Close Reading of "A Beautiful Mind" Stills

The two film stills I closely examined were from “A Beautiful Mind” and they were figures 10 and 12. I have never seen the film but I think these two stills in particular tell a lot about the films plot. The first still (figure 10) shows the main character John Nash greeting his imaginary friends. First thing you notice in this still is how warm the hug looks so these characters are obviously very familiar with one another, there is also a little girl in this still who looks like another one of his imaginary friends because she looks like she see both of them. The fact that these are his imaginary friends tells you that this character most likely suffers from some mental disorder. Another thing you notice in this still is the fact that the scene was set outside in a public area. This seemed to be a conscious choice made by the director because having the scene set outside in a public space could help reveal what’s going on to a viewer who might be confused and think that he’s actually talking to real people. The still also helps in revealing his battle with schizophrenia. In the second still (figure 12) we see Nash being given insulin shock therapy as his wife and psychiatrist look on. Immediately in this still you notice the psychiatrist is looking on as the wife is turned away with her head down. This picture shows that his wife had a difficult time watching him go through the procedure. I loved the way this still was angled because is almost as if the viewer was there in the room watching on with the wife and psychiatrist, it’s almost as if the director wanted the viewer to feel the emotion of that scene. I think stills are important when examining a film because they allow you to see things you might not have seen while watching the film. In films things can move pretty fast so stills allow you to closely analyze a particular moment in a scene. I learned that you can learn a lot about a film from a picture and if you want to get a better understanding of a film or a scene maybe you should pause it.