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Awesome pic, love 70s Dunaway (Chinatown/ Condor/ Network/ Laura Mars).
I recently posted on the "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" thread, which made me think of Network-- and a pattern I noticed in Lumet's "breakup" scenes.
The breakup scenes in these two movies (among the most memorable in them) are all curiously unilateral/ monologic, which is part of their charge, their (mixed... good/ bad) power. (Side note: the scene between Finch and Beatty is also unilateral/ monologic in similar way, so maybe this pattern extends beyond "breakup" to broader confrontation scene.)
IN BTDYD, the great scene b/w Tomei & PSH-- she basically does all of the talking; he stands there silent, passive/ unresponsive, and that accounts for much of the awkwardness/ tragic yet mostly comedic effect of the scene.
The analogous scenes are two in Network: the Max/ Diana breakup scene which others have discussed above, but also the powerful scene between Max and his wife. In the latter, he (as it were) "breaks up" with her (tells her of his infidelity), but the heart of the scene is her impassioned rant to him, and the *strangeness* of that scene (which is also what makes it funny/ frustrating/ infuriating) is his silent, passive, reception of her poignant monologue ("I've got nothing to say"). The Max/ Diana breakup is also notable for the fact that Diana is so silent/ passive; Max has his monologue and Diana just receives it, only speaking up (faintly) afterward.
It's an interesting choice-- an un- or anti- catharctic choice in staging a breakup. The fact that one partner gets all of the say (as it were), and the other remains mostly silent, in a way makes the scene seem artificial but in another strangely powerful/ realistic. (On the one hand there's a "frustration" aspect, of there not being an adequate response; but there's also something satisfying about the fantasy of such a breakup, all depending on which position you imaginatively occupy.
Maybe this pattern could be extended further. E.g. in The Verdict (Newman slugs Rampling). In Dog Day Afternoon, poor Pacino character's girlfriend/ boyfriend isn't even willing to talk to to him on the cop-mediated phone.
In all cases, there's a kind of dramatic refusal/ failure/ frustration/ futility of communication, which maybe is true to (many of the) multifarious experiences of the "breakup."
― drash, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 05:16 (ten years ago) link
three years pass...
finally watched this
i was fine with the absurd dialogue/monologues except for the one where duvall keeps going on about how he's fucked
holden looks about 15 years older than he actually was -- alas, booze -- making the affair even more ridiculous
anyway it were p. good
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 30 January 2018 01:42 (six years ago) link
one month passes...
But some of the speechifying seemed just awful to me, and there's so, so much of it. Especially Holden's long lecture to Dunaway as they break up
Yeah that’s the nadir of the movie for me.
Beatty’s speech is immortal though.
― Asstral Cheeks (latebloomer), Friday, 16 March 2018 04:57 (six years ago) link
six months pass...
seven months pass...
ten months pass...
Rewatched. Yeah this film has major problems. It wants to be manic like an old Preston Sturges movie but it also wants to be serious and at least to feel "real." I see several of the actors - Dunaway and Duvall particularly - struggling with this indefinite tone. Dunaway is expected to be a cartoon in some moments and real in others. All the while the dialogue is far too grand for these characters.
Holden says to Dunaway when he's breaking up with her, "Everything you touch turns to shit" - and he's supposed to be the compassionate one, the guy with heart.
― Josefa, Monday, 23 March 2020 21:54 (four years ago) link