'The Most Beautiful Man In The World'

Written and directed by Alicia Duffy in 2002, this BAFTA award winning short film follows an unconventional plot with various inconsistencies which appear to be crucial to the overall effect of the narrative. The story itself initiates with a young girl looking extremely bored in her home watching television. It immediately becomes clear that her mother has no interest in entertaining her because she’s too busy speaking on the phone. The girl then wanders off into the grassland outside the house. Whilst making her way through the wilderness she meets a stranger, a man whose identity is not revealed. Her mother swiftly gestures her back inside after witnessing what’s going on, resulting in the girl being trapped in her home once more.

‘The Most Beautiful Man In The World’ revolves around primary themes such as boredom and innocence while tackling controversial issues like child neglect. However, the lack of dialogue throughout creates a sense of ambiguity and doesn’t allow us to make distinct opinions about the characterisation and their individual identities. The frequent amount of close-up and extreme close up shots give a personal touch to the inside scenes which juxtaposes with the freedom conveyed in the wide shots when the young girl is outside. In spite of this, it also communicates entrapment and confinement indicating how there are limits preventing the child to grow accordingly. There are several dominant ideologies as a result of this. For example, the aspects of mise-en-scene such as the dull lighting and run down home lead to the audience believing the mother is economically challenged, which may make them sympathise or empathise with her because she is clearly a single parent. Although other people may believe the mother does not pay enough attention to her daughter by leaving her to watch television, suppressing the child’s stimulation. As the struggling single parent isn’t completely apparent due to the fact she is absent through most of the film, the issue of child neglect will rise to prominence much more swiftly. This results in a binary opposition as it’s primarily the single parent ideology vs. Child neglect.

Upon further analysis, we can understand how the single parent may be struggling through her voice, as when she is speaking on the phone, she sounds weak and depressed. Also, from her inflection and intonation, we can mould the idea that she has a low self esteem, causing the audience to possibly feel pity towards her. Despite this, it is crucial to notice how the child’s language is not being exercised which has a negative impact on her development. This can be interpreted as the mother is not teaching or helping her child correctly which might be a result of the fact she is self indulged in her own problems/conversations. Overall, the film relies heavily on diegetic sound. During the inside scenes the sound is only coming from the television whereas outside there’s insect sounds etc. This allows the issue of nature vs. Nurture to surface as, when outside, the girl is free to explore her senses and use her natural child’s instinct by absorbing her surroundings. In comparison, when inside her home she is receiving hardly any form of adventure and that is conveyed through the quietness.

In addition to this, the mise-en-scene is indicative of neglect. To elaborate upon this, the child’s clothes are dirty and old looking while the house itself is dilapidated as shown by the old heater and chair. The lighting, to reiterate, is extremely dull which makes the home seem repulsive in some respects. This contrasts with the light shining through the window. At this specific point, the child is clearly inquisitive about what’s outside as shown by the mid shot of her staring fixatedly out the window. This foreshadows the fact she will eventually begin to explore.

Moreover, the issue of child neglect and the theme of isolation are emphasised during the extreme close up shot where the young girl is clutching the radiator because this could be a metaphor for how she craves emotional warmth from her mother because she is lacking the substantial amount for a healthy, growing child. Similarly, this is also conveyed symbolically through the dog as it’s almost acting as her guardian, which sustains the idea of her needing someone. To expand upon this, even when she goes outside to ride her bike, the dog is watching over in the wide shot. Another significant factor of this particular shot is how she is riding her bike around in small circles, indicating how day to day life is constantly the same until the next close up shot of her looking over her shoulder to see if she’s being watched. At this point in time, as an audience, we know life is about to change for her from the film language. Immediately after this shot, there is a jump cut to her standing behind the fence. This can be interpreted in different ways, for example, the spikes carry connotations of danger while the fence itself signifies a boundary. The girl then leaves the frame completely only to re-enter on the other side of the fence showing a rebirth and a fresh sense of adventure. This is new territory for her and I think the director wanted to show the diverse difference from home life to the outside world.

The child welcomes the idea of freedom and exploration as she is walking along with her arms spread open. Also, this shows how she is new to the wilderness as she’s walking carefully and it’s as if she is attempting to keep herself balanced; as if looking out for obstacles. In addition, the editing in the next few shots is significant to how she’s learning in a proactive environment because there are jump cuts which are sharp, giving a sense of alertness. Although there is a still a sense of danger from the way she appears to scrutinise what’s around her, she is having an influx sensory experience. The following low angle shot of her running the stick through water is empowering; presenting her as a new explorer. Also, we are now seeing her from a different perspective and the water itself connotes, philosophically, holiness and cleansing which reinforces the idea of her rebirth.

Following this, the young girl hears her dog and goes over to see where he is. This is the point where the man is introduced for the first time; however his identity is not revealed. This allows the audience to make different readings and interpretations about who he really is. Ideologically, people may instantly believe he is there to harm her because he’s a stranger and she’s just young child. The director has done this deliberately to keep the plot and narrative ambiguous and it’s also quite misleading. If we look deeper into what’s actually taking place, we can link the dog back to being a symbolic guardian and the fact he’s with the man is communicating he’s safe and not dangerous. Alternately, after the young girl says “that’s my dog” there is an extreme close up shot of the man picking a bug off her in a gentle manner which indicates he could be an estranged father. The intimacy conveyed in the shot is indicative of how he is protective over her and this also highlights the theme of innocence as he hands her bug and she gazes at it before he smiles innocuously which makes her feel comfortable causing her to return a smile. This is the first real connection between the characters in the film and it is broken by the mother who witnesses what’s happening resulting in the child running home and the shaky, hand held camera at this point makes the child’s fast pace more predominant. However, the fact the mother is calm and collected throughout this situation helps us make the assumption she knows the man, which sustains the idea of him being the father because instinctively, if the mother felt her child was in danger she’d be more panicked and irrational.

Immediately after this, the girl is back inside, trapped in her home. The transition between shots slows down changing the editorial pace from outside because when the girl is inside it cuts to the man in a wide shot who is still standing in the same place outside, it then swiftly cuts back to the girl and this shot continues for longer. This shows the separation between the child and the man while accentuating the theme of the child’s boredom when she’s inside her home. The credits then begin to show, making the audience feel a sense of finality. However, there is a shot straight after with the child’s gormless expression, emphasising how she’s gone back to receiving little or no stimulation as she stares at the television blankly. This shows how the child’s day to day life is back to normality after her experience as an explorer of the wilderness.

It is also highly necessary to notice how no official authority is being represented. For example, social services, this brings up other conflicts like “Is the mother really to blame?” In contemporary society, authorities are sometimes tainted badly for not always handling situations involving children correctly. For example, news stories such as the disappearance of Madeline McCann have impacted the way society feels about situations like this and that’s why, as an audience, we make automatic assumptions about the way the child is brought up, the role of the mother and whether the man is actually there to harm her. I believe the director deliberately wants the audience to jump to irrational conclusions before looking deeper into the complexity of the situation.

Finally, I believe another important aspect of the film is the idea of Todorov’s narrative theory about events initiating as an equilibrium and then a disequilibrium occurs, because that does seem to be the basic structure in this case. For example, at the beginning we are presented with two main factors, child neglect and single parenthood and these opposing forces have an equal impact but when the child is curious to explore; other sub events take place which is the beginning of disequilibrium . To expand upon this, when the primary problem is solved, which in this case is the mother getting her child back in the safety of their home the equilibrium presents itself all over again. The film is conformed this way, following this basic narrative structure throughout. It helps us to understand why the events that take place are important to the plot and characters.