'Pam likes to help her sick father eat his dinner. Or does she?'The latter events of this film are foreshadowed right from the beginning, as the audience are lulled into a false sense of slightly unconvincing security through some mise-en-scene stylistic features. During the scene when the women is cooling down her cup of tea, the props and style of the room seem innocent and rather sickly sweet with floral designs on a few of the tiles and a card saying 'daddy'. The orange titled walls are bright and gentle, with orange usually depicting warmth and joy, so the fact that the women looks miserable could represent the fact that shes hiding behind a veneer, appearing to be something she isn't and leading a life of deciet, which creates suspence for the audience because even though the setting is stereotypically joyus, something isn't right which is confirmed at the end of the story. It could also represent the womens immaturity and childishness, as shes using a cup and saucer much like a childs play set whilst sitting in the brightly coloured room and later on the narrative the audience discover that the women has been affected by issues in her childhood that she can't let go of, so I believe the director has included this deliberately to allow the audience to discover the mentality of the character, as well as her lifestyle. This is something I want to replicate in our film, as I feel having a well developed character will allow us explore the characters whole persona as well as being gripping and interesting for the audience to watch.
The audience are also falsly led once again when a sense of sympathy is at first created for the women. During the beginning sequence watching her travel to the hopsital and we can hear the non-diegetic voice over when she is reciting her words. We feel sympathy for her because the immediate guess is that she is miserable because of her family situation, and the fact that her father is supposedly in hospital, a taboo subject which can often make people feel uncomfortable. Whilst this scene is being played, the significance of her words isn't fully understood until the ending, creating the assumption that pherhaps the character is nervous which would again create sympathy for the audience. Her mumbling words could also represent the characters sheer isolation and lonliness, as she walks alone with no one to confide in after sitting in her kitchen alone despite setting several places at the table. It also allows the audience the first glimpse of the insanity and selfishness of the character, althought they are unaware of it at the time which I think the director has done to try and create a likeable character you sympathise with througout, only to discover her real motives and persona, shocking the audience which is something I could encorparate, with a versade the whole way through until the ending.
Although the character of the father isn't in the film very much, his presence is still subtly noticed throughout, at first during the beginning with the card saying 'daddy' on the windowsill behind her, and when on the way to the hospital the women drops her card with 'dad' written on the envelope. I think the dropping of this card could metaphorically symbolise the dropping of dad, and the adopting of daddy as the 'daddy' card is set up proudly in her home on the windowsil, yet her card is carelessly dropped. This could represent the womens chilling child-like mindset where on the surface she appears to love her daddy very much and acts as a doting daughter, yet the flashbacks of her father depict her real 'dad', of whom she still holds much bitterness and anguish toward and whose food deprivation has driven her to steal from vulnerable hospital patients.
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