The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

A Danish Journal of Film Studies 25
their focus on their own bodies, combing their hair, letting the water
flow over their bodies, and watching themselves in the mirrors. The
grown women continue to watch themselves in the mirrors, drink
the water, eat, smoke, bathe, and massage each other. The older
women are characterized by no longer being in physical contact
with anyone. Instead of acting on their own, they increasingly come
to occupy an observing role.
Thus, different characteristics and patterns of action are connected
to different ages, and the sensual perception of the world is used to
describe this development. At this level each shot comes to
represent time, with each transition adding years to the bodies.
This representation of time and thus of continuity in the film is
also expressed in its visual style. The transitions between the shots
are all fast dissolves and continuity between the shots is created in
different ways. Sometimes it’s the movement of the camera, leading
from one shot into the next. At other times, it's a movement within
pictures that resemble one another, and are brought together by
dissolves, making the visual structure the dominant principle for the
transitions. This creates a visual flow in the film that parallels the
time perspective, while the representation of the bodies that become
progressively older creates a narrative flow. The film’s use of music
and the sound of water as a recurring and connecting element is
another means by which continuity is strengthened.
Experience
Whereas the previous narrative level deals with the material and
physiological – the body, the senses and the natural – there is also a
level in the film that deals with the social, the psychological and the
cultural. This manifests itself in the way the bodies act and interact