And perhaps she has a reason to be, for we see a man
asking Jo out to dinner, and Jo accepting. After being asked to spend the night
with him, Jo has a conversation with herself over whether or not she should
sleep with him. While she decides not to, she does give the man her phone
number. So it’s not like Agatha’s suspicions are completely unfounded.
The film takes on a strange, dark tone as Agatha reads
Jo’s diary. It clearly becomes an obsession for her, as she even takes the
diary to work, pulling it out to read after a meeting. By the way, that meeting
scene is the only one that doesn’t quite ring true. Something about it seems
odd.
It is interesting that when the film introduces and
establishes both characters, it is separately, not with them together. This
creates a tension then for that moment when Jo does finally arrive home, while
Agatha readies herself upstairs. Jo has no idea what Agatha suspects, even
after seeing how she has straightened out all her books and after Agatha has
dropped hints. Agatha’s jealousy and suspicions even lead her to believe she
sees Jo making out with a man on the street. Jo works as a film director, and
her current project, a movie about Catalina and involving nuns, sort of
functions as Jo’s fantasy world, especially as we don’t often see the film crew
or equipment.
This film really drew me in. Some of it is funny, but
there is a dark, obsessive and even mysterious vibe to it as well. It does play
a bit with the butch/femme dynamic. There is a scene where Agatha gives Jo
lingerie, who then models it for her, Agatha taking on a more traditionally
masculine role, Jo a feminine one. This leads Jo to ask, “So tell me, do you
really want a cock?” Agatha replies, “Sometimes, maybe.” This is a
sweet, funny and sexy scene. There is another funny scene when Agatha goes to a
sex shop to buy a dildo. The look on the clerk’s face while she gets a sex doll
for a male customer is perfect.
This film also has a really well choreographed shot on
the beach, as Agatha walks onto the beach and the camera continues to pan
right, going past her, catching Jo as she moves off right, then Agatha again in
the distance, and Jo again as she moves back toward Agatha. It’s interesting
how the shot separates them, even as they move together, and brings them
together, even as they first move away from each other. And it leads to a
delightful bit of bondage play in public. It’s sweet, until Agatha asks Jo if
men ever did that to her. Jo’s innocent admission that one man did leads Agatha
straight back to the diary. What’s wonderful is that even as the suspicion and
jealousy play with Agatha’s perception, it is clear that the relationship is
strong and that these two do love each other.
Special Features
The DVD includes Inside Out, a 1978 short film by
Sheila McLaughlin, starring Lizzie Borden, Mary Rattray and Merien Soto. It’s
approximately a half hour long, and is in black and white. It’s a silent film,
which at first seems odd because the early shots are close-ups of a girl
talking, leaving me feeling that the sound is missing. The second segment shows
children swinging a stick at a piñata, which at times seems out of reach and is
sometimes out of frame. The third segment shows two people crouching, as if
about to start a race.
The DVD also includes Sheila McLaughlin in conversation
with Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Heinz Emigholz, an interview that was
filmed in December of 2012. Sheila talks about Inside Out, and the
anti-narrative stance that filmmakers at that time took. She talks a bit about
Los Angeles, and why she never wanted to move there. And of course she talks
about She Must Be Seeing Things, and about the initial reactions to the
film.
She Must Be Seeing Things was written and directed
by Sheila McLaughlin. It was released on DVD on June 2, 2015 through First Run
Features.
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