After the mixed bag of last week's episode part five got things back on track. It was the strongest episode yet for Adora with Patricia Clarkson giving a masterclass. With Closer focused mostly on one event that being the celebration Calhoun Day, there was great scope to develop a lot of the background details of character's around the town and to explore the tension with the various characters.
As I suspected might be the case last week's cliff hanger ending involving Amma turned out to be in Camille's head. To me this felt a bit cheap. Probably it was done to set up that from now on Camille will have these fears about her half-sister. Perhaps in the book this is explained a little more. With that put to one side I enjoyed pretty much all of this episode.
Its set to the back drop of Camille's article being published, with most of the town upset at her they have been depicted in it. There's a great scene with Vickery in the barbers shop in his Calhoun general get up, warning Richard that Camille has a dark past and that he shouldn't get too close to her. Ashley especially is pissed at Camille's representation of her interview with Ashley and John.
The only one around town who welcomes the article is Jackie who insists Adora reads it describing it as "Refreshing".
The dynamic with the family is set up in one of the most disturbing scenes so far. Camille, Adora and Amma go dress shopping for the Calhoun festival. The fallout from this with the Mother trying to shame Camille into showing off her dress (something Camille is not comfortable with), and Camille turning the tables by showing off her scars is shocking, but proves a nice set up to a mini-episode arc between Adora and Camille. This distressing scene proves a turning point for their relationship - or at least it appears to by the end of this episode, with Adora engaging with her daughter. Camille's breakdown in the private of the dressing room is another gem from Adams in this rich role for her.
So much of the power and tension of the festival scenes is about subtle little glaces back and fourth, and the suggestion of silences. There's some beautifully deft camera angles and reverse POV shots. With the characters spread out across the setting this heightens the sense of what they may or may not be talking about. The glares back and fourth between Camille and Adora as each talk to Richard is a good example of this. With Camille helplessly off in the distance and Adora talking to Richard in the house at one point.
So much about this whole event is about presentation or the idea of spectacle. The centre piece is a performance involving Amma (the one she was practising in the previous episode) with her at the mercy of the Southern generals. The sequence manages to be both surreal and creepy. Again all the different perspectives are captured. At one point the creepy music teacher glaces between the stage and to Camille and Richard. A previous exchange between him and Camille was awkward - suggesting some kind of past between them. The scene builds and builds, until a fight breaks out in the distance between John and Bob with Bob still believing John killed his daughter. With Vickery involved in trying to separate them Amma disappears from the other side. Adora striking a gloriously melodramatic. Camille and Richard leading the hunt to find her. It's notable that its Camille who finds Amma and that its in the hiding place discovered last week.
This leads to more sensitive discussion between Mother and daughter near the end of the episode, where Adora at least takes some responsibility for the past. The talk of Camille not being able to be intimate because of her scars means she may well have been a virgin or at least that she hasn't had sex after the self-harming started. We end with Camille and Richard finally having sex, its passionate - but crucially its on her terms. One of my favourite episodes so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment