61 reviews
- Eumenides_0
- Sep 5, 2009
- Permalink
'Meshes of the Afternoon' is the first and best-known film of experimental film-maker Maya Deren, whose surrealist tinged movies explore time, space, self, and society and have had a lasting influence on American cinema. 'Meshes
' begins with a hand reaching down, as if from Heaven, leaving a flower on a pathway which a woman (Deren) picks up on her way to her house. When she arrives she ascends some stairs, gets her key out, unlocks the door and enters the house. Already an ominous absence is present, and a subsequent tour of the house shows us a bread-knife, a telephone off the hook, and up another flight of stairs we see an empty bed. After the woman falls asleep, these domestic objects' double life as Freudian symbols is revealed and charged with increasing potency with each repetition of the cyclical narrative until the films catastrophic denouement.
In using Freudian symbology and a cyclical narrative, 'Meshes ' certainly has a dream logic which is reminiscent of surrealist films likes Cocteau's 'Blood of a Poet' as well as Dali and Bunuel's 'Un Chien Andalou'. However, Deren actively rejected the "Surrealist" tag and the difference between 'Meshes' and these seminal surrealist works is marked. Firstly, despite the repeating narrative, objects suddenly transforming into something else, and a lead character that splinters into four, the dramatic structure of 'Meshes ' is quite tight and even though the viewer is challenged in regard to interpretation it struck me as quite straightforward compared to some of her later films. Secondly, the dreamscape of 'Meshes ' is not a celebratory realm liberated from reason, but rather a more claustrophobic and sombre world inhabited by a Grim-Reaper like image with a mirrored face, and the splintered identities of the protagonist who at one point congregate around the kitchen table.
Since it was made, the film has had an immense impact both cinematically (in inspiring a new generation of film-makers to pick up the camera) and culturally given that the most favoured interpretation is that it is a feminist commentary on gender identity and sexual politics in an era when the role of women was changing dramatically. One might think that, in an era when David Lynch is mainstream and woman are arguably liberated, 'Meshes ' would feel dated. However, this is not the case, and remains fresh and engaging to a modern viewer in addition to its (deserved) status as a fascinating and influential piece of early experimental film.
In using Freudian symbology and a cyclical narrative, 'Meshes ' certainly has a dream logic which is reminiscent of surrealist films likes Cocteau's 'Blood of a Poet' as well as Dali and Bunuel's 'Un Chien Andalou'. However, Deren actively rejected the "Surrealist" tag and the difference between 'Meshes' and these seminal surrealist works is marked. Firstly, despite the repeating narrative, objects suddenly transforming into something else, and a lead character that splinters into four, the dramatic structure of 'Meshes ' is quite tight and even though the viewer is challenged in regard to interpretation it struck me as quite straightforward compared to some of her later films. Secondly, the dreamscape of 'Meshes ' is not a celebratory realm liberated from reason, but rather a more claustrophobic and sombre world inhabited by a Grim-Reaper like image with a mirrored face, and the splintered identities of the protagonist who at one point congregate around the kitchen table.
Since it was made, the film has had an immense impact both cinematically (in inspiring a new generation of film-makers to pick up the camera) and culturally given that the most favoured interpretation is that it is a feminist commentary on gender identity and sexual politics in an era when the role of women was changing dramatically. One might think that, in an era when David Lynch is mainstream and woman are arguably liberated, 'Meshes ' would feel dated. However, this is not the case, and remains fresh and engaging to a modern viewer in addition to its (deserved) status as a fascinating and influential piece of early experimental film.
- RomanJamesHoffman
- Jul 9, 2012
- Permalink
While the opening sequence of a woman following a faceless figure with a flower is persistently repeated, images of key and knife intensify their vividness, and then dream and reality permeate into each other's realms. Maya Deren's first and probably best film, Meshes of the Afternoon, is an amalgam of traditional narrative and European-imported surrealism. It is also one of many triumphs in the film history that fearlessness and youthfulness conquer the lack of expenses and experiences.
Like "Un Chien Andalou" by Bunuel & Dali, "Meshes" might appear to hold some psychological symbolism, dream imagery, hidden significances or inside jokes. Where Bunuel & Dali insisted that all they filmed was to make "no sense at all," Deren's could have a hidden commentary on the woman's role in the home; time spent alone, to be drawn out is to fall deeper into oneself. The overall look of the film (shot over several years) is one of a camera experiment; one which carries the viewer scene to scene via strange footfalls on shifting soils, stairs, paths and floors. The sense of continuity is held through reoccurring imagery, and this film uses a mask to give the appearance of multiple Mayas at a table VERY effectively. Some of the stop-action (disappearing/reappearing objects) is rough, given the complexity of her camera, but given these limitations the film is a technical feat as well. Mesmerizing, re-watchable.
- Chris_Docker
- Mar 13, 2009
- Permalink
The networks of a mind, who really knows when it reclined, started to consume and dine, before untangling what's been; a head of conjuring confusion, a state of light refract diffusion, with a knife to cut illusion, and a key to lock fate in; as it gazes into cycles, that deceive the daylight vitals, and revisits past disciples, replicas queue to begin; like a self-devouring snake, you can't be sure who is awake, if they want to pull the brake, and find a way to stop the spin.
Those moments of drift, that consume and confuse, as the world wraps around, and the visions all infuse, take you to abstract illusions, to unsettled taut contusions, are they dreams or just intrusions, that play out throughout a snooze.
Those moments of drift, that consume and confuse, as the world wraps around, and the visions all infuse, take you to abstract illusions, to unsettled taut contusions, are they dreams or just intrusions, that play out throughout a snooze.
Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon" is an amazing 15 minute journey into the subconscious. It's like "Un Chien Andalou" seen through the eyes of a woman. In the film it's hard to tell when Maya's character is awake or dreaming. This film is chock full of bizarre and creepy surrealist images. The protagonist drops her key and it bounces like a ball. A knife moves from a loaf of bread, then the key turns into a knife. She carries a flower with her, which she holds upside down. She sees death, who where's a black hood and has a mirror for a face. She see's herself dreaming. In her dream she seems to foresee her own death. Deren seems to have a subconscious fear of knives, or being killed by a knife. This is one crazy little short film that almost puts you in a hypnotic trance with it's creepy Avant-Gard sounds and images. It's very poetic and disturbing, as nothing is what it seems. This is a must see for fans of David Lynch and Bunuel.
Laden with symbolic imagery, this short film focuses on the struggle of a woman to find her identity independent of men, emotional baggage and societal expectations. Constantly chased by a doppelganger, Maya is confronted with the many aspects of herself at the dinner table. One of her personalities must commit murder to free her. Is she saved from the flower of womanhood or die without expectations?
I suggest watching the movie a few times through to catch all of the imagery and keeping Freud in mind when distilling the symbolism. This film is very interesting and beautiful independent of theme. Definitely worth a look!
I suggest watching the movie a few times through to catch all of the imagery and keeping Freud in mind when distilling the symbolism. This film is very interesting and beautiful independent of theme. Definitely worth a look!
- ShellyShock
- Oct 1, 2002
- Permalink
I do not think this is one of her best works, as it is often cited to be. It's technically astounding, filled with interesting shots and effects. But for all her attempts to embrace surrealism she clings to the necessity of the narrative, an experiment that (for my taste) has only been successfully attempted by Bunuel and Bergman, and to a lesser degree Tarkovsky. There are also a lot of interesting images, the cloaked antagonist with a mirror for a face stands out, but it remains a sort of Frankenstein's monster of cinema, halfway between the real and surreal without the necessary components to integrate the two. Still quite enjoyable though.
- invaderJim
- Aug 14, 2015
- Permalink
- Polaris_DiB
- Apr 22, 2007
- Permalink
- jboothmillard
- Mar 11, 2009
- Permalink
Its just so unfortunate to not have 'Maya Daren' with us today. Her exemplary direction with perfect length of her movies makes her a legend in short film category.
Meshes of the Afternoon has everything that no one has ever seen before, in terms of abstraction, philosophy, movie making.. everything is just so beautiful. Her movies cannot be categorized into any available genres, cos' no on e really makes movie of her sort.
A girl entangled into a recursive event which by the directorial pattern looks like a figment of her own imagination. It seems like she is waiting for her lover or something like that and then she finds her replicas all around her haunting her and finally killing her. It also seems that Maya's other short film 'At Land' is a sequel to 'Meshes of the Afternoon' for she keeps alive the same passion and abstraction and romance in 'At Land'.
All in all, its one of the best attempts I have seen. If you believe in movies you cannot miss it.
Meshes of the Afternoon has everything that no one has ever seen before, in terms of abstraction, philosophy, movie making.. everything is just so beautiful. Her movies cannot be categorized into any available genres, cos' no on e really makes movie of her sort.
A girl entangled into a recursive event which by the directorial pattern looks like a figment of her own imagination. It seems like she is waiting for her lover or something like that and then she finds her replicas all around her haunting her and finally killing her. It also seems that Maya's other short film 'At Land' is a sequel to 'Meshes of the Afternoon' for she keeps alive the same passion and abstraction and romance in 'At Land'.
All in all, its one of the best attempts I have seen. If you believe in movies you cannot miss it.
Cinematic art like "Meshes of the Afternoon" has no single definitive meaning, but rather scores of meanings that differ from viewer to viewer.
To me, the most telling symbols in the film were:
To me, the most telling symbols in the film were:
- the bread knife, a possible phallic symbol which moves seemingly on its own and evokes a feeling of encroaching danger
- the ominous black figure with a mirror for a face (part of the subject's consciousness, perhaps her future self, like the Ghost of Christmas Future)
- the phone left off the hook (desires and intentions left unsaid and unfulfilled)
- rwbeee6749
- Feb 29, 2016
- Permalink
I was intrigued, perhaps like a lot of people to see this short film so highly rated by ' Sight and Sound ' that it got sixteenth place as one of the best films ever made. Thanks to invaluable YouTube I have watched it, and frankly I was disappointed. That it maybe there for female creativity is valid, but stepping back from that and after watching seemingly endless shots of keys coming out of a mouth, and a darkly veiled figure with a blank face ( an all too obvious mirror filling the blankness ) I wondered why this horror/psychodrama/melodrama has received so much attention. No spoilers but the ending could be seen a mile off, and the one virtue of the film for me was that it was short. I do not deny certain images of beauty, but sixteenth place as the best of all time is in my opinion an exaggeration compared to Bunuel's ' Un Chien Andalou ' which richly deserved that prestigious place. Or come to think of it Kenneth Anger's outstanding ' Fireworks ' made when he was a teenager. I maybe wrong about this film, but in all honesty I do not want to see it again. As for the use of a knife endlessly seen Bunuel would have used it once and it would have been a shocking revelation. I had no such revelation with ' Meshes of the Afternoon. '
- jromanbaker
- Jan 29, 2023
- Permalink
- BottleGourdPlant
- May 11, 2007
- Permalink
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) is a 14 minute short film directed by Maya Daren, who also stars as the film's lead. It is a surreal horror movie that tells the story of a woman who comes across a flower, deliberately laid in her path by a hooded figure. She takes the flower home with her and smells it, breathing in its poisonous aroma. The unnamed woman then falls asleep and starts to experience vivid dreams that may just well be reality. Who was the person who gave her this flower? What was their motive? This short film is one of the best short films I have personally seen up to now. It was creepy and the imagery was, at times, terrifying. I'll definitely be watching more of Maya Deren's filmography.
- andysevenfold
- Apr 1, 2020
- Permalink
A woman enters her domicile with lots of shots of her nice manicured feet as she witnesses a knife, vertigo, a shrouded phantom with a face of glass, a strange man, the sea, falling asleep in her couch, sensual arousal, etc., as dream and reality blur into a finale of tragedy and summation. Shot in black and white this is one of the better and successful shorts from the wartime period that touches on Freudian immersions with a storytelling flair for drama and enigma. Maya Deren's most noted artistic effort the film assured her place among experimental female directors and is an interesting historical artifact in avant-garde cinema.
- Screen_O_Genic
- Jun 18, 2020
- Permalink
I generally do not watch pre-1970 films. Simply, FOR ME, the ones I have watched do not live up to what I have been assured to expect from them. Mashes of the Afternoon, however, was simply enthralling.
One of the major, and jaw-dropping revelations to me, was how a 1943 film had such small, but sublimely sensual parts in it; and the way they were meshed with a reverberating sense of dread, was just genius.
While some who have reviewed it seem to believe it is practically seamless in its continuity, this is the only area where I found fault in it. I find it choppy at times and wish so ardently that the married duo who created it would have fine-tuned it JUST a tiny bit more so that instead of being the practical masterpiece that it is, it would have been perfection. Then again, everyone's a critic, right?
A must-watch, and clocking in at ~15 min., there are not many films like this.
One of the major, and jaw-dropping revelations to me, was how a 1943 film had such small, but sublimely sensual parts in it; and the way they were meshed with a reverberating sense of dread, was just genius.
While some who have reviewed it seem to believe it is practically seamless in its continuity, this is the only area where I found fault in it. I find it choppy at times and wish so ardently that the married duo who created it would have fine-tuned it JUST a tiny bit more so that instead of being the practical masterpiece that it is, it would have been perfection. Then again, everyone's a critic, right?
A must-watch, and clocking in at ~15 min., there are not many films like this.
- Her-Excellency
- Oct 11, 2020
- Permalink
What does the key mean in this movie? That may sound like one of those questions your film professor would (smugly?) ask of you after seeing it in class, but I'm serious - what might this mean? Or does it mean anything? The thing with surrealist films, especially when they're short like this, is the matter of: do you question what you're seeing, interpret them, or let the images wash over you? Meshes of the Afternoon has a little more narrative than some other avant-garde short films - compared to Brakhage it has the formalism of John Ford - but there's plenty of mystery and wonder to be seen here, even with the filmmaker pointing out: 'Hey, it's just a dream... OR IS IT?!'
A woman comes home (Deren, also the co-director), and falls asleep on the chair. We know this, and that she is likely dreaming, because of the way the camera pulls back from looking outside and seems to be inside of a circular tube. It's a fascinating device to bring the viewer into a dreamscape. Even with the knowledge that we're in surrealistic terrain from here-on out, the opening of the film still carries an eerie, abstract quality to it - we really don't get a good look at the woman's face at all, just her feet in the sandals walking up to the house and going inside, her legs and body, but not her face.
I have to think that this is intentional and goes towards what others have pointed out, with Meshes being a movie about identity, about who a person (or especially what a *woman* is supposed to be). But like all strong and masterful surrealists, Deren and her collaborator also know that they shouldn't have to, and should not really, tell anything what is really going on. Sure, it could be about identity. It could also be 'about' any number of things: what does a dream 'mean' to you, if you are seeing multiple you's, or crawling up a wall, or holding a knife, or suddenly, when all seems to be "back to normal", crashing away the image of a husband with the knife into shards of glass on a beach. Yeah, that happens here.
So much to take in in just under 14 minutes, and Deren fills the frame with deliciously shot, terrifying images. There's reason this has been touted over the years (and even preserved by the Library of Congress), since it deals in rich textures of the Home (in capital 'H'), and Deren herself is quite a figure to behold, with her big hair and face that is confused and kind of sexy (intentional or not, though there's also big black clothes, a correlation with the 'Figure in Black' with the Mirror face as well). There's certainly, if one can read anything concrete, feminine about the experience of Meshes of an Afternoon, and maybe it's just so personal an experience that it may mean different things to men and women alike.
The wonder of the film, why it lasts, is that you can leave it open to interpretation, and a figure in black or seeing yourself on a couch, or being on a beach with a knife, these are striking images that are rich enough to be impactful. At the same time, the filmmakers are cognizant of how to compose a shot, and more importantly how to keep shots moving along. Unlike some other avant-garde/experimental/surreal shorts, this is not a chore to sit through, and it's not "pretentious" either. It's bizarre, awesome art.
A woman comes home (Deren, also the co-director), and falls asleep on the chair. We know this, and that she is likely dreaming, because of the way the camera pulls back from looking outside and seems to be inside of a circular tube. It's a fascinating device to bring the viewer into a dreamscape. Even with the knowledge that we're in surrealistic terrain from here-on out, the opening of the film still carries an eerie, abstract quality to it - we really don't get a good look at the woman's face at all, just her feet in the sandals walking up to the house and going inside, her legs and body, but not her face.
I have to think that this is intentional and goes towards what others have pointed out, with Meshes being a movie about identity, about who a person (or especially what a *woman* is supposed to be). But like all strong and masterful surrealists, Deren and her collaborator also know that they shouldn't have to, and should not really, tell anything what is really going on. Sure, it could be about identity. It could also be 'about' any number of things: what does a dream 'mean' to you, if you are seeing multiple you's, or crawling up a wall, or holding a knife, or suddenly, when all seems to be "back to normal", crashing away the image of a husband with the knife into shards of glass on a beach. Yeah, that happens here.
So much to take in in just under 14 minutes, and Deren fills the frame with deliciously shot, terrifying images. There's reason this has been touted over the years (and even preserved by the Library of Congress), since it deals in rich textures of the Home (in capital 'H'), and Deren herself is quite a figure to behold, with her big hair and face that is confused and kind of sexy (intentional or not, though there's also big black clothes, a correlation with the 'Figure in Black' with the Mirror face as well). There's certainly, if one can read anything concrete, feminine about the experience of Meshes of an Afternoon, and maybe it's just so personal an experience that it may mean different things to men and women alike.
The wonder of the film, why it lasts, is that you can leave it open to interpretation, and a figure in black or seeing yourself on a couch, or being on a beach with a knife, these are striking images that are rich enough to be impactful. At the same time, the filmmakers are cognizant of how to compose a shot, and more importantly how to keep shots moving along. Unlike some other avant-garde/experimental/surreal shorts, this is not a chore to sit through, and it's not "pretentious" either. It's bizarre, awesome art.
- Quinoa1984
- May 6, 2015
- Permalink
- AvionPrince16
- May 15, 2022
- Permalink
- punishmentpark
- Jan 21, 2016
- Permalink
A woman with no name returns home and falls asleep. She dreams of a hooded figure with a mirror face. There are repeated ideas and items. There are the drums and the strings that are reminiscent of eastern chanting. It's an experimental short film of a nightmarish dream.
Wartime Hollywood is not a time that screams film experimentation. It feels more like a 60's film trying to respond to the French New Wave or an Ingmar Bergman film. Only this isn't a response or a copy of anything in particular. One may see something of a silent era avant-garde film in this. It's strange. It's intriguing. It's hypnotic. It's 14 minutes of odd visuals and it's over.
Wartime Hollywood is not a time that screams film experimentation. It feels more like a 60's film trying to respond to the French New Wave or an Ingmar Bergman film. Only this isn't a response or a copy of anything in particular. One may see something of a silent era avant-garde film in this. It's strange. It's intriguing. It's hypnotic. It's 14 minutes of odd visuals and it's over.
- SnoopyStyle
- Oct 6, 2020
- Permalink
Dreamy, poetic, and enigmatic. It's stunning to think this was made in 1943; it feels decades ahead of its time. The shrouded figure with the mirror visage is an all-time great image, and the soundtrack to this film fits its mood perfectly. For just 14 minutes, it's remarkable to me that I can watch this again and again and see different things, or better put, endlessly interpret it. It's just a stunning piece of artwork.
- gbill-74877
- Apr 5, 2021
- Permalink
- pontifikator
- Apr 6, 2012
- Permalink
- Horst_In_Translation
- Jun 15, 2015
- Permalink