Trigger warning: In this post, I briefly discuss the film’s suggestive themes, including sexual assault.
Last year, I watched and briefly talked about Angel’s Egg (1985) in my now inactive blog. But because of the unique visuals and somber tones, I found myself thinking about the film and its meaning.
If you watch the film, you might find that Angel’s Egg has very little dialogue and that the story is mostly told through cryptic and surreal imagery. Humans are at war with prehistoric-looking creatures, and our two main characters pull away from the violence to discover a different kind of chaos: change.
In many mythological tales, chaos and change are necessary for the creation of life. Chaos is the darkness, a void. Because Angel’s Egg includes biblical (Christian) motifs, I assume that the writer interpreted the biblical account of the universe’s creation. However, the story the film seems to be telling doesn’t appear to be about the world’s creation, but rather its undoing in a nonliteral sense.
About the Film
Angel’s Egg (1985)
Based on: n/a
Director(s): Mamoru Oshii, Yoshitaka Amano
Story by: Mamoru Oshii, Yoshitaka Amano
Produced by: Hiroshi Hasegawa; Masao Kobayashi; Kōki Miura; Yutaka Wada
Studio: Studio Deen
Demographic: n/a
Genre(s): Action, Fantasy, Gothic
Theme(s): birth; chaos; change; innocence; man vs. nature; womanhood; religion
Trigger(s): sexual assault (implied)
Angel’s Egg was directed and written by Mamoru Oshii. It was released by Studio Deen, which is also known for Fruits Basket (2001). The film follows the story of a young girl, who lives alone in a rundown building in a seemingly abandoned city. She scavenges the city for food, water, and bottles while caring for an unusually large egg that she usually keeps hidden under the skirt of her dress. She crosses paths with a boy who carries a cross-shaped device. He is curious about the girl’s egg, and despite being wary of him and his curiosity, she leads him to her home.
At the rundown building that serves as the girl’s home, the boy makes a shocking discovery: the girl shows him a large skeletal figure that hangs on a wall. Despite its ghoulish appearance, its wings make it seem more like an angel.
Despite hardly knowing each other, the two form an unlikely bond. However, he severs the bond when he takes the egg away from her and breaks it with his cross. Upon discovering what he had done the following morning, the nameless girl screams in grief and pursues him. Her efforts are fruitless as she falls off a cliff, seemingly consumed by her grief before transforming into a more adult version of herself.
In the final moments of the film, an array of eggs perched on leaf-less trees are shown across the vast valley outside the girl’s home. Thousands of feathers are carried by the currents of the wind, and a large mass of statues of people rise from the depths of the sea. Among the statues is one with the image of a little girl, much like the nameless main character.
The film ends with the nameless boy watching the mass of statues ascend to the sky. He is alone at the beach, and the land behind him shows little to no signs of life.
Trying to make sense of Angel’s Egg
As I watched the film, I thought that it was about change. The gothic city where the main characters meet is riddled with gloom. There are shadowy soldiers that fight against prehistoric entities. It’s like watching humans fighting fruitlessly against nature or against the past. Civilization and order are seemingly lost.
The main characters move against the grain. While the little girl scavenges the city for water, the young man who follows her is curious about her and the egg. He even encourages her to break the egg, though this request is unrequited by the little girl.
The interesting thing about the egg is that she keeps it under her dress. It often makes her appear pregnant. She even cares for the egg in a motherly way. Whatever water the girl had collected in her scavenging trips seem to be in preparation for something, be it for her own sustainability or the egg’s hatching. This behavior of hers only emphasizes her motherly traits, something that even the young man notices.
An interesting addition to the film is the little girl’s home. The building where she lives in is also the home to a giant skeleton of a bird-like creature that resembles an angel. The girl is content living there and appears to feel safe. It’s implied that the egg comes from this creature that’s hung on a wall as if it were crucified.
As for the man, he carries a weapon that resembles a cross. It is that weapon that he uses to break open the egg against the little girl’s wishes. His actions are barbaric as they lead to the girl’s breakdown and other physical changes, such as sprouting of trees that resemble female reproductive organs, the girl’s own transformation (from a girl to a woman), and the changes of the landscape.
My understanding of the egg breaking scene is that the man had betrayed the girl, which resulted in a disruption to her innocent demeanor. I’ve seen some comments about the movie and its significance. And while some believe that the film serves as an allegory about Christianity and creationism in general, others believe that the film tells a story about a man who took advantage of a girl. The young girl invited the man to her home, established some trust in him, and felt comfortable enough to sleep in her room on her own bed as he watched. As she slept, he contemplated leaving her, but eventually gave in to temptation and broke the egg rather than waiting for it to hatch on its own. He took advantage of her trust in him as she slept.
The girl’s visceral reaction to the egg’s destruction was a heart wrenching addition. Her cries are haunting, and the imagery of her sinking into the sea and transforming into a woman were incredibly sad. It seemed as though the man had forced the girl to become a woman through the chaos. The transformation is sudden, her childhood utterly destroyed.
But the worst thing about the conclusion of the film is the man’s unexpressive stare at the mess of his own making.
In various cultures, the egg is a symbol of fertility and rebirth. This symbolic representation of womanhood ties into the little girl’s portrayal of love and innocence. Their images are contrasted against the young man, who seems to represent chaos and change. The cross he carries on his back is an emphasis to creationism, though the irony is that he destroys the closest representation of life.
In a 2012 interview, Yoshitaka Amano expressed that Angel’s Egg is a film that was made for others to interpret (Anime News Network). With that said, there’s no telling exactly what message the film is trying to tell. Everyone’s conclusion will differ from another’s. My understanding of the film changed on my second viewing. Perhaps it will change again if, or when, I watch the film again…