The Most Beautiful Man In The World

The Most Beautiful Man In The World was written and directed by Alicia Duffy originally commissioned as part of The Short Channel a project funded by the UK Film Council. The film is about an encounter between a young girl and a man, on a hot summers day as the girl searches for something to do. The films and issues raised in this short are; child neglect, nature vs. nurture, suffering in silence and single parents. From this there are a variety of ideologies that come into prospect for example the lack of stimulation for the child, parental guidance and lack of, and single parenting views. As textual readers we have many preconceived consumptions which we make before breaking it down.

Beginning with parental guidance and no stimulation, through the four technical areas of sound, camera, mise en scene, and editing we can come to conclusions of developed representations and the message the film is trying to send out. One of the most bias ideologies on parental guidance is that children should be without it this then leads to further thought onto no stimulation for the child. The ideologies from this are children should not watch TV and children spend to much time with the TV. Recent happenings such as the missing case of Madeleine McCann have had a certain amount of impact on us and our believes towards parenting as the topic has been global and covered widely by the media.

The film begins with the young girl laying on the floor which communicates boredom. When then see her leaning against a radiator yawning which is a developed representation of the coldness in emotion that she feels and symbolic of the maternal warmth she is deprived from. The fading technique through editing suggests that time passes slowly and the tiredness she feels. In the scenes that are evolved within the house have very dull lighting which makes the establishment seem dirty leading us to believe that they are of a low class. Furthermore as the clothes the girl is wearing look grubby and through the mise en scene, the strategic placing of items to make the place look a mess lead us to believe that perhaps they are also economically challenged. The lack of dialogue in the film suggest that the TV has confused the young girl and her imagination thought process. Also represents her social alienation and strange communication.




There is then a wide shot of the girl lifting the window curtain and looking outside, this foreshadows that she is going to go outside. The girl rides a bike in the road, through film language some may jump to the conclusion that she may be hit by a car. The circling shape she repeats as riding represents the life she has as quite repetitive.


The girl then looks up to a dual carriage way with a filed underneath. A wider media reference of this wide shot leads us to believe that perhaps she is going to play up there and get hit by a car. However she then suddenly looks back in a close up shot, through film language we can understand that she is looking back to see if her mother is watching. The wide shot of the field symbolizes freedom and boundaries.

The lack of parental supervision determines her decision to go into the wilderness, the diegetic sound of birds singing drawing her in. In contrast to her home outside the lighting is a lot more bright, blue skies connotating optimism. Her dog follows her and dogs are associated as a trustworthy animal. The dog is a symbol of the missing guardianship she lacks as the dog is always with her.

The girl enters the wilderness it is almost like a awakening or a re birth for her as she is surrounded by stimulation through all five senses that connoatate healthiness for her as a young girl. The diegetic sounds of birds and the wind, mixed with jump cuts are a reflection of the child’s excitement as she is being mentally and physically stimulated by her surroundings. This specific editing choice represents an awaken and alertness, a sensory expression, timelessness in contrast to the fading editing used in the home scenes to show how time was an enemy.

The girl then pokes a stick into water. The use of a worms eye view shot shows the water. Water connotating healing and cleansing. The low angle also suggest that she is an empowered adventurer. The fod then whimpers and this catches the girls attention as she wanders over to it. Unbeknownst to her there is a man with the dog stroking it. The fact that the dog is with the man and we have already identified the dog as being some sort of support for her suggests that perhaps this man is safe. Different cultural experiences lead to racially different interpretations of situations just like this and we also contradict ourselves. Saying the children should have parental supervision at all times is then questioned because when the male is present we jump to the conclusion that he is a paedophile.




There is then a close up of the man removing a bug from her shoulder which suggest that he means no harm. Furthermore when the begin to understand that perhaps this man is an estranged father figure.
Whether or not the male is the father, friend or foe I think that Duffy was trying to get us to question ourselves; does age make you any wise? Does your childhood have an affect on your future? However I believe that the directors main rationale was for too reprsent on how we all view things differently and that at times we can be wrong.


One of the main binary opposition of single parents is that they cant cope, they are immature, uneducated and irresponsible. Through character codes in this short we are able to relate her to some of these. The voice of the mother is weak and has young connotations. When she says “ ninety five pounds” with shock it is acceptable to say that she is economically challenged. The voice also as she is on the phone that she is depressed with a low self esteem. The low lit rooms show the parent as being poor, and that it is an unhealthy environment for the chid. This suggests that social services are absent.