In
the 2002 film Morvern Callar by Lynn Ramasy escape is the key
and yet it has become an unachievable goal for the titular character.
Throughout the film the character tries to travel and yet connects
back to her actions over and over again until her ultimate break from
the reality of her circumstances.
The
key scene to discuss starts at around 34:30. Here we see Morvern
from her doorway, topless and sliding goggles down on her face. She
is located in the bathroom of her dead boyfriend's, James, house with
his body wrapped in shower curtain as the song “I'm sticking with
you” by the Velvet Underground plays behind her. Though there is no
clear space where the music comes from we know it is one of the songs
on the caset tape Morvern's boyfriend has left her along with the
money for his funeral and his novel.
The
music ties into a key moment of this scene where the blood of
Morvern's boyfriend spays back onto her shoulders which lay bare and
thus touch her skin. Shes open here, exposed while he lies wrapped in
plastic. The song's lyrics refer to being “made of glue” and thus
will have anything stick to them. It reflects Morvern in this moment
as it begins to describe the deceased James.
In
the following scene Morvern will bury the dismembered body in the
moorish hills of Scotland and gaze at the bugs in the dirt. As she
travels to Spain with Lana, the motif symbol of the bugs follow her
like they are attracted to her glue; guilt. She knows his body is
rotting under the surface and thus she reflects on it. They stick to
her as a reminder as much as his blood on her did.
This
does not end the glue. As much as Morvern has become free by his
suicide it hangs onto her. He sticks to her like glue. Her future is
founded on the objects he gave her. He keeps a hold of her. His blood
was split, by his own choice though left ambiguous, for her freedom
could only come by his death. We are never given any hints towards
his treatment of her but one can infer it was something that made her
unhappy if she was willing to dismember him.
It
is why I find the song so important. Not only may Morvern's now dead
boyfriend stick to her in his death but may have smothered her in his
life. In the scene, though inferred that she is drugged up, she is
happy and gleeful. Yet he still has his mark all over Morvern, he's
always going to be sticking to her like sticky glue for the rest of
her days.
No
matter how much Morven runs, lies, leaves she always has a sense of
guilt sticking to her. It is why she sees the bugs crawling around,
she is thinking about her one act of freedom from him as a guilty act
now as the bugs are easting away at his corpse. That dismembered
body and blood are sticking like glue.
Interesting post. This scene along with the upbeat song is so disturbing. I wonder if there are any hints throughout the movie that point to Morvern's boyfriend as someone who treated her badly or well. We know that he cheated on her once with Llanna but throughout the film I just believed they had a happy relationship an she chopped him up because of how angry she was about him leaving her the way he did. However, if he treated her badly, you bring up a good supporting argument for that by analyzing her failure to let him stop influencing her even after death. Everything she does, even if its obvious she doesnt enjoy it, is out of the shock/pain she feels over her death. I wonder if he had this much control over her emotional state/decision making while he was still alive.
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