Orpheus And Eurydice Flashback Scene Analysis

Visual connection in both Inception and Metamorphoses signals trauma. Cobb’s primary look through the window reflects Orpheus’s glance backwards which causes Eurydice to die a second time. In the flashback scene, Mal closes her eyes when Cobb shouts to her, “Look at me!” The closing of her eyes reverses the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Here, Mal’s refusal to look toward Cobb causes her death. We see the action through reverse shots between the point of view of Cobb and Mal, heightening the scene’s traumatic nature. However, the camera stays with Cobb’s point of view for longer in scenes where both character interact, especially true when Mal falls from the window ledge as the camera tracks her progress down, mimicking Cobb’s line of sight. Just

as Orpheus is described in Metamorphoses: “That was his last sight of her. But he saw it again and again” (43), the visual connection or lack thereof signals a larger moment of trauma to come, but “looking” in and of itself represents trauma. While no professional recording of Metamorphoses exists, we can still visualize the scene between Orpheus and Eurydice and how the stage directions can illustrate trauma in the same way as Inception. The stage directions after Orpheus turns around states:
Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes reassemble in their original positions. They walk forward, Orpheus turns around; as he does, Hermes lifts Eurydice and pulls her away as she and Orpheus reach for each other...Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes continue to repeat their action. Each time, Eurydice is a little closer to Orpheus when he turns. (Zimmerman 43-44).
The trauma lies within the repetition of the action in the stage directions, as the characters repeat the moment of Orpheus’s look back and Hermes’ subsequent action. This repetitive action forces Orpheus to re-live the traumatic moment of Eurydice’s second death.