Katia Khodr | Staff Writer

Submarine (2010) is a coming-of-age indie film directed by Richard Ayoade and based on Joe Dunthorne’s novel. Set in Wales, the story revolves around Oliver Tate, an introspective and rather socially awkward boy navigating the complexities of young adulthood. Oliver is infatuated with Jordana Bevan, a rebellious classmate with whom he begins a relationship. As their romance unfolds, Oliver also grapples with his parents’ strained marriage, his father Lloyd’s depression, and his mother Jill’s burgeoning connection with her ex-lover Graham. The film explores themes of love, adolescence, and self-discovery through Oliver’s whimsical perspective, striking nothing but absurd humor and situational irony. Soundtracking this film is Arctic Monkeys’ lead singer, Alex Turner, with Submarine being his debut solo EP. Fitting the unadulterated feel of the film, Turner wrote the EP in 2009 while strumming an acoustic guitar in his home in New York City. Each of the six tracks on Submarine provides narrative continuity, character development, and nostalgia, all of which only saturate the inane rationale of Oliver’s character. 

“Most people think of themselves as individuals, that there’s no one on the planet like them. This thought motivates them to get out of bed, eat food, and walk around like nothing’s wrong. My name is Oliver Tate.” (00:00:51). And then, “Stuck on a puzzle (intro)” plays. This is the first track of Turner’s EP for this film, played over still shots of countryside landscapes, like the hill on which Oliver’s house sits and the shores where Oliver’s memories will be made. It is a simple romanticization of mundane realism and a foreshadowing of Oliver’s puzzling character and fascination with Jordana’s unpopularity and mystique.

“Hiding tonight” is seamlessly woven into the film’s storyline as it is made to be a track on Lloyd’s playlist, starting when Oliver presses the play button on the radio. Instead of igniting a fire himself, Turner entrusts the task to the lady in red, Jordana, and her trusty red matchbox. With his mellow voice, it almost seems like he melts the ice in her and Oliver’s hearts, as the montage is the first genuine romance we see between the two on screen. In addition to the fact that the track plays off of Lloyd’s playlist, the nostalgia of the track comes from Turner’s music style, influenced by 1960s rock and blues, particularly in his guitar-driven sound. This second track plays over Jordana, who loves the fire, and Oliver, who loves the water. They sit by the water as she burns his leg hairs. There is an ironic calm that comes with nostalgic sounds playing over scenes of slow-motion explosives, chases, and hair burning. The montage of their youthful, simple love and the ‘film within a film’ production “TWO WEEKS OF LOVEMAKING” implies a temporariness noted by Lloyd. More significantly, the addition of the track within Oliver’s world and on Oliver’s production echoes Lloyd’s “I think music can make things seem a bit more real, sometimes” (00:23:53).

Further into the film, as Oliver’s obnoxious classmates encourage him to leave Jordana, Turner’s voice infiltrates again with “Glass in the park”. This time, the track is not part of the storyline but part of the narrative and character development. As narrated in the lyrics, Oliver wants to become a caretaker for Jordana, metaphorically cleaning up the glass so that Jordana does not get hurt. The park being the setting of the track and of the scene implies youthful, childlike giddiness. To “the man on the moon,” Oliver, Jordana becomes his Parcelene woman. The film cuts the track short, however, signifying somewhat of a hiatus soon to come in Oliver and Jordana’s relationship. The track, in its full glory, remains on the album for those who want to relive the film as Oliver does his imagination. 

Similar to “Hiding tonight”, “It’s hard to get around the wind” plays at Oliver’s press of the play button but is instead a bit more bleak and a part of Jordana’s breakup playlist. The lyrics echo the overall theme of grappling with the inevitability of accepting things beyond our control. Oliver is almost always expressionless, rationalizing every problem that comes his way in his narration of the story. Like many of us, he resists confrontation, and with his avoidant style, he struggles to “get around the wind” and the inevitability of sadness and the internal frustration of heartbreak. As Turner ingeniously puts it, “But as long as you still keep peppering the pill, you’ll find a way to spit it out again.”

It is established that Oliver is ambivalent, tentative, vacillating, and any other possible synonym for uncertain that a thesaurus might give you. Throughout the film, he fails to control or resolve any of the dilemmas surrounding him, whether it be his parent’s marriage or his commitment to Jordana. One thing, though, that our blue Oliver does know is the depth of the ocean—six miles. Urging Jordana to ask him, “How deep is the ocean?” becomes his way of redeeming himself as they stand by the low-tide afternoon shore. Funnily enough, Graham’s character becomes something of a motif for Oliver, to be mystic and “just stand under those waves and let them do their business, and then get a towel and bloody dry yourself off and go about your day” (00:48:54). Turner comes in just about there, as the waves hit the calves of Oliver and Jordana with “Piledriver Waltz.” The juxtaposition of the title itself, a type of wrestling move or a powerful construction tool, and an elegant dance reflects the dichotomy of Oliver’s emotions, which he struggles to process throughout the film. Turner’s closing number here becomes a reflection of the intensity and unpredictability of love, the longing for connection, and the most heartening three minutes and twenty-five seconds that could soundtrack the resolution of a film. Submarine evokes a sense of desolation and weightlessness, creating an intimate listening experience that can feel bittersweet, depending on the listener’s interpretation. Turner aimed to craft songs for Oliver, and as Oliver, that capture the essence of love and the intensity of adolescent emotions, when feelings of bliss can overwhelm and the outside world fades into insignificance.