After a year-long hiatus, Florence Welch has emerged with an enchanting tale of her personal struggle with love, her strained familial and romantic relationships, and how she overcame these obstacles while battling her own inner demons. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (for short, HBHBHB) exemplifies the trials that Florence went through to come out of the tunnel of suffering and reach back into the light as a newfound boundless energy with a wiser spirit.
Although listening to HBHBHB is an emotional whirlwind in itself, something more was needed to fully encapsulate the deeper meaning behind it. Therefore, Florence and the Machine decided that a visual representation called The Odyssey Film,would capture the true essence of the album. It was directed by Vincent Haycock. Hancock described the film as "Florence's personal journey to find herself again after the emotional storm of a heartbreak. Like the layers of Dante's purgatory, each song or chapter represents a battle that Florence traversed and physical landscape that embodied each song or story."
So, why call it the Odyssey? Named after one of the two major Greek epic poems by Homer, in short, follows the the Greek hero Odysseus and his journey home after the fall of Troy. Odysseus takes ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it was assumed he died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus deal with a group of unruly suitors who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage. In Greek, "Odysseus" means "trouble," referring to both the giving and receiving of trouble—as is often is the case in his wandering throughout the tale. Reemerging themes throughout the "Odyssey" include: homecoming,wandering,guest-friendships,testing, and omens.
These archetypes are also portrayed visibly and textually within Florence's The Odyssey Film. But, instead, Florence is our Odysseus.
The film begins with a clear division between two landscapes, the hillside range and the cityscape. The cityscape represents Florence's present—the hustle and bustle of being on the road and being famous. However, the hills present us with Florence's past self who she wants to go back too—the free-wandering and passionate spirit of her inner youth. Yet, although there is this clear division, what really divides these two worlds is that between them is a need for salvation. This is represented by the zooming in on the cross in the middle of the frame. Florence is lost between the now and then and needs to go through her own personal journey,similar to Odysseus, to be saved from herself.
The next scene introduces the first guest-friendship—Florence's romantic partner. A guest-friendship in Homer's "Odyssey" represented characters that would come and go throughout the journey. Each guest-friendship represents how a friend should and should not act. Although this guest-friendship is a romantic partner for Florence, he still represents how a toxic relationship was forming.
Obviously, body language is a first marker that this guest-friendship isn't particularly a positive one. However, what's most significant to understanding this relationship is the scene with Florence and her partner in the car. Florence was having a "bad dream" the night before, and her partner states,"I thought it wasn't my place to take you out of that place, that suffering..." in defense to not waking her up. Florence replies, "So you let me suffer?" and camera switches back to her looking out towards the dark and stormy sky.
Challenging him further, Florence states "So, you think that people who suffer together would be more connected than the people who are content?" and he nods his head. Florence also says "But what if they are creating the disaster, within themselves?" followed by uncomfortable laughter shared between her and her partner. By having the scenes shown throughout this conversation show the different stages of the relationship, but each show them with a good amount of distance from each other. Even in scenes that are supposed to be more intimate, they barely are connected to one another—then enters in the first song of the album "What Kind Of Man."
"What Kind Of Man" presents us with the characteristics of the relationship. Ultimately, Florence is left to fend for herself, and every time she tries to draw nearer to him she is pushed away. The relationship, particularly represented from the scene where she is surrounded by the men,the moment she looks one of them in eyes—an attempt to connect—the men turn their backs to her. The only physical connection she gets from them are being pushed around, trapped but specifically with her partner, he leans against her and they fall into together. Their isn't a solid foundation to hold them both up.
"How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" is the connecting scene. With no background music, all you hear is Florence's raw voice with scenes of her walking across a bridge accompanied by her being cleansed in the ocean. Typically, scenes where one is being dragged to the water represent being blessed and stripped of all that was toxic inside them. It's ritualistic, in a sense, and also connects to the cross from the beginning of the film—Florence is being baptized, reborn again from a circle of older women.
Following the title track is the song "St Jude." But, who was St Jude? If we follow the Catholic/Christian archetypes throughout the film, he was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. While his name is similar to the traitor Judas Iscariot (the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his cruxification), he was named "Patron Saint of Lost Causes." This meant that because his name was so close to the traitor, Judas, that only true and faithful Catholics would pray for his intervention, and St Jude would be eager to help them because he is so little used. Basically, St Jude was so eager to spread the love of Christ, he would intervene immediately for the most troubling cases.
So, why would Florence devote a whole song to him? Florence needs someone to help her get out of this cyclic and toxic relationship where she is forgotten and pushed away. She has lost herself within the storm of her partner and has to find her pieces again. Who better yet to call than St Jude, who specifically will help those who are "lost causes"?
As I mentioned in the beginning, Homer's Odyssey did follow a significant amount of themes throughout. One of the themes were omens. In Homer's Odyssey, the most reoccurring omen was the presence of birds followed by a wish. In Odysseus's case, the wish was always to return back to his home. In Florence's Odyssey, the omen is the cross followed by the wish for salvation, the riddance of her demons. Which, brings us to the next song, "Ship to Wreck." Even though Florence swore she wouldn't write anymore songs about water, we sure have a lot of allusions to storms and the sea.
The most striking scene from this section of the film is the one with the red lighting. The scene shows two versions of Florence, both violent in their own right but one of them is more tender than the other. They both fight with each other, pulling themselves over off of her partner. Florence has stated in various interviews that this album was the closest to reality, while her other albums stuck to a more whimsical sound and feel. This scene in particularly represented the madness that she had felt throughout the relationship and most importantly—battling the conflicting duality within herself. Each of the scenes throughout this song represent differing personas within her and how each of them cause utter chaos.
"Queen of Peace" brings us back to the hills in the opening scene. The part of Florence that she wants to reconnect with is her young spirit, but even that is conflicted. In this chapter, Florence is trying to reconnect with her young self, but also her family. Not only is there chaos within her own spirit, but also her family is fighting between each other. How can she make peace within herself, while also needing to be the mediator between her family members?
This introduces the other guest-friendships—her familial ties. But, the difference of her relationship with her family is that they do respond to her pleas—yet her young spirit wants to run away with her partner. In the ending scene, Florence and her romantic partner are surrounded by her family members that are screaming at her. Obviously, they have some disapproval towards her partner. She even has a clear division to an older woman, possibly her mother, looking out at this fight from a window inside a building. This relationship with her partner has also caused tension within her family, and it's not supposed to be a pretty love story.
The connecting force of chapter seven, "Long and Lost," is a voice-over, but what really is important is when they say "You cannot love and live." Florence is finally separated with her partner, and returns back "home" to her family. However, she still has the spirit that was developed in her relationship. She pushes them away when she gets close to them again. But, Florence knows this is where she belongs and where she will become herself again as she states, "It's been so long between the words we spoke/Will you be there up on the shore, I hope/You wonder why it is that I came home/I figured out where I belong." However, it may be too late for her to come home, considering the bridges between them have "turned to stone." Perhaps she has to find herself, without going back to her past. She must renew herself.
In the connecting scene, "Mother," an older gentlemen says to Florence, "You think you have lost your faith, but you have not. You have only misplaced your faith. And, you can find it, right now, lying deep in your soul, and the way to do that is through the simple process of love. Love yourself, forgive yourself. You can't love and forgive other people, if you don't fist of all love and forgive yourself. You have to realize that people are fallible beings, they make mistakes. They have to be excused for making mistakes and be allowed to continue on into their quest for a good life and purpose. So love yourself, and love other people. Please forgive yourself. Go on a journey to find love and forgiveness." Followed by the beginning of "Delilah" which is the song that finally talks specifically about Florence's journey back to herself—but with a slight twist.
But who is Delilah? Florence alludes to the tale of Delilah and Samson from the Bible. Specifically, when she is cutting her new partner's hair similarly to this depiction of Delilah cutting Samson's hair, circa 1460.
Finally, we have reached the last chapter of Florence's Odyssey, where she truly does find herself again through "Third Eye." She has reached the perhaps spiritual awakening that she has alluded to throughout the film. Or, maybe she has finally found her "original lifeline." She has finally put her pain on the mantle, so she won't forget the trials she went through. Florence ends The Odyssey by making herself back on stage with the mantra "I'm the same, I'm the same, and I'm trying to change." The crowd is cheering for her, and she has made it back from her journey, to find her fans waiting for her back home.
Want to watch the masterpiece for yourself,without my analytic commentary?
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