Bruno Barreto’s camera tilts down from the sky to a tableau of the adult Donna Jensen (Gwyneth Paltrow) sitting in front of her mother’s trailer. The elegance of the camera move almost threatens to distract us from its symbolism. Barreto, working from an Eric Wald screenplay, contrasts the still-relevant concepts of ‘up’ and ‘down’ with the more esoteric notions of ‘front’ and ‘behind’ by directly tying them to physical, observable forms. Up there (sky) lie dreams. Down here (land) lies reality. Donna is sitting on her bottom (behind) in front of a trailer. Behind her, lying on his behind (on
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