μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Indirect and the Unstated

 

Οἰδίπους

ἦ δοῦλος ἢ κείνου τις ἐγγενὴς γεγώς;

(1168)

 

Oedipus

Was it a slave, or a family member?

 

Oedipus has just been asked about a baby abandoned long ago, whom he knows, somewhere inside him, was him. Sophocles has already set up an Oedipus/low birth connection (Oedipus has just likened himself, seemingly light-heartedly, to a slave at 1076–77) so here is Oedipus’ Unconscious saying, Indirectly, through the mouth of Oedipus :

 

“It was me.”

 

*

 

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 18

 

The Phantom Thread “romantic comedy overheard moment”! Indirect revelation :

 

     Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been standing near enough for her to overhear a conversation between him and Mr. Bingley. . . .

     [Darcy] looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till, catching her eye, he withdrew his own, and coldly said, “She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” . . .

     Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him.

 

*

 

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, ch. 1.

 

The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. . . . The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World.

 

This is Hawthorne saying, Indirectly : British White Folk—men and women—Brought Evil to America.

 

*

 

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Part II.

 

The narrator, well into his journey, says of Kurtz :

 

“His name, you understand, had not been pronounced once. He was ‘that man’.”

 

Kurtz is a “don’t go there” topic amid the Company in Africa—this is the Unstated here—a line which itself speaks of Indirect speech!

 

*

 

Henry James, The Golden Bowl, ch. 1.

 

Note how gently, how Indirectly, Henry James portrays a protagonist’s shortcomings.

 

(“race” = his extravagant family ancestors (including “a wicked pope”), their stories told in “rows of volumes in libraries”.)

 

He was intelligent enough to feel quite humble, to wish not to be in the least hard or voracious, not to insist on his own side of the bargain, to warn himself in short against arrogance and greed. . . . Personally, he considered, he hadn’t the vices in question—and that was so much to the good. His race, on the other hand, had had them handsomely enough, and he was somehow full of his race. Its presence in him was like the consciousness of some inexpugnable scent in which his clothes, his whole person, his hands and the hair of his head, might have been steeped as in some chemical bath: the effect was nowhere in particular, yet he constantly felt himself at the mercy of the cause.

[Jeff Bernstein]

First-rate stories

 

Back in 1999, Scrooby noticed “EWS in conversation with the audience”, but Scrooby didn’t then know what it all meant. Example : Huge advertisement on city wall prominent in frame : “Thank you. I love you!” Scrooby thought then, and still thinks, this is a speech utterance from the narrative itself to the Spectator (all this so to speak).

 

Now what? Here is a monumental self-referential line !

 

Θεράπων

οἴμοι, πρὸς αὐτῷ γ᾽ εἰμὶ τῷ δεινῷ λέγειν.

(1169)

 

Slave / [ Sophocles ]

Ah me, I have come to the terrible part of my tale!

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Triple-Tone of Sophocles

 

Perversity is a required component. Colossal example :

 

Oedipus asks the Slave about the abandoned baby from long ago. Unfortunately the Slave has to reply that “the woman” inside the palace might know better about the baby. . . .

 

Οἰδίπους

ἦ γὰρ δίδωσιν ἥδε σοι;

 

Θεράπων

                                            μάλιστ᾽, ἄναξ.

 

(1173)

 

OEDIPUS

And she gave it to you?

 

SLAVE

                                           Yes, king.

 

btw : note the dramatic urgency encoded into the writing : the dialogue exchange occupies one metrical line.

 

Now : μάλιστα is a happy affirmative word in answer (e.g., “Quite right, king!” / “Oh, yes!” / “Yes indeed!” / “Most certainly!” / “That hits it!” / and so on).

 

The Slave’s answer is far from the best news that Oedipus might receive : yet Oedipus already knows where all this is going : to blind horror. Meanwhile, the Slave is praising Oedipus for his acumen!

 

The Triple-Tone in action : serious & funny & perverse continuously throughout the entirety of the narrative.

 

The Triple-Tone : Artfully-encoded nausea, in both character and audience—viz. Sygdommen til Døden.

 

Imagine, Kind Reader, how the audience may be processing Oedipus. Remember the Extra in Oppenheimer (2023) whom the character Oppenheimer sees vomiting after the slide show of the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or the scene when the character Oppenheimer confronts the creepily Felliniesque audience? The ancient audiences of Oedipus would find these Situations “relatable” moments of Oppenheimer. To ancient audiences, Oedipus by Sophocles was David Lynch, Gaspar Noe—and we'll just start there . . .

 

Oedipus - Phantom Thread - Oppenheimer : In these narratives the sick mix of contradictions leads to a Sartrean-like nausea.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Sophocles and Phantom Thread : Colossal Nexus Moment

 

Οἰδίπους

ὦ φῶς, τελευταῖόν σε προσβλέψαιμι νῦν,

ὅστις πέφασμαι φύς τ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ὧν οὐ χρῆν, ξὺν οἷς τ᾽

οὐ χρῆν ὁμιλῶν, οὕς τέ μ᾽ οὐκ ἔδει κτανών.

(1183–1185)

 

Oedipus’ final words before the catastrophe of self-mutilation.

 

OEDIPUS
I look upon you for the last time, O light!

 

Now “χρῆν” is possibly untranslatable here to ultimate satisfaction, but—a quick peek shows Scrooby that “cursed” has been the efficient go-to translation over the years (e.g., Sir Richard C. Jebb; Hugh Lloyd-Jones), so let’s leave it at the people’s choice. 

 

Cursed. The last concept to cross the mind of Oedipus before his final fall.

 

OEDIPUS

I look to be cursed in birth, cursed in marriage,

cursed in murder!

 

Phantom Thread : recall the legend “Never Cursed” embroidered in purple cursive and hidden within the hem of the Wedding Dress (1:28:00). Indirect : Apparently this means that Woodcock believes himself cursed.

 

No surprise there, considering that his nanny growing up was nicknamed “Black Death” (20:17).

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Movie Magic in Spoken Titles

 

Doesn’t a resonance arise when a character speaks the title of their film in a line of dialogue?

 

Laura : “I was doing it before the machines went into maximum overdrive.” (46:04)

Private Pyle : “Full . . . metal . . . jacket.” (41:52)

Rita : “That's where I was going . . .  Mulholland Drive.” (47:30)

 

A predecessor :

 

“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.”

 

(The line appears about halfway through the novel / published 1899 / Orson Welles’ first project in Hollywood before Kane / The inspiration, of course, for Apocalypse Now.)

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

EXT. PORT (BOULOGNE) - SUMMER - MORNING

 

Six hundred Roman ships are now built (troop transports) and are waiting to launch on Britain, along with twenty-eight warships, including Caesar’s.

 

The sun’s light distinguishes—on shore, among a crowd of his ADVISORS—CAESAR.

 

While the Romans ready their ships, we hear, over it all :

 

TITUS

(v.o.)

Built precisely to your specification, honoured sir. We lowered the draught,

to speed up the loading and unloading of troops—

 

 

Meantime your design changes should ease the inconvenience of the high tides there—

 

 

We’ve also outfitted the ships with oars as well as sails, as you ordered—

 

 

Now we’ll more easily navigate the currents round the island, and in the harbour.

 

CU CAESAR

 

Vengeant; says nothing.

 

TITUS (cont’d.)

(v.o.)

And our maps have been updated.

 

CAESAR looks at TITUS, who is holding out a collection of maps. Chastened, TITUS lowers the maps.

 

TITUS (cont’d.)

(v.o.)

After much trial and error, we’ve found the fastest crossing point

—thirty miles.

 

CAESAR

Ah, good news!

 

INT. CAESAR’S TENT - DAY

 

A defeated DIVICIACUS is slumped and weeping, standing before CAESAR and TITUS and ADVISORS.

 

DUMNORIX, brother to DIVICIACUS, is brought roughly into the tent by TWO TROOPS, one clutching each arm. They stay in position, clutching DUMNORIX, throughout the scene.

 

DIVICIACUS

Brother—

 

CAESAR looks gently at DIVICIACUS, who sinks to his knees with lowered head.

 

CAESAR turns to business :

 

CAESAR

We’ve heard many words, good Dumnorix,

of your honest allegiance to Rome.

 

DUMNORIX

My honest heart is here with you always.

 

CAESAR

Thus I shall honour you and your honest heart, my friend.

You shall attend us on our voyage to the Island.

 

DUMNORIX

Honoured sir, may I understand you to have said that I am to sail with you

 and the Roman forces away from Gaul, and across the Strait, to Britain?

 

CAESAR

That is so, friend Dumnorix.

 

DUMNORIX

But sir—Great Power—Lord of Rome—I’m no seaman.

In fact I loathe the sea!

 

CAESAR

You’ll see little of the sea belowdecks.

 

DUMNORIX

(panicked)

Glorious World Power Caesar, I must allow my own gods to direct my steps,

and my gods would have my people keep their feet out of the sea.

 

CAESAR

Well, then. Be sure to keep your feet dry. That is all.

 

EXT. PORT - DAY

 

While the fleet of ships float in the harbour waters, 4,000 HORSEMEN come into view on land.

 

CAESAR

(v.o.)

Put our honoured friend with the horsemen from Gaul.

 

TITUS

(v.o.)

Yes, sir.

 

EXT. FOREST AT EDGE OF PORT - DUSK

 

Many tents accommodate the horsemen from Gaul. Sitting by one is DUMNORIX, looking glum. Far off he sees the sea.

 

CU LATIN MANUSCRIPT

 

CUT TO :

 

INT. CAESAR’S TENT - DUSK

 

CAESAR reading manuscript by candlelight. Standing by, a TROOP holds a knife to DUMNORIX’s neck. TITUS and ADVISORS watch.

 

TROOP

Sir, we caught him leaving camp.

 

CAESAR finishes what he is reading during the following :

 

DUMNORIX

I’m a free man! Of a free land! You cannot do this to me!

 

EXT. FOREST - DUSK

 

DUMNORIX drops to the ground, his throat cut.

 

Standing among an assembly of HORSEMEN from Gaul, CAESAR addresses them :

 

CAESAR

This man was not to be trusted! If he would neglect the word of Rome

right here amid its strength, what might he have calculated among the chieftains

in our absence? We go toward war intending to leave peace here behind us.

Now to the ships, and to the fight!

 

All the CAVALRYMEN cheer!

 

EXT. PORT - SUNSET

 

The launch of Caesar’s six hundred ships!

 

TITUS

(v.o.)

At sunset we raised anchor and launched onto the sea.

A light southwest wind sped us on toward the Island.

 

EXT. ENGLISH CHANNEL - NIGHT

 

Slowly the Roman fleet drifting and breaking formation in the rushing moonlit waves.

 

TITUS

(v.o.)

At midnight we lost all wind, and lost our carefully mapped-out route.

The currents and the tides remained our trouble,

and the fleet scattered, drifting every which way.

 

EXT. SEA COAST OFF BRITAIN - SUNRISE

 

CAESAR on deck of his ship, looking out to sea.

 

Island of Britain is visible to port in the far distant haze.

 

With a wave CAESAR summons TITUS, who acknowledges the Island, and nods.

 

TITUS

We have drifted far from our destination.

 

CAESAR

Now we row. If I’m right, the tide will help us there.

 

TITUS

(dubious?)

Yes, sir.

 

BELOW DECKS

 

Rows of TROOPS rowing with full exertion (wasting their precious strength). A GUIDE keeps time by beating on a drum. . . .

 

EXT. HARBOUR - NOON

 

The Roman warships enter the harbour via their rhythmically-churning oar paddles.

 

TITUS

(v.o.)

We reached the harbour of the island of Britain at noon. At that time

no enemy was seen. For the rest of the day we landed our ships.

 

One after another the six hundred ships drop anchor with a splash into the sea. The SPLASHING COMMOTION rises to a vast decibel level.

 

EXT. ISLAND FOREST - NOON

 

CU of a warrior BRITON, face painted, spear-point by his head. His eyes grow wide at the commotion coming like a screaming from out of the sea.  

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Phantom Thread (2017)

 

Driving Shot 1. 11:10–11:19

 

The Clockwork Orange-as-directed-by-Murnau driving shot. We’re moving amid film history here. We’ve moving into/within the past, though it seems as if we’re moving forward in a futural manner.

 

We move forward into the past. Οἰδίπους Τύραννος by Sophocles.

 

How to break this cycle? (Hmm. A blast of some kind is required.)

 

Moving on . . .

 

Driving Shot 2. 11:20–11:24

 

Echoes of Friedkin and French Connection?—Ha—just in the fast rate of speed of the cars and drivers (the second car holding the cameraman). This finely accomplished shot on a narrow, twisty country road recalls all the danger of shooting Dunkirk.

 

Is there a sense of Woodcock outrunning something chasing him? (The past?)

 

Note : the modernity of the lensing contrasts strikingly with Clockwork Murnau— we're moving through, and with, time and history.

 

Driving Shot 4. 11:29–11:43

 

The Shining.

 

In two ways.

 

0. The geometry of the camera rig recalls Danny wheeling onto the Grady sisters.

 

1. The shot defines the (confident, aggressive) rectilinearity of Woodcock moving through a multidimensional world.*

 

*Just as Jack drives along the thread of road amid the heart-of-darkness-like wilderness as the opening credits of The Shining.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Nuclear Threat : Passing on Responsibility.

 

Woodcock : “I think it’s the expectations and assumptions of others that cause heartache.” (23:37)

 

Anton : “Call it.” (23:48 / 1:50:13)

 

But both face Fate before the running time ends!

 

Implacable Fate.

 

PT : Telephoto beginning 21:45. Their relationship begins—with ominous touches. Example : in b.g., the only greenery in the shot : leaves on branches springing up like a tree.

 

On the other side of things—Alma making the omelette at 1:54:29—in b.g., the only greenery in the shot : leaves on branches springing up like a tree.

 

Are past and present synonyms? So how’s our future looking?

 

My goodness.

 

Note the twist : Throughout PT, Alma is markedly associated with Nature; and Alma is acting Psycho—so, therefore, an equation :

 

In Phantom Thread : Nature = Psycho.

 

This—is—Sophocles!

 

So : “What do we do?” Halloween (1978), 39:27

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Mind of Sophocles  

 

Χορός

ἰὼ γενεαὶ βροτῶν,

ὡς ὑμᾶς ἴσα καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ζώσας ἐναριθμῶ.

τίς γάρ, τίς ἀνὴρ πλέον

τᾶς εὐδαιμονίας φέρει

ἢ τοσοῦτον ὅσον δοκεῖν

καὶ δόξαντ᾽ ἀποκλῖναι;

τὸν σόν τοι παράδειγμ᾽ ἔχων,

τὸν σὸν δαίμονα, τὸν σόν, ὦ τλᾶμον Οἰδιπόδα, βροτῶν

οὐδὲν μακαρίζω:

(1186–1195)

 

CHORUS

Ah! Generations of men,

I reckon you all equal to nothing.

For who, who of all mortals

preserves a happiness

stronger than pretence,

and not doomed to collapse?

The design of your fate is a warning,

o miserable Oedipus,

to believe no mortal is blessed.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Transformation in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) :

 

(14.47). “He joined the Special Forces. And after that his . . . ideas, methods . . . became . . . unsound.”

 

In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness : “The Manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the district.”

 

(2:41:25). “I don't see any method . . . at all, sir.”

 

What Willard says to Kurtz late in the film is, secondarily, a morbid joke by Coppola and the film crew on Marlon Brando, the once grand “method actor” who came to the set of the film with zero preparation.

 

This a fine example of how an adapter of a work can use the original yet transform it by virtue of its new context.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Dialogue and Distance : David Lynch and Heart of Darkness

 

Remember in Blue Velvet (1986) the shot when Lynch and cinematographer Frederick Elmes position the camera some distance away from the main characters and we can only barely hear the murmur of their dialogue (15:42)? The same stylistic choice appears in The Straight Story, shot by Freddie Francis (e.g., 1:14:32).

 

Heart of Darkness : “I saw him [Kurtz] open his mouth wide—it gave him a weirdly voracious aspect, as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him. A deep voice reached me faintly. He must have been shouting.” (Part III)

[Jeff Bernstein]

PSA : A lesson in life, and a colossal warning to All

 

Dear Friends,

 

It has come to Scrooby’s attention that, though Europe had a 2,000-year headstart on him, and Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard and Yale have produced an infinite number of words on Sophocles for the last 200 years,

 

no one on earth has ever noticed (in print at least)

 

The Triple-Tone of Sophocles.

 

Sophocles is among the greatest authors of all time—and the world agrees, absolutely no question.

 

But will my name be printed ANYWHERE on earth regarding this COLOSSAL discovery, printed here on Cinematography.com (with respect to a study of Phantom Thread)?

 

Of course not.

 

Because of four women in London, and one book being published for a huge price (though funded by the Donald Trump government) in late September.

 

My translation of the Iliad, infinitely better, is FREE FOR ALL.

 

Hence I am a criminal.

 

All this is not a whine. Ask the NHS—I couldn't care less about myself.

 

WHAT I AM SAYING IS A WARNING TO ALL.

 

BE STRONG AGAIN!

 

Meanwhile, Scrooby doesn’t exist. But wait, I’m speaking. . . .

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Why did Scrooby discover the Triple-Tone?

 

Because, as Heidegger was all-too-ready to point out at a moment's notice, our world has lost the ability to understand what the ancient world knew well.

 

Shorter : Our world has now lost the ability to understand.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

One more colossal point (in order to clarify) then Scrooby moves on

 

In September 2020 Scrooby was published in the most venerable literary journal in the English language, Notes & Queries. It is also the most difficult literary journal to appear in on Earth.

 

Little old Scrooby, in Notes & Queries? You must be joking.

 

ROBERT HERRICK AND SENECA’S OEDIPUS

Many authors of the English Renaissance found inspiration in various phrasings in the plays and prose of Seneca. For example, John G. Fitch traces echoes of Oedipus in Chapman’s Byron’s Conspiracy; and of Thyestes in Jonson’s Catiline and Sejanus. Shakespeare’s ‘Stars, hide your fires’ in Macbeth recalls a similar demand in the Fury’s first speech in Thyestes (ll. 49–51). In their Complete Poetry of Robert Herrick, Tom Cain and Ruth Connolly indicate a number of connections between Seneca’s work, including Oedipus, and the poems of Herrick’s Hesperides.

 

As for ‘Upon Julia’s Clothes’, is it possible that the famous phrase ‘liquefaction of her clothes’ was inspired by ‘fluidumque syrma’ (flowing robe) in Oedipus (l. 423)?

 

In three years, has a single human being in the English language mentioned this, even to destroy me?

 

What do you think, friends?

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Robert De Niro is in The Departed (2006)?

 

2.23.43. Matt Damon stands dejected at the door of his apartment at the end. Head down, he inhales sadly. It sounds like a sniffle. He seems, apparently, to be thinking of his lost love—perhaps the scent of her perfume lingers in the air there? At any rate—There is a air of him “scenting” her—in his mind at least.

 

Knowing Scorsese as we do, and knowing his love for director Elia Kazan, is it a coincidence that this moment in The Departed recalls :

 

De Niro pausing to smell the scent of his lost love on a letter she has sent him, in Kazan’s The Last Tycoon (1976), 1:10:14?

 

BONUS : Did Scorsese get the idea for Ray Liotta addressing the camera at the end of Goodfellas (1990) from the surprising end of The Last Tycoon?!

 

To these questions, the answer should be . . . (Seemingly) Absolutely yes.  

[Jeff Bernstein]

Tremendously interesting factoid?

 

Howard Hughes was a rabid anti-communist in the early 1950s. (Example : firing people left-and-right from RKO for “any tinge of red” (Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer).

 

But at the same time—and this is inside his FBI file which I have on microfilm (remember that big machine?)—

 

At the same time—Hughes Aircraft was making deals to supply equipment to—Russia!

 

And the USA had no problem with this?!

 

Easier now to believe that the Hughes Organization became a front for the CIA . . . and is still?

 

Now here’s the thing : The bibliography to my Hughes biography has over 1,000 entries and comprises over 100 pages. But . . .

 

Not one word of this Russian connection is mentioned anywhere in any of the 1,000 entries. Why? Who knows.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Storytelling Genius in Action : F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Last Tycoon (1941)

 

“Watch your step, Wylie!”, and another man brushed by him in the aisle and went forward in the direction of the cockpit. Wylie White started, and a little too late called after him defiantly:

 

“I only take orders from the pilot.”

 

I recognized the kind of pleasantry that goes on between the powers in Hollywood and their satellites.

 

The stewardess reproved him:

 

“Not so loud, please—some of the passengers are asleep.”

 

Note how Fitzgerald doesn’t describe the decibel level of the two men as their exchange takes place. There is an exclamation point, but that might simply connote jollity—a happy whisper can employ an exclamation point. The word “defiantly” is used, but, again, in the right context a whisper can express a defiant expression.

 

Fitzgerald doesn’t tell us, but shows us the scene, as a first-rate storyteller would do :

 

“Not so loud, please—”

 

This example may seem ridiculously simple, but pick up any novel within grabbing distance and you’ll see that novelists nowadays don’t write like this. No surprise for a “novelist” of today to add this first line :

 

A loud voice suddenly filled the cabin. “Watch your step, Wylie!”, and another man brushed by him in the aisle and went forward in the direction of the cockpit. Wylie White started, and a little too late called after him defiantly.

 

Yes, Fitzgerald is “showing, not telling”—just like a movie. It takes a lifetime of writing to write so simply.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Storytelling Structure : Sophocles and Blue Jasmine (2013)

 

At this point in Oedipus the play (about two-thirds through) there is, amid the horror of it all, one last blip of mistaken optimism experienced by Oedipus before his final plunge into unspeakable catastrophe.

 

So in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine : In the same place in the narrative as Oedipus the play (proportionally speaking), the colossally troubled Jasmine French (Cate Blanchett) finds herself improbably facing possibly one final outlet from her troubles—an unthinkable stroke of good fortune, barely to be believed.

 

But this false hope collapses as quickly as it does in Oedipus the play.

 

“Oedipus. . . . That’s funny.”

 

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) : “Oedipus is funny. . . . That’s the structure of funny right there. ‘Who did this terrible thing to our city? Oh my god, it was me.’ That’s funny.” (45:00)

 

I’m unsure if Woody Allen knew just how monumental this joke was—Woody Allen almost recognized the Triple Tone!

[Jeff Bernstein]

The colossal complication of one moment of Oppenheimer (2023)

 

The scene when the character Oppenheimer meets Niels Bohr with Patrick Blackett in Blackett’s classroom. Expert lensing geometry plays a prominent role throughout. Remember? Bohr occupies the middle of the screen; Blackett stands smaller behind him. Character Oppenheimer stands large at right. Hyperstrong right-left vector. We now hear the echo of North by Northwest (mentioned earlier in this thread) come from Blackett—who is farthest from the lens. Bohr represents a new way : quantum theory. Thus he is larger in the frame. The storyteller shows us visually what is going on in Oppenheimer’s mind : Bohr is eclipsing Blackett. Also, here the movie Oppenheimer is conveying : this Situation is more than classic Hollywood cinema, but there’s nothing wrong with classic Hollywood cinema. This is Hitchcock, and beyond—to put it conventionally. Oppenheimer is offering a possible future to Hollywood storytelling. If Hollywood chooses. About this scene there is so much more to say.

[Jeff Bernstein]

The character Oppenheimer and his uncomfortable exchanges

 

In the movie, sometimes the character Oppenheimer says the wrong thing : he can “rub people the wrong way”. Doesn’t Robert Downey Jr. say something like, “How can someone so smart be so blind?” (You mean Oedipus?)

 

Theory : When one is living the life of the mind, and is putting the flawless diamonds on the black velvet, so to speak, one may not have the bandwidth left in the mind to offer perfect interpersonal relations. If society is not prepared to take the good with the bad with artists, then either (a) ignore the personal; or (b) destroy all artists. But you can’t have it both ways, Alma. Regardless of your dreams. (Phantom Thread.)

[Jeff Bernstein]

The Oppenheimer (2023) phenomenon

 

Storyteller Nolan executes a colossally extensive countdown, contracting to a 10-count, and pulls it off spectacularly?

 

The phenomenon is unspeakable, and the public has voted.

 

The first-rate storytelling has earned the public’s massively positive word-of-mouth.

 

First-rate storytelling works on the unconscious and the intuition—for how else to explain audiences still engrossed through hour 3?—so we might say the World Unconscious is voting favorably on this unlikely box office hit.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Oppenheimer (2023) and Stephen King’s Misery (1987)

 

Oppenheimer’s colossally successful 10-count has a contemporary literary equivalent : Misery, chapters 21-22. Author Stephen King draws out the suspense (“Pre-op?”) for an unspeakable seventeen pages—equivalent to, say, a half-hour or more of a movie?

 

Nolan and King and two breathtaking storytelling feats.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Oppenheimer (2023) and Sophocles and Fitzgerald and the Dolly Zoom

 

After a reference to David Greenglass, a spy at Los Alamos (25:42)—Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist and crew execute a mind-bendingly expert dolly zoom (featuring the skyline of NYC at dusk) : 50:15–50:35. The extensive dolly zoom is incorporated into a complex shot of consummate cinematographic skill. As with chapter 1 of Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon, this one dolly zoom is the product of Nykvist’s lifetime of experience.

 

As for Oedipus, it’s seen all over in Crimes and Misdemeanors. One clue : In the dialogue there are 42 references to “see” / “seeing” / “seen”—more than EWS, which incorporates something like 25 references to seeing.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Nicolas Winding Refn

 

For some time Scrooby has felt uncomfortable that NWR has been left out of the PTA/Nolan discussion on this thread. Let’s be serious : whether one likes it or not, The Neon Demon (2016) is an achievement of no small degree—it cost $7 million? Looks like $20 million—because, just like PTA and Nolan, Refn knows how to make every single penny count—he is a genius of organization as well as all else. Scrooby believes that The Neon Demon is a highly intelligent film, and a step forward in Refn's filmography into a new stage.

 

And, btw, Refn demonstrated that Ryan Gosling is the real thing as an actor—Gosling cares. He committed to the experimental ambiguity (from the get-go) of Only God Forgives. Obviously Gosling would love to contribute to quality pictures that push the boundaries of Hollywood storytelling. Refn is so good for Hollywood—so why hasn’t he made a picture since 2016? A step forward into a new stage—then Hollywood slams the door shut on him? Slams the door shut on a highly intelligent director who brings out the best in talent in front of and behind the camera?

 

At this Situation alarm bells go off.

 

Recall how the Hollywood Reporter the other day deliberately published a smear article on Oppenheimer? Is this a sick joke? If such a thing was attempted in the 1930s, the studios chiefs would have hired Oppenheimer himself to reckon with the HR in an atomic manner.

 

That article was highly disturbing. Because, obviously, it was a calculated strike. The Hollywood Reporter bad-mouthing one of Hollywood’s own products?!

 

What is going on?! What salesman bad-mouths their own product?!

 

Let’s stop for a second. In the strike action (pardon me) where is the demand for We Writers Demand to Write Quality Pictures!

 

It's not there. It's not in the list of demands.

 

Is Hollywood dead? Apparently. But let’s wait until February. Hollywood has until then, apparently, to see the light, or live in darkness forevermore.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Sophocles : “This is gettin’ silly now.” (Jackie Brown, 51:42)

 

Ἐξάγγελος

ὦ γῆς μέγιστα τῆσδ᾽ ἀεὶ τιμώμενοι,

οἷ᾽, ἔργ᾽ ἀκούσεσθ᾽, οἷα δ᾽ εἰσόψεσθ᾽, ὅσον δ᾽

ἀρεῖσθε πένθος, εἴπερ ἐγγενῶς ἔτι

τῶν Λαβδακείων ἐντρέπεσθε δωμάτων.

1223–1226

 

Please consider  :

 

ἀρεῖσθε πένθος

ἐντρέπεσθε

 

Are the first two words fused together to make the third?

 

Like, say, taking “premonition” and “reminisce” to make “preminisce”?

 

Or Bergman fusing his two actresses’ faces together in Persona?

 

ἀρεῖσθε πένθος      ἀρεῖσθε πένθος      ἀρεῖσθε πένθος    ἀρεῖσθε πένθος     ἀρεῖσθε πένθος

ἐντρέπεσθε              ἐντρέπεσθε             ἐντρέπεσθε            ἐντρέπεσθε            ἐντρέπεσθε

 

The first two words and then the third word are very similar in sound.

 

What do these words mean?

 

Messenger

O man most honoured in this land,

what works you shall hear of and look on!

How great the sorrow you shall bear

if you still cherish your own house of Laius!

 

ἀρεῖσθε = to bear, endure

πένθος = sorrow, grief

ἐντρέπεσθε = cherish, respect, reverence

 

Sophocles fuses “endure grief” into one word = “reverence”.

 

In terms of metrics, ἐντρέπεσθε (reverence) is the sonic climax of the four lines.

 

Hmm. May this word-play suggest :

 

In our world—if you care, you’re in for a beating.

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein