Gustav Klimt’s Kiss and Shutter Island
I found a connection between The Kiss, 1907 Gustav Klimt, and Shutter Island in the context of tableau vivant.
The connection is obvious and depicted very well but why the director wants to add such a connection in the movie? I was thinking about that and finally, I have an answer. In the background information of the table of the kiss, the woman is depicted as a figure of femme fatale. The connection between man and woman is very strong. Despite a femme fatale figure, the woman also looks like very passive and submissive which is contrasting with the femme fatale figure. In the movie, the woman precisely needs attention and has a submissive persona. In the painting, we see a happy couple and they are strong together but in the movie, the man neglects his wife and does not give attention to her wife who needs psychological help. We can clearly see that in man's face. In the painting, they are kissing but in the movie, they are crying. This is a strong contrast between movie and painting. This scene is at the beginning of the movie and it foreshadows the problems between them.
SPOILER ALERT
We can’t see the happy couple in the movie that we see in the picture. Aside from happiness, there are horrible things in the movie. The woman drowns her three children in the lake and the man kills her by shooting her with a gun. After such a tragic event our main character cannot accept what he is going through and create another reality that has no wife and no children.
In my humble opinion, the use of the painting is a criticism about the difference between relationship realities and relationship appearance.