Animal Instincts Tempted by Innocent Youth in "The Master"

In a very informal survey taken by the author, results are mixed on Paul Thomas Anderson’s most recent epic, The Master, starring a wild Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) and a mental and controlling Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Many people lament what they perceive to be a lack of plot, a strong suit of many of Anderson’s best films (see: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood), while others were so taken by the incredible cinematography, shot on beautiful 70mm film, that the lack of plot went unnoticed. I will say that I loved the film despite the lack of plot, as it left much up for the imagination in terms of cause and effect of Quell’s condition that I loved thinking about for hours afterward. One of the things that stuck with me most after viewing, is the used of music throughout the film. This is the second of Anderson’s films that was scored by Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), and is quite different from anything I have heard from Greenwood. Many of the songs are massive symphonies, using conventional instruments, rather than the percussion-heavy soundtrack of Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. I would like to focus on one scene in particular, though, where a song is used during one of Quell’s few “flashbacks.”

He is sitting on a park bench with a girl, right before he is to go to war. He is presumably in his early 20s and we find that this woman, who he pines after for the rest of the film, is 14 years old. As a youthful and bright girl, full of life and innocence, she serves as a stark contrast to Quell, who acts like a wild animal throughout the film; his shoulders hang low like a gorilla and he speaks out of the side of his mouth, using few words. The two chat on this park bench and in one of many surreal moments in the film, she breaks out in song, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree"  singing a childish rhyme asking him to remain faithful to her (something he definitely does not throughout the film). As her song fades out, Greenwood’s dissonant score fades in, with inharmonious, pulsating flutes fighting against each other, almost like a group of woodwinds warming up in a band class. Here, the score feels similar to one lurking in the background of a horror movie as the aimless victim wanders into the abandoned house. You KNOW something is going to happen and you are biting your fingers as you impatiently wait. One of the theories I left the film thinking was that some of the scenes Anderson shows are not real, but dream sequences from the perspective of Quell. I feel like the sequences show how disconnected Quell really is from society (in one he imagines all the females in the room to be naked), and also to reiterate his animal/childish instincts. That is apparent in this sequence. He literally meets this girl on her level, that of a young innocent child who is unaware of the horrors that Quell is about or already has faced. The dreams represent his reality; he is in a sense disconnected and unaware of his own life, as he is clouded by homemade moonshine and repressed memories. He never really confronts his demons throughout the film, only pushes them down further. If anything, this film serves as a fascinating character study of Freddy Quell, something highlighted by the music and fantastic cinematography.

Henry Powell appreciates Maine and racing ice cream cones as they melt faster than you can eat them on hot summer days. Henry also appreciates Mark Bittman, David Mitchell, Jules Dassin, Bill Withers and Rondo, and what they represent, in no particular order.