Movies - List of films with unexposed contents

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	Movies - List of films with unexposed contents

Unexposed contents is a film device originally used primarily in Avant-garde film but that has penetrated into the mainstream during the 1980s and 1990s. A container is shown by the author/director, but the contents are intentionally never revealed. Alternatively, an important door may be shown but never opened. The technique is used to stir curiosity in the audience and to create ambiguity. Unlike a red herring or a MacGuffin, the contents may be important to the characters, the plot and possibly the audience, despite the fact that the viewer never finds out. Directors who commonly use unexposed contents include David Lynch and Luis Bunuel.

This is a list of films in which containers whose insides are never revealed appear.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) Several times it is mentioned that Pedro de Ursua has his fist clenched around an object that he never lets go of. (We also see his clenched fist.) Even when he is hanged, his fist remains shut.
Barton Fink
(1991) Charlie gives Barton a small paper package to look after, but later admits that it doesn't belong to him. Although Barton holds onto the package until the end of the film, he never opens it.
Belle de jour
(1967) A large Asian client at the brothel carries a box that emits a strange clicking noise. The protagonist gets a glimpse but not the audience. The implication seems sexual. It may be a reference to the strange box in Luis Bunuel's earlier Un Chien Andalou.
Kiss Me Deadly
(1955) The plot surrounds a large box that emits bright light and heat when its lid is partially lifted. It is probably supposed to be some radioactive material, but that is never explicitly said. It bursts into flame or explodes during the ending.
Last Tango in Paris
(1972) There is a secret compartment hidden in the floor of Paul's apartment. Although Jeanne wants to peak inside, they never open it.
Millennium Actress
(2001) Chiyoko Fujiwara is given a key when she meets a thief and rebel in her youth. She keeps the key her whole life (losing it for several years), but she never discovers what it was meant to unlock.
Mulholland Dr. (2001) A blue key and box are brought up in the film within a fairly abstract structure. It is unclear whether the impossibly deep darkness inside the blue box actually contains a parallel universe, the real world or something else. It is also unclear whether it contains anything at all, or if it is a merely a filmic device used to cut between sequences.
Pulp Fiction
(1994) Jules and Vincent are sent to retreive a case that was stolen. We never see the contents, but they glow. Popular speculation claims that it contains the diamonds that are stolen in Reservoir Dogs
, or Marcellus Wallace's soul, the band-aids on the back of his head covering the wound through which it was removed.
Repo Man
(1984) The trunk of a 1964 Chevy Malibu contains some sort of glowing alien item (as in Leila's photo). It is never shown, but it vaporizes anyone who sees it.
The Return
(2003) The father digs up a box near the end of the film and places it under the seat of the rowboat. The boat sinks without the box ever being opened for the audience.
Ronin
(1998) The plot surrounds an extremely valuable brushed aluminum case whose contents are never revealed.

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