10 Unexpected Inspirations Behind Movie Scenes

By far one of the most memorable and unsettling scenes in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is the nightmare sequence in which Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) sees a vision of his dead wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) turning to ash in his arms, Dolores having died in a fire previously.

The scene has some unexpected influence indeed: two of them, in fact.

Firstly, Dolores' ashen figure and hollowed-out back are reminiscent of two figures from Scandic folklore: the forest creatures Skogsrå and Huldra, whose backs also resemble hollowed-out trees.

And then there's the striking visual of Teddy holding Dolores as she turns to ash: it's extremely similar to Gustav Klimt's early 20th century painting The Kiss. Both the pose and Dolores' yellow dress are very clearly staged and framed the same way.

Though Scorsese clearly has one of the keenest eyes in the business, even he isn't above borrowing from evocative works of art that preceded him.