Bonnie & Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
is a movie that uses dark, foreboding lighting to create the ambiance
of the theme of the film. This is first shown in the diner scene. The
lighting is quite up with very few dark spaces. This is because
Bonnie is seeing herself having a very light future with Clyde. She
believes that his life is exciting, and by extension so will hers be.
Little does she notice that he is more in shadows than her, because
his shady past has made him overly cautious and wary of his
surroundings.
The next scene that grabs the attention with lighting
is when we meet the brother's wife, Blanche. Her face is completely
shadowed at first while she is in the car. This shows that she is not
going to be an easy person to get along with. As the film progresses,
the lighting on her gets lighter for a little while before becoming
darker and darker as more things happen, such as robberies, running,
etc. Her face lightens when they get their “first home,” because
she is seeing a better day after her nerves of meeting the family.
Then with each new robbery, each new shot, her face gets darker to
show her getting further away from the preacher's daughter that she
used to be, even though she did not even hold a weapon.
The scene where Bonnie
says, “A man who says he's not much of a lover has a kind of love
that isn't love at all,” as she storms out of the car is very
bright, perhaps overly bright. This shows the that the truth is
coming out, but when she speaks these words both her face and Clyde's
turn dark. This symbolizes that he is hurt and shutting down because
he does care for her, but he does not know how to show it very well.
For her, it shows that she is giving in to him and apologizing for
such harsh, abrupt words. As time moves on, Bonnie gets much darker
lighting than in the beginning. She is light after the first couple
of robberies, but then as the excitement wears off and Clyde turns
down more and more possibilities, she gets to be more and more
depressed it seems. She needs to live in the wild, crazy, and absurd
for a happy life. In the end, she realizes that all she wanted was a
normal life with Clyde. It shows in the lighting here, too. They are
well lit as Clyde runs from the bushes, even with Bonnie in the car.
They smile at each other until they are shot multiple times
simultaneously and die.
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