The HBO show “Euphoria” has undoubtedly taken the world by storm, myself included. In fact, every Sunday night while season two aired, I locked myself in my room and watched each episode alone in the dark. And you know what, I feel no shame. You can’t blame me; I had to make sure I absorbed every single moment!
Regardless, it would be a lie to say that I didn’t spend countless hours scouring the internet for behind-the-scenes footage, interviews from the cast, or moments that I missed after each episode. “Euphoria” has a way of sucking viewers into the storyline so deeply that it’s almost impossible to shake off each character’s emotions or get the soundtrack out of your head once an episode ends. I mean, the word Euphoria in and of itself has come to encompass so much more than the show alone
Dozens of different elements contribute to the show’s unparalleled electric vibe. The writing and direction of Sam Levinson serve as the backbone of the entire show, for starters. Levinson is also a recovered drug addict himself. The complexity of each character makes no one feel insignificant to the plotline either; their contrasting wardrobe and makeup take on much deeper meanings as well.
It would also be absurd to ignore the soundtrack, which truly gave it wings. It’s hard to imagine the show without its sporadic yet somehow cohesive soundtrack, not to mention Labrinth’s original songs.
Still, amongst all the other aspects that make the show so captivating, it is the cinematography and visual appeal that make “Euphoria” so uniquely… “Euphoria.”
Marcell Rév, the show’s cinematographer, creates beautifully aesthetic images using color and technique. To make the show feel as authentic as possible, he focuses on emotional realism rather than physical realism. Each shot perfectly complements each character’s dialogue and emotions. To understand a mere sliver of the cinematography, let’s look at four of the most visually iconic moments from season one. (spoilers ahead!)
Episode 1: Rotating Room
The first party scene in “Euphoria” is CHALK FULL of action. It’s when we see Rue meeting Jules, Fez’s kindheartedness, Maddy and Tyler doing… that… in the pool, McKay’s feelings for Cassie, Nate’s explosive anger issues, blah, blah, blah.
The most mind-boggling moment of the episode is when Rue comes out of the bathroom after feeding her addiction and walks into the hallway. To mirror the disorientation and confusion that she is experiencing due to her high, the hallway completely rotates around her while other party-goers remain unaffected.
Marcell Rév achieved the shot with a hallway set built on a custom gimbal. As Rue (Zendaya) walked into the hallway, the bathroom set broke away, and the room rotated around her while she remained in the frame. The extras were even strapped to the ground and flipped upside down to avoid the need for digital effects!
The shot seamlessly captures the instability in Rue as a character. It makes sense why Levinson incorporated this moment into the pilot episode: to establish a relationship between Rue, her addiction, and the audience. This kind of ingenuity and attention to detail makes “Euphoria” so worthy of the praise it has received!
Episode 2: Rue Fighting Leslie
Like every other episode of “Euphoria,” episode two is packed with intricacy and complexity in both the characters’ individual plotlines and the show as a whole. Most importantly, this episode gives us our first look at the extreme tension between Rue and her mom, Leslie. Unsurprisingly, every confrontation is rooted in Rue’s addiction.
During a fight, Leslie accuses Rue of drug abuse, and Rue, being the frustratingly unreliable and dishonest character she is, denies it. The heated conversation quickly blows up into a physical altercation that ends in Rue threatening Leslie with a shard of broken glass.
Throughout a cinematic montage depicting Rue’s family, Marcell Rév intertwined shots of the fight with her mom and her drug abuse. Ironically, the scene is accompanied by Bobby Womack’s upbeat “Fly Me To The Moon,” adding to the masterful contrast between each shot.
This scene is a stark contrast to the rest of the show. “Euphoria” is known for its long flowing shots and soft blue and purple lighting. During intense interactions between characters, the camera moves sporadically and the coloring is harsh and muted.
What makes the scene even more authentic is that it was entirely improvised. Neither Zendaya (Rue) nor Nika King (Leslie) was prepared to stretch to such extreme lengths to achieve the realistic confrontation we see on screen. The scene became so intense that Zendaya left the set feeling physically ill while Sam Levinson literally broke down in tears after calling “cut.” In fact, Nika King nearly ran into the camera when Zendaya pointed the piece of glass at her. Why? It was REAL!
Episode 4: Carnival *chef’s kiss*
The cinematography in episode four is deserving of an entirely separate article. The aesthetic colors, fluid shots, dialogue, soundtrack, and general messiness make it one of the most memorable episodes of the entire show, including season two! Who hasn’t seen the image of Rue standing in front of the Ferris wheel with glitter under her eyes?
For your reading pleasure and my sanity, let’s only unpack the single most intricate shot of the episode: the carnival. The introduction to the carnival is a long, continuous shot that bounces from character to character without any noticeable cuts. The cameras twist around corners and weave between carnival-goers, fixating on different conversations as it goes along.
Since “Euphoria” is usually fast-paced, it is easy to forget that each character’s plotline intertwines with everyone else’s. Scenes including every character interacting with each other are sprinkled throughout the show and are crucial to its cohesiveness.
Marcell Rév described the carnival as “dreamy but based in reality;” each scene is the product of extensive attention to detail and intricacy. The crew of “Euphoria” built the entire set from the ground up to make room for the tracks and cranes used to position cameras perfectly. The final product is a cinematic masterpiece that is definitely worth a watch.
Episode 8: Rue’s Relapse
Here’s another scene that warrants much more attention to detail than I’m about to provide you, but alas, we will proceed. Rue relapses after staying clean for three months in the final scene of season one. The lead-up to this moment is anxiety-inducing, consisting of Rue and Jules’ escape plan, Cassie’s abortion, Fez’s robbery, and more. Regardless, Sam Levinson decided to abandon the idea of a “happy ending” and closed the season with a scene emotional enough to leave his viewers in shambles. Yay!
To capture the gravity of Rue’s situation and set up for season two, Levinson threw physical realism out the window to tap into the emotional side of addiction with‒you guessed it‒a hard-hitting, fully choreographed musical number! Wait… what?
Let me explain. Rue’s relapse is one of the most pivotal moments of the show. To accurately capture the devastation and chaos of this moment, Levinson heavily utilized music, metaphors, wardrobe, and unsurprisingly, excellent cinematography. His ingenuity is proof that dialogue alone is not enough to make audiences connect with an on-screen character regardless of their own lives.
In the words of Sam Levinson himself, “I knew where Rue was headed and I knew what was going to happen, but it felt like in some ways seeing her relapse felt dark to me in a way that doesn’t fully encapsulate the cycle and the madness of addiction — how you’re thrown back into it and thrown out of it and it’s dizzying and at times beautiful but also really…terrifying.”
The scene shows Rue being tossed around by hundreds of people, all showered with glitter and wrapped in her signature color: maroon. The music and the choreography continue to build as Rue climbs a mountain of people, only to fall out of the frame the second she reaches the top.
While recounting his creative process, Sam Levinson told the Hollywood Reporter, “I think the idea is in the back and forth of Rue getting shoved towards this mountain of bodies and the metaphor of that, and what it means to be an addict…It came together in a way that was more emotional than I ever anticipated.”
The emotions evoked by watching “Euphoria” are the result of masterful music composition, engaging storylines, flawed characters, and excellent cinematography. However, “Euphoria” is packed with dozens of moments that can be picked apart to reveal much deeper meanings than aesthetics alone. All of this to say that if you haven’t yet given “Euphoria” a watch, I HIGHLY recommend it!
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