Sleeping With the enemy - Cinematography and Mise en scene

Scene: 1h 24m 47s – 1h 29m 0s

The film extract that I have chosen to breakdown is from the film Sleeping with the Enemy. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Ronald Bass. The genre of the film is a thriller with the themes of love, determination and freedom. It is about an abused woman who attempts to escape and start a new life without her husband. The scene from this film I have chosen to analyse is when Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) thinks that her husband Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin) has found her and is somewhere in her house. Throughout the majority of the scene we are inside Laura’s house but the scene is also situated outside in one part. The scene is solely based in the late evening so it is very dark outside. This uses the genre conventions of a thriller because the dark scene creates a tenser atmosphere.

At the very start of the scene Laura Burney notices her window is open and the wind is blowing causing it to constantly hit the wall behind it. The sound of the window banging and the pan towards the window causes you to focus on the window so you are not expecting anything else. When she goes to close the window, the window creaks and a reflection of a man is seen behind her so the creak becomes high pitched music. The music is used just as the reflection appears giving it a dramatic effect, causing the audience to react; this music is effective because it is tense and unexpected. The camera shot that is used when she closes the window is a close up of her back so that when she turns around and screams you can see the emotion in her face. Although her emotions are not shown for long because the camera quickly turns to face the person in the reflection. Rather than being her husband it is Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson). When it returns to the close up of Roberts her emotion is made obvious as the relief can be seen in her now relaxed facial expression. This scene employs the theme of freedom because her relief is shown very clearly as she realises she escaped from her husband. A jump cut is used between these two scenes, but I don’t think it gives the effect of bad editing instead I think it was used to emphasise the transition in time rather than showing everything that happened in between the two separate moments.  

The couple (Anderson and Roberts) are seen having a picnic outside the house. In this part of the scene is when the theme of love is mainly shown as the scene is very romantic and plays to the conventions of a romance rather than a thriller, for example they are having a candle lit meal. The camera is behind the bushes and is panning across. In this part of the scene the 360 degree rule is used which allows the audience to see what is happening around the couple. The camera being behind the bushes is a very effective technique because although we do not know if anyone is watching them the camera use implies that they are and it hints at where they could be by having leaves across the camera. The sound of crickets can be heard and a dog barking. Both these sounds are usual. This may be to show how normal her life is since she left her husband. When the couple kiss sudden dramatic music starts to play. The music is used to make the audience feel on edge and to change the atmosphere from the romantic atmosphere that just ended. The camera continues to pan through the bushes and follows Laura as she walks into the house signifying that it wasn't both people that were being watched and implies heavily that it is someone that is looking for her.

The same music plays when she enters her house and again the camera frame looks as if someone is watching her. The camera is down the hallway and tracks to the side as she comes further into the room almost as if it’s hiding from her. The camera returns back outside where again it is in the bushes, but this time it is looking at her through the window. It pans forward and the camera pans right to keep her in clear view as she leaves the room. This makes it seem like someone is watching her to find a way in. The camera is now placed in the living room where a close up of a tape player is shown which implies that the tape player will have something to add to the suspenseful scene. The music that plays links to one of the other characters and foreshadows a later event. After pressing play Roberts walks up the stairs and the camera is placed in front of her. The camera is placed here to highlight her surprised facial expression.

When she walks into her bedroom handheld camera is used this may show that she is slightly scared and confused.  The sound of running water can be heard and a close up of an overflowing bath is shown to emphasise what she is walking towards and make it clearer to the audience what is happening because when it first shows the bath it is quite difficult to understand what is happening. I really like the next shot because it is used with very interesting angle. The view is from under the water in the bath and the water ripples as she pulls out the plug.    

The music hits the highest pitch when she turns round to find a door slightly open, this was used because in thrillers they usually use high music when something tense is going to happen or has just happened. However her fire alarm goes off before she is able to open the door. This is when the music stops playing. The fire alarm is used because fire alarms warn people and signify danger, but in this case the danger is not a fire it is instead her husband who is in her house. Roberts’s stops the alarm and a cracking sound is heard when she hits it with the mop. The cracking and smashing sounds may connote how her life is going to break or it may perhaps connote how she is feeling because perhaps she feels like breaking down.

                   View from under the bath water. Water ripples as she pulls the plug.

Handheld camera is again used when she runs down the stairs. When she pulls out the plug for the toaster it sparks will signifies danger. After stopping the alarm she notices all the towels lined up neatly which reminds her of her husband who had OCD. When she looks towards the towels eye-line matching is used because when she looks over the audience is first unaware as too what she’s looking at so it cuts to a shot of the towels. The camera changes perspective from looking at her facial expressions to looking and the towels and back to her. It’s effective that they used a subjective camera because it suggests the point of view from her character and they have made it obvious whose point of view it’s from by flashing back to her to inform the audience. From watching the rest of the film I can tell this is used to make the audience feel anxious because they will also be reminded of the husband.

Tense music once again starts to play creating suspense and a shadow is shown on one side of her face the Black shadow implies the way she is turning or where she is going is unsafe. A wide shot of the cupboards is shown to inform the audience about where she is looking. When the first shot of the cupboards is shown and she has not yet come into view the camera is shaking which implies she is worried as too what she might find but it continues to shake as Laura comes into view to continue the element of fear. The music hits the climax and the volume is loudest as soon as she opens the cupboards.

A Handheld camera follows her back and she slowly walks into the shadows. This gives the audience a frantic feel. The camera then follows Laura as she runs from the room towards the front door in order to escape. This shows her desperation to escape and so includes the theme of determination.  A close up of the same tape player shown earlier is in front of the front door to let the viewers know what to expect. As a close up of Laura is shown the camera moves towards the right to show an out of focus Martin Burney (Husband) walk into the room. As Martin gets closer he moves further into the dark shadows and becomes focused. The idea that Martin walks into the dark shadows suggests that he is quite threatening and dangerous.