Like Arnold's first long feature 'Red Road', 'Fish Tank' is a much more emotionally complex film than its apparent setting – a council estate in Essex- and subject matter initially suggests. Both films contain an element of mystery and a revelation which makes us reassess the characters and their motives.
Instead, 'Fish Tank' confers nobility, like the mangy horse chained to a rock,upon a stereotype, one much mocked by the likes of the comedienne Catherine Tate. Just because Mia appears not 'bovvered', does not mean this vulnerable outsider possesses real human depth.
Mia's tragedy is that she is isolated, a girl who acts tough but has a clear need for human connection and warmth of any sorts (hence her compassion for the chained horse) which her self-absorbed mother cannot offer. Her isolation increases after she falls out with a girlfriend, a betrayal which perhaps prefigures a later one in the film, that leaves her emotionally bereft.
Into her life, steps Connor, warm, attractive & sexy. He cradles her when she is asleep and their connection develops on a visit to the countryside, a pastoral interlude. Like the fish they catch, Mia suffocates in her loveless environment (like Bresson's Mouchette though that film is shot through a religious prism).
Mia places her trust in Connor, as in her shy visit to his workplace, and naively associates sex with intimacy after witnessing her mother & Connor sleeping together. She does form an emotional bond with a local Gypsy lad, but appears confused. (Towelhead, the new film by Alan Ball, covers a similar theme though from the view of a young Arab-American girl brought up in a restricted environment)
The erotic tension generated by Mia & Connor's relationship is palpable as well as a growing sense of menace and of things slowly unraveling. However, I think when Connor & Mia finally sleep with each other, the feeling one gets is that the emotional bond which exists between them has been transgressed. The film is an ironic reversal of 'Red Road', where Jackie & Clyde's relationship changed after they slept together, which led to an emotional resolution. Here, Mia & Connor's encounter leads to a rupture.
In the final Act, the film does become melodramatic, possessing the unpredictable tension & energy of a Dardenne film (The Child), but, by then, Arnold has convinced you with her characters and the depiction of their world.
From then on, the film becomes a rites of passage, where Mia learns bitter disappointment but also forgiveness (the final dance with her mother to a rap song 'Life's A Bitch').
Arnold's cinematographic approach is to 'find a distinctive image' from which the story unfolds. As in 'Red Road', the use of lighting is original, for instance how street lights illuminate Mia in her bedroom or the fateful night when she dances in front of Connor, whose weakness sees him exploit her.
I do agree that the final image of the floating balloon was weak, a bit of a let-down like the canary flying around the living room in 'Red Road', but, like Edith in 'Ghost World', the only way for Mia to survive or outgrow her surroundings is to leave the estate. (Like Mia, Edith's close friendship with the mature Seymour takes an inappropriate turn when they sleep together, another bond transgressed by the wrong step).
I look forward to seeing Arnold's next film. The dilemma facing her is whether to take a radical departure and do something completely different or continue filming stories in a similar milieu. Although 'Red Road' & 'Fish Tank' share a similar setting, both are distinctive and original films. 'Red Road' is probably the more accessible in terms of plot & emotion as 'Fish Tank' covers emotions that are extremely complex and ambiguous: Why does Connor feel suddenly so possessive when Mia asks him for money for her & her Gypsy friend at his workplace? In fact, why does Mia bring her Gypsy friend to his workplace in the first place? Did she do it to taunt/provoke Connor? The implied sexual rivalry between mother & daughter (The incident where Joanne orders a half naked Mia to get dressed whilst Connor sits watching). It is a film shrouded in ambiguity which eventually leads to its fateful encounter and final revelation.
Instead, 'Fish Tank' confers nobility, like the mangy horse chained to a rock,upon a stereotype, one much mocked by the likes of the comedienne Catherine Tate. Just because Mia appears not 'bovvered', does not mean this vulnerable outsider possesses real human depth.
Mia's tragedy is that she is isolated, a girl who acts tough but has a clear need for human connection and warmth of any sorts (hence her compassion for the chained horse) which her self-absorbed mother cannot offer. Her isolation increases after she falls out with a girlfriend, a betrayal which perhaps prefigures a later one in the film, that leaves her emotionally bereft.
Into her life, steps Connor, warm, attractive & sexy. He cradles her when she is asleep and their connection develops on a visit to the countryside, a pastoral interlude. Like the fish they catch, Mia suffocates in her loveless environment (like Bresson's Mouchette though that film is shot through a religious prism).
Mia places her trust in Connor, as in her shy visit to his workplace, and naively associates sex with intimacy after witnessing her mother & Connor sleeping together. She does form an emotional bond with a local Gypsy lad, but appears confused. (Towelhead, the new film by Alan Ball, covers a similar theme though from the view of a young Arab-American girl brought up in a restricted environment)
The erotic tension generated by Mia & Connor's relationship is palpable as well as a growing sense of menace and of things slowly unraveling. However, I think when Connor & Mia finally sleep with each other, the feeling one gets is that the emotional bond which exists between them has been transgressed. The film is an ironic reversal of 'Red Road', where Jackie & Clyde's relationship changed after they slept together, which led to an emotional resolution. Here, Mia & Connor's encounter leads to a rupture.
In the final Act, the film does become melodramatic, possessing the unpredictable tension & energy of a Dardenne film (The Child), but, by then, Arnold has convinced you with her characters and the depiction of their world.
From then on, the film becomes a rites of passage, where Mia learns bitter disappointment but also forgiveness (the final dance with her mother to a rap song 'Life's A Bitch').
Arnold's cinematographic approach is to 'find a distinctive image' from which the story unfolds. As in 'Red Road', the use of lighting is original, for instance how street lights illuminate Mia in her bedroom or the fateful night when she dances in front of Connor, whose weakness sees him exploit her.
I do agree that the final image of the floating balloon was weak, a bit of a let-down like the canary flying around the living room in 'Red Road', but, like Edith in 'Ghost World', the only way for Mia to survive or outgrow her surroundings is to leave the estate. (Like Mia, Edith's close friendship with the mature Seymour takes an inappropriate turn when they sleep together, another bond transgressed by the wrong step).
I look forward to seeing Arnold's next film. The dilemma facing her is whether to take a radical departure and do something completely different or continue filming stories in a similar milieu. Although 'Red Road' & 'Fish Tank' share a similar setting, both are distinctive and original films. 'Red Road' is probably the more accessible in terms of plot & emotion as 'Fish Tank' covers emotions that are extremely complex and ambiguous: Why does Connor feel suddenly so possessive when Mia asks him for money for her & her Gypsy friend at his workplace? In fact, why does Mia bring her Gypsy friend to his workplace in the first place? Did she do it to taunt/provoke Connor? The implied sexual rivalry between mother & daughter (The incident where Joanne orders a half naked Mia to get dressed whilst Connor sits watching). It is a film shrouded in ambiguity which eventually leads to its fateful encounter and final revelation.