Past, Present and Future in One Scene

This month I want to analyze how filmmakers use the technique of depicting past, present and future just in one scene. To demonstrate, I want to use the shots from autobiographical movie ‘The Mirror’ of legendary filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky as well as the most recent horror movie by David Robert Mitchell called ‘It Follows’.

To understand what I am going to talk, I suggest you first watching these short links:

The Mirror https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESKrPz5LSXo&t=226s

It Follows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHVcpZZjBVc&t=15s

First, let me say that those two movies are completely different genres, filmed in different time and each have particular feeling. They do not have to do anything in common on the first place. Or do they? I found it very surprising when I started thinking about Tarkovsky while I was watching the last scene of ‘It Follows’. By the way, if you have not seen those movies, there will not be any spoilers ahead as I will just examine the last scenes which are by no means can spoil you the movies.

Depicting multiple time periods in movies always associated with flashbacks or flashforwards. They can be announced to the viewer or firmly melted into the story. But showing three time slots at the same time in one scene with minimum cutting needs a real professional to see the original shot in his head but most importantly make it into a successful lasting scene.

Now with the case of Andrei Tarovsky movie, the scene is pretty complicated and has interesting transitions. What is fascinating is how three time slots are not only shown in the same shot but also blend into each other, magically connecting the past and the future. And the author is right. There is no present, only broken objects melting in water. The present is ruined for the main hero. Let me explain it more clearly.

First we see the main character, the woman who is asked by her husband who she wants to have a girl or a boy.

She does not answer, she smiles almost crying and turns around.

She looks into the future. We see an old lady. The old lady is this young woman who stayed alone with her kids. She does not have the husband by her anymore.

We see all the broken things, the broken present she is living in, we even do not see her, the broken, sinking objects represent the present life of a character that she dreams about the past that horrified her with the future.

In the next shot she turns her head again because she realizes what the future looks like. She will be an old widow with little dirty kids alone baring the pain. She cries but then smiles telling the audience that even if the future is not that bright she still will love her kids and bare this pain no matter what. She does not need to turn her head aroud again to the future. She accepted the pain.

The following shot shows an old main hero in the future taking her present kids out to the open field as the camera gently smoothes away into deep dark forrest, concluding the scene and entire movie.

With the case of ‘It Follows’ the scene starts with the young boy and girl walking along the street. From the first view, the scene does not have any meaning, it is just the couple walking. But let us look closer to the details and examine each and every aspect.

The shot of the couple walking towads the camera reveals couple of interesting things. In the back we see a person following them as well as the old man in the red shirt. Now let us look at that shot in a time perspective. The couple represents the present. Now they are happy holding hands of each other. This is the true present moment. In the back there left an old man who represents that they will get old and might stay lonely sweeping their garden. And far behind them we see a person following them. Now from the movie, I should clarify that the girl is followed by someone and nobody knows if that someone can kill her or not. The monster who follows her can be just a normal person just like the one who follows the couple. So, in that case nobody knows if the person behind is actually a monster or death that follows them or we just have the paranoia. But in the case of our examination I think it represents death that follows after the old age.

The next shot again from the back of the couple shows us the kids in the front who play in the yard. Now that represents the past when the couple knowing that they are already adults and realizing the cannot return to the happy childhood where they do not have to worry about their lives and fear death.

To conclude, I suggest you to watch the scenes again with a clearer undertstanding of what had happened. Both of the scenes are the last ones in the movies and of course are put in the end for a particular purpose to show the globality of the movie, examine the entire life of the characters as well as teach the audience that we are just like the main characters always think about the future, try to stay in the present and want to return to the safe childhood or past.