Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
The Twists' living room and the paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi
Andrew:
Yes, for me they succeeded. This has as much to do with the decor and costumes as the lighting. The whole house is in that same blue white, as if you can see the grey-blue lead in the paint. My mother, who grew up on a dairy farm, said the skim milk from which the cream had been churned out was called 'bluejohn' and was often given to the pigs. It was probably also used to make milk paint. Both the Twists are in dim blues and greys and their eyes also appear blue (his) and hazel (hers). The light is in fact carefully controlled; it is a sunny day, but the curtains muffle the light, which is also as if bleached out by the brown land around the house. Compared to the Hammershoi painting in the MFA Boston, the light is more lifeless, just as the room itself feels closer to material deprivation.
chowhound:
One way of approaching the Hammershoi-like starkness of the Twists' living room with its single wall decoration of a cross and its diffuse lighting, is to contrast this with what we find above in Jack's bedroom.
There, the room has colours and a very varied collection of "things". There's the colourful bedspread and pillow on the single bed - note the reds - the desk with its toys and a rather crude, framed painting of cowboys herding cattle above, (could it be by Jack?), the rifle on the rack, the dresser with the baby boots, clock and covered wagon on top and another painting half seen above, Jack's clothes, and, of course, finally, the shirts. The net curtains are not closed in this room but open, allowing natural light to fall and, of course, the window opens, allowing access to the natural world outside.
I'm not sure where such a contrast might take us but it's undoubtedly there, so I thought it was worth noting.
chowhound:
One very small question. Can anyone identify what is the object fixed to the wall to the left of the door as you look at the door? You can see it quite clearly in the screencap of the living room that Andrew posted just above. Is it something for hanging coats? I assume the black circle on the other side of the door is OMT"s hat as Ennis's creamy/white one can be seen upside down on that little table by the door.
Front-Ranger:
It looks to me like a small framed mirror with hooks for hanging up keys, and I think those are keys on loops hanging from it. The small box hanging from the wall at the far left is a match holder.
southendmd:
--- Quote from: chowhound on October 19, 2010, 05:50:52 pm ---One very small question. Can anyone identify what is the object fixed to the wall to the left of the door as you look at the door? You can see it quite clearly in the screencap of the living room that Andrew posted just above. Is it something for hanging coats? I assume the black circle on the other side of the door is OMT"s hat as Ennis's creamy/white one can be seen upside down on that little table by the door.
--- End quote ---
I believe it is a small mirror, but rather than keys, hanging from it are clothes brushes. Presumably, one would brush off of one's coat or hat before leaving the house. Such an old-fashioned thing!
Here's something similar:
But that is what strikes me about the Twist house: everything is so old, older than Jack's childhood. The furnishings look like they date to the 20s or 30s, maybe even earlier.
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