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Eric Grossman
9 December 2013
Script Analysis Final, Question 3
Professor Kallas (TA: Filip Kasperaszek)
A Roundabout Method: Alternative Time Structures in Pulp Fiction and Before the Rain

Unmoored from the traditional dramatic three-act arc, alternative film structures can
approach matters of character, chronology, and plot in dynamic ways. Both Quentin Tarantinos
Pulp Fiction and Milcho Manchevskis Before the Rain use non-linear chronologies to construct
narratives that reach beyond plot progression. Each film constructs a unique temporal
progression. On the small scale, scenes adhere to a sense of real, linear time, but in their greater
structures, these films diverge from such straightforward progression. Before the Rain gradually
subverts an apparently linear structure, arranging its three chapters such that the conclusion
ultimately sets up the events of the opening. Pulp Fiction sports a similarly cyclical structure,
though it more clearly stages temporal and spatial shifts between chapters. These alternative time
structures undermine dramatic unity in the traditional sense. Instead, each narrative is united
around an alternative conception of time. In each case, the unique arrangement of time facilitates
an exploration of the films thematic concerns. In Pulp Fiction, scenes are taken out of
chronological order to form a progression that emphasizes a theme of salvation. Before the Rain
imbues apparently linear time with cyclical properties in order to express the notion of an
imperfect circle that characterizes the consequences of action and inaction. Importantly, these
themes only emerge powerfully in these specific structures. In each film, then, an alternative
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means of storytelling becomes an integral element to expressing the full dimensions of the story
itself.
Before the Rain consists of three distinct chapters: Words, Faces, and Pictures. This basic
arrangement suggests the duality at the heart of the films construction of time. On one hand, the
progression from chapter to chapter seems to corroborate the forward motion of time, as felt by
the audience. Yet, the division of events into three discrete episodes also dissolves unity,
consequentially doing away with the strict polarity of linear time. The structure realizes new
potential relationships between parts: opening and conclusion do not necessarily correlate to
beginning and end. Essentially, the film maintains this duality in order to construct a sense of
cyclical time that nonetheless echoes real experience.
Manchevski achieves this structure by expressing a circular timeline through linear,
discrete events. That is, each chapter proceeds within itself according to a familiar arrangement
of cause and effect. In Words, the immediate drama between Kiril, Zamira, the monks, and the
Albanian men all happens in clear temporal order. Though the full background of events remains
murky, Zamiras appearance acts as an immediate impetus to Kirils actions. Indeed, one might
even find in each chapter the scaffolding of a miniature three-act structure, complete with an
inciting incident (Zamiras appearance), turning points (Kiril hides her, then escapes with her),
and climax (Zamira is shot by her brother). Each chapter maintains this structure. As a result, the
film maintains a sense of times forward progression. Events from scene to scene make sense
according to the viewers implicit understanding of reality as a linear affair.
Each chapter sports linking elements that initially appear to support a sense of linearity
but later come to serve as explicit markers of the timelines cyclical nature. The most overt
linkage comes at the beginning of Faces. Anne, a photo editor, sorts through pictures apparently
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taken at the scene concluding the previous chapter, and she receives a phone call from a voice
that the audience recognizes as Kiril. The event delivers on his earlier promise to phone his
photographer uncle in London. Similarly, Aleksanders letter to Anne in Pictures continues the
interpersonal story begun in the previous chapter, and it would seem that a simple sequential
progression links the two chapters.
Yet, clearly, the plot of Pictures comes to contradict the appearance of linear time, set as
it is before Zamiras death. As these apparent contradictions arise, the role of linking elements
shifts. Rather than mark an over-arching linear progression, they come to cement the relationship
between chapters. In their absence, the chapters form discrete story-units that could be mentally
configured into a simple chronological progression. The linkages resist this, insisting by their
presence upon a direct correlation between film-time and real-time. Each linking element
testifies to the order of events as presented, even (or especially) if this would create a
contradiction. From this paradox arises a sense of cyclical time, a temporality in which the
apparent forward motion of time is preserved on a small scale, yet is ultimately made to loop
around such that past and future, cause and effect, are one in the same. One could choose any
starting point, but events would, in the end, play out in the same order. Ultimately, by means of
this structure, Before the Rain injects an approximation of real, temporal experience into a plot
modeled for thematic effect. To express its unique chronology, the film morphs, rather than
breaks from, reality.
Pulp Fiction stages a similar relationship between small and large-scale temporality.
Each scene seems to take place in linear, even expanded time, running relatively long. As has
been frequently noted, the 126-page screenplay contains only 19 scenes, at liberal count.
Additionally, similar to those of Before the Rain, each sequence here progresses according to a
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linear logic. Just as the screenplay savors long conversation, the cinematography often revels in
shots of extended duration. Jules and Vincents entire hallway conversation occurs in a single
take, as does Butchs furtive trek to his apartment. The combination of expanded dialogue and
extended action within scenes cumulates in a basic sense of linear time that orients the viewer
within the film world. Each story acts as a discrete event that can be viewer-arranged mentally in
order to form a sensible chronology. The film draws from reality, and the linear, nearly real-time
progression within scenes feeds an overall understanding of the chronological order of events.
In the overall arrangement of scenes, however, Pulp Fiction makes deliberate temporal
and spatial jumps. In general, the structure follows a circular structure, albeit somewhat different
from that underpinning Before the Rain. The plot here is divided into a prologue and three titled
chapters, but linear order is from the start severely disturbed, cutting as the film does from the
diner stick-up to Jules and Vincent en route to their job. A semblance of order returns for the first
two tales until The Bonnie Situation, when the film returns to conclude the still-dangling
threads of its prologue. Pope, in Good Scripts Bad Scripts, argues that this disjunction between
parts places scenes with the greatest emotional weight at the end, while playing events out
chronologically would see Jules and Vincent drop out of the story halfway through (Pope 43,
44). In essence, then, the approximation of real-time found within each tale changes when
viewing the film as a whole. The film establishes its own sense of reality that heeds linear time
but adheres, in essence, to emotion. By unmooring events from linear progression, Pulp Fiction
creates a common core between different stories that echoes both emotional movement and
thematic concerns throughout the film. As a result, its plot functions as something akin to the
Deleuzian rhizome, exchanging a hierarchical, causality-bound structure for one in which
narrative importance is spread over the travails of several characters (Kallas). In all, the
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resonance between divergent tales constitutes an alternative reality to that found in classically
structured films, and it asserts that meaning, emotion, and relations can interact beyond the
confines of time. By conserving linear time in each tale but arranging its chapters according to
emotional tension, Pulp Fiction establishes an emotional reality. Though corresponding to a
linear ordering of time, the order of events ultimately makes sense according to the way in which
character choices correspond to one another between chapters.
The construction of Pulp Fictions narrative around emotion suggests that the mechanics
of storytelling play an integral role in the story itself. Here, the alternative configuration of time
does not follow emotion as an end unto itself. Instead, emotional tension is organized more
acutely around the development of Pulp Fictions theme of salvation and its recognition. The
motif of miraculous rescue runs through virtually every sequence of the film, punctuating each
tale: Vincent resurrects Mia, Butch escapes his bonds to save Marcellus, a mysterious force saves
Vincent and Jules, Mr. Wolf cleans up their mess, and Jules saves Honey Bunny and Pumpkin
(Pope 47). This repetition intensifies the effect of any one miracle, but a certain progression
accompanies this repetition. In each, a would-be killer becomes a savior, but rarely by
premeditated decision. Moreover, only Jules recognizes the miracle of survival. Vincent and Mia
agree not to speak of the events of the night, effectively discarding the miracle of her survival.
Marcellus and Butch mutually accept one anothers mercy, going their separate ways. Only Jules
gives consideration to his place and decides to change.
Critically, this thematic arc does not follow a linear progression, as the films specific
organization of time facilitates its exploration of salvation. Here, again, the way in which the
film tells its story proves essential to realizing the narratives full dimensions. The film pairs the
rise of emotional tension (in time) with severity of salvation in terms of character choice.
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Vincent has no choice but to save Mia, but Butch chooses, almost on a whim, to rescue the man
he had only just tried to kill. Yet, if salvation relies upon the decision whether to accept or reject
as a miracle being saved, the thematic climax ultimately lay in Jules conscious transformation
from killer to savior (Pope 48). Though Jules transition within his own story takes little time, the
film imbues it with greater impact by rendering it the conclusion of a series of repeated rescues.
The journey lay not in Jules character alone, but in the events transpiring to all characters
throughout all chapters of the film, due specifically to the non-linear structure at play. The full
impact of this progression is, like the order of events, discovered somewhat retroactively.
Vincents rejection of the miracle leads to his death, but the two events are linked only after the
fact. Similarly, though rescue pervades the film, the miraculous nature of each instance only
becomes apparent when Jules reflects upon his own fate. In short, the repetition of motifs
between self-contained stories circles around the theme, which is finally annunciated and acted
upon at the films conclusion.
In a similar fashion, Before the Rains cyclical structure directly addresses its thematic
concerns. A single line appears throughout the film in text and word: Time never dies. The
circle is not round (Manchevski 73). Repeated in each chapter, this verse at first appears cryptic
but soon comes to reflect upon the events of the narrative. Viewing each chapter individually, it
seems that none can escape the cycle of death because it is a helix of violence, as characters
find themselves overwhelmed by circumstance (Kallas 123). Yet, the films grander structure
holds out hope for redemption. Linking each stage, the film sets up a meta-narrative that reflects
upon the way in which such cycles form, especially as a result of lapses in communication.
Indeed, communication remains largely absent throughout the film, perpetuating its crises. Such
an absence of dialogue pervades interpersonal relationships, literally in Kirils vow of silence
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and more figuratively in Annes distance from her husband, as well as the larger-scale conflict
between Albanians and Macedonians. The structure, with three spatially discontinuous segments,
internalizes this notion of lapse. By presenting the cycle of violence in its entirety, the very
structure of the film conflates the motif of miscommunication with the violent tragedy of its plot.
As a result, the full story reflects not only upon the cycle itself but more fully examines the
attitudes and actions that generate and perpetuate such cycles.
Yet, here the story extends beyond even this dimension of the narrative, extending to the
role of the viewer as a receiving, constructing agent. Because of the discontinuous nature of the
narrative, characters often do not come to see the causes of circumstances or the effects of their
actions. Even Aleksander, who defends Zamira in a moment of clarity, does not see the girls
bloody fate. If the lack of communication fuels violence, then clarity of message and
interpersonal connection arises as the solution. Because no characters can arrive at such a
position, the audience alone has access to the full progression of events, to both sides of each
communication barrier. When characters within the film fail to connect, the viewer registers their
attempts. By watching the cycle of violence develop alongside these attempts to form
relationships, the viewer achieves a privileged position of understanding of the relationship
between intention and result. As a result, the story expands beyond the confines of the films
events. It includes the metanarrative of cyclical violence, but it reaches beyond this. Here, the
very concept of the films story is not contained in the film events alone, but instead requires a
view of the film as a whole, singular unit. While all films suppose, at some level, a hypothetical
viewer, Before the Rain incorporates the necessity of an outside observer into its very structure,
extending its thematic concerns as a spectator-bound communiqu.
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The plots of both Pulp Fiction and Before the Rain subvert linear cause and effect
structures, instead opting for an alternative construction of film time. Each divides its narrative
into discrete, titled episodes that, in and of themselves, proceed along familiar, straightforward
timelines. Yet, the films each subsequentially configure these story-units into narratives that, in
one way or another, defy any expectations of regular progression. In Before the Rain, links
between episodes insist upon the order of events as presented, resisting the notion that the
narrative can be simply reshuffled to make linear sense. These links, in tandem with the plots
overall organization, engender a truly cyclical narrative. Pulp Fiction takes scenes out of
chronological order, instead arranging them according to a rise in emotional tension. In both
films, the specific time structure facilitates an expansion of the full story beyond the confines of
explicit narrative events. In Pulp Fiction, a theme of salvation and redemption arises only as a
product of resonance between outwardly disparate story threads, culminating in the final
transformation of Jules. In Before the Rain, viewing overall cyclical structure as a whole
produces a meta-narrative that mediates upon the nature of violent cycles and their perpetuation,
ultimately calling out to the spectator to emerge with a privileged understanding. By virtue of
their alternative structures, both of these films broach topics larger than the characters within.
Each also expands the notion of story, tying it inexorably to the specific structure of the film and
expanding it beyond the basic events on-screen. In sum, these films echo one another, but
ultimately the innovations in each suggest the essential dynamicity unlocked by alternative film
structures.


Word count: 2464 words

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Works Cited
Before the Rain. Dir. Milcho Manchevsky. British Screen Productions, 1994. Film.
Kallas, Christina. Creative Screenwriting. Trans. John William Howard. Palgrave Macmillan:
New York. 2010.
Kallas, Christina. The Multi-Protagonist Film. Columbia University, New York. October 8,
2013. Lecture.
Manchevsky, Milcho. Before the Rain. Film script, 1993.
Pope, Thomas. Pulp Fiction Good Scripts, Bad Scripts: Learning the Craft of Screenwriting
through the 25 Best and Worst Films in History. New York: Three Rivers, 1998. 40-51.
Pulp Fiction. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Miramax, 1994. Film. a