Establishing narrative control in Freer's High Fidelity

In the film High Fidelity (2000) director Stephen Freer takes on the challenging task of adapting a novel that is effectively a collection of inner-monologues and setting them into the visual reality of film. Thematically it covers a lot of ground as it progresses, but one theme that seems to underlie the whole narrative is control over your reality, more specifically the struggle to remain relevant as a lover and a critic in a world of women and musicians and women musicians. For this to hold our interest it needs to develop a close, empathetic relationship between us and the protagonist Rob, otherwise his rather narcissistic outlook on life would be too grating. At the same time from a thematic standpoint it was important to establish that Rob was at least in control of this narrative, if nothing else.

Despite the fact that directors can exact complete control over a scene, the medium still proffers a sort of omniscient perspective of the world, i.e. pictures are viewed as objective by default. A common way to break this perspective is to introduce a diegetic narrator to voice over or lead us through scenes, showing that this visual is dependent on the narrator’s own perception. A good example of this is Malick’s Badlands, which moves through scenes with the guidance of the dreamy, drawl of its teenage protagonist. Freer uses this technique in High Fidelity to handle flashbacks as the protagonist recounts his top 5 worst breakups.

However, for the most part Freer uses a different technique to give the film its unique perspective. For example, when the music of the opening titles fades into the scene by way of the wire of Rob’s headphones Freer is leading us through a tightly framed shot from the external world into Rob’s internal world. When the scene settles in on Rob’s face he begins to start a dialogue, not with anyone in the film, but with us the viewer. Freer accomplishes this by framing the shot such that it is just Rob and his headphones staring into the camera (0:59) as he talks for almost 30 seconds uncut, until Rob’s latest break up is introduced by way of yanking the headphone jack out (1:34), snapping us and Rob back into reality.

It’s this unique choice of framing combined with Rob looking right at us that, pulls us in and out of the scene that keeps the pace of the movie engaging and the discovery of Rob’s shortcomings all the more painful.

8.5/10