Wedlock House

The film that I most enjoyed from last week's viewing is Stan Brackhage's Wedlock House: An Intercourse. It it most interesting to me to reflect on this film in relation to the other Brackhage and Breer films that we watched. The other films are far more abstract while this film is more narrative than not. While watching the film, there were instances where I was conflicted on how to feel about it. The first scene is a quick image of a nude man climbing on top of a nude woman. This scene is edited to be in negative. The next few scenes consist of the woman closing windows and curtains. The lighting is dark with flashes of high-contrast lighting.I began to feel like the tone of the film was a little more menacing than I had expected from the romantic title. Continuing to watch, my feelings towards the film changed. Additional sex scenes are portrayed much more passionately. Also, the scene in which the man and woman share coffee and a cigarette while facing each other over a table is very romantic. I realized that the closing windows and curtains is meant to portray privacy in wedlock, not protection from fear as I had originally thought. Still, there is a hint of darkness or solemn undertone in all of these scenes. It is questioned if these undertones are meant to highlight the beauty of the images or provide a subtle commentary on the content.