Have you ever seen a film which won't leave you alone? The kind of film that keeps coming back to you, or one scene that replays again and again. Or maybe it was a film's lead character that stays with you. Why?
Perhaps this is because certain storylines touch something deeply personal, symbolic, or archetypal within us. Film has a unique capacity to engage us beyond logic and simple entertainment value. Rather than simply watching a story unfold, we find ourselves in a relationship with it.
A night at the cinema
I remember one time, for example, being at the cinema watching The Day After Tomorrow. A few rows back there was a disruptive group of teenagers, laughing, throwing popcorn and generally causing a nuisance to everyone else. No amount of shushing from other cinema-goers seemed to make any difference. We all tried our best to block them out and focus on the film.
What happened next was a complete surprise to all of us. When the plotline arrived at the point of a group of people having to find shelter and survive in sub-zero conditions in the New York Public Library, the teenagers had moved from noisy disturbance to crying and distress. I looked around in case there was a problem. There wasn't. In that moment they had been transported from their seats in a cinema in Lisbon, Portugal, to the freezing cold hallways of the public library in New York, in another time and another place.
My interpretation of what happened is that, on some deep level, this group of friends had a shared survival story. The disruptive behaviour beforehand was both a reaction and an unconscious knowing of what was soon coming to the screen. Their shared story – this life, ancestral, or other – was now playing out in action on a big screen for all to bear witness to.
The psyche on screen
That's what I love about film: its ability to draw us in and invite the psyche to participate in the on-screen drama. It is this wise and knowing part of us that nudges us and draws our attention to a film. It is this wise and knowing part that says to the everyday self, "Go see this one," full well knowing that somewhere within the time frame of the film there is the right kind of soul medicine that we need at the time.
The physicians of Ancient Greece knew and understood this too. They knew that prescribing a certain dramatic moment in a specific theatre piece was what was needed to untie an emotional or mental knot afflicting the person seeking assistance. Film is our modern-day equivalent.
Bring your questions to the screen
If you are seeking answers for your wellbeing, film can offer insight. If you are wondering about your life's purpose, film can provide clear signposts for your next step. If you have a business problem, film can give a different perspective. Come, come, bring them all, for the answer and the solution are patiently awaiting your arrival on the silver screen.
Sometimes we leave the cinema believing we have watched a film. Never quite considering that the character we were drawn to is drawn to us too.
Mark Wentworth is the co-creator of Dynamic Theatre, a playful, imaginative action-method that brings stories, ideas, relationships and possibilities to life. For Mark, film – like colour, dream and drama – is another symbolic language through which we come to know ourselves more deeply. If this blog post resonated with you, follow your interest with Mark himself in his online course, Meeting Ourselves In Film.
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