When I think of the sonnets, I unknowingly think they must all be gushing poetry of love, which of course they are not and I am grateful to the Sonnet Project because this has been one of my learnings thus far. With sonnet 147 the tone is pretty dark throughout as the love is compared to a sickness without cure (but not in a good way) and in particular the final line is as clear as day about the nature of the object of his engagement.
The interpretation in this film sees a young woman who has elements of self-harm and compulsion. Shortly into the film we realize that it is an ex (who has moved on much better than her) that is causing this as she stalks him and drives herself to distraction with her inability to let him go. Reading the sonnet passively, I sometimes struggle to get the writer's tone or feeling even if I get what is being said; so it was here as I hadn't taken it the way the film did. I found this take on it really good because, although it seems obvious at first (and just in the specific words) it is smart and makes the words come to life by getting a strong connection to a contemporary take.
Aesthetically I didn't like the style of the film, but this is not the same as saying it didn't work, because it did work. It is frantic and unsettling in its rapid, shaky, mostly first-person view – I found it a bit much and a bit messy, but in fairness so is the main character in the film, she is driven to madness by this obsession and the camera is not immune from this, joining her as we get her filming herself and her journey. Some of the shots are a bit overwrought in tone, but generally it worked very well and, most importantly, added context and understanding to the text by virtue of how it was delivered.
The interpretation in this film sees a young woman who has elements of self-harm and compulsion. Shortly into the film we realize that it is an ex (who has moved on much better than her) that is causing this as she stalks him and drives herself to distraction with her inability to let him go. Reading the sonnet passively, I sometimes struggle to get the writer's tone or feeling even if I get what is being said; so it was here as I hadn't taken it the way the film did. I found this take on it really good because, although it seems obvious at first (and just in the specific words) it is smart and makes the words come to life by getting a strong connection to a contemporary take.
Aesthetically I didn't like the style of the film, but this is not the same as saying it didn't work, because it did work. It is frantic and unsettling in its rapid, shaky, mostly first-person view – I found it a bit much and a bit messy, but in fairness so is the main character in the film, she is driven to madness by this obsession and the camera is not immune from this, joining her as we get her filming herself and her journey. Some of the shots are a bit overwrought in tone, but generally it worked very well and, most importantly, added context and understanding to the text by virtue of how it was delivered.