‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’: Trailer Analysis

"We Need to Talk about Kevin" is a psychological thriller which explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilda Swinton plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing wickedness of her first-born child, Kevin.

The beginning of the trailer is very misleading as it presents the film in a utopian state. Buddy Holly’s song, ‘Everyday’ plays as the audience watch a series of shots of the family together. However, the turning point of the film is when we hear the non-diegetic sound of a baby’s cries. The crying of the baby is heard over a shot of the mother and father suggesting that their relationship is doomed from the moment of the baby’s birth. The music lyrics suddenly become darkly ironic and foreshadowing of the characters fate; “Everyday it's a-gettin' closer, goin' faster than a rollercoaster” suggests their lives are quickly leading up to a significant event that can’t be prevented.

Many of the shots used to present the mother and son are either deeply distressing or emphasise the distance between the two. The music that is now heard consists of violins that play a continuous monotone note conveying the films psychological thriller genre.

The film trailer informs the audience that the film may not be set out in chronological order because it shows a variety of stages in Kevin’s life. A shot of the sixteen

year old Kevin is used with a narration by the five year old Kevin. He states “Just because you’re used to something doesn’t mean you like it; you’re used to me”. This quote suggests there is a serious conflict between mother and son.

A variety of close up and extreme close up shots are used when presenting the sixteen year old Kevin, this could suggest to the audience that there is some kind of darkness and evil festering inside him. A prolonged extreme close up of Kevin’s eyes is used to allow the audience to notice the target’s reflected in them, this hints at the idea of Kevin being potentially dangerous and predatory.

The trailer includes a lot of the colour red; the tomato scene at the beginning causes the audience to take a second look because at first glance the tomatoes can easily

be mistaken for blood, this could be foreboding of the events to follow. Red paint can be seen splashed across the mother’s house suggesting she is a target for vandalism and the red soup cans on the shelf behind her in the store suggests that she lives a repetitive and disconnected lifestyle.