Talk Part Four: Gardens & The Gothic Cinematic Gardens and the Subconscious : Nature, Symbolism, and the Psyche on Film

Cinematic Gardens and the Subconscious : Nature, Symbolism, and the Psyche on Film

Throughout the history of cinema, gardens, parks, courtyards, and other green spaces have served as far more than just settings or backdrops. They have been places where desires, fears, and fantasies unfold—spaces where characters search for meaning, whether in peaceful sanctuaries or mysterious, maze-like landscapes. These environments often present a contrast between carefully maintained nature shaped by human hands and wild, untamed areas, highlighting the tension between order and chaos.

From the walled garden in The Secret Garden (1993), a reflection of grief and self-discovery, to the suburban lawns in Broken Flowers (2005) signaling social status, the opulent château gardens in Last Year at Marienbad (1961) that warp time and memory, the colonial plots in The New World (2005) revealing power dynamics between settlers and Indigenous peoples, or the stylized Japanese garden-turned-battlefield in Kill Bill (2003)—cinematic gardens have long mirrored deeper social realities and emotional states, acting as open windows into the unconscious.

This lecture series, designed for film lovers and garden enthusiasts alike, explores the role and symbolism of gardens in cinema across four themes: Gardens & Power, Gardens & Love, Gardens & Crime, and Gardens & The Gothic.

Part Four : Gardens & The Gothic (20/06)

In films that blend fantasy and horror, gardens often adopt a distinctly Gothic quality, becoming liminal spaces where rational order unravels, and the subconscious takes hold.

In Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010), a bizarre garden overflowing with giant plants and surreal creatures, mirrors Alice’s struggle with identity and belonging. Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) entwines a woodland maze with the brutal historical reality of Francoist Spain, weaving supernatural elements into the horrors of war seen through the eyes of a child, and Edward Scissorhands (1990) uses elaborate topiaries to reflect the protagonist’s fragile sense of self as an outsider in suburban America.

Beyond these enchanting yet unsettling visions, horror cinema takes the concept even further. In Pet Sematary (1989), a seemingly ordinary burial plot distorts the notion of laying loved ones to rest, hinting at a sinister bond between life, death, and the earth itself, and Annihilation (2018) showcases distorted, mutated plant life, drifting between mesmerizing beauty and existential horror.

This conference is organized in the framework of LUGA - Luxembourg Urban Garden.