Meshes of the Afternoon

Meshes of the Afternoon is a classic example of avant garde at its finest. The main figure in the film, Maya Deren, has some kind of subconscious struggle within herself that is shown through a repetitive dream sequence. In this nightmare of a dream, the viewer is put both subjectively and objectively in Maya Deren’s perspective of herself. The film leaves the overall thematic context open to interpretation, but the scene beginning the dream sequence is significant to the film in three aspects.
The scene starts off with a medium shot of Maya opening up the door to her house and gazing inside with a flustered look on her face for a few moments. It then cuts to a first person point of view shot that pans and ends focuses on a knife. Introducing the importance knife by cutting to a close up, it shows to the viewer that there is some symbolism within. The close up of the knife is the focal point for a couple seconds but as Maya enters the frame slow motion begins.
The slow motion of her feet running up the steps alters the perception of time by changing up what Maya Deren is experiencing and also emphasizing that she is dreaming. The slow motion continues even when it cuts to a shot above the steps showing her face rather than her feet, which makes it seem like she leading to something. As she reaches the top of the steps, that something she was heading towards was her bedroom, but in another dimension. A shot of her floating through the curtain signifies that she is in a different space in time.
This whole scene there nothing but ambient sound, but when she is in her alternate dimension she sees the knife again and her reflection inside of it. The cut to the close up shot of her reflection, the eerie repetitive musical score starts dramatically and she is sucked back into the reality of the dream. Everything with the film begins to get crazy as the banging pot and pan music radically increases. The cuts begin to get faster and the camera movement begins to twist and turn spiraling into a crazy hysteria.
This scene justifies that the main character, Maya Deren, has a deep inner conflict that is symbolized by the knife. The style of editing and choices in cinematography in this dream sequence, distorts the overall time and space of Meshes of the Afternoon.