EYES
EQUILIBRIUM
Equilibrium is a film that differs from reality by portraying a futuristic world where a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions, feeling is a crime punishable by death. The director Kurt Wimmer, utilises shots of eyes frequently throughout the film to convey the absence of feeling that the characters are experiencing. This is extremely effective as it contrasts greatly to the character’s in the film that are illegally experiencing emotions. Hence, the audience gains an understanding of the mood of the film.
The first scenes of the film are generally mundane and similar. All the colours are of grey tone and each character is wearing the same Libria uniform. This lack of individuality is also communicated on the characters eyes as they all of the same expression or lack thereof. Wimmer uses these shots of eyes initially to convey the lack of emotion to the audience. So when emotion does start to show the audience sees it immediately as it is in such stark contrast to the rest of the film. This is most evident when John Preston wants to save the puppy. You can start to see the spark of emotion he is feeling although he is trying to convey no sense of feeling.
It is interesting to note that in order to show no sense of emotion shots of eyes have to show no pupil dilation or eye widening. As pupil dilation is a direct indicator of emotion, Wimmer had to focus on each close up of eyes to have absolutely no pupil dilation so the audience sees that this character is feeling no sense of emotion. This is almost disturbing for the audience as the get a sense of the mood of the film. This is in direct contrast to the vast array of emotions shown in The Cube or in The Shining where pupil dilation and eye widening is shown frequently.
