Film Analysis - What Richard Did (2012)

Film Analysis:
What Richard Did (2012) - Directed by Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Jack Reynor, Fionn Walton, Gavin Drea

This film is a social realism about an upper class boy named Richard (Jack Reynor) who has everything. The film details his decent into madness after a night of a party leaves him with something that he will regret forever. The subtlety of the film and the casual attitude draws in the audience and makes it seem much more realistic. It contrasts from several other films in the genre as it doesn’t focus on poverty and those who are victims of their environments, Richard was placed in privileged surroundings and has taken all the benefits from it, including support from his parents and a good relationship with his friends, although the events and actions he performs change his path causing him to have to ‘live with crime’ and the guilt of what he has done. The film explores themes of jealously, privilege, friendship, guilt and pride.

The film lacks much music and therefore focuses on a highly defined soundscape in order to set the scene and help aid the narrative. The soundscape is used in order to bring the environment to life, with the sounds of birds and waves crashing, it is used symbolically to show Richard’s state of mind. At certain points in the film he is either positive or manic; this is an equal representation of Todorov’s theory of equilibrium that is also shown in many other films of all genres. The film starts calm, with the equilibrium of Richard and his friend’s privileged environment, but soon after he commits a crime, everything in his life falls apart. Rather than using large crescendos to represent this change, the filmmakers instead use silence and various unique absences of sound, this creates a unique feel to the film which helps the audience better understand what Richard is going through.

Another key element of the film is the cinematography blending with realism. Lots of mundane realism is used in order to create a sense of atmosphere and scale in Richard’s life, shots of him during from place to place gives him opportunity to show the audience how he feels through his facial expression as the camera is usually fixed directly on his face. The slow tedious drive represents more-so how it would feel in a real life situation, apposed to cutting from place to place, the audience can now see the parts in-between and how they affect Richard. As not much backstory and character development is given prior, we are able to see through these particular scenes how he reacts and slowly falls apart as his life crumbles around him.

In conclusion, ‘What Richard Did’ is a unique kind of social realism that feed off of the protagonists reaction and the subtlety of his demise, the audiences doesn’t feel the impact of his crime until Richard loses his mind, the pent up aggression and mundane realism of the film is purposefully done in order to build up tension and shock the audience when Richard finally does crack. It is a different way of looking at the genre as the protagonist doesn’t come from a harmful or underprivileged background, instead he starts at a solid equilibrium and through his own fault, it is disrupted and causes his life to fall apart.