Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Maya Deren
Alexander Hammid

Writer:

Maya Deren (writer)

Genre:

Short | Fantasy

Plot:

A solitary flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a...

Plot Keywords:

Flower | Knife | Bed | Mirror | Dream Like

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Maya Deren	...	The Woman
Alexander Hammid	...	The Man

Runtime:

14 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Trivia:

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Libary of Congress, in 1990.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When The Woman tries to open the supposedly locked door for the first time, it gives way a little (too much).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Amalgam of Traditional Narrative and Surrealism

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.