Week 3: Rope

In the scene while Rupert is interrogating Phillip while he is playing piano at 46:43 until 48:46, a metronome is let play at increasing speeds. Through the usage of mis-en-scene, specifically primarily by a metronome, this scene is meant to reflect Phillip’s ever-wavering spirit in light of the murder he has just done. The pace of the metronome stays in line with the increasing rate of speed of the audible dialogue of Rupert and Phillip perhaps reflecting Phillip’s increasing heart rate all culminating in another piece of mis-en-scene – the rope.
As Phillip becomes more nervous in particular parts of their conversation, his musical selection changes. While the song is generally in a major key/mode, from 46:56 till roughly 47:16, the song takes a turn into a minor section that had been previously un-played. This minor selection is an unspoken projection of Phillip’s anxiousness since minor keys are often associated with negative emotions like grief, sorrow, dismay, angst, and so forth. This is further supported around 47:17 when Rupert moves the topic of his accusations to be involving only Brandon, Kenneth, and Janet; Phillip, knowing that there is no real threat in that situation as opposed to the murder, lightens up with a laugh and a transition back to the generally major nature of his piece. Phillip then reverts to the minor key, and even makes a stop, from 47:39 until 48:06 when Rupert reminds Phillip of his knowledge of the chicken incident. Hence while topics that lead slightly away from the idea of murder such as chickens or Janet and Kenneth comfort Phillip to his major key, topics such as strangling and denial of the truth send Phillip to his song’s minor key. It should also be noted that throughout the usage of the metronome, Phillip fails to play in time with it correctly thus perhaps marking his severe agitation.

With the appearance of the rope climaxing this scene, we have the titular item come into play in a highly significant way. At 48:31, there is a close-up of the rope in shallow focus hence highlighting the books and rope. As Rupert’s interrogation seemed to be leading Phillip to be screaming out the truth mentally, the appearance of the rope is a physical representation of the thoughts of Phillip’s psyche.