MovieChat Forums > Black Moon (1975) Discussion > This movie is about... -SPOILERS!-

This movie is about... -SPOILERS!-

posted 17 years ago by sean_mcg
13 replies | jump to latest

...Psychosis

I think this movie was about a young woman suffering from psychosis; nothing more, nothing less. We see 'reality' through her eyes and are left confused as to what is real and what is imagined. Some of what the viewer saw is real, and some is the fictional world as perceived by Lily during her psychotic episodes, and we're left unable to tell exactly where reality ends and where delusions dominate, as life is for those unfortunate souls who suffer from psychosis.

We're given some clues about this. At one point Lily is fighting off the children on the lawn (this is 'reality' from her perspective at this point), then in the next shot she is on the lawn by herself fighting off malevolent entities that simply don't exist, this is how an external observer would have seen her; totally demented and in the middle of a severe psychotic episode. Also, at one point we hear the old lady saying on the radio that Lily is deluded and thinks there is a war in progress etc; we can assume that Lily has overheard people saying this at some point, perhaps her family members saying this to each other or perhaps doctors in the mental institution that she presumably inhabits.

She also converses 'telepathically' on occasions. This suggests that some of the main characters in the movie are also non-existent, e.g., Brother Lily never says a word (if I remember this correctly) and it could be assumed that he is as 'real' as the unicorn; he simply doesn't exist. We're also given some 'real world' sources for some of her delusions, e.g., the painting of the hawk is the source of her delusion about the hawk and it's fate.

So I think the purpose of the movie was to provide the viewer with an insight into the life of a psychotic, and show us how impossible it is for those who suffer from severe psychosis to live a normal life with normal social interaction. Life for Lily is frightening, confusing and unpredictable and inhabited by malevolent entities intent on doing her harm.

The thing that bothers me most about this movie is the IMDb score; 6.0/10. I can only guess that many simply didn't 'get it'. I'm going to watch this again sometime in the next few days while it's still fresh in my mind.

Here's a Wiki link on psychosis for those interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis

[–] RedMouth 17 years ago

perfect explain need to say no more after reading what u stated it all makes sense what a perfect movie i showed it to my girl the other day and it freaked her out but like you said she is psychotic but then again we don't know for sure so that still leaves the movie on another level but good job on it tho

[–] moviematt71 17 years ago

I agree with sean_mcg's take about psychosis.

It was weird, fascinating, disturbing and thought provoking...which is why I liked it! I caught it on cable the other night and it hooked me in.

Movies should make you think and most importantly, feel something. Even if it's anger, confusion or disgust. That's the magic of the medium.

[–] Karl_Keks 17 years ago

Sounds reasonable. Alas, ARTE (french/german TV station), showing the movie as I type, has categorized it under their rubric "ARTE Trash"...

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] OrionCA 16 years ago

It's also entirely possible that the world around her is insane and SHE'S the sane one. Something of a matter of perspective. However as almost everyone in this film is named, "Lily" (or some varient spelling thereof) you're probably right. Lily is experiencing vivid and powerful hallucinations where bits and pieces of her psyche break off and act independently. The Unicorn is a symbol of the purity and simplicity she's yearning for in her life.

I'm not sure what to make of her underwear falling down all the time, though. A symbol of personal weakness? Perhaps.

[–] przgzr 16 years ago

It's also entirely possible that the world around her is insane and SHE'S the sane one. Something of a matter of perspective.

It is always a matter of perspective. An insane person can never be sure where are the boundaries between reality and their imagination or hallucinations. Also they can't be sure if there is anything wrong with them, or it is the world that is wrong. Therefore many of them deny that they have any problems and that they are ill at all.

However, that makes us potentially the same as they are. We also believe that we are sane, and that all what we see and hear really exists. And we assume that we perceive the world exactly as it is. But how can we be sure?

[–] MrPie7 16 years ago

"This movie is about..." an hour and a half. That's 90 minutes too long.

[–] lathe-of-heaven 13 years ago

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[–] daricketts 16 years ago

I agree with your synopsis, but I feel that the nature of her hallucinations are linked to her awakening as a woman. She has reached an age where she is no longer a child and not yet an adult. As such she now finds it difficult to communicate with either, hence her inability to make herself heard to other characters in the film. Th adults communicate physically and although she seems to be able to understand them -she cannot reciprocate this method of communication. This physical communication, to me, represents sex. She sees the adult (sexual) world as a battle ground where lines are drawn and her fear of this world is represented by the soldiers. She's scared of her sexual awakening, which is being driven by nature, the snakes/beetles/wind which tries to prevent her playing/communicating with the children.... um.... or maybe i'm just reading too much into it.

enjoyable but frustrating film.

[–] przgzr 16 years ago

I don't think that your explanation excludes the OP's one or vice versa. A psychotic person can have problems with sexual maturation as well. Many psychosis in fact start at the age of becoming adults and the difficulties that young people face when they discover, accept, handle and (let alone) fulfill their sexuality surely don't help.

Similar topic - symbolic fairy tale style movies about girls breaking up with childhood - can be seen in Neil Jordan's "The Company of Wolves", Jaromil Jires' "Valerie a týden divu" and Márta Mészáros' "Bye bye chaperon rouge".

[–] mrryjos 16 years ago

Totally agree with you passetemps-1. This movie works in dream language, which underpins not just our sleeping but our waking minds as well, hence the power of images and symbols (check out Jung's theory of archetypes, or read your Joseph Campbell, for starters.) This movie isn't about psychosis any more than Alice in Wonderland is, or fairytales are.

The poster above who mentions the occult is also right as well, but I think further than this, the movie is drenched in Alchemical symbolism. The central Alchemical 'myth' involves the hermaphrodite (Lili is laughed at by the old lady for having no breasts, and she starts off disguised as a man), going through a form of crisis (the war) and splitting into separate male and female parts (war between men and women) often shown as twins (the Lili brother and sister) and then going through a process of facing death and decay (the dead animals, the dead soldiers), all as part of a process of rebirth (plenty of images of this in the film) resulting in a healing of the split and re-union of male and female. The unicorn is often seen as an image of the fully spiritually awakened human being, hence the horn coming out of the famed Third Eye. This may sound far-fetched but just do a little superficial digging on Alchemy (totally dismissed by modern culture) and you'll easily find a version of this story. Indeed Jung himself wrote plenty on this very subject.

And if you like David Lynch (and I bet he's seen Black Moon), you'll notice that this is the same story he tells over and over in his films, not least in his last, INLAND EMPIRE.
And no I am not psychotic.

[–] carrps 8 years ago

Good points. I don't think it's about psychosis at all, either. That would be a real cop out to me and boring as heck.

Unicorns in mythology can only be tamed by virgins, so I do think there's a strong current of sexual awakening here. The snake crawling up her skirt as she lying in the old lady's bed at the end? Nearly as obvious a metaphor as a train entering a tunnel.

I really like what you say about the different dualities. I want to watch it again with some of these things in mind. Good thing I still have it on the dvr!

[–] 16 years ago

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