The Conversation [Francis Ford Coppola] Scene Analysis

The opening scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation sets up the themes and underlines the dramatic tension of the film. The very first shot in the film is an astonishing three-minute long take; the camera starts wide on the square, establishing it as a major set-piece for the story--the setting where the elusory conversation takes place. The first two minutes of this shot are spent easing down into the square by a slow zoom, where the camera lens focuses in on a mime. The significance of the mime is to highlight the auditory disconnect from the visual in the film. When the camera is wide at the top of the shot, the sounds of the square sound distant; but as the camera pushes in, sounds like the dog barking become loud and crisp. This is done to establish to establish the theme of distance in the film, bringing the viewer into the movie through the auditory perspective of protagonist Harry Caul. Before it’s explained that high-powered microphones are miking the square, bitcrusher/phase distortion obscures pieces of the soundscape, the primary source of dramatic conflict for Harry that sustains the duration of the movie--an unclear, incomprehensible conversation.

Continuing with the theme of separation of audio and their corresponding visuals, the next shot is blocked so that the characters being miked disappear behind a Christmas tree as the camera pans and don’t reappear on the other side.

The next orchestrated shot pans left following a piece of a conversation with Harry in the background eavesdropping, and as soon as the characters leave his earshot, the camera pans right following another conversation until Frederic Forrest and Cindy Williams enter into frame with Harry. This highlights the motif of auditory distance and proximity. The camera pans with them until it cuts to a shot with the eavesdropping cop in the foreground; he continues to pan and they walk in front of Harry again. This furthers the motif while characterizing Harry as a powerful combatant of the dilemma of hearing a quiet roving conversation in a loud wide-open space.

The viewer remains in Harry’s auditory point of view after he enters the van. There is a disconnect between watching Forrest and Williams talk in medium shot not from Harry’s perspective, but hearing the garbled audio transmitted to the van. It’s very voyeuristic, objective shooting with a very subjective soundscape, since this film is primarily about hearing, not seeing. This continues to build the character of Harry Caul as an individual who relies on hearing more so than any other sense. It also establishes the conflict and strengthens the motif sound plays within the film.