Films - Produced Films 

Veneer (2004)

Genre: Experimental Short film.
Duration: 8 minutes
Topic: The portrayal of women in the media.

Synopsis: Veneer is a critique of the androcentric perception of women in Western society. Visually, the film refers to a famous painting (Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring) in order to focus on the idea of "looking" - how women are "looked" at as objects (of art), dehumanised and driven to despair. It tells the story of a photographer's journey home. On the way he is plagued with memories of a woman who modelled for him in the past. As the film continues, we realise that the man and the woman were actually married. We see them together in their apartment, yet it seems that, even though they share the same space, they cannot be farther apart. It is clear that something is deeply bothering the woman as she tries to get through to the man, who is constantly occupied with his photography. As a last result the woman agrees to model for her husband one last time, since he believes that in doing so they would be able to rekindle their relationship. For the woman however, this becomes a destructive act that ultimately leads to devastating results.

Critical Dimension: Bryan Jay Wolf writes in his book, Vermeer and the Invention of Seeing, that Locke's theory of the tabula rasa in connection with the art of seeing is a prominent theme in Vermeer's painting. Wolf states that Locke's epistemology treats the outside world as a "sensory emporium" that informs a bare mind, a tabula rasa. Even though we now know this theory to be flawed (as far as the idea of the unbiased mind is concerned), the basic idea that comprehension of the world depends on the imprints made on our mind, that is, our memory, is still valid, especially in modern theory of memory. This can be seen in Vermeer's painting, and its multifarious ramifications are highly relevant today. However, it is to be considered in its post-Renaissance context.

Most of Vermeer's paintings are set within a room. The girl in our particular painting is looking at us, the viewers of the outside world, from within a room. Her eyes and her gaze capture our attention as well as our gaze. We are fascinated by her poignant gaze, which seems to denote a desire to understand the world outside, whether it is the world of the artist, the subject or the social world of the viewer. But in order to understand, we have to look at each other and establish a relationship with each other. This reciprocal relationship is enhanced by the girl's parted lips, as though she is about to speak to the viewer. Thus, the knowledge we (the onlookers and the girl) gain from our visual encounters with one another, allows us to understand something unexplained (Wolf, p. 30). The gaze thus becomes a pathway to knowledge and self-evaluation. Moreover, the look is not only erotic, but also represents the only means people have to achieve a sense of self (personal space) as well as a sense of the world outside (public space). This idea is highly relevant in Veneer, since the man's journey is not just physical, but also becomes a journey of the mind, of memory, that finally leaves him with a certain understanding of himself. Like us, the viewers, who have established a relationship with the girl in the apartment/painting, the man establishes a relationship with the woman in his apartment that resembles the one in Vermeer's painting. He does that by looking at her, by studying her - which, through the imprint in his mind, enables him to remember her.

Furthermore, Locke is concerned with how perception operates and how it creates meaning through understanding (Wolf, p. 31). In my opinion Vermeer captures the same concern in having us look at a looking girl. The girl's gaze seems to be searching for something, for answers, for an understanding of life and the world. Veneer seeks to incorporate this by means of the flashbacks. The woman in the film is searching for something. The man looking at her cannot know what this something is (neither can we), but he can remember her search because he saw her expressions (so can we because we saw the same expressions). In remembering her as an object of his gaze as well as the subject of a gaze, the man can later understand his role as an individual towards another individual within a "social sea" (op. cit., p. 31) in that he remembers their conversations, their quarrels and her visual objectification. Walking through a public space he still cannot escape his memory and therefore his responsibility. Thus the man-in-society is confronted with the critical question as to his view of women in this society.