The most obvious comparison I could make is Elephant, Alan Clarke's other experiment in repetition. Much like that film, Christine builds its emotional response through a formally monotonous series of similar scenes each unfolding and then restarting, as if trapped in an unending cycle. In Elephant, that cycle was The Troubles and a mediated disconnect from violence. In Christine, it's a similarly bold political take on Thatcher-era suburbia in all its crushing banality. The story of Christine is very simple: we observe Christine as she walks from one house to the next delivering heroin to her friends. They talk about something vague, mostly some party that's happening soon, then shoot up and pay Christine for her visit. We only rarely stray from this formula but it doesn't even feel like we do. These houses all end up looking the same, creating a maze of living rooms and brick buildings we're guided through, windows consistently becoming an overwhelming source of white light like a void. Much like Elephant, it's difficult to explain the feeling of watching Christine because the lack of anything really happening is what gives it such power. It's all mundane, so hopelessly, hopelessly mundane. What else can these kids do but escape and wait for the next hit? Everything between their fixes means nothing anyway. Kind of shocked this was aired on television for the structure of it if nothing else.
The most obvious comparison I could make is Elephant, Alan Clarke's other experiment in repetition. Much like that film, Christine builds its emotional response through a formally monotonous series of similar scenes each unfolding and then restarting, as if trapped in an unending cycle. In Elephant, that cycle was The Troubles and a mediated disconnect from violence. In Christine, it's a similarly bold political take on Thatcher-era suburbia in all its crushing banality. The story of Christine is very simple: we observe Christine as she walks from one house to the next delivering heroin to her friends. They talk about something vague, mostly some party that's happening soon, then shoot up and pay Christine for her visit. We only rarely stray from this formula but it doesn't even feel like we do. These houses all end up looking the same, creating a maze of living rooms and brick buildings we're guided through, windows consistently becoming an overwhelming source of white light like a void. Much like Elephant, it's difficult to explain the feeling of watching Christine because the lack of anything really happening is what gives it such power. It's all mundane, so hopelessly, hopelessly mundane. What else can these kids do but escape and wait for the next hit? Everything between their fixes means nothing anyway. Kind of shocked this was aired on television for the structure of it if nothing else.
