Matilda: Film Scene Analysis

Matilda (1996) is an american fantasy comedy film directed by Danny DeVito. It is based on a young girl and her challenging up bringing with neglective parents and bullying headmistress. One of the scenes in the film features Matilda and her family watching TV while eating dinner. The scene begins by showing an establishing shot of the family in the living room, preparing to eat their food. Matilda is isolated from the rest of her family, reading a book - this supports the idea of her being very on her own throughout the film and neglected by her family. 

As the scene continues, the family begin to eat their food and Matilda's father notices that she is reading - something he is not happy with. He stands up and hovers over Matilda. The shot shows her father hovering over Matilda - a close up of his head. This implies the dominance he has over his daughter and adds to the idea of him being horrible to her. The lighting throughout the scene continues to be the same, a dark yellow glow, coming from 'the tv.' I think that they created this lighting by using a low light and yellow gels. 

'Mr Wormwood' continues to get aggravated by Matilda's reading so he forces her to watch the TV - this also adds to the dominance idea and the fact that Matilda is very often forced to-do things she's not happy about. The facial expressions of Matilda and her father show their emotions perfectly. Mr Wormwood has an angry/grin on his face while he watches the tv, however, Matilda is frowning due to the fact she's been forced to stop reading her book. 

The camera movements then begin to get sharper and more often. This builds tension and can make the viewer feel almost, uncomfortable, knowing that something big is about to happen. This is important in films because if there is no climax/build in tension, it can get very boring. The shots consist of close ups of the the different family members laughing at the TV. Zooming in as the shots get quicker and quicker continues to add tension and build to a climax. Eventually, an extreme close up of Matilda's eyes appears with flashes from the TV, resulting in the TV exploding. 

I think that this long lead up is a very good idea because this is the first part in the film that the viewers discover Matilda's powers. The dark lighting and yellow tones makes it very atmospheric. The camera angles also make the scene very powerful because of the extreme close ups making the viewers feel uncomfortable and 'on the edge of their seats.'