SWIMMER - (RAMSAY, 2012) - TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

MISE-EN-SCENE - SWIMMER

• Man swimming alone in the sea surrounded by darkness - shows isolation.
• Black and white colour. 
• Most of what you can see at the start is just water and anything to do with water. 
• Actor is swimming in one position looking right the entire time whilst 'reminiscing'.
• Child is wearing big ski goggles which does not match his smart attire he is wearing. Shows that he may be brought up to be mature but want to act like a child. 
• Looking through the water that the person is swimming through.
• Looking up at the trees from sea level. Multiple children looking to attack a man, they are wearing 'tribe clothes'. 
• He slowly moves down into the water to show a pain that he is suffering. 
• Time moves back as he swims backwards to show a 'flash back'.
• The man who is swimming is constantly moving. 
• He keeps reliving a memory he maybe wants to forget as he keeps looking to the sky in a 'thinking' manor whilst the tape is rewinded. 
• Constantly swimming - constantly moving away from his emotions. 
• The boy is laying on his back in the middle of the lake to show isolation. He suddenly goes under the water and never comes back up to drown himself. 
• Shows his persistence to get away from his emotions. 

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

In Swimmer, Lynne Ramsey underlines how running away from emotions ultimately ends badly, and shows this very effectively by using mine-en-scene to convey the man's emotions. Throughout the whole short film, the man swims alone surrounded by darkness to show how isolated he is which adds to his unhappy emotions. He is constantly swimming away from problems as new problems arise on his journey. He stops to reminisce on the past as he sinks to let the water 'consume' him. This shows an overwhelming amount of sorrow this man is experiencing as he is letting the water drown him without resistance. The man shows a constant need to swim away from his problems but a sudden change in movement shows how he has given up, when he lays flat in the middle of a lake surrounded by nothing. This isolation creates meaning for the character as the spectator feels sympathy for him for trying to get away from the pain but ultimately failing. Lynne Ramsey wants to show the spectator the consequences to not facing emotions and how it can all build up and corrupt you and force you to feel pain.