BIRD BOX
Blind SidedW W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^063
A DARK-HAIRED WOMAN CLASPS
TWO YOUNG CHILDREN CLOSE
TO HER CHEST. She has dirt under her
nails and seems to be protecting the kids
from a danger just out of frame, a danger that
we cannot see and that she wants neither
herself nor the children to see – all three
are blindfolded. “Sometimes, as a director,
you get involved because of a storyline or
character; this time, it was this specifi c
image which got me intrigued,” director
Susanne Bier explains.
This striking image is on the poster for
Bird Box, her fi rst foray into more fantastical,
less realistic territory. A survivalist drama as
edgy and exciting as any hunger game.
The fi lm opens on Malorie (played by
Sandra Bullock) explaining to the two young
children that they are about to embark on
a dangerous journey which will take them
down a tumultuous river. As if this didn’t
sound intriguing enough,
Malorie also warns them
to keep their blindfolds
on throughout the trip,
no matter what: rowing
blindfold has become, in
this fi lm's world, somehow
less dangerous than seeing
an unspeakable threat
through the naked eye.
Bird Box delivers its explanations slowly,
at pains to keep questions unanswered and
viewers on their toes right up until the very
end. As the fi lm jumps forward and back in
time throughout, we learn about our central
protagonist only progressively — where she
comes from, what she has been through, and
what exactly it is that she is so afraid to see.
Five years earlier, our intrepid heroine
Malorie is far from the world of perilous
expeditions: she lives a quiet, almost
reclusive life as a painter. She also happens
to be pregnant but, as Bier puts it, Malorie
appears “reluctant about life”. She seems
almost in denial of the enormous thing that
is happening inside of her belly. Her sister
Jessica (Sarah Paulson) has to practically
drag her out of the house to go to the hospital
for her scan. The medical appointment
counts as an actual outing for the loner
Malorie, who resorts to dry wit whenever
addressing the people around her, always
keeping them at arm's length.
The stakes in these two moments couldn’t
be more contrasted, but Bird Box beautifully
ties up the personal, interior journey of its
central protagonist, with the life-or-death
fate of humanity in its dystopia. “You might
say the movie has got two arcs, or two
voyages,” Bier says. “One is the physical
voyage – Malorie taking the kids down the
river. The other is her emotional arc – the
way that throughout all these challenging
events, she actually comes to embrace life
and motherhood.”
These two arcs fi rst intermingle at the
outset of the events which, as we know, will
lead to a post-apocalyptic world fraught with
danger and fear. Right after her scan, as sheexits the hospital, Malorie witnesses fi rst-
hand the wave of violent suicides she had
heard about on the news but did not quite
believe until then. Apparently seized by an
irrepressible death wish, people around her
throw themselves into traffi c or run their
cars into one another, with imagery echoing
the brilliant opening of M Night Shyamalan's
otherwise risible The Happening.
Malorie has no choice but to take refuge
in the fi rst house she sees; there, she is
forced to live alongside strangers who, like
her, have just escaped death. It is a setup as
much in keeping with young adult dystopias
as it is with Michael Haneke’s Time Of The
Wolf, and the fi lm provides an opportunity
for Bier to blend her artful and thoughtful
fi lmmaking style with a more commercial
framework. This is, after all, an A-list ledNetfl ix original, quite far removed from the
world of Dogme 95 and the art house from
which the director emerged.
“Malorie really wants to be alone, and
then she’s forced to be with people who she,
under normal circumstances, would never
have anything to do with,” Bier observes.
From Douglas (John Malkovich), the mean-
spirited owner of the house, to the sweet
and strong Tom (Trevante Rhodes); from the
kindly grandmother Sheryl (Jacki Weaver) to
the eccentric Charlie (Lil Rel Howery, seen in
Get Out), Malorie’s ‘roommates’ come from
all walks of life. Although survival would
require them to get along, their desperate
situation only brings out their differences
further, and each actor gets to play a
character who understandably teeters on the
verge of hysteria and paranoia.
“They all bring something very unique,
and kind of extreme in its own way,” Bier
says of her actors. “So
you have that as a gift,
and then you play with
them.” As the assorted mix
of personalities learn to
survive, we witness them
brought closer to each
other by circumstances:
what used to be a simple
grocery run, for instance, becomes a life-or-
death bonding experience.
As Bier explains: “They actually become
a sort of family to Malorie” and our
taciturn heroine forms connections with
some of her housemates despite herself. “I
think that element of forcing yourself to a
forthcomingness is very human and very
endearing, actually,” Bier says.
From the personal drama to the action
movie catastrophe, from one period of time
to another, Bird Box is a fi lm with a complex
narrative structure and scope. For Bier to
keep focus when shooting was defi nitely
a challenge: “All the technical things – for
example, how do we deal with this ferocious
river? How do we ensure safety? How can
we actually photograph it? These technical
concerns easily take over, and you lose trackBIRD BOX
Blind SidedA DARK-HAIRED WOMAN CLASPS
TWO YOUNG CHILDREN CLOSE
for her scan. The medical appointment
counts as an actual outing for the loner
Malorie, who resorts to dry wit whenever
addressing the people around her, always
keeping them at arm's length.
The stakes in these two moments couldn’tworld of
which the director emerged.
“Malorie really wants to be alone, and
then she’s forced to be with people who she,
under normal circumstances, would never
have anything to do with,” Bier observes.
From Douglas (John Malkovich), the mean-
spirited owner of the house, to the sweet
and strong Tom (Trevante Rhodes); from thefor her scan. The medical appointment Netfl ix original, quite far removed from the
world of Dogme 95Dogme 95Dogme 95 and the art house from and the art house from
which the director emerged.
“Malorie really wants to be alone, and
then she’s forced to be with people who she,WE TALK TO DIRECTOR SUSANNE BIER ABOUT HER
SANDRA BULLOCK-STARRING HORROR FILM BIRD BOXBLIND SIDED
WORDS ELENA LAZIC“THE MOMENT BEFORE YOU SEE THE
MONSTER IS THE MOST TERRIFYING. I
WANTED THIS TO BE THAT MOMENT”
SUSANNE BIER