Head On
At the opening of the film we see a motorcar heading in the opposite direction of soldiers and citizens upon a country road. Tom and Viv are inside the care. The imagery tells us that while the world was moving in one direction, Tom and Viv were going the opposite.
Ocean
Gilbert uses a cut from Viv's father and mother to the ocean, then cuts to Tom and Viv on their honeymoon. The imagery shows that while they are seemingly an ocean apart that they all are experiencing troubles in a deep way.
Family
Tom and Viv have dinner with her parents, and Viv expects it to not go well. She ends up alone after an incident at dinner, but Tom winds up having drinks with the rest of the family and entertaining them. To her surprise, Viv finds him doing this. The imagery shows that she feels less apart of her family than Tom is at this moment.
Behind Bars
Tom has close two sets of bars in order to ride the elevator down from the radio station he was reading his poetry on air for. The imagery of him closing the gates upon himself as the elevator travels down shows us that he has imposed this metaphorical prison upon himself in his marriage to Viv in order to keep his creative genius alive.
