Mia and Connor have Sexual relations

Scene 1:09-1:16 Mia and Connor have sexual relations

Micro features Cinematography  Dark lighting Mise en scene colour: Yellow tint colour creates a homely atmosphere of comfort, use of chiaroscuro Lighting has connotations of stage lights - Mia performs her dance routine for Connor - this is paralleled later when she performs in front of Val at the audition -Connor tells Mia she looks nice with her hair down; Val asks that she also puts it down during the audition - therefore, Mia's dancing here is akin to a lap dance. Cinematography:  Close up of Mia when she drinks the Vodka  Shot sizes - connor tensds to be shown in medium to medium long shot with the camera at his eyeline - shallow depth of field is used so that Mia is unfocused and he is focused so that the attention is on his gaze - also when Mia dances she is foregrounded so that the spectator focuses on her body - it becomes, through the diegetic audience (Connor, a sight of passivity and objectification).  However, Mia tends to be shown is closeup or medium closeup often at half angle or in profile with no over the shoulder shot from Connor's perspective. POV shot Extreme close up of Mia's mouth, hands and feet during the sex scene Bottle placed upright between Connor's legs appears phallic Mia wears pyjamas Distorted shot reverse shot Mia is filmed with a three quarter angle, and medium closeup SOUND:  No non diegetic music Connor sits with a sense of possessiveness, ownership and dominion due to his body language taking up a lot of space. He owns the space. Lava lamp in bedroom is fallic Mia is always part of the the frame Low angle shot directs the male gaze towards Mia's body; additionally Connor looks up and down Mia's body in performance Phantasmogorical atmosphere: music, low orange lighting - stage atmosphere, and palm tree picture in the background. Levels in mise en scene resemble a strip club Mia performing for Connor makes her vulnerable Mia looks up into his eyes Connor sits with confident body language,  and is dominant during the intercourse.  It is made to seem insignificant straight after it finishes through the dialogue. "I'm wasted" seems like he's throwing it away and dismissing it as insignificant, It is a lot more significant for Mia, she has no agency; she is made to appear more vulnerable and completely dominated by Connor, an excuse.

Narrative features and ideological analysis Lighting also parallels/matches the scene in which Connor takes Mia to bed, also has a phantasmogorical feel to it. When they have sex, the lighting is golden, - however, when connor leaves, he goes into the darkened hallway - as if the room where they have sex is party of fantasy /the subconscious - when he leaves he leaves the fantasy behind - she wakes the next morning with raw, unfiltered natural lighting flooding through the window, the dream is over. The lighting represents the Freudian Uncanny. Feminism: Mia looks down on Connor, she  The director deliberately uses Connors perspective to force the audience to look at the audience in a preditory way. She is repulsed by it - binary opposition between her innocence and vulnerability, and the persona/ role she attempts to fulfil throughout the film. This represents fragmentation of Mia's body - an over investment in parts of the female body - in this way, Mia becomes commodified as a whole, unified body - however, these body parts are not the standard eroticised female body parts (thighs, breasts, midriff etc.) - rather her feet with the cuts, and her arms clenching onto him symbolise her vulnerability - none more so than her foot - ankle which still bears the grazes of her trip to the river - Connor himself patched up her injuries in a paternal way. The lack of nudity is deliberate by Arnold - it is not exploitative and not intended to arouse scopophilia. Instead,there is a feeling that Connor is simply using mia for his own sexual gratification for the spectator the response is one of uncomfortable trespass.  Class and Society. The intention is not to arouse rather to feel uncomfortable. Even though it is not his house, Connor has dominion over it. He controls He controls what is entirely female space. Adds to the feeling of discomfort -the spectator has no auditory signals signposting their response - therefore, we are left feeling intrusive and uncomfortable. The audience are not told how to react and the effect of the gasps are exaggerated. We are always seeing the scene from Mia's perspective, we are sutured into the scene. Connor is of a higher status, he has more power in society. Vodka bottle = phallic imagery - Mia is living in a patriarchal society in which she is objectified by the male. Therefore, phallic imagery comes to represent the patriarch - literally, the father. In Oedipal terms, Connor represents the potential sexual partner by also, in lieu of the biological father, the ersatz father. Binary opposition is created by the conflict Mia feels between father/lover.