Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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at the beginning, but the connection is not made strongly enough”. 415 A Salient review
of the film offered this interpretation of the ending:
Right near the end of the film, Malfred picks up a stone thrown through the
window. Where once she told girls to see the stone, see its shadow, she now
touches it, holds it. The film captures this moment superbly and if the end of the
film follows suddenly after, on reflection, there really seems no way it could
have gone on. To return to the short story analogy, such an ending is often
achieved by a sudden revelation or twist in meaning. Here the revelation exists,
but it follows naturally from the film and is in the fullest sense a proper
conclusion. 416
Frame’s ending had been equally mysterious but relied upon words, albeit
indecipherable, rather than images. While derived from the novel, the use of window
imagery was emphasized by Ward as a consistent motif throughout the film.
An important part of the visual style of the film was its lighting, much of it stronglycontrasting
in terms of light and shade. There were also strong contrasts between
different forms of light – glaring daylight, torch glow and electric light. As Philip
Tremewan noted: “Light is the medium for all films, but Ward has, in his cameraman
Alun Bollinger’s words, a special ‘ability to see light’ and to use it like a sculptor.
Thus, Malfred’s face is etched in light as she moves about the darkened house; the
dimness of the light in the bush heightens her reactions to the advances her lover makes;
the brilliance of the sun reveals the emptiness of her life”. 417 Michael Heath, in a
review in the Evening Post, singled out the use of dark colours in the film “especially
and specifically blue”, as “a contributing factor to the many moods presented”. 418 As
these critics noted, colour and light were exploited very skillfully for the purposes of
mood (or Stimmung).
Critical Reception
In terms of its local critical reception, the film was generally well-received. Reviewers
took the film seriously and some thoughtful analyses were published in newspapers and
415 Campbell, “Vincent Ward: Living on Celluloid,” 23.
416 Simon Wilson, "A State of Siege," Salient 24 July 1978: 19.
417 Philip Tremewan, "A State of Siege," Education 30.4 (1981): 37.
418 Michael Heath, "Superb Work from Youth and Age," Evening Post 22 July 1978.