The Psychology of "Girl at the Door"

The following is one section - "How Fine that Line" - of my poem "FIGURES AU BORD DE LA MER":

What is it that Freud is said to have said
That the id is the seat of desire
And the seat of aggression as well

Imagine standing in a crowded jostling train
And you feel like “screwing” the person next to you
And you feel like “screwing” the person next to you

It’s true we smiled and winked at each other
As we sat next to each other in the Viennese cafés
We know how fine that line between making love tender and all

And having sex all rough and tumble even painful at times
When we lose our grip too much become too tangled
Awash on the shore like so much treasure and debris from the sea

"Figures au Bord de la Mer," by Pablo Picasso

"Girl at the Door" portrays in film, what I speak to in poetry.  But the fusion of desire and aggression in sex is just one piece of this short film.

When a couple crosses that line, the psychological aftermath can be horrifying.  Erotic tension in the air, when repeated, becomes a veritable nightmare for Jake, the amorous architect.  Films like this haunt us, because the last thing we want is for a nightmare to repeat itself.  But our moral fiber is now suspect, and spiritually we deserve this haunting.

Yet, the repetition phenomenon of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - where the trauma plays like an endless loop in our mind - is our psychological effort to work it through.  In this respect, it's a good thing.  Jake must come to grips with the horrifying thing he did.

While the ending of "Girl at the Door" is tragic, it is a resolution to the trauma.  It is a just retribution to the deed.  It is a closure to the cinematic mystery that writer and director Colin Campbell deftly suffused his film with.  It's a good thing.

I love films that speak to the twists and fabrications of the mind and the psychological horror of our deeds.