At Land, Maya Deren (1944)

The film follows an entranced woman who curiously explores a bizarre and shape-shifting landscape. The woman, who initially finds herself washed up on the shores of a desolate beach, begins by climbing up a dead tree to suddenly and impossibly find herself crawling across a long corporate office table. The way Deren splices the office scene and images of her crawling through the twigs and brush give the illusion that the corporate scene is found in nature and is just as well part of the natural landscape. The faceless business men ignore her squirming across the table as they chat and play chess. The fact that the corporate office is, in the contorted space of the film, the highest physical point we can derive some sense that the men are a “higher power” and that their chess game is a metaphor for a godlike control of mortals down below.
When one pawn from chess board slips from her hands into the water, it becomes her mission to find it for the remainder of the film. Symbolically it seems that the woman IS this wandering lost pawn in an abstract realm; she is the naïve and vulnerable female navigating her way through a masculine world.
When a lone man leads her to an empty house, it seems that he is introducing her to a place where she can feel safe and belong: the domestic space. As she gazes about the space with wonder she is quickly repulsed to find an old man lying on the ground in a white bed sheets. As the two silently stare at one another for a long while, it is unclear whether the man expects something of her (for her to tend to him in some way) or just wants her to get out. She does not find purpose there and leaves.
When she reunites with the chess board on the beach, the game is being played by two women. The protagonist strangely decides to distract the women from their game by massaging their heads. Her act does not seem entirely manipulative, however, as all three women smile and become completely enthralled by this act of physical touch and connection. When the woman obtains the pawn once again she run down the beach victoriously, passing several other copies of herself on the way.
Possession of the pawn liberates the woman from confusion and grief. She has control over her destiny once again and the lingering happiness bestowed on her by the women chess-players. The second chess game reminds the protagonist that there are numerous ways of perceiving and that no single set of man-gods dictate the laws of the universe. Women have a stake in things as well and are freer to enjoy earthly pleasures.