Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

Directors:

Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid (as Alexander Hamid)

Writer:

Maya Deren

Stars:

Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Maya Deren	...	The Woman
Alexander Hammid	...	The Man

Storyline

On her way back home, a solitary woman picks up a frail flower, and then, she drops her key--and when she finally enters her home--exhausted, she falls asleep in a deep and comfortable armchair. However, even in her intimate dreams, an intangible and elusive dark presence blemishes her afternoon nap--she tries to catch it; but, in vain. Now, bizarre but perfect doppelgängers of her physical self materialise in the house, catching a glimpse of a record player playing a never-ending silent tune; a telephone, and a sharp bread knife, as the already confined environment becomes more and more a maze-like purgatory. The knife thirsts for blood; the woman hungers for a way out. Can the undivided mind/matter entity escape consciousness?

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Plot Keywords:

flower | knife | stairs | surrealism | experimental film | 

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Genres:

Short | Fantasy | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

DVD Edited DVD

Country:

USA

Language:

None

Release Date:

1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meshes of the Afternoon

Filming Locations:

Maya Deren's house, North Kings Road, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$275 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

14 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

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

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Alternate Versions

The original print of Meshes was completely silent (w/o music). Teiji Ito's score was added to a sound reprint in the 1950's.

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Connections

Featured in Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film (2011)

User Reviews

Like nothing else I'd ever seen before

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.