Strangers on A Train
I want to further the discussion in Leitch’s article about Bruno’s identity as a child by looking at the role play game between Bruno and his mother.
Strangers on A Train
I want to further the discussion in Leitch’s article about Bruno’s identity as a child by looking at the role play game between Bruno and his mother. The sequence happens 15 mins into the film, and it was the first depiction we have for Bruno after his first encounter with Guy. In the sequence, we see how Bruno played a little mimicry game of disguising himself both as the son and the lover of the mother. Here, before diving into Bruno and his mother’s relationship, we can say that Bruno’s first hand gesturing of mimicking strangling is a foreshadowing of the upcoming murder of Miriam, as well as referring to the later blatant demonstration of strangling to the lady on the party scene. First we see that his mother filed his nails for him as if he is an immature boy. Subsequently, when he acts a little bit out of himself, his mother noticed it immediately, showing that his mother cared a lot for him. She asks if he needs more vitamin, and him answering with great intimacy. The way the camera frames the two people for a “normal” conversation between a mother and a young child to be almost like the classic close-up for love stories, and plus her touching his face and his jaw rubbing against her hands. The audience certain know Bruno is too old for a naive mother / son conversation about vitamins, and thus the age and the camera frame made this scene stand out for mistaking them as playing lovers’ scene. Other than their overly intimate behaviors, another peculiar subgame between the two is Bruno sharing his “silly little plan” (such as burning the White House) with his mother. As he said “which plan”, and she soon laugh with him about his jokingly made plan, we can interpret this little ritual of secret keeping and mischief that a mother would normally spoils a child with (hiding from The Father) as a symbol of the most intimate relationship between a mother and son. Later when Ann came to visit his mother to alert about Bruno’s dangerous action, his mother was so sure that his deeds this time was certainly a joke, just maybe it has gone too far. After all, Bruno is her eternal irresponsible naughty boy, who makes her laugh. This sharing of secrets can also indicate the overly intimate lover relationship between the mother and the son, as we see in the film the only other couple that shares the knowledge of someone’s death is Ann and Guy. And then we have the father figure intruding into the game of two, breaking the otherwise peace and harmony. As the mother asked Bruno to clean himself before his father comes homes, Bruno is suddenly made about “bowing and scraping to the king”. And it is apparent now that it is not just the audience knew how much Bruno wants to kill his father, but we also see that his mother is also well aware of his conflict with his father. Furthermore, this father / son conflict is almost like a complete mimicry of an Oedipus complex, or maybe between Zeus and Cronos. The role-play game between the mother and son or between lovers and lovers is destroyed when the father that symbolizes the law and the order comes in between the two.
Get shaved before your father gets home Sick and tired of bowing and scraping to the king. “Lets not lose control”