Movie Reviews: The Yellow Wallpaper Directed By: John Clive

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Title: The Yellow Wallpaper

• Director: John Clive

• Country and year of production: UK, 1989

• Duration: 76 minutes

• Screenplay: Maggie Wadey

• Music: Carl Davis

• Photography: John Hooper

• Main cast (lead actors): Julia Watson as Charlotte Stamford (the protagonist/narrator), Stephen Dillane (credited as Stephen Dillon) as John, and Carolyn Pickles as Jennie.

GENRE

• Horror

THE PLOT

John’s wife suffers a severe nervous breakdown following a difficult childbirth. Her husband rents a country villa for her to rest, placing her on a strict "rest cure." She is forbidden from having any outside contact, reading, or writing.

She is confined to a room with yellow wallpaper, barred windows, and a bed anchored to the floor (or ceiling). She begins to write. The director shows her writing with total dedication; through the cinematography and music, we enter her inner world, where writing serves as an escape—a moment of joy—until the pencil tip breaks, pulling her back to reality.

The geometric patterns of the yellow wallpaper begin to take shape; she hears a voice from beyond the grave—at first, she is terrified, but soon a bond forms. At one point, she sees a child in a yellow dress crawling across the lawn; it remains unclear whether this is a dream or reality.

Her husband, John—an established physician—discovers and destroys her notebook. In an attempt to set the "child" free, she tears away the wallpaper, revealing a figure—now a grown woman—crawling on the floor. John enters the room, sees his wife, and faints; his wife is finally free.

STRUCTURE

• Initial situation: Renting the house. The woman is confined to a room on the second floor.

• Development: The forced rest cure drives her to madness.

• Conclusion: Through her madness, the woman is free.

The Events Depicted:

• The characters are fictional.

• The story is based on the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and published in 1892.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

• The events are presented in chronological order.

CHARACTERS

• Personal details: John is a successful, wealthy, and cultured doctor, respected by everyone for his morality and lifestyle.

• His wife suffers from depression, and her opinions are never heeded.

• John’s sister, Jennie, is the quintessential submissive woman; her sole role is to cater to the needs of her brother and his wife.

• Antagonist: The husband (or society/patriarchy, as represented by John). (Note: In your original draft, you listed "The wife" as the antagonist, but dramatically, John and the patriarchal system act as the antagonists driving the conflict.)

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• The film focuses on spatial restriction, oppressive framing, and visceral sound design to convey Charlotte’s descent into madness.

• Narrator: Internal.

MESSAGE AND THEMES OF THE FILM

• The film’s message is that only through madness can women escape and become free from an oppressive patriarchal system.

PERSONAL OPINION

• The most moving scenes are the one where the pencil tip breaks, and the scene with the little girl in the yellow dress dragging along the ground.