Eulogy (Black Mirror): Heartstrings that yearn to be plucked
3 min to read
I haven’t written here in a while. Part of the reason is that I have this (lame) standard that only “big idea” articles are meant to be published. You know, the elaborate ones, the ones were you edit and re-edit everything, where it has a great intro, solid structure, a thesis, conclusions and so on. Time to change the approach, screw the structure, this is not my job and I’ll just write bits of thoughts here (sometimes). I always liked the idea of writing film reviews, but I rarely actually got to it, and it’s too bad. I’ve seen so many great films, I wish I could go back and write down my thoughts about them with fresh impressions. I usually write book reviews but even those are done after some reflection, which make them more coherent but also less “natural”. Film is a different medium, and since I am not a movie critic but just a dilettante, I might as well throw the standards out of the window and just write my thoughts down, in whatever form they come. It’s a nice way to practice at the end of the day.
These particular thoughts I wrote right after watching episode 5 from season 7 of Black Mirror, named “Eulogy”. As the synopsis says, “An isolated man is introduced to a groundbreaking system that allows its users to literally step inside old photographs - stirring powerful emotions in the process".
Maybe one of the most meaningful episodes in Black Mirror, at least to me. It's a simple idea, but I couldn't help myself and teared up a few times. Paul Giamatti was a great choice for a protagonist.
This episode raises a few questions: Is delving into memories desirable? Can it be harmful, or can it help us heal? I don't think there's a definitive answer, and in fact I would argue that delving into a memory in such a literal sense - as shown in this episode - is borderline dangerous. Maybe some things are better left unsaid or unseen. The passing of time has its role in our mental well-being; as the cliche goes: “time heals”. Human memory isn't very reliable, and the more the years pass the more the memories change and the more they strip down to their essentials, but these essentials are really modified versions of actual events, often romanticized. And I think it's good that we forget or that we romanticize the past, it's a coping mechanism, it helps us move on and, if we’re lucky, it leaves the best bits in and cuts the worse ones out.
I wouldn't dare spoil the ending, because it's... well, painful.
For some reason a quote from the first volume of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" came to my mind when I was writing this review, it encapsulates the feeling I had while watching "Eulogy". It's what I call the "heartstrings that yearn to be plucked like a harp" quote:
“This was not to say, however, that she did not long, at times, for some greater change, that she did not experience some of those exceptional moments when one thirsts for something other than what is, and when those who, through lack of energy or imagination, are unable to generate any motive power in themselves, cry out, as the clock strikes or the postman knocks, for something new, even if it is worse, some emotion, some sorrow; when the heartstrings, which contentment has silenced, like a harp laid by, yearn to be plucked and sounded again by some hand, however rough, even if it should break them; when the will, which has with such difficulty won the right to indulge without let or hindrance in its own desires and woes, would gladly fling the reins into the hands of imperious circumstance, however cruel.”