Scene Alalysis - The Conversation

When thinking of scene analysis and the film The Conversation, one particular sequence sticks out, this of course is the scene in which Gene Hackman obsessively labors over a bit of recorded information in an attempt to fully understand the conversation at hand. In essence, this scene in a microcosm of the entire film.

While sitting at his work desk toiling over a small sample of a recorded conversation, Hackman inches closer and closer to finding out the true contents of the conversation taking place. This one scene does many things at one, from showing Hackmans obsession with work, his bitter isolation, and the revelation of the films most important line, “He’d kill us if he found out.” In the context of the story as a whole, this one scene does everything from offer details into the protagonists personal life as well as let the audience know just how severe the consequences of Hackman turning over the tape to his employer may or may not be. Although the phrase is ultra ambiguous, it sets the tone for the rest of the story and proples into motion the obsessive state that Hackman enters in trying to find out the context of the situation and then prevent what he later deduces will be a murder. The murder takes place anyway, albeit, the murderers and the victim are not originally who the protagonist or the audience thought them to be, but rather the role is reversed. This single scene sets up the audience for the shock they receive when they initially find out what context the conversation took place in. As well as being a plot device to further the stories dramatic arc, it also allows us to further understand the paranoia that Hackman deals with in his every day life, and justifies him tearing his apartment apart in the final scene while searching for a wire tap he believes to be hidden there.

Rarely does one single scene due so much for the story of a film, but in this case, this particular scene offers an extraordinary amount of detail into the personal life of the protagonist, as well as set the story in motion for it’s eventual twist.