I saw this film with two friends, and none of us had any idea why this film was titled THE ECLIPSE. Yes, I know that was the name of the writer's book, but judging from the short passage she read from it, we had no idea why she called her book by that name, either. Anybody?
shareI just saw the film and am a bit puzzled as well. The only thing I can think of is the allusion to an eclipse, in that it is something that temporarily blocks out the light or what you can see, and then things are normal again. Now that I type that out, it sounds lame. I'm up for a better explanation!
shareLena, the female author in the film, is an eclipsing body in the lives of Michael, the festival volunteer who serves as her driver, and Nicholas, the arrogant male author. Like the moon eclipsing our view of the sun, Lena (notice the similarity to "Luna") briefly crosses paths with each of the male characters and obscures their vision.
Michael has not really accepted the death of his wife. He tells Lena the ages of his children but then corrects himself when he realizes a year has passed, he tells Lena that his wife's death has been hard on the kids but is surprised at the suggestion that it might also be hard on him, and he's haunted by the impending death of his father-in-law rather than the actual death of his wife. When Lena comes between Michael and the memory of his late wife, his attraction to Lena allows him to see that life will go on and that he might love again. It's only after this "Lenar eclipse" is over that Michael finally sees his wife's ghost and acknowledges his grief.
In Nicholas' case, an intense one-night stand with Lena eclipses his view of what his life's all about. He tells Lena he's haunted by that night, and thinks everything he's written before that night is phony, and wants to leave his wife to take up with Lena. Whereas Michael benefits from a change in perspective, Nicholas is undone by what he's seen.
No reason is given for why Lena titled her book "The Eclipse" because the real reason is that the shot of the book's title, quickly followed by the shot of Lena's picture on the book's dust jacket, serves to establish that she embodies "The Eclipse" of the film's title.
I bow to your awesomeness. :-)
shareHey, you were clearly on the right track with your post above. I probably just spent way too much time thinking about this cool little film, instead of doing real work. ;)
I would almost rather have a person like you tell me a movie than see it myself. Your elaboration of the eclipse metaphor has me liking the film more than I did at first. I'm still thinking the "shock" sequences, the father-in-law in the car and the closet, were a little over the top and threatened to derail the film. But I'm thinking, too, that a significant part of the audience thought those sequences were the only times the flick was on track.
shareYeah, I'm still a bit uneasy about the horror angle, too. It feels like a strange and strained marriage of genres. It would've worked better if they'd stuck with the spookiness of the first ghost scene instead of ramping it up with the shock scenes you mention. Personally, I thought the banshee wail was much more spine-tingling than the car or closet scenes, and yet still appropriate to the story at hand. Anways, I'm glad I helped with your appreciation of the film. That was flattering praise indeed!
Now that you say that, zwot, I'm thinking that it was an oddly varied yet great mix of horror movie clichés, not just one kind of scare. We had the shadowy figure, the creaking house, the zombie-looking ghost, the banshee wail, the hand reaching up out of the ground which reminded me so much of "Carrie," and the serene appearance of Michael's wife's ghost. To throw another movie metaphor into the mix, it was like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates -- you just never knew what you were going to get.
shareSomehow now you've got me thinking about Monty Python's assortment of chocolates: Crunchy Frog, Lark's Vomit, etc. I guess it's a good thing the weekend's finally here... my brain's all over the place, like in "Scanners"
And the movie references run wild! Seriously, though, the character of Nicholas was starting to remind me of Gilderoy "Aren't I Just Fabulous?" Lockhart from the Harry Potter movies. ;-)
shareI personally LOVED the "marriage of genres."! This was what made this "horror" movie BELIEVABLE!
sharewhat a terrific analysis. I'd also like to point out how much of the film was backlit. There were many scenes where the characters were nothing more than silhouettes, much like when the sun is eclipsed.
Absolutely! The backlighting was put to very good effect, like when Michael's and Lena's conversation in the hospital was shown in silhouette because their nascent romance had just been eclipsed by Nicholas' medical emergency. Wonderful visual metaphor!
Although I have not seen the film, I can say that the title may well refer to the way in which grief itself Eclipses' one's entire life and emotions during the time it takes to deal with the emotion.
"As the Philosopher Jagger said, you can't always get what you want."