A sensual depiction of a budding romance which feels doomed due to external forces, much of Liliom finds Frank Borzage employing magical realism to detail the incalculable, intangible nature of love when placed against the vast tangibles- material and otherwise - which exist in any functioning society. Throughout Liliom's aesthetic and narrative formalism the intangible nature of love is presented with such a sweeping sense of omnipresence, one in which Borzage exhibits the world with ethereal sensibilities, evoking the power which love and passion can have on the individual, doing so without any sense of forced sentimentality or melodramatic depictions of romance. Liliom's construction places love as the fulcrum to leading an ethical life, exhibiting in its love story two characters who find their relationship tested by various external forces placed on them by modern life. The degradation which poverty places on the psyche of those affected, this faux socially-embedded belief in meritocracy and the corrosive effect it can have on any good natured and morally-just individual is thoroughly explored, with Borzage expressing how the social, political, and economic aspects of life often conflict and constrain the purity of love due to their disparate nature in modern society. The two lead characterizations - each having their own autonomy and individualistic desires- are nuanced, detailed, and complex; They come from different backgrounds, yet this sense of yearning for one and other unites them and gives them warm from the cold, hard unknown nature of everyday life. Their passion for one and other is undeniable and yet the social expectations related to class and status placed on them by larger society subverts and strains their relationship, breeding insecurities within them. The economic and social pressures placed on this relationship specifically drive it towards division and tragedy, with the central relationship suppressed and destroyed, at least when viewed through the lens of the material world. Aesthetically speaking, high contrast black-and-white cinematography evokes the dualism of light and dark with that of love and hate. The bright lights of the carnival - a central location in this story - piercing through the darkness of the night sky evokes the film's thematic intentions, a symbolic depiction of how these two individuals shared passion for one and other provides their a sense of guidance in an otherwise, dark, class-driven society in which love is often is confronted and contested by either social, economic, and political capital. In the end, Liliom is a salient example of the magical nature of the cinematic craft, a film which evolves from the material world to the metaphysical, astutely recognizing the intrinsic nature of selflessness necessary for love but perhaps more importantly detailing how no individual action, even those out of love or selfishness, is never completely disparate or detached from larger social subversion which societal expectations can evoke.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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