Pasternak
The first short film from Damián Szifron‘s ‘Wild Tales’ (2014)
Overview
Pasternak (Damián Szifron, 2014) is the first short film in the Argentinian anthology Wild Tales. Two people find themselves in conversation with each other, talking about their lives when they realise that they both know a man called Gabriel Pasternak. The man had brutally criticised his classical music and the woman had cheated on him with his only friend. The coincidence becomes increasingly strange as 3 other people speak out and they all soon realise that everyone on the plane has wronged Gabriel in some way, at some point, in his life. The flight attendant reveals that Gabriel was part of the cabin crew and he has locked himself into the cockpit. To get revenge on all these people, he crashes the plane into his parents house, who were (according to his psychiatrist) were the start of his trauma.
Narrative Structure
The film opens with a close up tracking shot of a woman’s feet as she walks through the airport. The dolly is shaky which shows her to be rushed but also, it may foreshadow later events (mimicking the shaking of the plane as it dives down). The woman continues, normally, to check in and board the plane which contrasts to the hectic scenes at the end.
Some time passes and the woman is on the plane and putting her suitcase in the overhead compartment. This shot is taken from in the compartment which gives a sinister feel, as if something is hidden (the truth about the plane and Pasternak). The man that helped her with her bag strikes up a conversation with her which can be seen as casual ‘flirting’. At first, shot reverse shot is used during their conversation but as it moves towards an important part (the discussion of Pasternak), the camera changes to a 2 shot which gradually pushes in onto the 2 characters. This focuses the audiences attention on this conversation.
Both the characters realise that they indeed know Pasternak. This is when other characters also reveal that they know him too. The tension rises as they all find out that Pasternak is flying the plane. The plot twist is seen through the increased pace of the editing, the camera being placed in many disorientating camera angles, the shaking of the camera and the diegetic screams of the characters.
The plane dives towards an old couple who we presume are his parents as his psychiatrist tells Pasternak that:
“You’re the victim here! I’m telling you plain and simple: it was your parents that ruined your life!”
The film ends with a freeze frame of the plain crashing almost into Pasternak’s parents.
Cinematic Influence
Wild Tales has a wide mix of genres but the main genre would most likely be comedy (or dark comedy) which was prominent in Argentinian movies in that era. Pasternak is a good example of this as, although it is filled with revenge and death (implied), it has a tinge of comedy. I thought that the final shot of the plain crashing and the ‘coincidence’ of all of them knowing Pasternak was quite funny as this would be highly unlikely, almost impossible, in real life. Many Argentine-Spanish films of this time have ‘quirky’ story lines and unique ways of filming. I would say that Pasternak has a hybrid genre of comedy-drama as it portrays many conventions of both, for example, the coincidence is funny at first or that the crashing of the plane is very chaotic and dramatic in terms of mise-en-scène.
In films in general, however commonly seen in Argentinian (South American) films, the women and men are portrayed stereotypically. The main women in this film are the model and the flight attendant. From one side, the model is portrayed as being an object which reinforces the patriarchy which is prevalent in South American countries. .This can be seen when the man’s first instinct on the plane is to flirt with the woman especially since she is alone and ‘needs help’ with her bag. This may be kind but he continues to flirt with her throughout the flight which enhances the stereotype. The woman is wearing a tight dress and heels which could emphasise the stereotype and how she is wearing it to impress people. However, from another point of view, she can be seen to be taking pride in her appearance and dressing smartly for the work trip that she thinks she is going on.
In terms of stereotypes, men are often shown in films to be heroic, brave and to save the woman . However, Pasternak himself challenges this as he is never seen (not confronting his problems but hiding- the cowardly villain). He, instead, chooses to endanger many peoples lives (and end them) in revenge for very minor things in his life. He represents extreme human behaviour, exaggerated, which is also seen in a few other of the Wild Tales.
In terms of mise-en-scène, the settings and props are realistic for a plane and the colour scheme, also, reflects an ordinary plane’s colours. This makes it recognisable for the audience. On the other hand, the colour scheme is very basic and dull which may reflect the innocence of the characters. The woman is also dressed in white which makes her seem pure, although she is not as she reveals that she cheated on Gabriel with his friend. The editing is very slow at the start, with minimal cuts but as tension rises and the drama intensifies, the pace of editing increases (such as the shot reverse shots between characters realising they all know Pasternak). This increases tension for the audience too and almost mimics someone being confused and scared by reflecting them looking all around. Sound is also used to create effect by mainly using diegetic sounds (dialogue) to keep the focus of the audience on what is happening rather than being distracted by music of sound effects.
Creating Meaning and Effect
Subtle foreshadowing is used in many places such as when the woman checks in with her ticket. She makes the statement of the fact that her ticket is paid for by someone else. If this was not needed, she would not have said it. It foreshadows later to when the rest of the plane say that their tickets were paid for by somebody else. There is some subtle foreshadowing when the woman opens the magazine and the camera focuses in on the page showing some sort of deer being chased by cheetahs. This may represent the innocent people as the prey and Pasternak as the predator.
The story is effective due to the fact that there is a plot twist near the end of the film. Cinematography, sound, mise-en-scène and editing are all used to build up tension and enigmas towards this point. After the twist is know, and people start to panic, the editing becomes more frantic and the diegetic sounds of alarms and screams solidify this. This, along with the canted angle shot down the nose of the plane makes the audience feel like they are on the plane with them and almost gives them the characters feelings of panic.
The use of the plane as a setting adds to the production of the film because planes are supposed to be one of the safest methods of transport but Pasternak crashing it juxtaposes this.. The main theme of the film is based around revenge so the aeroplane set could suggest to the audience that revenge comes when you least expect it.
Overall
Although it was quite a basic plot, I think that it was one of the best Wild Tales because of the unexpected twist at the end and how Damián Szifron built up tension throughout. My favourite part was the end when it focused on the elderly parents in their back garden with the plane getting closer to them.