μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

 

Might the final line of the previous post recall 13:54?

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Cinematic Reading of Poetry

 

Scandebat roseo medii fastigia caeli

Luna iugo, totis ubi somnus inertior alis

defluit in terras mutumque amplectitur orbem :

 

Achilleid, 619–621.

 

Dunkirk (2017) (for example), like so many first-rate narratives, produces wondrous thematic effects through a stacking up of simultaneous resonances as the story progresses.

 

The reading of first-rate poetry is a similar engagement. Reading, in this sense, is not exclusively about absorbing word after word to piece together a syntactic sentence. No. Just as the incoming data from a film frame communicates much more than simply the obvious, so the Reading of first-rate poetry grows in complexity (in what may be thought by the casual Reader as a curious procedure) on the way through the syntactic sentence to “general meaning”.

 

For example : the above lines from Statius are about the rosy moon rising in the night. roseo : the two instances of the “o” in this word, a word relating to the moon, are hieroglyphs of the moon (as it were). Now, the reader wonders, for how long can Statius draw out the motif of the moon-“o” in the syntactic sentence about the moon?

 

There are no further instances of the letter-shape “o” in the next three words, a phrase which expresses the vastitude of the wide-open evening air, hence all the open vowels : but wait : the five instances of the “i” each have a moon-shaped dot.

 

Instances of the “i” and the “o” usher us through line 2.

 

Line 3 : defluit : “to go down” : hence no “o”? But the use of the “u” is a climax of its own : a resolution (with mutumque) of its use in line 2. But the final word is orbem : “round earth” : “orb” : “o”.

 

Please note the enjambment of “u” with “o” at the end of line 3 : amplectitur orbem : Travis Bickle looking in the mirror? What I mean is : Picture, Good Reader, the “o” of orbem dropping into the open abyss of the “u”. . . . the embrace (amplectitur) of the orbem by somnus . . .

 

Just as in any other first-rate narrative, many vibes operate concurrently in Statius, requiring many absorptions to recognize, collate, and understand. In the three lines 619–621, it’s not only the letter “o” that the Reader pays attention to. What if the Reader concentrates on the outlay of every letter in every line?

 

Reader-Participation Reading. Slowly. Such as how Alma pours her tea in PT. Just as, say, a Spectator can look wherever on a cinema screen, and not exclusively at the center, yet still follow the straightfoward aspect of the narrative without problem. . . .

 

Art is Freedom.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Ancient Greek in Spielberg

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) : Roy Neary : a childlike character.

 

A coincidence, then, that the word Neary derives from νέος : “young”/“fresh and new (like a baby)” ?

[Jeff Bernstein]

Statius, Achilleid.

 

16.

 

Now the rosy moon was highest in the open-ended night;

and Sleep, at his most passive, had his wings wrapped around the earth.

The dance had left its space, the trumpet’s bronze pulse fallen silent.

Achilles, alone awake among the rest, was lost in thought.

“How much longer must I take this fakery from my mother?

In the purest strength of my youth and I’m flinging around flowers?

I want the arms of Ares in these hands, and hunt terrified beasts!

Haemonia, where are your fields and rivers? Do you miss me,

Sperchius, swimming in your waters? and leaving my cut hair

in your honour? Or does no one care any more for what they

call a deserter? Do people think I’m dead, and brought

down to the shades of Hades? Does Chiron cry over my death?

And my spears, and my bow, and my horses, reared for me—do you

have use of these now, Patroclus? Meanwhile I hold a wand

and I spin thread (how disgusting to hear myself confess this)!

And I don’t even take that girl when I may, but keep my love

secret for much of the time—a prisoner to my silence!

I feel the heat flaming up in my heart! Night and day I burn!

You shameful fool! Not even in love do you stand as a man!”

 

Thus he said; then, making use of the dense shade of the forest

silence, lay hard upon his conquest, possessing her with strength,

and from his heart motivated by love wrapped her in many

active embraces. From on high all the circling stars saw,

and the crescent moon’s tips blushed red.  And Deidamia’s cries

filled wood and mountain truly and indeed. And all of this noise

brought the sisters up out of their cloud of sleep, who thought the rites

had begun again. Expecting themselves invited to dance,

they raised a cry that filled the forest entire, and once more

Achilles raised the magic wand and shook it in the sacred

salute to Bacchus, and the sisters moved to and fro before him.

 

Meanwhile let us hear what he spoke to Deidamia :

“Why are you shaking? It’s all true. I’m Achilles. My mother’s

a goddess, my father should have been Zeus. I’m the one who crawled

up the snows of Thessaly. That first day there’s no way I would

have worn any of this if I hadn’t seen you on the beach.

I did it to get close to you. I hold wool and shake tambourines

for you. Why are you crying? You are now related to the sea.

Why this blubbering? You shall conceive remarkable grandsons

for the sky. Have no fear of your father. Your Island Scyros

will be torn to pieces and consumed in flames if your father

answers our marriage with a death. My mother chose a peaceful life

for me. For now on I am ready to reject all those hopes.”

 

The princess, stupefied with such a monstrous situation

(though long suspecting, and observing at close hand, and trusting)

now shuddered as she saw the changes happening in his face.

What should she do now? Tell her father everything, and bring with her

Achilles—who might suffer cruelly for all this? Would she want

to willingly worsen his pain? And the love that had endured

through all of the deception burned still in her heart. And so she

suffered in silence, concealing the crime they shared between them.  

To one friend only, her Nurse, she confessed her secret, who helped

the young lovers (how could she do otherwise?) and through crafty

ways hid the girl’s growing womb until she was brought through to term

and Lucina, goddess informer, set the secret free.

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Dolly Zoom of longest duration in the history of Hollywood cinema?

 

Phantom Thread (2017). The entire shot is 1:31:40-1:34:58.

[Jeff Bernstein]

On the calligraphy of the title Phantom Thread (:30–:40)

1.

Lettering : key items to consider : size, weight, width, form, placement, posture.

(a.) Oppositions between letters.

Opposing directions : P with h in “Phantom”
Opposing directions : T with h, and h with r in “Thread”

These oppositions skew the elegance : an instability to noble poise.

(b.) Oppositions/anxieties within letters.

P : irregular : the thickness of its swell with respect to its other (thinner) stroke-details (e.g., stem, head serif).

h : the cramped width of its curved leg.

Cramped : Note how the “bowl” (the open space) of the o has less of a swell than the bowl of the a. Is this uncommon? See, say, Hoefnagel’s lower-case alphabet of the 1590s. More generally, do more charts of the miniscule alphabets of European history contain more instances of a more-open “o” than “a”? Theory : yes.

(c.) Optical Volume

“The combined appearance of the spacing between letters is called Optical Volume” / Frank J. Romano, The TypEncyclopedia (London : Bowker, 1984), 100.

The Optical Volume here—the widths of interspaces between the letters—is seemingly composed of different dimensions, generating uneasiness.

(d.) Thematic

r : the long spur approximates a slender thread. And . . . ? A reaching out? And . . . ?

(e.) Serifs

Opposition : letters with serifs mixed with letters without serifs (h; t, m, r).
Opposition : the rectilinear serifs (P, T) with the jaunty curved swashes (e.g., d) and endings (e.g., a).

We might say this penmanship is “dual” : both “masculine” (rectilinear) and “feminine” (curved).

(f.) Verdict : Schizophrenia.

2. Note the visual noise.

“As psychologists have so often pointed out, the serifs are not merely decorative. They connect the effects of irradiation (‘visual spead’); and in any passage of consecutive print, they contribute appreciably towards the horizontal movement of the eye.” / Sir Cyril Burt, A Psychological Study of Typography (London : Cambridge University Press, 1959), 9.

Using the above quote as a guide, may we theorize that this title card contributes to a feeling of eye-whirling Vertigo?

Note the knots.

And the infinity sign : a separate stroke? Duality : The ornamentation surrounding “Phantom Thread” is not the product of one elegantly elaborate stroke, but two.

3. Closer detail

The dot finishing the head-serif of the T : the P does not have one. Asymmetry.

4a. Final Verdict

Schizophrenia. Visual Noise. Entrapment. Asymmetry. The set of relations here create an uneasiness amid the elegance.

Artist William Hogarth definied the wavy line of calligraphy as the “line of grace”. Here, the lines of grace contribute to a knot.

4b. Final Verdict

“De Divina Proportione” : Fra Luca de Pacioli (1400s) believed in mathematically-designed symmetry in designing letterforms. / See his alphabet in Stanley Morrison, Pacioli’s Classic Roman Alphabet (New York : Dover Publications, Inc., 1994).

The title card of Phantom Thread does not convey the vibes of “De Divina Proportione”.

5. Other books consulted

Michelle P. Brown & Patricia Lovett, The Historical Source Book for Scribes (London : The British Library, 1999).
Lee Hendrix and Thea Vignau-Wilberg, An Abecedarium (London : Thames and Hudson, 1997).
Edward Johnston, Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering (London: A&C Black, 1994).
Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations (Cheshire, CT : Graphics Press, 1997).

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Viri

 

Phantom Thread, 1:12:20.

 

vir = male.

declension (genitive) : viri

 

viri = also genitive form of virus

 

Meaning? There is an inescapable etymological association between the words “virility” and “poison”, and an originary link is a word for “slime” (e.g., say, stromatolites, protoplasm).

 

This chucklesome contrast recalls the etymological association between “marriage” and “grief” in ancient Greek (κῆδος).

[Jeff Bernstein]

17.

 

Now the ship of Odysseus skulks through the intricacy

of the Aegean. The winds leave many islands behind him.

Paros and Antiparos recede out of sight while

he brushes past rugged Lemnos. Naxos shrinks as Samos grows

larger. Now Delos darkens the mirrored surface of the sea.

The cups are taken out to pray, and the prayers are answered.

From the island’s high mountain bow-bearing Apollo stimulates

the sailing air, and an easy wind bellies the canvas,

and the ship sails on untroubled, an omen to all doubters—

for in no way would Zeus allow Thetis to overturn the law

of Fate. So the goddess is incensed with many salty tears

that she is forbidden to destroy the man with winds and waves.

For now all she can do to Odysseus is pursue him

with an evil eye. . . .

[Jeff Bernstein]

Engineering Echoes

 

Remember how at the end of The Irishman (2019) Robert De Niro’s open door recalls Al Pacino’s character?

 

What follows are the first three words of two different paragraphs of Statius, Achilleid :

 

Scandebat roseo medii . . . (619)

 

Frangebat radios humili . . .  (689)

 

Wild Guess : Does the kind reader think these two different Situations may be associated in some manner?

[Jeff Bernstein]

And the sun passed over the zenith, and its rays fell gentler;

so, just after noontime, Odysseus saw, rising ahead

of him, the Island Scyros with its navigable harbour,

and the sight promised rest. So he went to the stern and prepared

the mooring-ropes, and ordered his sea-mates to speed up their oars.

Island Scyros, then, mild land of Tritonia Athena,

opened its shores. Heroes Odysseus and Diomedes

stepped onto land, saying a prayer to the kind deity

of the island; then they prepared to move forward cautiously.

Smartly Odysseus ordered most of his crew to stay behind;

for the sudden sight of them all, he said, might incite a fright,

or worse, in the people of the town. So off the two heroes

went, scaling a steep incline to get to high ground, to spy

out the place. They went as on a freezing winter’s night two wolves

unite in search of food; urged by hunger, their own and their cubs’,

they step quietly, their heads bowed low to the ground, and sneak by

the watchdogs, whom at any moment might bark and bring herdsmen

running with weapons. In this same way, then, did Odysseus

and Diomedes enter into an open plain. They spoke

together as they kept as best they could off the beaten track;

and first to speak was spirited Diomedes.

[Jeff Bernstein]

“How” (Diomedes asked) do you expect to pinpoint the truth?

What you’ve put into my hands is curious indeed, and I

have no sense yet of your plans. You’d have me carry into town

these tambourines and silly wands and Bacchic drums?

And these deerskins decorated with spots of gold? And headbands?

Your idea is to give Achilles destroyer of Troy—these?

 

Slightly, then, Odysseus’ serious mien relaxed.

“Hear me now.” (He smiled) “All these, I promise, will be of use

to us. Ensure you have them all when the time is right and you’re

summoned to me in Lycomedes’ palace. This should make

you happy : bring also a shield—a beautiful carven one—

and a spear. That’s not all. Bring the man Agyrtes with you.

Tell him to bring with him his messenger trumpet—but hidden.”

 

So Odysseus advised friend Diomedes, who nodded his head, mystified.

[Jeff Bernstein]

“They’d rather live in perpetual war with each other then peace on his terms. So he took them all and their land and everything in it and contained them whether they liked it or not. And all those who attempted insurrection, outside his army and inside it, were treated in the harshest possible terms. If he wasn’t given want he wanted, he took it. And history has borne, up to now at least, he has been very successful in taking things, and in having things done his way. This is Caesar.”

 

Emerging in 2024 :

 

Caesar’s Wars

A screenplay for Stanley Kubrick

by

JSB

 

Here on Cinematography.com.

[Jeff Bernstein]

As they approached the palace gates they saw the king standing there;

so Odysseus held prominent before him a promise

of peace, an olive branch. “Great words, I imagine” (he said)

have come from all over for a long time now, common talk

of war. Good king, it’s all true. Europe and Asia between them

are set to shake the whole earth. If by any chance you have come

to know the names of the commanders moving about at this time,

this here is Diomedes, great-hearted Tydeus’ son.

I’m Commander Odysseus. Let me tell you why I’m here.

We’re all Greeks. We should share a common purpose of protecting

ourselves. My friend and I have come to investigate the islands

outside Troy, to see what each may be able to provide us.”

[Jeff Bernstein]

Thus Odysseus, to which King Lycomedes answered kindly :

“Oh my friends!” (he said) “May Fortune smile on your enterprise!

For your prosperity I pray to all of the gods that hear me!

Now you two shall be my guests, blessing my pious and loving home.”

 

And so without delay an array of tables and couches

were set out, as many servants set the palace in order

for a feast. Meantime, while Odysseus was led through the house

his rapid eyes scanned every room, every hallway, for any sign

of the boy. He noted the height of every person he saw,

and the manner of their clothing. While marvelling in awe

at the palace architecture, Odysseus roamed down every colonnade

and wandered into every gallery, just as a hunter,

approaching confidently the lair of his quarry, stays calm

and cool as he moves with his tiptoeing hound through the branches

and leaves till they come to their enemy laid out on the ground

asleep, and the hound shows its fangs.

[Jeff Bernstein]

And so Rumor blazed quickly through the women’s quarters, and lit

up the faces of all the girls. The island has taken in

some Greek ship, with its crew and its two commanders! The sisters

rose (justly) in awe and dread. Achilles, however, could barely

contain his excitement, his eagerness to see these heroes

and their weaponry. And so then all the girls in a clatter

burst into the Great Hall like Amazons returning triumphant

from a raid over the Getae. Down they relaxed their limbs onto

embroidered gold, all these chaste girls, while their father smiled

on his pious daughters. During all this ferment Odysseus

admired their faces and figures, and with his eyes took their

measurements, for he was looking for anything curious

among this bunch of red-faced virgins. But by now night had come,

and lamps were brought in, (conveniently) obscuring the girls.

Yet Odysseus saw one with burning cheeks and eyes riveted

on him, and he turned to Diomedes to point that one out.

What if at that moment Deidamia didn’t throw her arms

round her couch-mate and press herself hard against him, obscuring

his face and arms and shoulders in the folds of her gown? And she

slipped a new headband on his head quickly and swept his hair back.

Odysseus turned for a second look. He then decided

to go away and enjoy the feast with King Lycomedes.

[Jeff Bernstein]

58BC. Military Dispatch from Gaul (in Caesar’s Wars 1.12–13)

 

There is a river Arar which flows through the limits of the Aedui and the Sequani and runs into the Rhone. Its current is so remarkably sluggish that one cannot determine its direction by eye. The Helvetii were crossing over using rafts and boats tethered together when Caesar’s scouts informed him that three-quarters of the Helvetii’s forces had already crossed, while the fourth part of their army were waiting to cross. Caesar then set out from camp with three legions in the third watch of the night, and came up on the part of the enemy still waiting to cross the river. While the enemy stood there by the banks encumbered with their baggage and matériel, Caesar attacked. He caught the enemy completely unaware. A great number of the Helvetii were cut down by the sword, while the rest fled into a nearby forest. . . .

 

When the combat ended, it was decided to immediately pursue the greater part of the Helvetians. Caesar ordered a bridge built over the Arar. What took the Helvetii twenty days to cross, Caesar crossed in one.

 

Very quickly the Helvetii realized the unexpected approach of the Roman Army at their rear, and in answer sent a legation to Caesar to sue for peace. . . .

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

So following the pleasures of the feast (placed twice then three times

before the Achaeans), the king winefully addressed his guests :

“How I envy you” (he said) “your great undertaking, honest

Odysseus! Gods in Heaven! If only I had the strength

of my youth back, when I crushed the Dolopians as they came

up to the shores of Scyros. I vanquished them in the water.

You may have seen signs of my old triumph on your way into port :

some of their keels are still sticking up in the waves by the rocks.

Anyhow, if only I had sons to send with you to war!

But you can see for yourself the strength of my many children.

When will they give me a squadron of grandsons?”

                                                                                           So spoke the king.

[Jeff Bernstein]

CAESAR’S WARS

 

by JSB

based on Caesar : The Gallic War

A screenplay for Stanley Kubrick

begun : 20 July 2023

rough draft 1.0

 

EXT. SOMEWHERE IN WESTERN EUROPE - DAWN

 

Harsh rain.

 

A MAN (grizzled, warlike) leading a weary packhorse, comes into view of a colossal wasteland.

 

Bleak mountains, stagnant lakes, sluggish rivers, hard soil, wide desert. Is this a post-apocalyptic world? No, it only looks like one.

 

The time is 58BC.

 

The Helvetian people live outdoors among the trees and rocks, and they look it : a dirty, long-haired, brutal people.

 

The wandering MAN—let’s call him X—unrolls a map, scans it, then, exasperated, rolls it up.

 

He approaches a FARMER working on a poor farm.

 

X

Good man!

 

FARMER

What is it?

 

X

Will you kindly tell me where I am?

 

FARMER

In hell.

 

X nods.

 

FARMER

It’s not so hard to find it these days.

 

X scans the forbidding environs, the back end of nowhere, and sighs.

 

CUT TO :

 

INT. ROYAL HUT - NIGHT

 

CU of candle flame. Here are DAUGHTER of KING (PRINCESS) and her HUSBAND.

 

PRINCESS

Do I appeal to you tonight, my husband?

 

HUSBAND

War has come.

 

PRINCESS

What? Why?

 

HUSBAND

Because you’re the only one of all your people with a roof over your head.

 

PRINCESS

So?

 

HUSBAND

The Helvetians have had enough of living on hard earth. We’re leaving.

 

PRINCESS

Where on earth are we going?

 

HUSBAND, noticing the SERVANTS (standing like statues nearby), leans in and whispers in PRINCESS’s ear.

 

HUSBAND

Ask the king your father. The rebellion is his.

 

PRINCESS

Daddy? Why would he do this to me?

 

HUSBAND

He’s done it. It’s begun.

 

PRINCESS
What are you saying?

 

HUSBAND

Trouble have already bound him up. He’s been betrayed—by our own informers.

 

PRINCESS

I don’t follow. Betrayed him how?

 

HUSBAND

Informing the enemy for gifts is apparently more appealing than freedom. What do you think of your people now?

 

PRINCESS

I never think of them. What do we do?

 

HUSBAND

We escape with them, like birds hiding in the middle of a flock. Do we have a choice? If we stay here we die. Who lives who stands on his own?

 

PRINCESS

Tell me. Is my dear father alive?

 

HUSBAND strokes PRINCESS’s hair lovingly, with concern.

 

HUSBAND

Our good people haven’t taken the fight from him yet.

 

CUT TO :

 

EXT. PUBLIC MEETING PLACE - MORNING

 

The KING stands in chains before his people in his royal robes and crown—Orgetorix is his name, and he looks stern and defiant.

 

HERALD

. . . In punishment for conspiracy to wage war against our enemies without public dialogue, you, King Orgetorix, are sentenced to death by fire—

 

Suddenly appearing is a colossal number of ALLIES of Orgetorix, over a thousand, a great many on horseback, brandishing weapons, and holding back wild dogs on ropes. They surround the proceedings to the great excitement of the PEOPLE.

 

ORGETORIX

(shouting)

Nothing is dying here except all your hearts!

 

Amid violent wranglings his ALLIES cut him loose to the great shouts of the PEOPLE.

 

The KING leaps onto a horse and gallops off while law enforcement sends arrows and spears in his direction.

 

The man X has been watching (amused) amid the crowd.

 

X

(murmuring)

He’s saved himself!

 

CUT TO :

 

EXT. HARSH DESERT ENVIRONMENT - DAY

 

The KING—dead on the ground, bloody knife nearby.

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL 1

The man got away clean—then cut his own throat.

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL 2

Why would he do that?

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL 1

We’ll ask him someday.

 

The man X is here. He looks quizzical, scanning the high mountains. Then he turns to the FARMER.

 

X

And your people? Now what do they think?

 

CUT TO :

 

EXT. HELVETIAN PUBLIC SPACE - DAY

 

Everything is riotous with bright fire. Holding torches the PEOPLE are burning everything in sight, particularly all of their possessions and cropland.

 

EXT. ROYAL HUT - DAY

 

The PRINCESS stands with her HUSBAND in their doorway, watching the tumultuous spectacle.

 

PRINCESS

My dear father died two years ago. All this talk of insurrection—Wasn’t it over? What are our people doing?

 

HUSBAND

Destroying everything they have.

 

PRINCESS

Suicide?

 

HUSBAND

No. Warfare. When we advance, there’ll be nothing left to come back to. We fight or we die and there’s no in between.

 

PRINCESS

Why are they doing this to me?

 

HUSBAND

Maybe you’ll survive this.

 

The PRINCESS frowns.

 

EXT. HELVETIAN PUBLIC SPACE - DAY

 

ANGRY HELVETIAN

Now! All good people! We march out of here! Together! We walk straight through that scum and we take our freedom!

 

CUT TO :

 

EXT. ROMAN SECTOR - DAY

 

A nineteen-mile-long WALL, high and impenetrable. A garrison of soldiers is stationed at every mile. No enemy is getting past this wall.

 

ROMAN SOLDIERS (clean-shaven, well-dressed) are busy with their many tasks in the well-designed camp.

 

EXT. NEARBY FOREST - DAY

 

HELVETIAN SPIES study the Situation, and look at each other with concern.

 

SPY 1

When the hell did they put that up?

 

SPY 2

Now what?

 

CUT TO :

 

EXT. RIVER - NIGHT

 

The HELVETIANS are carefully, dangerously, crossing a deep river, using rafts and boats tethered together.

X and FARMER watch by the riverbank.

 

X

Twenty days of this, and nobody knows where they’re going.

 

FARMER

Go the other way then.

 

X takes out his MAP and crumples it up disappointedly. He drops it in the river and it floats away.

 

FARMER

We’ve made it. Only a quarter of our people are left to cross. Once we’re over, how the hell are they going to chase us? We have a twenty-day headstart.

 

X

(unconvinced)

Yeah.

 

The MAP, floating along the river, rushes up against the legs of a group of men standing by the riverbank : Are they ROMAN SOLDIERS?

 

Suddenly the ROMAN NAVAL FORCES appear!

 

RIVER BATTLE!

 

The ROMANS destroy everyone in the water.

 

Floating up to riverside, by the feet of the man X, are the dead bodies of the King’s DAUGHTER and HUSBAND.

 

Screaming, the FARMER takes up a tree branch and attacks some ROMAN SOLDIERS. For his pains he receives a decapitation.

 

X sighs, then catches sight of something :

 

A powerfully commanding MAN—CAESAR—standing far off, seen from behind, surrounded by ADVISORS. He is pointing to various places of the river and speaking with authority. (The cinema audience, too distant to hear, catches nothing more than the slightest of murmurs.)

 

EXT. RIVER - NEXT SUNRISE

 

ROMAN ENGINEERS are erecting a wooden bridge.

 

EXT. RIVER - THAT SAME AFTERNOON

 

The bridge is complete.

 

X is watching from the trees, shaking his head in astonishment at the technical skill of Rome.

 

EXT. FOREST (HELVETIAN AREA) - AFTERNOON

 

A Helvetian on horseback gallops up to the rearguard of the procession of his people.

 

HELVETIAN

Twenty days for us to cross the river, less than one for Rome! They’re on us!

 

EXT. FOREST (ROMAN AREA) - AFTERNOON

 

A powerful man mounts his house : CU of the face of CAESAR.

 

CAESAR

Kill them all.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

                                                        So spoke the king,

and clever Odysseus stole softly into the moment :

“Ah!” (he said) “as a man you have no wish to be scorned as weak!

That is to say, what man wouldn’t burn to play a part in war?

—with its columns of innumerous soldiers, its noble leaders

and its splendid kings? All together now the powers of mighty

Europe has joined to lift the two-edged sword against its enemy.

Fields and cities have been emptied of men, while the sails

of our ships spread out one colossal shadow over the sea.

Fathers hand down their weapons to their sons, and the sons take them,

theirs for all time now. Never before has an army of such

magnitude been assembled to promise most glorious fame

to all men in battle showing bravery and excellence!”

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

CAESAR

Kill them all.

 

INT. CAESAR’S HUT - NIGHT

 

By candlelight CAESAR is relaxed on a couch, reading thoughtfully a manuscript of ancient Greek. As he reads, he sips a drink.

 

TITUS, his second-in-command, steps in. At a nod from CAESAR, the GUARDS allow him entrance. TITUS sits on a couch.

 

CAESAR

Yes, my friend?

 

TITUS

Sir, in three days the army awaits the distribution of the corn ration. The hunger after this latest campaign is a powerful one. The troops are slithering on their bellies.

 

CAESAR

I’ve arranged for a roundtable with all of our allies in the area. Rome protects them from each other, the lunatics, and for that our corn ration is merited. I will tell them tomorrow we demand it tomorrow.

 

TITUS

The Helvetians have me wondering.

 

CAESAR

Yes?

 

TITUS

If all of our allies—Aedui, Allobroges, Ambarri, all the godforsaken peoples—if all of them, elated by another strong voice like that suicidal Orgetorix, set all their crops on fire at once, I wonder—if you allow me the bluntness—if we can make it home.

 

CAESAR

All these tribes you speak of want to live, just as the Helvetii did. For that they need protection from each other. Rome is that protection.

 

TITUS

Pardon me, sir, but how do you explain the insensibility of the Helvetii?

 

CAESAR gestures to a map of GAUL tacked on the wall of the hut. He stands, and TITUS stands with him.

 

CAESAR

Look where the Helvetii were located. At the back end of us all. For that reason they’d always been the most warlike of the barbarians. They honed their skills fighting with the Germans since before we were born.

 

CAESAR pours two drinks and hands one to friend TITUS.

 

CAESAR (cont’d.)

But the others—while just as strong—are more sensible. We’ll move some of the allies into the Helvetian lands and get those crops growing again. We’ll get our corn.

 

The two of them touch cups.

 

CAESAR

Gaul is Rome.

 

They drink. CAESAR looks thoughtfully at his friend, then sits, as does TITUS.

 

CAESAR

Now you make me think of something else.

 

TITUS

What’s that, sir?

 

Thoughtfully CAESAR puts his hand on the ancient Greek manuscript.

 

CAESAR

Another time, Titus. Get some sleep.

 

TITUS

(looking at the manuscript)

You too, sir.

 

They smile at each other by candlelight—a private joke.

 

CAESAR

Yes. When my duties are complete for the day, it seems my work is only beginning—the work of words. It’s fascinating, these shapes. Now I’ll tell you something. Only words not meant to be read in our dispatches will teach you what words are.

 

TITUS

I don’t understand you.

 

CAESAR

You will. Words in our dispatches are blunt, just as the sky is blue, or stones are hard. Words in poetry, however, are like light, or fragrances : They resonate. Whey they echo in the head, you experience new things.

 

Now we see for the first time a SCRIBE standing in the background, writing down every word spoken (like a minion of George Lucas’s entourage).

 

TITUS
You love the alphabet—is that why you love Rome?

 

CAESAR laughs. These two are good friends.

 

CAESAR

(nods)

Rome is the alphabet.

(suddenly serious)

And I am Rome.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

CAESAR

(nods)

Rome is the alphabet.

(suddenly serious)

And I am Rome.

 

INT. GREAT HALL - MORNING

 

CAESAR arrayed on his military throne, rectitudinous, powerful.

 

A CROWD of ADVISORS sit nearby, including TITUS.

 

Before CAESAR’s throne stands DIVICIACUS, a leader of the Aedui tribe—and he looks very, very uncomfortable.

 

CAESAR

Friend Diviciacus—

 

DIVICIACUS breaks down crying and drops to his knees, inconsolable.

 

CAESAR

(begins again)

Friend Diviciacus, leader of the Aedui, the Roman people have determined that your ration of corn-crops are long overdue. Many times now you have held my ear with promises of collection, and of deliverance. But so far all we have received from you are words. These words, however, I know are not your own. (What doesn’t Rome know?) Diviciacus, friend to us, it is your brother—Dumnorix—who causes this great upset in me. Men say the failed push of the Helvetii haunts his mind still, and he would install himself as successor in insurrection against the god-given authority of Rome. His boldness is such that the fate of the Helvetii at the edge of my sword gives him no pause. I say questionable moves are being made behind the back of Caesar. Your brother conspires with our allies to stop our corn-ration. He seeks to starve us. With Rome gone, the power is his. But this is absurdity. One man against the might of Rome? Most concerning of all to our Law, it’s said he helped the Helvetii cross the river those two years ago—he supplied them with boats, and also secured the timber to make these, all of which I sent in fragments to the bottom of the bed. That is rumour, though, and Caesar does not act on rumour alone. Friend Diviciacus, I speak all this out of respect for you, and in honour of all the assistance you have given us regarding your people. So your brother lives yet. What say you to this?

 

Still on his knees, DIVICIACUS weeps hysterically.  

 

With a frown and a wave CAESAR sends everyone out of the Hall. Now CAESAR and DIVICIACUS are alone.

 

CAESAR steps down from his throne and stands over DIVICIACUS.

 

Surprisingly, CAESAR bends down on his haunches to look DIVICIACUS in the eye, and listen—not in threat but in friendship.

 

DIVICIACUS

(terrified)

Great leader, I am unable to confirm all that you say—my brother is his own man—but I know enough, and I am willing to speak, for you have always been kind to me and my people. Dumnorix my brother is a fiery man, a violent man. What can I say that he will listen to? You know my love for you and for Rome. You brought peace to our realm, and culture. I am in a most difficult position. Common talk will end my life if I help you stop my brother. When I’m dead I can help you no further. Yet I will yield my life to you, to answer my brother’s questionable activity.

 

DIVICIACUS holds his head up, takes out a pocket knife, and offers his neck for CAESAR to cut.

 

DIVICIACUS

(somewhat comic, with his head in the air)

But the following is no threat, great sir—if I bleed and die, the people may cease to listen to you. From all directions may come the return of the rage of the Helvetii.

 

CAESAR calmly reaches out and takes the knife from DIVICIACUS’s hand.

 

CAESAR

Diviciacus, I have listened and I have heard.

 

CAESAR helps bring DIVICIACUS to his feet.

 

CAESAR

Rise, and wipe these tears from your face. You are not here to be punished.

 

CAESAR puts the knife back into the hand of DIVICIACUS, and closes DIVICIACUS’s fist around it.

 

CAESAR

Come.

 

As the two men speak, they stroll through the Hall, admiring the many marble busts and other accoutrements of Rome.

 

CAESAR

You have spoken yourself into a solution, my friend. Caesar is strong, but Caesar is fair. You are loved, by my men as well as by yours. We must keep it that way. Your brother shall live.

 

DIVICIACUS drops to his knees and kisses the marble floor before CAESAR’s sandalled feet.

 

CAESAR

(impatient now)

Get up.

 

DIVICIACUS rises in a flash.

 

CAESAR

Mark me well. Your brother must promise you to stop all his plots and plans, which will amount to nothing. If he ceases to warrant further suspicion, perhaps in time I will release the sentinels who, as of now, shall escort him through all the hours of his days and nights, so there will be nothing he can say or do that Caesar will not come to learn and know. This is not punishment. This is compromise. Your brother Dumnorix lives. Bring us the corn-ration.

 

DIVICIACUS is about to answer, but CAESAR gives a wave, and TWO GUARDS take DIVICIACUS out of the Hall.

 

CAESAR returns to his throne, where he sits with a sigh, observing the emblematic power in the architecture around him.

 

TITUS is there.

 

TITUS
Sir, today’s dispatches are away to Rome.

 

CAESAR

I have scotched the revolution in its nest.

 

TITUS

Yes, sir.

 

CAESAR

We can’t kill every last one of them, or we’ll have no corn at all. Learn from me, my Titus. In this instance it was best to offer a pretence of forgiveness. Making deals with traitors—such is the daily coin of politics and business.

 

TITUS

I’m sure the Senate will be very pleased.

 

CAESAR

Careful what you write. Give Rome too much pleasure and you’ll get punished for it.

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Oppenheimer (Hughesian-beginning) : “Who’d want to justify their whole life?”

 

Citizen Kane (end) : “I don't think any word can explain a man’s life.”

[Jeff Bernstein]

Oppenheimer (2023). PART I. Oppenheimer is a taking-on of PTA in various ways (an essay of its own). A considerable stretch of the first twenty-five minutes has the wondrous (improvisatory-but-engineered) dream-like real-life vibe of Ashby’s The Last Detail (1973). The pic’s swift pace pieced together by a lack of establishing shots recalls Scorsese’s Departed (2006). There is a cinéma vérité vibe to a lot of the geometry and editing : a look/vibe of remarkable ease. The lack of establishing shots is associated with characters “getting right to it”, such as the Op / Groves intro. This remark leads us to : Noteworthy is the film’s departure from classic Hollywood cinema. Part I of Oppenheimer is (seemingly) composed of a minimum of Hollywood story structure. That is to say, there is no real rising-and-falling action; no early set-pieces or elaborate sequences. All is temperate and characterological. Remarkably so. / Theory : The effortless look of Part I of Oppenheimer is the product of Full-Spectrum Genius (the blessing of craftspeople, all of them). / The western elements must be considered. Early Grand Visual Schemes (cutaways to CU quantum-physical sights; Congressional Headaches) virtually disappear as Part I proceeds : this withholding of burgeoning structural elements suggests a Tremendous Structural Situation : the Spectator knows the Grand Schemes will return, perhaps in an even Grander manner : By the end of Part 1, the Narrative of Oppenheimer is shaping up to be Massive. Screenwriter uses source material very well : e.g., condensing Op’s ability with languages to seed the fact in the Spectator’s mind (e.g., pushing up the knowledge of Sanskrit a number of years). We see an early edition (1922? 1923?) of The Waste Land (publisher apparently Boni & Liveright, New York). Some shots of stars in the sky could be from a silent movie : even the black-hole effect might be a clip from a 20s German Flick : fond recollection of the filmic ethos of Dunkirk (2017). / Highly charged moment : Connection of sex and death and ancient wisdom and all what else . . .  / Opening : Looking into the lens. / Bergman-like dream. / Bresson also in Part I? / Op’s upbringing is absent here, but suggested : by the scenes in museum, and the Picasso. / The juxtaposition of Op in bed contending with visions of the Early Grand Schemes recalls Leonardo's exposed body projected with film and writhing in The Aviator (2004) : the Artist overcoming with Undifferentiated Energy. / Part I. By this point in the narrative Oppenheimer is Remarkably Understated. Remarkably controlled. This is our 70s movie, but this is no 70s movie. . . . / What has Nolan given us, that awaits our thought?

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Oppenheimer (2023) : "Be yourself, only better."

 

Color of Money (1986), Paul Newman : "He's got to learn how to be himself, but on purpose."

 

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

“Would you clear Dr. Oppenheimer today?” This question recalls the father-son relationship in Dunkirk (2017) : ingenuous connection. (Here, between Op and Groves.) How will Groves answer? is as Massive a moment in this narrative as any grandiose CGI something or other. Obviously : Nothing in storytelling is as important as the interpersonal. The storyteller of Oppenheimer is stirringly fundamental in approach : heroically so.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein