Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Chatverock Takes itself way too seriously

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

He_who_lurks Maya Deren wanted to show people that movies could use symbolism to convey a story. Here, through symbolic objects and surreal imagery, the story of a married couple is conveyed.There's more than there appears. The story is so true. Everyone struggles with their decisions. Deren wanted to demonstrate how to tell a story with symbolism using a story that everyone can relate with.The film begins with a hand setting down a flower on pavement. The flower represents a good start to the marriage. A woman picks it up and takes it home. She unlocks the door and goes into an empty house. And so the symbolism comes to life. A phone is off the hook, symbolizing an unworthy and unfulfilled feeling the woman is experiencing; a knife is in bread, symbolizing that feeling of "I didn't make that decision right" that has stung her.The woman goes upstairs and finds her record player is on. The music from the player represents a good life with the woman and her husband. But the woman turns it off, now unsure if her decision was right and if she will have a good life. Confused and uneasy, the woman sinks into her chair, and falls asleep. And then what should appear but a hooded figure with a mirror for a face walking down the path. The woman follows but the figure has vanished out of sight. The woman gives up and discovers she is at her own doorstep.What does the figure represent? It's the mirror for the face that tells us. The mirror is supposed to be reflecting the woman's dark inner feelings that tell her the decision she made wasn't good for her. The mirror reflects all these versions of the woman until they are too much and try to win over her. The woman almost wants this to happen; she chases the figure. She later repeats the same action after going in: she enters the house, walks upstairs and turns off the player once again. The woman sees herself sleeping in the chair. She goes over to the window and sees herself chasing the figure. As she watches she pulls the key out of her mouth, the same one she used to unlock the house. She will use it to free her dark inner desires. A moment later we see the woman running down the path also but she doesn't catch the figure. Then we see the woman come back inside, were she sees the figure walk upstairs and place the flower on her bed, before the figure disappears from view. We have labeled the figure as evil. The flower represents a good start to the marriage, but the figure has put this idea to sleep by laying the flower on the bed. The figure wants to take advantage of the protagonist.Again the woman sees herself sleeping in the chair and again she goes to the window. She again sees herself chasing the hooded figure. And out of her mouth comes the key. The key turns into the knife, telling us both are symbolic of evil, and that the woman is tempted to use them to free herself of her troubles.She falls for the trap and walks into the kitchen. At the table two other versions of herself sit. The third version sits down and sets down the knife which turns back into the key. The first two versions take the key, and every time it is replaced by an identical key. The first two versions each have a key, and the third version is left to do the dirty work. The third form picks up the key, when we see her palm is black!, symbolizing evil. The key in the woman's palm turns into the knife. The woman has a shocked expression on her face. She turns around. She has on black glasses. Evil has possessed her. She crosses the beach and sidewalk to reach the chair. Down comes the knife, coming right towards the woman, but then the woman awakes and sees her husband bending over her.The man bends over and puts the phone back on the hook. It again was off. The woman still has the feeling of uneasiness, this tells us, but the man is trying to put her at ease by putting the phone back. The man goes upstairs holding the flower. The woman follows. She sees the man put the flower on the bed like the figure. Maybe this tells us the man too is struggling with his decision. The woman lies on the bed, thinking the man is on the side of evil. She sees the knife and in an attempt to rid herself of her struggles she hits him in the face with the knife. His face shatters. It was a mirror. We see pieces of mirror fall into the ocean.At the end we see the man come into the house. He opens the door. Pieces of a mirror are strewn around the chair with seaweed. The woman lies in the chair. She is dead and blood is trickling from the corner of her mouth. When the woman tried to free herself she died. Evil had possessed her and she could no longer live. Let this be a lesson to all of us. We mustn't let ourselves be overcome by our evil sides. No, we must stand our ground and deal with our problems. The woman here failed to do so, and as a result evil came to possess her. I would certainly recommend this; it deals with a problem we are all familiar with, and shows us the consequences. Deren married three times; maybe she too, like the woman portrayed, struggled with marriage. Who knows?

punishmentpark A wonderful short film that I stumbled upon via a little gif on Tumblr (the key turning into a knife). This a dark, artful piece about a woman who is / gets caught in a time-loop. The outcome is that she is finally found dead (suicide, probably) by a man, most likely to be her lover. One could interpret her going round and round in circles in more than one way, I suppose. My main idea is that, while she is dead, her soul / ghost is trying to figure out where it / she is. Or what it / she is, namely dead. Just my two cents, though. It also reminds me of the later giallo genre, at certain moments, especially when Maya Deren's face is reflected in the blade of the knife.Even without a perfectly reasonable explanation, one can still enjoy all the wonderful and mysterious, but at many times quite eerie, imagery of some Hollywood apartment block (inside and outside) knives, stairs, (broken) mirrors, black robes, keys, and such. The soundtrack, the original one by Teiji Ito, is just as wonderful, with some soothing acoustic guitars here and there, but also with a lot of haunting voices and percussion.For now, a big 9 out of 10. Note to self: watch more work by Maya Deren (and what a beauty she is, by the way)!

Boba_Fett1138 I like watching an occasional experimental Luis Buñuel movie and I like them for what they are. I can also see the art of the it, just like this movie is definitely a piece of art. I could say that I liked this movie- and found it to be just as appealing as a Luis Buñuel movie though. But a thing is that Buñuel was already making these type of movies in the '20's, so calling this movie, which is from 1943, ahead of its time is a pretty ridicules statement in my opinion. There always is boss above boss.The movie can be seen as being stuck in a nightmare. A Lot of images within the movie have a nightmarish looking over them, in which a woman sees her own death, only to wake up after it seeing the things she dreamed about really happening. This movie of course doesn't feature your average storytelling but nevertheless because of this the story perhaps even work out all the more effective. The movie doesn't feature any dialog in it and lets all of the images speak for them selves. Some moments within the movie can of course be interpreted in different ways by different people but that is part of the appeal of an experimental movie of this kind.A nice little surrealistic movie, from and with Maya Daren.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Asa_Nisi_Masa2 Have American filmmakers ever been as experimental as Deren since this short was made? If so, my guess is not very often - not as far as I know anyway. It really is astonishing to think that this was made in 1943, in the midst of WWII! A fellow IMDb user had first recommended I watch this when a while back, I had started a thread about movies that should be taken in non-rationally on one of the boards. I can now completely see why he urged me to watch this: whatever side of the brain it is that we use when our rationality is switched off, is the side one must use to make the most of Deren's film. Symbols aplenty - symbols I wasn't especially trying to interpret, but just trying to take in with everything else that was going on - Maya Deren's own very striking, very beautiful physical presence, a Death-like figure bearing a fake flower (but they're not the only one to carry it during the course of the movie), a key popping out of Deren's mouth which reminded me of the cover of Kate Bush's The Dreaming album, shadows, light, repetitions, interiors, exteriors... just soak it in, and don't try and explain it.