Amores perros, 21 grams, Babel, Biutiful, Birdman - is an impressive series of titles made by Alejandro González Iñárritu,who is along with Paul Thomas Anderson, the most prominent contemporary American film director. His last film, Birdman, certainly deservedly triumphed on the Oscar awards, taking the sculptures in the categories of best film, directing, original script and photography. But since montage was a major contributor to the formal impression of the Inarrita filmmaking, major objections go to the Hollywood voting machinery. However, gold statuettes are rarely in the right hands anyhow, so that year was largely an exception to this issue, so let's not focus on those sensational sides of the film world and turn to the authorial world of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and the specific microcosm in which he placed his Birdman.
Birdman is one of the few contemporary movies whose work is located in the theatrical mile. Moreover, in a small part of the film, the camera goes out of the walls of a small Bohemian theater house that makes the microscope of this film as well as the intimate world of the main hero, and that little time spent outside the theater is not at all comfortable.
On the formal side, the sequence is the key word of this film. Because the film was shot in a way similar to Hitchcock's Rope, all in seemingly one, almost two-hour long shot, which is, of course, illusion, by the maestral assembly, because there are still cuts between the frames, although in a much smaller number than in most other films, but they are very well camouflaged, almost imperceptible.
The film is mostly shot by a camera from the hand, which circulates around the protagonists, hovers and trembles, rises and descends, from a cramped theater interior where the action takes place creating a space seemingly larger, wider, deeper and more spacious than it really is, and in this way, the theater, which means to the main hero the existence in the widest possible scope of the meaning of that word (with an emphasis on the identity, lack of faith and in the sense of existence and the purposefulness of continuing his own battle in the world) symbolically rises to the level of hero raison d'etre, an existential habitat beyond which he can not, nor wants to live.
Hitchcock's name here needs to be mentioned at least once (unexpectedly, because it's not a thriller). Hitchcock's claimed that he wanted to film a movie that would go on inside the phone booth, which of course was hyperbolized. Inarritu's Birdman successfully accomplishes this to some level, for his protagonist leaves the theater for only about ten minutes (of the total 119 minutes of film duration).
SYNOPSIS
It’s Riggan Thomson’s (Michael Keaton) last act so to speak. “This former cinema superhero is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career that he deems, now, as having been meaningless. He wants something real, to be known for more than the superhero Birdman. It’s risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he’s a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star.” And, to Riggan, real artists ask themselves questions about the meaning of love and life. (1)
He decides to adapt for the stage and then direct and star on Broadway in a version of the Raymond Carver story “Beginners” that appears in Carver’s story collection called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Riggan's ambitious project is helmed by him and his team comprises of his daughter Sam (Emma Stone), a fresh-out-of-rehab drug addict who becomes his assistant, his girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough), his producer and close friend Jake (Zach Galifianaki) and the actress Lesley (Naomi Watts).
A day before their first preview night, the play's parallel lead suffers head injury, much to Riggan's relief, who couldn't stand his loud, over-dramatised acting. Lesley brings on board with them her friend and former love interest Mike (Edward Norton), a rehearsed method actor who is a hit in the critics' circle. Mike's impressive first act buys Riggan into roping him in but soon he realizes that Mike is a largely superficial man who comes alive only on stage.
But, with every failed preview, the voice of his alter-ego gets more bitter, more venomous, suggesting he makes a re-entry into his Birdman life of superficial success where despite work becoming redundant, the monetary benefits are abundant. The heavy voice constantly demotivates him resulting in him smashing his make-up room completely after one instance. (2)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Dysfunction
To bird, or not to bird, that is the question that Riggan keeps asking himself.
Even though he threw away the bird suit long ago, a part of him still wants to hop back in and regain his former glory as the high-flying superhero on the big screen. But why did Riggan give it all away? What's not to like about being a movie star?
Well, the problem starts when the movie stops starring Riggan Thomson and starts starring Birdman. As Riggan runs mostly naked through the streets of NYC, what are people yelling at him? "Mr. Thomson, may I make an inquiry for an autograph"? No; it's "Birdman," this and, "Birdman," that, until Riggan Thomson is no more than the fleshy filling stuffed behind those big wings and bronze beak mask.
Riggan doesn't just want to do the play to prove his worth as an artist; he needs to do the play to prove he even exists apart from the thing that made him exist in the first place. (3)
What's up with the ending?
(source: Screenrant)
Given the film’s open for interpretation ending, fans have come up with a variety of theories that could provide a definitive explanation to Riggan’s storyline. For that reason, we’re here to help breakdown Iñárritu’s use of magical realism, as well as explain the real takeaway of Birdman‘s open-ended finale. Our discussion is going to be full of SPOILERS for Birdman, so READ NO FURTHER unless you’re all caught up. You have been warned.
FAN THEORY 1: RIGGAN DIES ON STAGE. THE REST IS JUST A DEATH DREAM.
As mentioned, Iñárritu leaves Birdman open to audience interpretation and, like most great stories, there are multiple ways of interpreting the ending. One especially popular theory asserts that, in spite of what is shown in the closing moments of the film (specifically: the hospital bed reunion scene), Riggan does not survive his on-stage suicide attempt.
In this scenario, Riggan dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but, before he passes, the actor experiences a happy ending hallucination – a death dream where he has won the adoration of his fans, reconciled with his wife, been recognized as a success by his critics, and earned his daughter’s respect. The theory brings full-circle thematic through-lines where, after proving he is worthy of esteem and love, Riggan is finally able to silence Birdman‘s abusive voice. Riggan was not a Hollywood hack, he was a dedicated performer – so dedicated that he was literally willing to die for his craft (creating “super-realism” in the process).
Knowing that he’ll be remembered for his public suicide, Riggan is no longer tethered by his insecurities, able to transcend, and move on. Looking down at his adoring fans and the physical world, Riggan lifts his eyes to the sky, and leaves his life behind.
FAN THEORY 2: RIGGAN SURVIVES THE GUNSHOT WOUND AND CAN ACTUALLY FLY
Another evaluation of the ending suggests that Riggan, for whatever reason, isn’t just an actor who played a flying superhero, he’s actually a superpowered being – capable of defying gravity and, presumably, physics (via telekinesis). In this interpretation, Riggan survives the self-inflicted gunshot wound and earns the adoration of everyone around him. Fundamentally, he defies his critics: both his audience (in the film) and the audience (us as viewers) – who were skeptical that the actor was anything more than a washed-up hack losing his mind.
Within the film, Riggan proves he’s a gifted theater actor/writer/director – successfully developing a Raymond Carver adaptation and going the extra mile (self-mutilation) to sell the show on opening night.
Similarly, after Iñárritu teased the possibility that Riggan’s superpowers are just in his head (by showing an angry cabbie chasing Riggan after his second act mid-town flying sequence), Samantha Thompson (Emma Stone) actually sees her father hovering in the sky – proving that Riggan didn’t just imagine his powers, he really can fly.
FAN THEORY 3: RIGGAN SURVIVES THE GUNSHOT WOUND BUT ATTEMPTS SUICIDE (AGAIN)
The final theory blends elements of the prior two – suggesting that the hospital scene is real but the end result is the same, Riggan successfully commits suicide. In this take, Riggan survives his on-stage gunshot wound (intentionally or unintentionally) and lives to see the fruit of his labor – he conquered his skeptics and earned the love of his family. However, he’s still damaged (and possibly demented) goods – ultimately jumping out the hospital window to his death.
Whether Riggan is a victim of his crazed psyche, after years of schizophrenic-like Birdman voices, or chooses to commit suicide to cement his legacy, it can be assumed that the actor falls to his death. Where Samantha is a crux to theory 2’s argument, marking the first time that anyone outside of Riggan sees him fly, Samantha’s reaction to the open window complicates the theory that her father has finally killed himself.
Nevertheless, Samantha’s smiling face isn’t unequivocal proof that Riggan is actually floating around safe in the sky either – especially if she happened to actually be looking at the meteor shown in Birdman‘s opening rather than her dad. Iñárritu’s choice to hold back the hospital scene’s carnage, or lack thereof (his corpse below or levitating body above), makes it clear that the filmmaker wanted the finale to be partly ambiguous.
(1) Film Analysis of Birdman, Feb 08, 2015, Psychology Today
(2)The Times of India, Birdman Plot Summary
(3)Shmoop, Birdman