It's a Metaphor, literally! "A la Francaise" and The Fits

 

Thank you, Onion.

Among the most reliable of storytelling devices is the literal metaphor. Such a thing may initially seem to be a contradiction, but when used by a gifted practitioner it can open windows to meaning, and to enjoyment, that would otherwise remain closed. 

Literal metaphor is frequently the linchpin of successful literary endeavors. To offer just one famous example: when Joy/Hulga is stuck in the hayloft after her prosthetic leg is stolen in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People", her bookish philosophy doesn't have a leg to stand on.  I was recently struck by two cinematic efforts that made wonderful use of a central literal metaphor. One is an animated short, the other a feature-length live-action debut.


  "A la Francaise" is a short film of Belgian origin. It was one of the 2012 nominees for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. And, like many of the most accomplished shorts, it works without dialogue. The scenario that the film's directors --Julien Hazebrouc, Emmannuel Leleu, Morrigane Boyer, William Lorton, and Ren Hsien Hsu-- concocted doesn't need spoken words for its effectiveness. If anything, the literal metaphor is more potent without them.

The court of Versailles, presented eighty nine years before the fateful Revolution,  goes about it's business with silly jockeying for position in the pecking order. Of course, this tiny snapshot is all we need, because we know they're all going to get their heads cut off.

But a literal metaphor can be sustained in the course of feature length narrative piece as well. The Fits, the feature film debut of Anna Rose Holmer, is a uniquely vivid example of this. Ms. Holmer's movie is difficult to box into any one tidy genre, but the most useful one to invoke may be magical realism, that field where the literalness of metaphors is a given.

Poster for the film 

From a certain angle, the film tells a basic story of the challenge of being an adolescent. The story of 11 year old tomboy Toni(the magnificently named Royalty Hightower) and her desire to join the Lionesses, her neighborhood's vaunted dance, troupe could've been told as a straightforward YA story. But the essential thrust, the pull between being an individual and being part of a group, is illustrated by a strange condition. One by one, all of the girls on the team are struck down by "the fits", violent seizures  that seemingly cannot be explained or predicted. Could it be something in the community center's water supply? Or the rack of growing pains?

One of the key features of "the fits" is that the girls who experience them are unable to simply explain what the experience was like, and become strangely proud of having been struck down. There is bonding to be had in the face of the loss of control, or even because of it. The other girls, particularly those like Toni who are younger and haven't made the team yet, are left wondering what will happen to them if or when they have "the fits" too. The sexual undertones are undeniable(the mystery, finding it scary yet wanting to experience it for yourself so you can be included in the cadre of those who have), but Holmer and her co-writer Saela Davis never have them become overt. We are left wondering about the power of acceptance, what it can mean for who a young person is, or was, or can be. And it is all thanks to a potent literal metaphor.

The Fits is still screening in select theaters nationwide, but will soon be available via DVD or streaming. For those interested, here's an in-depth interview with the women behind the movie from Film Comment magazine.