The Cinema of Terry Gilliam by Jeff Birkenstein

Author:Jeff Birkenstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PER004030, Performing Arts/Film & Video/History & Criticism, ART057000, Art/Film & Video
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2013-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Parry the fissured king standing outside Lydia’s apartment

Parry in two minds as the repressed returns

In a typically Gilliamesque reversal, the kiss that Parry and Lydia share is the switch that leads ultimately to Parry’s catatonic state. Instead of the fairy tale prince kissing Sleeping Beauty awake, Gilliam gives us Parry’s princess kissing him to sleep. Before he can find the solace of sleep, though, Parry’s surge of love and the awakening of his sexuality undermine his defensive medieval fantasy and activate his memory of the kiss between him and his wife immediately before she is shot.

The gruesome, carnal image of the Red Knight pursues Parry as he flees through the streets of Manhattan. The sequence is intercut with scenes from his memory as he is forced to recall it. This is a moment of retroactive understanding for the viewer who is obliged to review what they know of the Red Knight, the exact identity of which has been unclear up to this point. The flashbacks reveal that the look of the Red Knight is partly composed from the grisly appearance of Parry’s wife’s head after she has been shot and partly from the image of Parry’s own face as he is splattered with gore. The Red Knight also carries a strong association with the shooter, Edwin. This becomes evident as an image of the Knight blasting fire is placed either side of the image of Edwin firing his shotgun. Until this moment of revelation (for both Parry and the viewer), the death scene had been hidden behind a composite image of the sensory images Parry received immediately prior to and immediately after the traumatic moment of death. So the blast from the gun, the blood and the affect of fear and horror had metamorphosed into the Red Knight, both in Parry’s mind and in our vision.

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