Top Of The Lake title Sequences BY Leonie Savvides

Designed by Leonie Savvides, the main titles play like a dollhouse version of Lars von Trier’sAntichrist, as well they might, considering their shared DNA: rage against the patriarchy, foreboding forest creatures, and a color palette washed of all happiness.

The opening image is a sight of the titular lake, based on a painting by Séraphine Pick. It’s a calm but sickly image; you can drink it in without immediately succumbing to its creepiness. The sky glows faintly bilious, and the lake reflects a cool, mildewed blue-green receding around dangerously steep mountains that trap all the light in the middle, surrounding the scene in darkness.

Pick’s work is the stuff of nightmares, relying heavily on prone bodies and aggressive disfigurement, bringing menace to otherwise familiar situations. At least one of her paintings seems to be a stylistic influence on the miniseries itself: a depiction of three women dancing naked in a field not unlike GJ’s commune. Pick’s contribution to the opening is a natural fit.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/top-of-the-lakes-opening-titles-perfectly-capture,100140/