Psychological Review Of The Film "Troubled Water"

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

I would like to start with the title of the film.

In the original, the film is called Invisible, which differs from the Russian adaptation of Restless Water or Muddy Water. This version of the translation of the title "Troubled water" from the English - at first glance, is more suitable for the plot of the film. In muddy or troubled water, pitfalls, depth and possible dangers are not visible.

The plot is simple and all events take place at the very beginning. Adolescents become guilty of the death of a child. This is not premeditated murder, but rather negligence, unconsciousness, childishness. This is the same "muddy water" in which one's own motives are not visible, the consequences are not guessed, but there is movement with the flow.

The original title "Invisible" (De Usynlige) rather reflects the question of those forces, invisible forces - within a person and within life, which lead to disaster. If a disaster struck, it means that we could not see how we came to this, or, we could not see how to stop it. A criminal invisible in this film and an invisible sense of guilt. The hero does not want to admit that he is guilty, which means that he cannot receive forgiveness.

This film is about feelings of guilt and whether redemption is possible, about overcoming grief, about forgiveness and about returning to life in the present.

Feelings of guilt in the film are shown both on the part of the teenager, Jan, and on the part of the mother. But if Yang rather displaces, that is, does not admit his guilt, the mother of the child, on the contrary, is tormented by her. She is tormented and this prevents her from living in the present, in which she has two daughters who need a mother. But the woman is too busy with her grief and her guilt, which is why this painful feeling only intensifies. She looks into the past and therefore deprives her husband and children of the warmth in the present.

The guy lives in the past too. The film shows very well how a traumatic event binds a person to the past, how the inner world splits into two parts - one part, lives by the past grief, the other, tries to live in the present. The heroes mentally return to the fateful day, the director shows how that day is reproduced literally minute by minute. This is how trauma works - it takes us back to the past, as if it can be made present and changed, as if it is enough to understand at what moment it would be worth returning. This means “not letting go” of the situation, which is so much written about in psychological articles.

But then what does it mean to let go?

Letting go does not mean forgetting or becoming indifferent. To let go means to accept, to accept the history of the past as it happened in fact, and not as it “should have been”.

This happens towards the end of the film, when Yang and the child's mother seem to return to that day, experiencing it together. And Yang finally takes responsibility - he admits to being guilty. He allows himself to feel guilty, to admit it, and therefore to repent. And this, in turn, allows the mother of the deceased child to come to terms. She strokes her son's killer on the cheek, and in this gesture, if not forgiveness, then humility can be guessed.

In addition, the film raises questions of the inconsistency and versatility of human nature. We see a criminal who is released and gets a job as an organist in a church. Although Ian can hardly be called a criminal, he is rather a lost teenager, an irresponsible boy who is afraid of himself. The child's mother hears Jan playing in the church, and it amazes her, she does not understand how a "vicious killer" can play such beautiful music. Yang evokes the same contradictory feelings in the viewer - to condemn him or to regret? Or maybe neither one nor the other. Perhaps this is one of the most difficult tasks - to admit that there is no evil in its pure form, as well as good. A person is weak, a person makes mistakes. Sometimes, everyone can be caught by the "muddy water" of various feelings, ulterior motives and desires. In this flow, we can only try to go ashore, that is, become more mature and conscious, in order to see the consequences of our actions, recognizing our weakness, which means humanity.