The Yellow Wallpaper
99 Minutes, Not Yet Rated
Written by Kevin Pontuti and Alexandra Leroth (based on the 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
Directed by Kevin Pontuti
Synopsis:
Jane, a writer and young mother, is prescribed a rest treatment by her physician husband John, who takes her to a remote country estate for the summer. She becomes obsessed with the peculiar yellow wallpaper in the bedroom he has chosen for her. In her isolation, she secretly writes about a woman trapped in the wallpaper—that she must free.
The Yellow Wallpaper is a dark and disturbing contemporary adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s well-known and controversial gothic feminist horror story about patriarchy and mental health…
…and was one of the readings for my long-ago Undergrad Degree in English Literature, so it may be difficult for me to look objectively at it, but let’s give it a whirl…
As with any story of this time, we are treated to the rote and formulaic conversation between husband and wife. Always with deferrence to the husband, of course.
Part-partum, isolation, imagination/creativity, patriarchy. Rejection by her baby (failure). She is further upset by his assertion that her “talents as a mother” were more important than her demonstrated talents as a writer.
She suffers from both maternal and matrimonial jealousy of the wetnurse, whom I’m convinced isn’t even real here.
yet she is still expected to provide sex for her husband. She is, of course, completely disassociated from the act.
As a quick aside: the dead mouse nursing scene is disturbing, for both Jane and for the viewer.
Sure, there are some great visuals in here, along with some great visual parallels, reflecting Jane’s confinement (both physical and mental/emotional) and longing for independence, but overall, the short story upon which the film is based remains infinitely better than a long-form treatment of it.
The Yellow Wallpaper has, in fact, been translated many times, from film to TV to radio drama, but…
…it is difficult to adequately translate the Gothic sense of doom from the page to the screen, especially when the source material is scant in length, though the film-makers here do attempt it with seemingly endless long, looming shots, pregnant with anticipation of… something to come.
Its distorted scoring and sound effects are suitably unnerving, reflective of Jane’s increasing instability and loss of contact with reality.
That is not to deny the competence of the performances and film-making here, but this particular tale, told in its original Gothic tradition, might better be served cinematically by an even modest update to its time period, say the 1940s or 50s, while maintaining its basic premise and central themes.
Finally, the final bit of camerawork of Jane as her husband attempts to enter the room is wonderful, as is the parting shot of the room, and Jane’s narration.
Overall, this version of The Yellow Wallpaper is enjoyable enough, but with the caveats noted above.
The Yellow Wallpaper screened at Cinequest this past weekend.
The Yellow Wallpaper stars Alexandra Loreth, Joe Mullins, Clara Hart, and Jeanne O’Connor.
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