Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Daren’s Meshes of the Afternoon provides a large bevy of scene analysis. A scene that sticks out is a sequence that occurs almost a half a minute into the film. We are introduced to the films intimate world by the sunny, street contrasted with dramatic shadows reflecting in sunlight. A hand appears with a flower, slowly setting it down, the hand abruptly dissipears in a jump cut, instantly transitioning us into the strange dream logic that occurs throughout. A hand is seen through shadows, as it picks up the flower and begins to walk away. A silouette of the woman appears sniffing the rose. Through the constant use of silouette mingling with reality, we are being shown how this dream world operates. It shows her continuing to walk down the street, but the camera quickly reverts back to her going up a staircase and trying to open a door. Several shots like these occur throughout the film, perhaps because Daren wants to make clear that her character has several identities that come and go whenever they please within the dream state, showing us the audience through tricks of continuity and highly clever camerawork. We are shown another shot of her trying to get her key but having it fall down a flight of dramatically lit steps, where she opens the door, perhaps indicating that we are going through another layer of the dream as an audience member.