What: watch in the opening scene

Vidal’s watch is commonly seen through close ups throughout the film. The first time we see the watch is the first time we see Vidal, (“15 minutes late”), on the one hand it emphasises his punctuality and leadership, but also has a deeper meaning. The watch is logocentric and is a metonym for Vidal, it is a small prop (therefore part of mise en scene) but represents all of Vidal. The watch face is cracked, which could suggest that Vidal himself is a damaged man. This may be referencing to the toxic masculinity that is explored during the film, that men were forced/expected to ‘act like a man’ and ‘die like a man’, to be strong and overpower women, Vidal followed these toxic commands because of his father, and although it doesn’t excuse him for what he did, it makes him a victim and presents him as a broken man. We learn straight away with help from the watch, what type of character Vidal is like, that he is punctual and leader like, he needs everyone to act by his time.

A theme throughout the film is death and mortality, the watch is a big part of these themes. Vidal  got his watch from his father, who smashed the watch when he died so that Vidal would know when he died; which is a legacy that Vidal tries to pass down later in the film but cannot, stopping the passing of toxic masculinity. The ticking of the watch emphasises to the audience, the time of life ticking down and how it can end at any moment, humans are mortal. Vidal using his watch the first time we see him, could possibly foreshadow that he dies at the end of the film and/or gives a circular structure to the movie, as he takes out his watch at the end of the movie as well as the beginning. The theme of death was possibly explored because of the Spanish Civil War, the film was set just after this time (1944), emphasising mortality shows the fragility of life, especially with war.