FILM FILM - University of Macau Library

74 Transition and Transformation
Stylistic Devices
A question that remains is, then, whether these thematic elements, which are
consequently expressed in the mise-en-scène of the film, also appear on the level
of cinematic devices such as the dissolves that we have shown to be Sjöström’s
most characteristic stylistic feature?
In the second reel, as Hester has been put in the stocks while people are passing
by, a sign above her head indicates the nature of her crime. Immediately
upon this follows a dissolve to a close-up of the sign: ‘FOR RUNNING & PLAY-
ING ON Ye SABBATH’ (which in the script had read: ‘PUNISHED FOR
LAUGHING AND SINGING ON THE SABBATH’), 25 the previous image still
being visible for a while in superimposition. The change from the original script
into a more visual or ‘cinematographic’ version of the ordeal appears as quite
significant. In addition, the figure of Hester is here brought together with the A
of ‘PLAYING’ so that her body appears to be merging into the letter. The closeup
of the sign is followed by a second dissolve back to a full shot of Hester in
the stocks, but now at a lesser distance. Once again, the two images overlap for
a moment, the A now instead overshadowing Hester’s face so that it becomes
completely covered by the A. This A reappears time after time in her life as she
is condemned for adultery to wear upon her breast the letter A. Her daughter
playfully writes an A in the sand whereas her beloved fatally brands the letter
upon his own breast. (FIG. 12)
The very last images of the film contain a dissolve of the same kind, analyzed
in relation to the thematics of the film by Örjan Roth-Lindberg:
Here follows a last image of Hester Prynne – a close-up of her face turned upwards,
which dissolves into an image of the front of the church with the bell tower – the
building is situated right behind her as she sits at the pillory. For a moment, her face
is inscribed into the form of the building; she literally unites with the temple. The
outcast, who here, more than anyone else, mirrors the presence of love, is identified –
in a very concrete manner – with the Church of Christ. It is possible to interpret this
dissolve as a visual metaphor expressing the parable of the “true” Church as Christ’s
body: the despised who has refused to compromise with her love incarnates the
sacred. 26
An alternative approach, however, could also be suggested, where the contour
of the church, with its roof formed like a widened A, recalls the sign of adultery
prefigured in the first dissolve. Thus, the church might be interpreted as the
institution that has judged and rejected Hester, which forever has imposed the
letter A on her, an interpretation that seems all the more motivated as the crowd
which has condemned her is present in the image in front of the building; they