Flashbacks In Shutter Island

In the film, Shutter Island, flashbacks are used to explain what happened in Andrews life that lead him to being in a mental hospital. A specific scene where Andrew flashbacks about his wife, Dolores, standing in a room, that could be their old apartment, dry in the yellow dress telling him that he cannot leave yet. Andrew falls asleep in the bunk beds of his room alongside the workers of shutter island dreaming about his wife. This is a scene in the film where we get an understanding of Andrews belief of what happened to his wife. The mood the audience gets from Andrew is relief. Relief that he is still able to see his wife. Delores repeats, "You have to let me go", this is said to Andrew as Delores's dress is soaking wet and dripping off …show more content…
She couldn't run away from the fact she was ill and after killing her children she knew she was sick and couldn't deal with that anymore. It was like a cry for help. This is said repeatedly by her to show the audience that Andrew is holding on to the guilt he has from killing his wife, which runs him into his mental state, and to show the audience that Andrew is hoping to change what he did through the flashbacks and his dreams. He hopes for a second chance and to take everything back, to face the fact that she was insane and he could get her help. Lighting is a key technique in this scene where it sets the mood and understanding of what is going on. The lighting is bright and yellow to contrast a halo around the outer perimeter of Andrew and Dolores's figure. This was used to contrast the idea of this scene being a flashback. The bright light in the beginning of this scene sets the mood as a positive memory of them talking, "she's still here", the voice of his wife is his subconscious telling him that he is what he is looking for, he is Leaddis, he is the one who killed his …show more content…
As Dolores walks over to the window and the old lake houses view is outside the lighting shifts to dark colours of greys, blacks and dark purples. This lighting was used to show death and murder as that is where Andrews three children and Dolores was both killed. Low-Key lighting in this scene is significant to the film due to it being filmed in a prison cell where only a little bit of light comes through but with this certain flashback, the lighting being bright, that fills the room that he and his wife are in, sheds a halo around them, shows that he is free but as soon as she walks over to the window and the lighting darkens this is manipulating the idea of being trapped in a cell with no light coming through. This links back to the theme of guilt and holding onto the past as he is still dreaming of being free with his wife, ignoring what really happened before he came to Shutter Island, using bright light, outside of Shutter Island but as he comes out of the flashbacks the dark light shows the guilt as we only experience dull lighting around Andrew and his