An experimental narrative expkor union and rite of passage as relates to the idea of wedlock, or marriage.

A bride is prepared for her wedding night, shown as a metaphorical marriage, taking place in darkness. Her passage is aided by three women who physically prepare her body for the initiation with the use of oil, flowers, honey and water.

Wed/lock takes place in an orchard of fruit trees in full bloom. The white blossoms reference the bridal veil and the potential of budding fruit.

The film opens with hands performing actions that are specifically associated with women or “women’s work.” The actions illustrate the idea of joining or bringing together two disparate elements, a concept which is emblematic of the marriage that will take place at the end of the film.

Before the bride is prepared, we see her alone in a state of waiting or repose in the orchard. She is passive, inactive. We hear a voice over speaking the definition of “wait” and at the end of this, we see a close-up of her mouth and eyes closing. 

The word ‘mysteries’ comes from the word muein, which means “to close both eyes and mouth” referring to the secrecy surrounding mysteries or ceremonies and to the closure required of the initiate (ref. Elysian mysteries).

As the bride’s body is prepared, she appears as a corpse. This scene plays with the idea of the marriage rite also being a kind of death, the death of the bride’s former self. In this way, wedding is synonymous with funeral. This conceptually talks about the idea that when women enter into marriage, they experience a loss of self or identity, as seen in the loss of their name or, in archaic tradition, loss of tribal membership, personal ownership and property rights (ref. coverture laws).

In the final scene, the bride’s body is in dynamic relationship with the darkness. As the light glows from inside the womb-like form her body and the veil make, she is offered or opened to the space that surrounds her. As the root word in matrimony is mater or mother, this darkness or “motherness” represents the bride’s own selfhood that she is now married to.