MOP VAISHNAV COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

SCHOOL OF MEDIA

FILM STUDIES

FILM ANALYSIS

SHUTTER ISLAND

AARTHI

0917104

CONTENT

CAST

CREW

SYNOPSIS

NARRATION

NARRATIVE

CHARECTORIZATION

FILM LANGUAGE

PSYCHOANLYSIS

CAST

Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels

Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule

Sir Ben Kingsley as Dr. John Cawley

Michelle Williams as Dolores Chanal 

Emily Mortimer as Rachel Solando

Max von Sydow as Dr. Jeremiah Naehring

Jackie Earle Haley as George Noyce

Ted Levine as Warden

John Carroll Lynch as Deputy Warden McPherson

Elias Koteas as Andrew Laeddis

Patricia Clarkson as Dr. Rachel Soland

CREW

Story-Dennis Lehane (novel)

Screenplay- Laeta Kalogridis

Cinematography- Robert Richardson

Editing- Thelma Schoonmaker

Music – Robbie Robertson 

Direction-Martin Scorsese

SYNOPSIS

It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the

disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing

for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he

hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments

range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon

provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break

the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous

criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins

to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity1

1 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/plotsummary

NARRATIVE

For the most part the movie unrolls in a linear fashion but is interrupted by montage of images

which are the hallucinations of the protagonist. The plot is single stranded with only Di Caprio’s

point of view. The film’s narrative is close ended, with the final dialogue of the protagonist

providing a new dimension to the story, but this dialogue itself has created a lot of confusion

among movie goers many interpreting it as Di Caprio being innocent and others claiming that he

was actually the 67th patient and that he realizes it but pretends to have not recovered because he

knew he could not live with himself and the memory of having killed his wife.

NARRATION

The narration of the film is restricted, the audience know only as much as the protagonist. The

movie is the point of view of only Di Caprio’s character and hence is of subjective narrative. But

at the end we realize that his point of view of is not reliable due to his unstable mental health. 2

CHARACTERIZATION

PROTAGONIST

The protagonist of the film has a very strong role to play as the whole film his from his point of

view. The characterization is complicated as the protagonist must look like a reliable source in

the being but then when he is reviled to be schizophrenic it should be believable, hence hints

must be dropped in here and there.

2 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/1023

FILM LANGUAGE

How a film’s director uses the camera, lighting, and sound to create a mood and to communicate

his vision is known as film language.3 The film language in a movie can convey a lot of things

like the time period the film is set in, the location the story happens in and much more.

As for Shutter Island the true stars of this film are cinematographer Robert Richardson,

production designer Dante Ferretti, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.4 This is because it’s the ire

atmosphere that is set by the cinematographer that’s sets the mood for the audience. The crisp

editing and tonal differentiation between the hallucinations and reality that helped make the

watching experience more intense.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The tight framing and shots of the light house run a chill through even the spine of even the

strong hearted viewer. The quality of each shot is so interesting and so visually pleasing, it’s hard

not to notice how much thought and effort has been placed into putting together a film5

MIS-EN-SCENE

The location that the story is set in is totally cut off from the world and can be reached only by

sea and the boat comes only once a week. The setting is very grim and cold 6which sets the tone

for the emotional rollercoaster we are to take a ride on. The entire setting of scraggly rocks and

deep jungle against a generally stormy, grey sky highlights the moodiness of the film; the

elements of smoke and fog are also extremely significant motifs that are used to great effect.7

Wispy, thick fog is also utilized almost invisibly in many scenes in this movie to emphasize the

complexity and confusion of the situation, which similarly help overstate the noir-ish features of

the movie.8The props used and the costumes set the time of the fit perfectly in the 1950’s. Di

3 http://www.frankwbaker.com/filmlanguage.htm4 http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2010/02/shutter-island-review.php5 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/806 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/10237 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/808 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80

Caprio’s role is very heavily layered though the viewers realize that only around the end of the

film, hence his confused acting worked well9, he employs a madness in his eyes which belie his

smooth exterior,he10 has given a given a raw and intense performance in this movie11.But then Di

Caprio is a pro at playing a mentally jinxed individual after having played it in various movies

like “Marvin’s Room”, “The Aviator” and “Inception”. Sir Ben Kinsley’s plays the precise

remote man in charge12 with a "look at me" performance13. In fact the entire cast really

highlights the quality of the screenplay, and in particular, Leonardo Di Caprio and Ben Kingsley

really complement each other in giving powerful and convincing portrayals. Mark Ruffalo is also

impressive as Chuck – his accent just makes his character. 14The grey tint used throughout the

film set the mood for a perfect psychological thriller which sends the audience for a toss. Visual

elements of the film are also extremely well crafted – in particular the dream sequences Teddy

has of his dead wife. Without giving too much away, the use of colour, falling pieces of confetti,

paper etc. and slow motion close ups of feet and hands help in exaggerating Teddy’s conflictions

and issues within himself as he continues with his job on the island.15

SOUND

The background score adds to the gothic feel of the film. The background score used for Di

Caprio’s hallucinations is strong enough to give the viewer a headache. No original score was

written for the film. Instead, Scorsese made use of his longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson to

create an ensemble of previously recorded material to use in the film.16 Sound wise, this film is

also incredibly impressive. One scene that comes to mind is when Teddy and Chuck are caught

in a severe rainstorm while at the graveyard on the island. Not only was the camera angles and

lighting perfect, the combination of the beating rain, howling wind and crystal clear vocals of

Teddy and Chuck seriously makes the scene one of the most memorable.17

9 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100215/PEOPLE/10021998410 http://www.fullhyderabad.com/profile/movies/3659/2/shutter-island-movie-review11 http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/shutter-island-touted-as-leonardo-dicaprios-most-intense-performance_100323561.html12 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100215/PEOPLE/10021998413 http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/movie-review-shutter-island-201014 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/8015 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/8016 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_Island_(film)#Cast17 http://electrifries.ephereal.com/archives/80

EDITING

The film is supposed to have taken its shape in the editing table, taking that into consideration

the editor sure did his job well.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and the psychodynamic approach to

psychology. This school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on

behavior. 18 The film taken up for analysis “Shutter Island” deals a lot with the unconscious,

preconscious and conscious states of the mind. The protagonist in the film Teddy Daniels played

by Di Caprio starts experiencing elaborate visual hallucinations shortly after he comes to

Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. These hallucinations which start off looking like a

ploy to tell the audience the protagonist’s past reappear numerous times to show that the

surrounding have taken their toll on his mental health. As the film progresses the hallucinations

get delusional. A delusion, false belief based upon a misinterpretation of reality. It is not, like a

hallucination, a false sensory perception, or like an illusion, a distorted perception. Delusions

vary in intensity, and are not uncommon among substance abusers, particularly those who use

amphetamines, cocaine, and hallucinogens. They also occur frequently among individuals who

have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, or schizophrenia, and

during the manic stage of bipolar disorder (see depression). Some common delusions include

persecutory delusions, in which the individual falsely believes that others are plotting against

him; delusions of thought broadcasting, where the individual believes his thoughts can be

transmitted to others; delusions of thought insertion, in which the individual believes that

thoughts are being implanted in his mind; and delusions of grandeur, in which the individual

imagines himself an unappreciated person of great importance.19

The protagonist a U.S. marshal is disturbed by his own actions on the line of duty during the war,

these thoughts come back and haunt him; but these are not his only hallucinations. After a while

we realize that half of what we have viewed was a journey into the protagonists mind, and tend

to recognize that the scenes with a grey tone where reality and the bright toned ones where his

hallucinations. 20

The movie works on the principal that “Psychoanalysis reassorts the maze of stray impulses, and

tries to wind them around the spool to which they belong," Freud told George Sylvester Viereck

in 1930. Or, to change the metaphor, it supplies the thread that leads a man out of the labyrinth

18 http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/psychodynamic.htm19 http://www.answers.com/topic/delusion20 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100217/REVIEWS/100219980/1023

of his own unconscious." 21

Shutter Island is not about what will be found at the centre of the maze but about whether one

can escape the pathological maze of neurosis and fear. Finding an answer to this question is

essential for the person who is mentally-ill and for the professionals who are trying to lay a safe

route out this disordered maze.22

Dr. Naehring introduces one of the movie's most powerful themes: that theetymology for the

word "dream" in German comes from "trauma" or "wound." He leaps from there to the idea of

"monster" but there is also an etymological connection to "lie" and "deceive": both of which are

decidedly relevant. In a world just emerging from war, murder, and the atrocities of the Nazis,

we are asked to confront some of man's most inner evil: there indeed is a great wound to uncover

here, lies being told, and monsters that lurk. In the end, Teddy faces a choice. His final words to

us suggest that the choice he does make is both deliberate...and monstrous.23

21 http://theinvisibleprovince.blogspot.com/2010/03/shutter-island.html22 http://theinvisibleprovince.blogspot.com/2010/03/shutter-island.html23 http://www.cincritic.com/2010/02/shutter-island-scorsese-makes.html