative_life]

Wolfchild: Brilliant analysis of the hands and barriers symbolism -- I see the film in a richer, more meaningful light. It seems so systematic, it must be intentional?!?

Oskar refuses to let her in when she is disguised as a cute little girl, but he hugs and lets in the blood-drenched, dishevelled Eli of a few seconds later. Oskar prefers the horrific truth to conforting lies, which is ultimately what allows him to love and be loved by Eli.

Excellent observation -- I never thought that the the presence of blood on Eli representing his vampire aspect, which Oskar clearly accepts as he hugs and kisses her despite Eli being covered in it.

He probably also felt like a big jerk, too.

We only see Oskar's face in that hug. I would've liked to have been shown Eli's face, as its recipient.

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841 - 1935)

[a_contemplative_life]

In the kiss scene, Oskar is willing to kiss her even though she hasn't wiped - no pretense that she's not a killer. In the pool scene, we only see Eli's eyes but in the circumstances it is easy to imagine she must have been in full vampiric attire - blood-soaked, with wings, fangs and claws, which Oskar smiles at and it's followed by him decisively casting his lot with her.

I agree with all your points. On a less heavy note--you have to admit, it'd be cool to have a girlfriend who could fly. Oskar certainly thought so!

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841 - 1935)

[sauvin]

I don't get that Oskar knows yet, even at the point of the bloody kiss, fully what Eli can be. None of us do, we just get audible hints, and have to rely on Eli's otherwise generally strict conformance with archetypal (Lugosi-style) vampirism to fill in the missing images.

What he also saw during the process of Lacke's death was his own darkness. His revenge fantasies as evidenced by his bullying a tree and his fascination with newpaper clippings of various murders and other mayhem may now be at an end; now that he's seen the reality of what he'd fantasised, it seems highly unlikely now that Oskar will ever kill gladly.

[drakkar]

I don't get that Oskar knows yet, even at the point of the bloody kiss, fully what Eli can be. None of us do, we just get audible hints, and have to rely on Eli's otherwise generally strict conformance with archetypal (Lugosi-style) vampirism to fill in the missing images.

In the directors commentary track it is obvious that JAL is inclined to be much more explicit that TA. In the blood mixing scene, JAL would have liked more of Eli's tongue on the floor. When the taxi drives off with Eli, JAL is clear about Eli is leaving, while TA says maybe she is...
Alfredson deliberately shows us very little of vampire attire in the film. When Eli wakes in the bathroom with Lacke, TA makes a point of this being the only place you can see a slight hint of fangs in Eli's mouth.

(On the other hand the audible hints are gruesome realistic, only real animal and human (Elif) sound recordings are used building up Eli's vampire sound picture. And the effect of close up sound recordings and more distant camera (Jocke) or almost missing (door partly closed with Lacke), is striking. You can't see very well what Eli is doing, but you can certainly hear it.)

So, question is what Oskar would have seen when Eli leaped on Lacke. Would he have seen her teeth? Her claws? Alfredson didn't show us, so who knows what Oskar did see? It you take the novel (and JAL) into account, it is indicated that Eli use claws when she is attacking (it is described when she attacks Virginia), so Oskar would have seen a glimpse of her claws on Lacke. In the book Oskar also has seen Eli's teeth.

BTW, welcome to the forum

[Cuchullain]

A bit over a month ago I got interested in a visual theme that I saw in this movie. I sat down to watch the film to look specifically for it, and I started writing about it, and the thing kind of got away from me. Sometimes when I get into these things I can over-think them, so some of the things that I write may be a bit of stretch. Some of them may be utter crap, but I know that there are enough intelligent and brutally frank people to keep me honest about these things.

You can read my article here.

I just read it mate and it is great synopsis of the theme. I have been watching it now for the last couple of times without English subtitles. I wished first to actually figure out what they were saying in Swedish so I downloaded the srt for it. As I don't understand the Swedish words in a literal sense given that I don't speak the language I had started to look around for visual themes instead. I had figured a lot of the hand gestures and thought that they were important but not to the extent that you have.

There is an almost richer narrative in the non speech parts of the movie. Facial expression also have a huge amount to say, especially in Eli's case. I think I'll look deeper into it tomorrow. Thanks for adding yet another layer of brilliance to this masterpiece.

[a_contemplative_life]

TA said in an interview that originally, LTROI was to be a silent film. That explains a lot.

[Cuchullain]

TA saidcin an interview that originally, LTROI was to be a silent film. That explains a lot.

It does explain a lot. It is very unusual for a film in contemporary times to use symbolism to such a large extent and to become so successful. I am glad that they used so much of it as I learn something new about the film every day although a lot of that is down to you folks.

[Daniel Ether]

Hello
I Just read the article "A Tale Told by Hands". I got the recommendation for it by a_contemplative_life. And i have to say that i really liked it. I especially liked how you pointed out the concept of barriers and portals. Thats a thing that i really liked in the movie. Especialy the picture of a hand at a window that becomes a barrier. I can remember when i was a kid i did that so many times without really tinking about it. looking out of a the car window, watching my mom waving to me for goodbuy, or watching out the hospital window when i broke my ankle, or just simple gaze through a shopingwindow of a toystore... having always my hand laid at the window and my nose right at the glas

[Daniel Ether]

ps.: hahaha now talking about it now, i can literally see kiddo-me sitting there at the hospitalwindow, with a grumpy face, on a bright summerday having my ankle ruind by jumping of a tree, thinking: "boy,... this... sucks!!!"

[intrige]

I normally didn't touch the windows close to me. I rather watched myself in its reflection, and tiled my head. I thin it was in fift grade, I did so during recess, and I saw this little shape. And I thought to myself: From now on I will just get bigger. Like, thinking that I would grow up. Pretty interesting.