Antonia's Line Analysis

Marleen Gorris’s Antonia’s Line is an expertly shot Dutch film rich with complex female characters and rich narrative. When a larger-than-life Antonia returns to her childhood home in the Dutch countryside, the town is rapidly restructured due to Antonia’s actions. Over the course of the film, Antonia becomes a figure that is seemingly untouchable by natural forces. However, the certainty of her death and the rhythmic narrative of the villagers’ lives remind the audience that no living being is exempt from cycles of life. Wide landscape shots, transitions between landscapes to display the passage of time, framing shots in a manner reminiscent of traditional Dutch paintings, and consistent utilization of the rule of thirds work to enforce the …show more content…
The rule of thirds is a concept concerning composition that separates a shot into equal thirds both horizontally and vertically. By placing the focal point of the shot at an intersection point of the thirds, the framing creates visually compelling composition. Each shot in Antonia’s Line is composed using the rule of thirds, and placing the characters in each frame they inhabit so they are off-center in the screen allows the environment to play as significant a role in the film as the characters. Setting oftentimes commands two-thirds of the screen or more, and the viewer has no choice but to notice the serene Dutch countryside. The emphasis placed on the setting by the camera’s framing draws attention to the lack of separation between humans, animals, and the earth around them. Wide angle shots show figures in frame with the same emphasis as items in their environment, causing the viewers to see them on the same level as their world. Framing scenes using the rule of thirds in Antonia’s Line subtly fortifies the film’s theme that humans are subject to their environments and that no living creature is exempt from birth and