Donnie Darko is a 2001 film by Richard Kelly about a teenage boy named Donnie Darko, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who escapes death by sleepwalking out of his house in the middle of the night. Shortly afterwards, a jet engine falls directly into his bedroom. Donnie begins to see apparitions of a bunny creature named Frank who repeatedly tells him the world will end in less than a month. The film follows Donnie’s life as he progressively reaches the day that was promised by Frank to end.
It has been said in prior works that this is a cause of an escape of fate, though I believe it is more so a consequence of Donnie’s thoughts. This analysis focuses on the representation, repetition, and significance of scenes in which Donnie Darko portrays a smile on screen, while highlighting the progression of an infantile behavior. If we look at the repetition and difference in Gyllenhaal’s smiles as well as the cinematography used, we will see the continuous growth of Donnie’s infantilization with the coinciding familiarity of Frank, which is important because it indicates Frank as a repressed being that has resurfaced itself again in Donnie’s mind.
Analysis of Donnie Darko has often focused on psychological puzzling aspects as well as placing the film into a subjective plot category where the sole purpose is to look at the plot of the film. Critics such as Elliot Panek describe Donnie Darko as a puzzle film that encourages viewers to question narration, characters and the fictional world itself.
Similarly, Miklos Kiss and Steven Willemsen argue that the puzzling aspects of the film shape audience reactions depending on how severe the unreliability is of characters and narrators within the film and show that films such as Donnie Darko would be considered impossible puzzle films that do not allow for a narrative completion or multiple possible narratives. Charles Ramirez Berg suggests that Donnie Darko has a subjective plot in which the film in its entirety is up for multiple interpretations, leaving room for discussion of the alternate worlds.
While these analyses have helped us understand the unsolvable plot of the film and the numerous interpretations there can be through unreliability and incomplete narratives, this analysis shifts to the affect of the film through characterization of Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of Donnie Darko, specifically through his smile; a subject often overlooked in discussion of the film.
I propose that Freud’s concept of the Uncanny and infantile behavior can help us better come to terms with the increasing sense of fear and infantilization of Donnie while also highlighting the importance and meaning of cinematography.
Freudian analysis will be used to explain and interpret the significance of the repetition of Gyllenhaal’s smiles throughout the film while also supporting the idea of Frank as a repressed figure. This analysis is subjective to Donnie’s character and experiences and his reaction to the uncanny is separate from others, I will only be identifying my thoughts through Donnie, as determined and specified by Freud in his work.
This article specifically refers to Freud’s concept of the Uncanny, which describes a familiar feeling that becomes unsettling or disturbing while also integrating the return to primitive and infantile psychic life for Donnie Darko. These feelings are triggered by, in the case of Donnie Darko, the sleepwalking. As Frank appears on screen, it is apparent that he has been alienated from Donnie as a being of surmounted beliefs. Repetition, a major theme described by Freud, is used throughout the film to enhance the uncanny and strange figure of Frank while also depicting emotional disruption and regression.
I will use cinematography, mise-en-scene, and editing to depict each scene chosen as they describe the film itself through interpretive lenses. To define a term used later on in the essay, shot-reverse-shot is editing that shows one perspective and then switches to the perspective of the other person, and then finally back to the first person’s perspective. This term will be used to enhance the uncanny feeling, as well as give meaning to the film itself through a cinematic lens.
The event in which resurfaced a repressed Frank is that of the unnatural sleepwalking of Donnie; not only beginning the movie, but also Donnie’s infantile regression. A dolly camera wheels towards Donnie laying on the side of a mountain road at a slow pace. As we progressively get closer, Donnie begins to sit up and the camera stops at a medium-close up shot and starts to spin around towards the front of his face, showing his eyes slowly opening. A quick cut follows as the camera acts as if we are in the point of view of Donnie, allowing him to take in the scenery and adjust his mind to where he is.
The camera moves from left to right for a seven second view of the rising sun and mountainous setting before finally stopping as Donnie stands up into view of the camera facing oppositely, then slowly turning to face towards the camera in a medium shot. The lighting from the rising sun casts a shadow to the right half of his face, highlighting the grimacing nature of this event. Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting in this scene is significant as he smiles and laughs, characterizing Donnie’s reaction as familiar and strange. This shot signifies the end of the event in which Frank has surfaced – the end of his first sleepwalk where the reactions are given meaning through Donnie’s smile and the point of view of the camera where we become familiar alongside Donnie and what he is experiencing. Donnie has now opened the portal of surmounted beliefs and the apparition of Frank begins to occur.
The first encounter with Frank introduces the primary uncanny smile, the moment of recognition of the repressed through portrayal of emotion by sinister familiarity. We begin with a medium shot utilizing shallow focus to slowly bring Donnie into focus on screen as he walks closer to the camera before stopping completely. The back lighting creates a halo effect, highlighting Jake Gyllenhaal’s appearance on screen, as his eyelids are tilted downwards and he is looking emotionlessly into the camera before slowly starting to smile.
Once the smiling begins, a fade into the next shot occurs and we see from Donnie’s point of view yet again. This long shot is positioned at eye level with Frank as we see Frank standing on a golf course parallel to a flag indicating one of the holes of the course. The shot-reverse-shot in this scene gives meaning to both characters as we see that it is used specifically to insinuate that the beings are of the same body, almost showing that from both perspectives reflect familiarity.
By slowly fading Donnie into screen, it enhances the sense of Donnie waking up from sleepwalking as it resembles his eyes focusing after opening up. This scene, being the first in which Donnie and Frank finally see one another on screen, is of great importance as the half-closed eyelids represent waking up from sleepwalking again, proving that this encounter is an event bringing back the uncanny being and the start of infantilization through the surmounted belief of Frank while also disrupting the Donnie’s reality and confirming the alienation of Frank from Donnie. From this point on, Donnie’s depiction of Frank hints at castration anxiety and the infantile fear of losing the male organ.
Frank’s lost eye triggers a revival of childhood fears for Donnie through Freud’s concept of castration anxiety. The part of this scene I will be using begins with an close-up shot of Donnie Darko facing towards a movie theatre screen as we are positioned to his left as he watches the movie in front of him while his girlfriend, Gretchen, is asleep on his shoulder. He very slowly begins to look to his left, towards the camera as Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of Donnie’s character is very serious and emotionless, a choice from the actor that enhances the uncanny unintentionally.
Once fully facing back towards the camera, a slow smile appears across his face, one that is more aggressively represented with the furrowing of his eyebrows. A quick shot occurs as we get the camera positioned in a long-shot, incorporating Frank into view. It is important to note that the bunny mask Frank is wearing has the sides of the mouth turned upwards, into the shape of a smile.
This solidifies the idea of Frank and Donnie being that of the same body and being, as they are both familiar with each other, but also alienated into their own physical appearances. Later on in the scene, we get an up close shot of Frank removing his mask to reveal his face. His long black hair falls down from the mask and one socket is covered in blood and the eye appears missing. According to Freudian analysis, the robbing of eyes is indicative of castration, the infantile fear of losing the male organ. This is a revival of Donnie’s childhood fears, which subsequently deems itself as familiar while also integrating a sense of fear to his character which gives meaning to Frank’s embodiment of revived beliefs. Continuously, for the remainder of the film, Donnie outwardly expresses infantile behavior as his primitive beliefs have now been confirmed and will be continuously represented.
Donnie’s instinctual reaction to hypnotherapy related to Frank as a subject matter leads to infant behavior that almost fully regresses Donnie to a childlike state. Donnie lays on the couch in his therapist’s office as we see this through a medium shot. Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of Donnie in this scene is that of sadness and disturbed by the topic of Frank. We watch as Donnie actively curls up into a ball, his arms crossing over one another close to his mouth which is considered to be the fetal position, the common position for children and infants to take when laying down or in the womb. This reaction to Frank exposes infantile behavior while continuing even further as a few seconds later in the scene, we get a hand-held camera shot of Donnie getting up and walking to the corner of the room to grab a stuffed animal. He holds this animal close to his chest with both arms, the common reaction from an upset child.
These childlike reactions continue to progress throughout the movie, ultimately sizing Donnie down to a full infantile state. His mental age regression fully integrates itself into Donnie’s mind, forcing him to return to a sense of the familiar and what he is most comfortable with, childlike behavior. It is also interesting to note how Frank is not literally present in this scene, showing that he is completing the age regression. While he is still being talked about, Donnie is aware of Frank but possibly coming to a state of familiarity with the fact that he is similar to himself.
The last smile portrayed by Donnie’s character reduces him fully into the primitive belief of Frank’s apparition as confirmation of his resurfacing childhood. The final important scene is the final time we see Donnie on screen. The camera begins at a close up of a poster on Donnie’s wall showing an eyeball with a skull in the middle of it as it slowly pulls away from the poster and turns to the left to show Donnie lying in bed, his head up against the backboard. The eyeball, again, brings light to the concept of castration anxiety as it is apparent that it is of extreme importance in the film. Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting in this scene is taken greatly into account as he excels in showing the pure uncanny and familiar emotions through a childlike laughter, one rooted in disturbing emotion. Gyllenhaal’s diegetic laughter sounds higher pitched and resembles the laughter of an infant, almost as though he is replicating this type of emotion. As the close up shot of Donnie continues, he slowly curls himself up, again, into the fetal position, putting his hands close to his mouth. At this point in the movie, Frank is no longer on screen, indicating the finality of Donnie’s regression as Frank’s appearance is no longer necessary.
In summary, this essay discusses the importance of Frank’s surfacing as he is shown to be a repressed being in Donnie’s mind. Not only is it explained that Frank is an apparition of Donnie’s surmounted beliefs, it is also explained that Donnie’s infantile view of reality becomes clear through the portrayal of his smiles on screen. Jake Gyllenhaal ensures the characterization of Donnie throughout the film as a hint towards adolescence with a decline to childhood psychic life, it is important to note the choices of the actor as the character is defined by who plays them. Being able to incorporate the shot-reverse-shot analysis and other cinematographic lenses amplified my ideas and provided distinction between the movie and how it was filmed to show particular aspects. The entirety of this film is up for interpretation, everything from how it was filmed to what is being shown on screen has some sort of meaning that requires analysis. This analysis offers one interpretation at one possible answer as to what Frank is what Donnie determines Frank to be. There is also the question of why Jake Gyllenhaal decided to portray Donnie in a certain way, this essay takes his acting as one of the same with Donnie as to depict even more familiarity. While this analysis has explored the realms of infantilization and repression, it is important to question if Frank is a doppelganger, if he is solely an apparition in Donnie’s mind, or if the separate character of Frank – who gets killed by Donnie near the end of the movie- becomes a ghost himself. Does Donnie see himself in Frank and vice verse, or is the separation of the two just as uncanny? These are questions up for interpretation and require deeper analysis to even begin to answer.