Deconstruction Of A Film Opening - "The Man Who Wasn't There"

This is a film noir movie set in the late 1940s. It's fairly recent, being released in 2001. I will be deconstructing the first two minutes of it.

The scene opens with footage of a barber's pole, a common item to see in the time period. This, along with the monochrome effect, helps establish the setting, a barber shop in the 1940s, even before the non-diegetic narration begins playing. There is slow, non diegetic jazz music playing through the opening, reflective of the time period.

The silhouette of a character is shown in a distorted reflection instead of showing them directly, as this creates a sense of mystery. The ambiguity of this shot combined with the line in the monologue stating that the character would not "consider [himself] a barber" gives hints towards the identity of the narrator, capturing the audience's curiosity. The monochrome effect and common convention implies a story told in retrospect, but the character speaks in present tense, narrating describing the situation as it is currently.

There is then a match on action of him opening the door and walking in to the barber shop, finally showing the character's face.

The camera tracks him across the room, only moving on to another character after an over the shoulder shot. This strongly suggests to the viewer that he is the main protagonist, whose inner monologue would narrate the story, even though this is not the case. This is also an interesting way of panning across the shop to further establish the scene.

The diegetic dialogue coming from this character, Frank, fades out back into the narrator's inner monologue, indicating that he is disinterested enough to retreat back to his inner thoughts. This can be considered anti-social, therefore conforming to common conventions of film noir protagonists.

When it fades back to Frank's speech, it's at the end of a line. He states that "there was a craze on beaver hats in Paris at the time." This line, without context, leaves the audience wondering what it was about, but also puts across the impression that Frank, as a character, is very talkative to the point of rambling.

This shot of the photograph as the protagonist explains the history of the barber shop shows its sentimental value and emotional significance.

The protagonist is finally revealed when he says "me" and it shows this character. He is also looking at the same character the inner monologue is talking about, confirming that they are the same person.

The scene cuts to a wide shot of the barber shop, showing the third chair previously mentioned by the protagonist. The angle of the light shows the sun setting, indicating the end of the day. This ties into the theme of recurring ordinary life, or a state of equilibrium.