hyper-real
Where violence in many films is fairly non-specific, featuring large scale
explosions and distant gunshots, the hyper-real strategies of presenting
violence in le Chien Andalou bring the focus back in to a scale so intimate
it becomes impossible to avoid projecting yourself into the scenario. The
realities of the violence presented in the opening scene of le Chien
Andalou – where a woman in a chair has her eyeball sliced open
by a recently stropped razor blade, spilling its contents onto her cheek – are
presented in such exacting detail that you can’t help mentally
pulling the razor across your own eye. Where other dystopic films use
violence to shake the viewer’s
sense of security, le Chien Andalou powerfully reminds you of what exactly can
be done to the human body.
In the dystopia of the hyper real, the threat comes in the form of your own bodies thrilling inherent vulnerability.