This scene is framed entirely from outside the house on purpose. After the flashback cuts out, we land on Lena from the other side of the window, and this change in viewpoint is meant to feel like someone else is watching her. The camera placement reads as a surveillance angle. It is aesthetic, but it is also meant to imply the demon’s presence without showing him. The bars of the window are shaped and spaced to resemble cage hatching, so even though we are outside, she still reads as trapped behind a structure she cannot leave.
The angle itself comes from my Resident Evil research. Earlier shots use Dutch angles to show instability and possession, but here I push it much harder. It is too steep to be a normal Dutch angle, and that exaggeration is intentional. Because it is an exterior shot, I can break the rules a bit more. It sells the feeling that this angle does not belong to any human viewpoint.
The fire she creates is the first moment where flames fill the entire scene. Up until now, she has only reacted to the world. She has not changed anything about it. Here she actually alters her environment. The warmth of the fire sharply contrasts the cold palette of the previous scenes and marks the beginning of her agency. In the flashback she was a helpless newborn with no control over her fate. Now she is setting something in motion herself, even if she is too young to understand the consequences.
She turns immediately when the cat calls her and walks away from the fire. That choice matters. We stay outside while she exits the frame, leaving the fire to burn without her. It forces the viewer to imagine the outcome and pushes a sense of dread forward into the next scene. We are left with the question: how quickly is this going to escalate, and how unsafe is she now that she is capable of affecting the world in her own way?
The shot is also meant to subtly remind the audience that the demon has already demonstrated control over windows earlier in the film. Showing her from the outside again reinforces that idea, even if nothing supernatural happens in this particular moment. It sets a foundation for later when the demon uses a window directly to break into the scene.