Applying Roland Barthes' theory to the opening of Don't Look Now (1973)

(up to 7.20)

Roland Barthes, a structualist thinker has written an essay on a French novel called S/Z. In this he identified several codes, or a set of rules, which he believed linked together in the production of all kinds of stories. He proposed that all stories use the same five codes and all all genre signifiers can be grouped under these five points to create a narrative. The five codes which he proposed are:

1) The Action Code: depicts the events which take place in the narrative ie who/where/when. Action codes are placed in chronological order.
2) The Semantic Code: refers to character or characterisation. The actions in the narrative are made clear by the character's take on the events.
3) The Enigma Code: involves the setting up of a mystery, its development and its resolution.
4) The Referential Code: explains or informs e.g. mise-en-scene is a referential code.
5) The Symbolic Code: the reading of the implied meanings of signs, which transform them into symbolic representations e.g. a character can symbolise weakness.

Applying the five codes to the opening of Don't Look Now

The Action Code
- It is not made clear to the audience what relevance the first image of the opening scene (the wooden window shutters) has to the rest of the film as after this shot, we see a young girl in a red raincoat playing in a garden/ field. By showing the shot of the window shutter the audience will know that it is of great importance in the narrative and that it will appear later in the film.
- The first character we see is the young girl in the red raincoat. This shows the audience that she plays a pivotal role in the film.
- Next we are introduced to a young boy and what seems to be a couple. We as the audience assume that they are linked to the young girl in some way and will also play major roles in the rest of the film.
- The fact that we are shown in extreme detail the shots of the churches on the slides, which the man is viewing, suggests to us that they are key elements to the narrative of the film.
- As we do not see the woman's face straight away leads us to believe that she is a rather mysterious and private person.
- The shot under the magnifying glass where the camera zooms in on a red cloaked figure hints to us that they could end up playing a part of great significance in the play. This, coupled with the fact that there is tense music tells us that this character in red is possibly a bad one.
- The young girl drowning tells the audience that the equilibrium of this family's ordinary everyday life has been disrupted. They will be left wondering what happens in the rest of the film now that this tragedy has befallen them.

The Semantic Code
- The first character we see is a young girl wearing a red raincoat. The fact that she is the first one introduced to the audience suggests that she plays a pivotal role in the rest of the film. This is confirmed when the audience sees her drowning and dying, as they are then left wondering what will happen to the rest of the characters in the aftermath of the young girl's death.
- The second character we see is the young boy riding on a bicycle. The fact that they make no verbal exchange suggests that they are not very close, but by putting them both in the same surroundings implies that the boy and the girl are linked in some way.
- Both the young boy and girl are seen playing as one would normally expect to see young children do. There is nothing strange or mysterious about them that could possibly hint at anything to come later in the film.
- We are finally introduced to a man and a woman (most possibly a couple) sitting in a living room. The fact that we do not immediately see the woman's face suggests to the audience that she is mysterious, private and possibly has something to hide. We do however, see the man's face. He seems to come across as a very ordinary man in an ordinary surroundings. The man, looking through a slide show looks extremly confused as his brow is furrowed. This suggests to the audience that there is something which is not right in the scene.
- Once we see the woman's face, she too seems like a very ordinary person. There is nothing in either of their characters which could betray any element in the plot which is to come.
- The couple are affectionate and civil to each other, connoting that they are in a happy relationship which nothing going wrong in their lives.
- The man's agony and the woman's reaction to the girl's death implies that the rest of the film will be about their dealing of the aftermath of her death.

The Enigma Code
- The colour red seems to run through all of the opening sequence. The young girl (who eventually dies) wears a red raincoat. The boy, riding his (red) bicycle, cycles over some glass, breaking it as the water in the river is disrupted by the girl's ball. The ink on the slide which the man is observing under the microscope runs from the red cloaked figure in the shot. This underlying theme of red in unusual circumstances (girl in the red cloak drowning/ boy on red bicycle breaking glass/ red ink running on slide) suggests to the audience that this theme will be recurring through the rest of the play. Also, the red colour is similar to blood, connoting murder and death.
- The young girl playing precariously by the river shows the audience that something bad will happen to her.
- The man tipping over his glass shows that the ordinary situation he is in is not so ordinary after all.
- The camera zooming in on the red cloaked figure in the slide suggests this mysterious person will appear later in the film, possibly bringing danger with them too.

The Referential Code
- The scene we are observing is of a young girl and boy playing in a garden/ field during the day in an ordinary fashion whilst the shots of the couple inside the house also show a normal day for them with the usual clutter of a house and a comfortable, lived in look. There is little in the mise-en-scene which could inform us of the mystery behind the plot.
- However, the young girl disturbing the water with her ball, the boy breaking the glass and the man tipping his glass over shows disturbances in what seems to be an ordinary day. This suggests that something will happen that will disrupt this equilibrium and throw the rest of the film out of balance.
- When the young girl is pulled out of the water, the man and the girl being covered in mud show the ordinary life becoming disrupted, this in turn sets up the tone for the rest of the film.

The Symbolic Code
- The young girl in red and the red cloaked figure in the slide are symbolic of danger and death. This is because the young girl dressed in red drowns at the end of this opening scene and ink of the red cloaked figure in the slide running looks alarmingly like blood.
- The boy breaking the glass at the same time the girl disturbs the water with her ball are sumbolic of the calm of everyday life have been broken (the equilibrium being disrupted).