The Counselor

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2017/04/03/the-counselor/

This film is based on a true story and follows the story of Ted Bundy, one of the most gruesome serial killers of the 20th Century, who is working at a suicide hotline. At first, before his identity is revealed, the narrative seems completely different to what it does during the second watch when his identity is known. His tone, actions and how the conversation unfolds completely flips upside down and develops a new meaning to the eye of the viewer.

As the film seems to be relatively calm with little being unveiled during the majority of the duration, this film does not necessarily comply with Todorov’s narrative structure. Todorov states that a typical film will begin with equilibrium, the characters will face disruption which results in a series of events, which are eventually resolved and the world of fiction is restored to a new equilibrium (also known as a “classic Hollywood narrative”). The Counsellor doesn’t fit into this in terms of the revelation that the main character is Ted Bundy as this is revealed at the very end of the film and equilibrium clearly was not restored due to the events that followed in Bundy’s life, however at first watch, it is possible that the viewer may think that the main story is that of the girl on the other side of the phone. This narrative follows Todorov’s theory as at first, the office is almost eerily quiet and calm (equilibrium) until this atmosphere is disturbed by the noise of the phone ringing (which is an example of binary oppositions that I will talk about later). This leads to a chain of events happening between the girl and Bundy that are eventually resolved by Bundy talking her down from suicide - here, the girl’s world has been restored to equilibrium and this tricks the viewer into following the classic Hollywood narrative, where they are not expecting a twist at the end.

Vladimir Propp’s theory of narrative structure, which he developed from studying Russian fairytales, can only be applied to this film to a certain degree. His theory states that there are 8 characters who have 32 character functions that are usually quite predictable i.e. the hero defeats the enemy, saves the princess, marries the princess. In the counsellor we only meet 3 characters - in the beginning, there appears to be a helper (Bundy’s co-worker), who helps the hero (Bundy), who saves the princess (the girl on the phone). Whilst these characters all carry out their narrative functions, it is not until the very end that Propp’s theory is inverted and it becomes clear that Bundy is the false hero, which has not been clear from the start. Moreover, his actions are not predictable as Propp states they should be, and the audience is taken by surprise.

As I mentioned before, there is proof of binary oppositions propelling the narrative, as Claude Levi-Strauss theorised. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts - there are visual (light/dark, movement/stillness) and conceptual (love/hate, control/panic) binary oppositions. In this film, there are many moments of silence/sound e.g. when the phone suddenly rings during an eerie silence, or when the girl on the phone finally speaks. There are also many examples of conceptual binary oppositions, such as the calmness and control of Bundy as opposed to the panic of the girl on the phone, which propels the narrative as they balance each other out and create an interesting rapport between the two characters. However, Levi-Strauss also stated that narrative can only end in a resolution of conflict. The Counsellor both complies and defies this convention. There is a resolution in terms of the girl, who is eventually talked down from suicide and all is well again, however, a conflict is created at the end  of the film when Bundy’s identity is revealed and the viewer is aware of what he continued on to do in his life - this conflict was clearly not resolved during the plot of the movie, the girl may have been saved but many others were not.

The main binary opposition we see is that of morals. During the film, we can sense tension because a life is literally on the line, and we have been drawn into the characters and engaged with their situation. However, the binary opposition is when we find out that one of these characters is a serial killer. He goes from (what we assume to be) being high on his morals and helping the girl, a scene of black/white morals, to complete moral ambiguity.

In the film, we see the plot unfolding in real time so it only lasts 11 minutes. However, if we consider Ted Bundy’s life to be the full story, as we take into account what he told us about his past and what he didn't tell us about his future, the story spans 42 years and we see an extremely small fraction of it. The narrator, in this case, is Bundy himself. He helps to reveal the events which make up his story (telling his past about his family life and childhood) and the girl's story (by getting her story about her past out of her), he mediates these events and evaluates them. 

In terms of time, we are made aware of the era (which can also be a nod to the plot twist at the end of the film) by the date being typed on the screen at the beginning of the film, which is supported by the mise-en-scene. The film appears to be filmed in real time as the shots and dialogue flow easily as though there have been no cuts and no time has been missed. The screen duration is the same as the plot duration. We are aware that this is the first time that this has happened, as it is stated before the phone call that he has not done this before, and the film is also in chronological order.

There are not many events during the plot, however, there is a narrative of drama. A lot happens dramatically i.e. the girl is talked down from suicide, both of their pasts are revealed. At the beginning, it is completely a restricted narrative as the audience has no idea what is waiting around the corner - his name hasn’t been revealed, nor have any of his details. As the plot progresses, we can see an extremely slight degree of the unrestricted narrative being used as details of Bundy are revealed, beginning with his name and his childhood, and as he begins to give some questionable advice. This may also be seen as Enigma Code: giving an unsolved mystery to the audience. Enigma codes are created by the producer controlling the amount of information released to the audience and determining at what stage certain bits of information will be given. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved. True crime junkies at this point may click on to what is happening, if they are familiar with Bundy’s case, however not everyone in the audience will grasp what is being revealed: this is an example of Cultural Code, where the clues have been read and are starting to be understood due to cultural awareness by certain groups of people. However, by the end of the film, the creators have not yet made his identity obvious, giving an effective surprise at the end - this results in a perfect mix of suspense during the film and surprise at the end. There is also unrestricted narrative in the last 30 seconds of the film because we know something that the character does not, that she is on the phone with a serial killer, and this creates tension and suspense in the narrative.  It is also revealed that this takes place in December 1971 in Seattle - after Bundy had already begun his killings, and it is speculated that this is where and when he began.

Noel Caroll theorised a traditional 3-part structure for horror, which included the onset phase (where order is disrupted), the discovery phase (where characters discover the disorder) and finally, the disruption phase (where the characters destroy the source and restore normality). This short film appears to only show the discovery phase, however twisted it may be. The character does discover Bundy's identity although it will not be for many years that she discovers the meaning of this and the disruption phase is passed on to the viewer, who knows of what lies ahead. However, if we view the girl's arc, we can see this structure very clearly: the onset phase is when the phone rings and order (being Bundy's peace and quiet) is disrupted by the girls suicide attempt; the discovery phase takes up the majority of the film (when Bundy discovers the girl's problems and life story, where her family seems to be the source of disruption) and finally, the disruption phase (when Bundy and the girl, together, defeat what appears to be the evil in the film, and restore a relative normality in the girl's life).

In regards to Kate Domaille's theory that every narrative can be fit into one of eight narrative types, the Counselor seems to comply most with Achilles: a flawless, or seemingly flawless, character is lead to destruction by a fatal flaw (Bundy).

We can easily apply the experiments of Lev Kuleshov to this short film. Kushelov showed people three separate shots of an actor with food, with a baby, and with a dead woman. His expressions were interpreted as hungry, affectionate and sad by the audience because of the context they were placed in, despite the fact that his expression remained the same throughout all of the shots. This is because the audience always tries to connect events to make sense of them, based on their context, and so his expression seemed different based on his surroundings. The Counsellor can be considered to do the same: when we are oblivious to Bundy’s identity, he seems kind and caring (an assumption we make based on the advice he is giving and the job he is doing), however when you rewatch the film, with his identity in mind, his words and actions take on a second meaning as though we are watching a completely different film - he now seems creepy instead of kind, and psychotic instead of calm. 

In summary, the narrative structures and devices used are used to propel two different narratives that work on many different levels. It isn’t just about a man talking a woman down from suicide - at first watch, this narrative works and is satisfying as two people with troubled pasts help on another. We can find out a larger story from a film with a plot duration that is equal to the screen duration, meaning Bauer effectively uses the narrator, Bundy, to tell his story and reveal the girl’s story. However, the narrative completely changes the more you rewatch this film, as the information given at the end helps the audience to piece together and connect events in the plot - these events’ meanings change as we find out who Bundy is, and his actions and dialogue take on a completely new meaning, changing the narrative.