The principle that cinema derives power from being unified informs the need for coherent and supportive choices throughout the creative process on a symbolic or even superficial level. Too often, films are haphazard affairs that hold themselves up on poor, unimaginative production design and easy choices based on shallow, obvious assumptions by people with no understanding of the purpose and direction of the finished product. Filmmakers must always question their decisions and those of others around them, constantly striving to improve the conveyance of their films’ inner themes and outer conflicts: only through this conatus self-analysis can a project begin to surpass the cinematic spectacle and achieve the status of a true work of art.
Here, the entire film, including dialogue and performance, is sublimated to the filmmakers’ thematic concerns of madness and identity, in a perfect example of how cinema garners power from a unified approach to all aspect of the mise en scene. Helmer Crichton is conspicuous by his absence as the cinematography (or lack of it) allows the locations and the actors to hold sway over the audience’s imagination. Lesser films in this ilk rely on cheap shocks or even cheaper gore to liven up the proceedings, but The Third Secret trusts in its performers and themes, supported by an aforementioned unity of purpose, to deliver an emotional and psychological punch.
For a more detailed introduction to the principle that ‘cinema is unified’, read this post here.
