A Lady of Letters - Essay Task Nine

A Lady Of Letters - Essay Task Nine

Choose a film or TV drama set in a restricted environment such as an island, a ship, a prison, a hospital, a village, a house, a room . . . Show how the film or programme makers’ use of this setting contributes to your understanding of character and theme.

Introduction:

The TV drama A Lady of Letters written by Alan Bennett and directed by Giles Foster uses very few setting changes to create a restricted environment. This draws emphasis and contributes to the understanding of the character and the main themes. A Lady of Letters follows the daily chatter and misdemeanours of an unmarried middle aged woman named Irene Ruddock. Irene is well known for her unpleasant letter writing which gets her in legal trouble with the police and eventually costs her freedom.

For most of the piece we see Irene Ruddock in one room, which we guess is her living area. The window of this room looks out onto the street and this is where Irene spends a lot of her time watching the neighbours. Miss Ruddock tells us that she spends a whole evening with her light off watching the family over the road through the window, assuming she knew what was happening but never actually going over to find out of the situation. This shows that the living area is a restricted environment because she doesn’t leave the room to find out the truth about what she is seeing.

The majority of Lady of Letters is based in her room and this perfectly portrays an inhospitable environment. The lighting, the curtains and the mise-en-scène all act as a barrier for Irene as she hides from society. There is a scene in which Irene is in a court-looking room. The camera angles are effective because throughout the scene it is a long shot, which shows her empty surroundings, and portrays her isolation. There is also a close-up shot of Irene’s face as we see her emotions as she begins to tear up and this shows us how lonely she may feel.

When Irene is in prison she experiences the real feeling on freedom. The scene of her in the prison is overall a well light, this creates a positive atmosphere. Compared to being at home staring out of the sitting room window this is a contrast with the light positive room inside the prison and the dark unlit room in her sitting room.

The use of mise- en- scene in her sitting room is dull and neutral colours; this makes you clearly understand the bland taste of clothing and the un-exciting objects within her house. Nothing stands out: everything is merged together. Nothing draws your eye away from Miss Ruddock. Again, this is a contrast to when she is in prison. She wears very colourful clothing and is much happier than she once was before.

The room, in which we see Irene mostly, is the room where see writes her letters, reads her letters and talks about her letters. The room is her sanctuary that keeps her safe from a society which she cannot connect to. It is also where she-in her opinion- sorts the many problems of the world outside, the great unknown which has so many faults, in her eyes.

There is a small linking scene in which Irene is standing at her front door, preparing herself to go to prison. There is no clear indication where she is going but the gloomy atmosphere shows us that she is going somewhere sad and it reflects on her feelings which are also sad and is also portrayed by the atmosphere of the room.