Clash By Night

495 Words2 Pages
Clash by Night is the story of a widow, Mae, who finds herself returning home after ten years away. Although cynical and lukewarm to the idea of remarriage, Mae attracts the attention of a local fisherman, Jerry, who quickly falls in love. Seeking security and happiness, Mae marries Jerry and they have a daughter shortly after. Sometime after their daughters birth, the similarly world-weary Earl, an old friend of Jerry’s, seeks solace with the couple after his divorce. Despite Mae’s initial animosity and dislike of Earl, the two begin an affair after Mae questions her suitability to the role of doting housewife and mother. After discovering the affair, Jerry confronts the couple and the subsequent fight culminates in the lovers’ decision to leave together with Mae’s child. Foreseeing this, Jerry takes the child with him and leaves. When Mae returns to collect the child she is distraught, and begins to have second thoughts about her relationship with Earl. The film ends with Mae realizing the willful selfishness of her behavior and leaving Earl to attempt to reconcile her marriage. Although reluctant and angry at first, Jerry eventually accepts her apologies and the family is reunited. The use of mis-en-scene in Clash by Night was most especially seen in the lighting, scenery, and framing of the film. The opening sets the mood as an analogy of the characters and setting to the tumultuous nature of the sea’s waves, crashing violently against the coastal rocks. Following this is an introduction of the city’s fishing industry, with a documentary-type style montage of the canning process. The majority of the film is shot with high-key lighting, following Mae through her virtuous and contented relationship with Jerry, her husband, and growing darker more strongly contrasted during her encounters with Earl, her lover, using low-key illumination and deep shadows

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