Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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does not have the resources for solitude. Yes, she has discovered a ‘new way of seeing
things’ – but it is something oppressive, something nightmarish, something she never
bargained for”. 412
In the evening, it is not the house or the objects inside that seem to represent a threat to
Malfred but what is outside. Firstly the wind, which begins to howl with increasing
strength, then mysterious noises, seem to suggest an unseen intruder. She takes refuge
in the accoutrements of civilization – her art books, her teacups – to protect herself
against the unknown, but when the camera pans from Malfred reading to a photo of
Wilfred, her former boyfriend, there is a flashback to a memory of him making sexual
advances to her, which she evidently found unpleasant. The flashback is set in a fernhouse
and the lighting in the scene is cold and menacing, suggesting again that nature is
threatening. In the flashback, Malfred tries to take refuge in planning events for various
organizations – to avoid facing what she apparently perceives as the wild energies of
sexuality, and the threat posed by the menacing landscape. This flashback is closely
followed by another – a shot of her mother lying on her deathbed. The linking of these
two flashbacks implies that for Malfred, the physical mysteries of sexuality and death
are both overwhelming and disturbing. The images are close to stereotype (the
repressed spinster) but are rescued by their visual subtleties and the sense that these
events happened in a more circumspect era.
Shortly afterwards, Malfred gets ready for bed and her tightly-buttoned high-necked
Victorian-style nightgown further suggests her repressed sexuality. As she becomes
increasingly frightened by the noises outside, every noise, even that of her brushing her
hair, seems threatening. To calm herself, she locks the door and switches on the radio,
which plays soothing orchestral music, but the radio suddenly switches itself off. At
this point, there is an unusual shot – an extreme close-up of her eyes - similar to the shot
of her eyes when she was at the beach, and emphasizing again the theme of vision. This
is followed by a shot of a Henry Moore painting of sleepers in the subway during the
war on the wall of her bedroom. Unlike the calm landscapes she was looking at in her
art book earlier in the evening, this is a disturbing image reflecting the unease she feels.
Although the modernism seems out of character, the war association is certainly
relevant.
412 Nicholas Reid, "A State of Siege," Auckland Star 29 July 1978.