As lockdown is eased in many parts of the world, while others continue to suffer the pain of enforced confinement, a sense of catharsis can be achieved by sitting at home. Those fortunate enough to have VR headsets can escape into elaborate worlds, but there are plenty of options for those in possession of everyday screens. Lenny Abrahamson’s Room (2015) is difficult to watch as we gradually realise that a young woman (an Oscar-winning turn by Brie Larson) and her child (Jacob Tremblay) are captive in a tiny, self-contained space. Their claustrophobia is alleviated only by periodic visits from their captor. When they finally manage to escape, the sense of freedom that the audience feel along with them is palpable.
The lonely lives of Larson and her child brought to mind Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975), where, for nearly three and a half hours, we see the quotidian routine of Delphine Seyrig (playing the titular role) and Jan Decorte, playing her son, Sylvain. It is perhaps no coincidence that Seyrig is one of the central characters in Alain Resnais’ disorienting Last Year at Marienbad (1961).
Emerging from lockdown might feel like jailbreak, but no, I am not going to mention that film, so there. Instead, I will mention perhaps the suzerain of all confinement films, another Kubrick masterpiece, The Shining (1980), the restored 4K version of which is now available on Blu-ray. Jack Nicholson’s descent into hell as his wife, played by Shelley Duvall, watches in horror and his son, played by Danny Lloyd, has experiences of his own at the Overlook Hotel, is a confinement experience to be savoured again and again. An unfortunate aspect of lockdown is that you are stuck with the same people in the same space for months on end, and you begin to get on each other’s nerves. The film that captures this best is Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962) where privileged people are unable to leave a dinner party.
But if masochism during lockdown is your thing, look no further than Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009), where Sam Rockwell is alone in space with only his computer GERTY (voiced by the now infamous Kevin Spacey) for company. Space is, of course, a popular place to be alone, as each viewing of Kubrick’s immortal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) proves. Keir Dullea’s only companion is the grandparent of all Hollywood space computers, HAL (voiced by Douglas Rain). The mystical catharsis experienced by Dullea’s Dr. Bowman is preceded by a spectacular voyage through the stars. For those looking for a more grounded release, Sandra Bullock is left alone in space in Gravity (2013), with the presence of George Clooney for some time. When she finally gets back to Earth, it is a stand-up and cheer moment. Similarly, in James Gray’s Ad Astra (2019), when Brad Pitt makes it back to Earth in one piece after a harrowing time in space, mostly alone, the audience is imbued with a huge sense of relief. Here’s looking forward to life after lockdown, with whatever shreds of normalcy we can gather while keeping the virus at bay.
Naman Ramachandran is a journalist and author of Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography , and tweets @namanrs.
