Friday 20 July 2018

Absolute Power | Clint Eastwood, 1997

Absolute Power | Clint Eastwood, 1997

A master thief on the run appears in his estranged daughter’s apartment disguised as a police officer. He stands still, arms by his side, head tilted. The photograph on the right is of his ex-wife, the mother of his daughter, who died a year earlier. The room itself is symmetrical but the composition is unbalanced, showing an open doorway on the left and part of a wall on the right. The shot, from the perspective of the daughter, suggests how unusual his presence is in her life. He awkwardly stands out among her belongings, pretending to be a figure of authority when in reality he’s anything but, while her mother’s picture creates a conflict between parents, drawing attention away from him and onto her memory, the pain his actions have caused, and the impossibility of recompense. This photograph seems to have been on the table for years, while her father could leave through the door at any moment.