Post 1: Intervals - Peter Greenaway - Analysis

An in depth analysis of Peter Greenaway's Intervals.

Tom Wilson

Peter Greenaway’s film Intervals (1969) cleverly creates meaning without the use of a narrative. His use of imagery is sublime in this film, capturing both the beautiful and decrepit Venice, which creates a sense of normality through repetition. Peter Greenaway compliments the vast array of imagery with a series of everyday sounds and music by Vivaldi (Four Seasons, Winter) which create a contrast between the normal and the cinematic. I intend to discuss the style, structure and form behind Intervals, and refer to the links between his film and our project.

The film is separated into three segments brought together through repetition and sound. These segments are distinguishable by their use of unique sound. For example, in the first segment the sound is that of a metronome, whereas in the second it is a man reading out the alphabet, and in the third it is the man reading out various words and the introduction of music by Vivaldi. Each segment appears to subvert the audiences’ expectations of the film, as without a clear narrative it is impossible to assume where the film will lead. The first segment helps cement the theme of normality, as the monotonous use of the metronome, and the quick cutting of various streets help to create a sense of the everyday. The use of black and white helps emphasise this concept, show
ing the world in a very simple, and monotone way. This changes in the second segment where the sound of the man speaking focuses the audience’s attention to the fact that they are watching a film. This contrast from the real to almost the surreal, the detached voice seeming out of place in the context of the film, is the subversion. Greenaway’s ability to create two different dimensions within the same medium just by using sound is incredible; one reality is relatable, the other cinematic and thus rarely relatable. This is only further amplified in the final segment when the classical music begins playing, cementing it as a film as the music is non-diegetic. At each stage of the film, Greenaway intends to make the viewer more and more aware of the fact that it is indeed a film, and does so not just through sound, but through imagery as well.

The cinematography in the film perfectly encapsulates the juxtaposed beauty and unpleasant nature of Venice and its streets. The choice of black and white removes most of the beauty as it takes away the colourful nature that Venice possess, while giving it a more mundane aesthetic; it is almost impossible to tell it is even Venice until the boats arrive in shot. This removes the identity of the world the film inhabits, furthering the idea of repetition, as every street in the film could be any street elsewhere. Furthermore, the repetition of shots, and the repeated actions of the civilians walking, create a feeling of the familiar, which, in the case of this film, is to say the feeling of boredom. Each shot is noticeable when it reappears, and as such, with the sounds of the metronome at the beginning especially, reinforces the theme of the everyday. It is as if the audience is walking those streets every day Greenaway shoots there. The audience becomes well-adjusted to the various sights, the woman walking, the man and his children, the bottles stacked outside the shop. However, it is the sound that helps dispel this boredom and repetition and brings in the beauty and unique nature of each individual shot. The cut from the metronome to the man speaking creates a more personal feeling to each shot and each street, the dialogue making the streets feel more alive; this is furthered by the music in the later stages of the film. This sense of personality, the introduction of the dialogue spoken through an Italian accent and words, helps ground the film in a real place as opposed to the nameless streets. That is to say that Greenaway shows his ability to create meaning and identity through contrasting the impersonal ticking and the personal dialogue.

The stylistic choices in Peter Greenaway’s Intervals will transition well over to our short 2-minute film and subsequently our 5-10-minute film too. For example, the repetition used in Intervals, and the way that it blends to create both a monotonous tone, and in the later parts of the film a surreal and personal atmosphere, will be mimicked through our looping of shots in our first 2-minute film, and our personal and absurdist themes in our 5-10-minute film. Furthermore, Greenaway’s use of sound to disrupt the normality of his shots, will be used similarly in our film through cuts or objects disrupting the similarity between each of the individual loops; for example, the first loop may incorporate a TV while the second would not and so forth. This is slightly different to Greenaway’s style, as he uses the disruptions to ground the audience and reveal the location (through the accent and words for example) whereas our disruptions will remove all sense of space and time. Finally, the way that Greenaway averts the audience's expectations, and draws the audience's attention to the fact that they are watching a film, will be the main focus of our 5-10 minute film, which incorporates a meta narrative, and will be frequently breaking the fourth wall, subtly and indirectly however. 

Peter Greenaway’s stylistically brilliant film seems to follow the formalist film theory, and as such allows himself to create meaning and identity not through a narrative structure, but through the imagery and sound he uses. As Robert Brown says, “he deftly dodges narrative responsibilities and engages his delight in images which exist for their own sake.”  

References:

Retrieved from http://petergreenaway.org.uk/intervals.htm