Popular Culture Review 32.1
upright , more defiant . Cut to black . Hold on the black frame for 14 seconds as the music continues to throb . The music fades — cut to a field of blue green bisected by a lighter line of the same color . A shadow appears from off-camera right , and the field moves , almost a cinematic wipe : the field is an extreme close-up of an elevator door ! Marieme , still seen from behind , mirroring the earlier shot , steps into frame and turns to face the camera as the elevator door slides closed .
This process repeats three more times , with some variation . The second transition visually parallels Marieme ’ s memory of Lady ’ s defeat ( especially the latter ’ s prone , fetal-position body ) with a close up of a sweatshirt zipper , one which is slowly , desirously , undone by a hand reaching in from off screen . The third transition features Marieme ( now Vic ) from behind again , this time in Ismaël ’ s bedroom ; she takes control of her sexuality and their relationship , and the musical theme does not begin until after the cut to black . When the film returns to the light , it is the soft-focus field of white and grey outside La Défense examined above . The fourth transition begins with a roving camera that traces the sleeping bande in the hotel room and ends with Marieme now absent . After the cut to black , the next image is a close-up of a red-carpeted stairway and black heels in a golden light . A very long take follows those shoes up the steps to a landing , finding Marieme , from behind once again , in a red dress and white wig . The take continues through a loud , posh party as Marieme finds her client and completes her delivery of illicit drugs .
Formally , all of these transitions feature close-ups , Marieme from behind , people and body parts emerging from off camera , and long-take tracking shots . This is the vocabulary and grammar of Marieme ’ s transformative decisions , and it should not be surprising to associate them with any-spaces-
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