When it comes to experimental and avant garde films, Maya Deren is one of the most influential figures in its history. Apart from being a filmmaker she was also a choreographer, dancer and photographer among other things, which all have influences on her work. One of her most iconic films is Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), a collaboration with her then husband Alexander Hammid.

 

One of the central themes in the world of experimental film is of course the concept of reality, our ability to distinguish between what is real and what isn’t. This is the first thing that comes to mind when one watches Meshes of the Afternoon. Once the woman is shown falling asleep on the armchair towards the beginning of the film, the possibility for everything after to be a dream deepens. This idea is revisited right at the end. When the woman attacks the man there is the possibility of audiences assuming it is the end of the film, until the “real” death is revealed.

 

Another key theme of experimental filmmaking is the idea of non-linear narratives, and the viewing of time as an illusion. As mentioned by A.L. Rees in A History of Experimental Film and Video “The notion of film as primarily a time-based art is central to the avant-garde, even though the shaping of time is common to all cinema. But the experimental tradition puts film time at the core of its project.” Meshes of the Afternoon could be said to have a circular concept of time, due to how certain concepts are repeated. It is almost a Groundhog Day situation with how the main character re-enters the house each time after chasing the hooded figure, except the main motifs (the flower, phone, hooded figure, knife in the bread, key, and the ocean shots) are different each time.

 

In this case then, time could be viewed as a prison in which the subconscious is unable to escape from, doomed to repeat the same events. This fits with Deren’s own explanation of the film, that it “is concerned with the interior experiences of an individual” and “it reproduces the way in which the subconscious of an individual will develop, interpret and elaborate an apparently simple and casual incident into a critical and emotional experience”. This second comment also could lead into a feminist analysis of the film, as women are traditionally viewed as more likely to overthink compared to men. Deren’s experience of working in a male-dominated industry cannot be ruled out when looking at her work. As she said of her work in the documentary In the Mirror of Maya Deren, “(They) are the films of a woman and I think that they’re characteristic time quality is the time quality of a woman….A woman has strength to wait because she has had to wait. Time is built into her body in the sense of becomingness. She sees everything in terms of the stage of becoming.” The woman in Meshes of the Afternoon is, in a sense, waiting for a release from the circular narrative she is trapped in, which ultimately comes in the form of death.