THE NEON DEMON: Picturesque Carnality

There is offense to be taken with the frame and exterior of physical bodies. Beauty, it has been said, is in the eye of the beholder. Yet, one can’t help but feel that, since the rise of feminism and the development of the male-gaze interpretation, almost all appreciation for the aesthetics of a given film has been entirely lost. We cannot go into a film and enjoy the composition of shots, or be taken aback in awe by the splendor of stylized light.

There has to be a meaning underneath; otherwise the film is shallow and vapid, we’ve been conditioned to read. Heaven forbid if we treated the movies like paintings in an art gallery, where we go just to be mystified by a varying array of artistic techniques, styles, and mediums (yes, I am well aware that there are thousands of housed art-pieces with historical contexts).

In the neo-horror film by Danish director, Nicholas Winding Refn, The Neon Demon takes a very basic setup and conceit: the archetype of a virgin entering a forbidden forest, and runs with the notion that what lies underneath a work of art, or film, is inconsequential. In a telling moment of dialogue, a pompous fashion designer is arguing with a would-be photographer about a model’s appeal.

The photographer states that it is what is inside the model – her character, feelings, intellect, and heart – that matter most. But the fashion designer brushes him off by stating, “Beauty isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” If it wasn’t for the model’s seductive boundaries, the designer tells, one wouldn’t even bother to look at her supposedly deeper interior.

What it really boils down to is how one is interpreting the image, and what constructive language they use as criteria. The image is everything, proposes Refn. And thus you have The Neon Demon.

Hollywood, Or Bust

Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a typical farm-girl runaway, who shows up in Hollywood to make a name for herself in the fashion industry. She’s a doe-eyed, wildly naive girl who ends up making friends with a makeup artist, Ruby (Jena Malone), and becoming the envy of firmly established models, Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee).

Jesse has that indescribable “It” factor, as top agent Roberta Hoffmann (Christina Hendricks) tells her. “I see twenty or thirty girls come in here every day from small towns, with big dreams. Some girls crack under the pressure. You? You’re going to be great.” That It factor gets Jesse a shooting gig with a top-notch photographer and a covetous runway appearance, in which she gets to close out the show.

But the longer Jesse stays in L.A., the more the dark side of the city and the entertainment industry are revealed. A wild cougar ends up in her trashy motel room, run by the pedophilic owner, Hank (Keanu Reeves). And the better jobs Jesse lands, the more psychedelic and fantastical does her story become, until she is face to face with the evil that’s around her.

The Neon Demon debuted at Cannes back in May to mixed receptions, much like Refn’s previous film, Only God Forgives. It was praised for being visually stunning but lacking depth (egads), and for playing out grotesque scenes merely for the sake of shock value.

The first question is, why isn’t something visually striking enough? The second question is, if one is aware of the kind of films that Refn makes, why is the kind of debauchery that transpires in The Neon Demon so appalling? You may or may not know that the film was labeled as “that necrophilia movie” because, well, it does have some. But the scene in question has to do with daydreaming and lustful wish-fulfillment, and isn’t strictly playing for gross out thrills.

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Refn knows what will stick in the mind of the audience, though he, himself, may not be cognizant to what his full intentions are. But that speaks to the film’s strengths, as he lets the composer of his last three films, Cliff Martinez, create his most mesmerizing, trance-inducing music yet. The aid of the saturating color palette by cinematographer Natasha Braier is flat out gorgeous and hypnotic. The combination of sound and sight in The Neon Demon is transfixing; a stupor of artistic expression and embellishment.

Reverberating Suspiria

The Neon Demon takes most of its influence from the 1977 Dario Argento thriller, Suspiria. In fact, so much of the look and tone of The Neon Demon comes across in the opening titles, again, much in thanks to Martinez’s score and the color schema by Braier. Not only does the look of the The Neon Demon match Suspiria, but the plot is strikingly similar.

In Suspiria, a young American ballet dancer, Suzy, comes to a school for female dancers and along the way Suzy discovers a string of murders that may, or not, be the result of practiced witchcraft. Much in tandem with Jesse, Suzy is told of the promise she has in dancing, but her natural talents lead her down corridors of blood and dark mysticism.

The film was such an inspiration, as many Italian films are, that it caused several heavy metal bands to name albums and songs after it. In real life, it has been rumored that the “Black Forest Dance Academy” in Germany is a real school for witches and Satanists in training, which is a reference to Suspiria.

When it comes to other films referencing Suspiria, in Juno, the titular character says Suspiria is the goriest movie of all time. Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan takes many of its horror and surreal elements of change and sacrifice from Suspiria. But there is no film that has borrowed more directly than The Neon Demon.

The Neon Demon is covered in the saturation of neon light, the same color patterns of cerebral blue and blood red that Argento painted with in Suspiria. These two films are more concerned about atmosphere and cinematic qualities than strictly narrative ones. Highly stylized, not to be precious about the craft, but to conduct true horror in mood, as opposed to the more popularized versions of jump-scares and screaming prom queens.

Inverting Subversion

Some have argued, even Refn, that Jesse isn’t a victim of the Hollywood machine but is instead the one bringing the evil out of everyone else. If the film is a fairy tale reinvented as subversion like so many postmodern fantasies, then Jesse fits the mold of the witch and not the kids being led to the slaughter.

Herein lies the overarching point, that how one sees something can and should be changed. That, just because we have become accosted to certain types of language and criticism doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t attempt to view something from a different perspective.

Broadening our horizons should be the first and only thing that matters when viewing a film, even if that film, at first, seems to be lacking in formal structures and subsequently collapses because of it. But what if that is the intent – to undermine and rewrite traditions and familiar tropes?

That’s what makes The Neon Demon a great film among the likes of Inglourious Basterds or Mad Max: Fury Road. These films are willing to throw out conventions that are comfortable and safe.

Experimentation might not always be 100% successful, but it’s bold and unusual, especially in a time when the box office is ruled by a fish with amnesia, or pets doing silly things while their owners are at work. Embrace the bizarre, and risk a little. Be a Jesse, and leave the past behind and forge a new mindset, even if it tears the world apart.

Summation

The Neon Demon is a niche, avante garde film to be sure, but it’s one that any moviegoer and cinephile should give a chance to. It might not resonate with your methodology or acquired strategies, but nonetheless, give it a whirl. It might just suck you in and paralyze you with it’s damn good looks and siren soundscapes.

What’s your favorite Refn movie?

The Neon Demon is currently playing in the U.S. and in the U.K.