Pollock

One of the more interesting scenes in “Pollock” to me was when his entire family comes to visit Pollock’s house in the country. The point of view in the scene when they first arrive and everyone is piling out of the car reveals a lot about Pollock’s standing within the family and Pollock’s perception of his family. After everyone gets out of the car they all gather together, everyone is hugging, saying hello, Lee holds the baby. Everyone seems to be happy to see each other, but if you look at the expressions of the family members whenever Pollock is not in the shot with them, they look uncomfortable and as if they would rather be anywhere but here. You can see the unhappy look on the mother’s face when she first steps out of the car, then it cuts to Pollock standing in front of two of his brother’s wives and their kids all smiling. Then it cuts to one of his brothers practically grimacing behind them. Then it cuts to Pollock and another brother who is smiling, but when Pollock lifts the baby up and goes out of frame the brother’s smile fades away. The reason I think this is so significant is that it shows how in Pollock’s mind he has finally achieved his goal of becoming a famous artist and redeemed himself for his previous drunken temper tantrums, and now his family has come to share his joy and bask in his ambience. While in reality almost nothing has changed in his relationship with his family, in fact they seem to have a thinly veiled contempt for him and his art. Pollock fantasy Is shattered shortly after, in the scene when he is shouting for someone who speaks Italian, and when he starts shouting “poor Picasso”. There is a shot with Pollock from the waist down and you see two of the brothers sitting down and they exchange this look like “what the hell is he doing?” and then one of the wives looks at him and says “is Picasso more important than your family”? Then Pollock looks around and realizes how they all really feel. I think it is this realization that starts Pollock in his downward spiral.