Skip to main content

Life Lessons: How Set Design Tells A Story (an Ihsan-scene blog post)



With all the muscular camerawork, soundtrack, and use of the iris transition, one facet of the filmmaker’s toolbox appears to be somewhat overlooked when analyzing Martin Scorsese’s 1989 film, Life Lessons: Set Design. The set design in this film really fades into the background even though it’s instrumental in translating the emotions of the scene to the viewer. Although this film appears to be relatively realistic in it’s set design, there are ways in which the abstract nature of Lionel’s loft proves that it isn’t simply a large room for the characters to communicate. 

Life Lesson’s set design, particularly the design of Paulette’s room in Lionel’s loft is used to expose the inner workings of Lionel and Paulette’s relationship. In scenes throughout the film, that set evokes themes of boundaries and idolization, themes that are subliminally transmitted to the viewer through the essence of the set design and how it works in accordance to the other techniques in Scorsese’s repertoire. 


One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about Paulette’s room’s design is it’s high placement in Lionel’s loft. While Lionel dwells in the lower levels of the loft, Paulette is placed upon a metaphorical pedestal, which prompts Lionel to gaze up towards her room, salivating at her distant closeness. This image elicits the emotion of desire just beyond reach. It does this by keeping the room quite close to Lionel’s day to day life yet it remains so high up and closed off that it leaves Lionel to do nothing but idolize her larger-than-life presence.

The square hole in the wall of Paulette’s room adds to that effect of being just beyond reach by creating a small opening into Paulette’s world while still being almost completely separated from Lionel. There’s a rather creative use of this hole in the wall towards the beginning of the film when Lionel is playing basketball and his hoop is directly underneath the hole in the wall, so naturally his basketball flies through the hole and lands on Paulette, she immediately rejects it and tosses it back to Lionel. This symbolizes how Lionel’s crazy lifestyle is beginning to encroach upon Paulette’s life (as she is talking on the phone to her friends at the time) and Paulette’s increasing shortness with Lionel and his various eccentricities.



The scene that uses this placement most effectively is the scene in which Lionel is listening to the opera music, sitting in dim light, he stares up to Paulette’s room longingly as if gazing upon the gates of Mount Olympus. This is one of the scenes in which the theme of boundaries is most emphasized, due to Lionel’s only (visual) way into Paulette’s life: the hole in the wall, has the curtain drawn in order to hide Paulette’s new mate: Toro (a graffiti artist she met at the art gallery). At this point Lionel is not separated by a wall with one small glimmer of hope, he is separated completely with absolutely no way to participate in Paulette’s life.



One thing that film has the ability to do that many other art forms can’t do is the idea of showing change over time. Lionel’s loft at the beginning of the film is a bare white filled with blank canvases. Then as the film progresses and Lionel finds his inspiration, the loft develops a rather moody aesthetic filled with paintings. While this device is almost entirely based on the necessity of plot being: ‘well where else would he put the paintings?’ it still maintains a somewhat textural (rather than logical) association with Lionel himself being a somewhat blank canvas at the beginning of the film. It creates a sense of longing, and lack of inspiration, which visually welcomes Paulette’s spirit to Dobie’s loft to fill that longing. And then over time, the viewer is able to visually track Lionel’s change over the course of the three weeks that Paulette stays with him.

So much of Life Lessons is filled with extremely showy aspects of filmmaking yet I believe that the set really allows for the audience to feel their relationship’s struggles and desires. The film is able to communicate so much just through set design and it’s clear that Scorsese had a hand in making sure the other elements of the film such as camera, lighting, or blocking were able to work in concert with the set design. So while the set design might not be the centerpiece, it works as a well-oiled cog in the Life Lessons machine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Limited and Flat Space in Rear Window

Limited and Flat Space in Rear Window By: Cassie Galonsky The film Rear Window , directed by Alfred Hitchcock, uses different types of space to convey the story that he is telling.  The film is shot with space in mind to create different feelings for the audience. Limited space and flat space are both used at different points, in order to portray different things.  The majority of the film is told through the eyes of L.B. Jeffries, or Jeff, a freelance photographer who has been confined to his apartment as his broken leg heals. Alfred Hitchcock uses the opportunity to demonstrate to the audience his confinement with the different types of space.   During the course of the story, Jeff observes the actions of his neighbors through his open window.  One day, he sees a series of events that leads him to believe that one of his neighbors, Thorwald, has murdered his wife after her unexplained disappearance.  He enlists in the help of his gir...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Power of Lionel Dobie's Painting

In his short film, Life Lessons, Martin Scorsese shows off his directing skills and techniques in a variety of ways. Throughout the film, he utilizes stylized camera techniques to enhance the story and make it visually interesting. Those camera techniques combined with his direction produces a very compelling and entertaining film. One scene, in particular, stands out as a great example of the directing skills of Scorsese. In that scene, we see Paulette go from being determined to leave New York to her falling back under Dobie’s spell and deciding to stay. This scene stands out due to the fact that rather than dialog, it utilizes visuals and music to successfully convey Paulette’s decision to remain with Dobie in New York. Approximately halfway through the film, we are shown a conversation between Paulette and her mother. Paulette wants to come home because she feels that she has no future as a painter after Lionel cannot compliment her work. Towards the end of the conversation,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Surface Division in Citizen Kane

Surface Division in Citizen Kane “Throw that junk in.” This is the last line of Citizen Kane and a summary of his life. Citizen Kane depicts the life of Charles “Charlie” Foster Kane. His story is told through a series of flashbacks presented by his friends and ex-family members; whom are being interviewed by a reporter Jerry Thompson. Thompson is trying to figure out what Kane’s last word “Rosebud” means in hopes that it will be the key to unlocking what his life meant. The movie ends with Thompson giving up and supposing (quite accurately) that a single word can’t describe a man’s life. As the various characters describe Kane’s life surface division is used to show how they saw him as an isolated man. In the first third of the film as Thompson reads Kane’s diary, we see a flashback of Charlie Kane as a child just before he is sent away by his mother and father. The surface division used visualizes how Thomson regards him as a lonely child. The scene is shot in two oners both cont...
Post a Comment
Read more