Overcome by ennui, a human person searches for meaning in her existence by systematically fulfilling the needs that drive human motivation. With each step, she gets ever so closer to the last stage of self-actualisation.
Interspersed sequence of cheese tarts.:
There is great significance here, where the progressive eating of the cheese tart represents a cyclical process of doing the same thing over and over and over again. So many times that you get sick of it, and it becomes jelat in the end. The film ends with the last scene, with the spoon sitting in the tart, most of the tart uneaten.
Sleep, a physiological need – the first in the sequence of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
She is in the correct setting for sleep, yet she is awake, and stares, blankly, then attempts to entire into a restless sleep. She turns, and all that is left is a peak of the shoulder, a glimpse of an eye. It is semi-voyeuristic.
Another physiological need – Food.
This is perhaps the only thing with proper colour in this film. The sprinkles (as food) are meant to mess with you – the viewer. It is not proper food. It is not meant to be eaten (like this). It represents a ludicrous kind of gluttony. The pouring is slow, and the eating is reluctant. She chose to eat it, but she does not want it. It does not make sense to the viewer.
Lock. Check. Lock lock. Check again. Lock.
The second tier – Safety needs. A manic desire to be safe, to feel safe, but not feeling safe, and needing to check again and again and again. Frantically.
Second tier again – Safety and shelter.
This part of the film (plus the previous door locking) is its climax. The mood makes you feel uneasy and tense and makes your belly churn. The rain and thunder makes you feel that. We are but insignificant in the face of the universe.
Third tier – Love
This scene is subtle. There is a tension between bodies. Then it cuts to the abstract representation of simmering fuzzy warm feelings. Then it cuts back, and the feelings are fulfilled – motivation and yearning for human touch is fulfilled.
Fourth tier – Esteem
It was a bit of a struggle to visually depict this, but eventually self-esteem was the easiest and fastest way to portray it. She checks herself out, then she makes herself pretty.
The last tier – Self-actualisation
After having systematically gone through the four deficiency needs, she attempts to breach the last tier of human motivation – self-actualisation. I think, in some form, there is a nuance of ‘enlightenment’ in this concept. And what better way to depict enlightenment than to literally switch on the light (lemao).
She turns on the light. The heart beats. She is scared. She turns off the light. The cheese tart is uneaten. Self-actualisation is unfulfilled.
(Because there is more to life than going through the motions.)