‘The Magnificent Ambersons’ delivered the human drama not
only through the plot, but also through the meticulous choice of stylistic
elements. While deep focus and composition in depth represented artistic
signatures, the use of mise-en-scene and long take addressed the theme of the
story, ‘humanity’, ‘change’ and (cinematic) ‘time’ itself.
Mise-en-scene
The greatest mise-en-scene in the film was of course the
Amberson mansion. A vast and grandeur architecture, with high ceilings,
stairways, and party halls, that was also the place where different characters
and feelings were housed, and uncertainties about human nature found its own
cry. Cortez, the photographer for ‘Ambersons’, employed high-contrast and
expressionistic lighting to illuminate the scenes that took place in the manor.
It was a dark, yet organic, psychological landscape, and none of the
inhabitants inside had well-defined characters. They were easily affected by
the circumstances that took place around their surroundings, and they had to
come to terms with the flaws inherent in their psyches.
The long take
‘Ambersons’ was famed for its use of long take in many
scenes, and some could be considered as artistic accomplishments. When you
filmed a scene continuously for a defined period, without recourse to editing,
the audience was literally experiencing ‘cinematic time’ itself. The long take
was cherished by many critics because that represented an integrity for the
photographic process, where you were filming the true performance or actions of
a scene, rather than relying on cutting to abstract out ‘unnecessary’ or
‘undesirable’ scenes. One may argue an editing process is like a subjective
action to divert the focus of the audience to certain desired scene!
A very wonderful long take scene was the one when George and
Fanny was ascending the staircase. While the whole action was of a continuity,
the scene was stylized constructed as to provide a layered feel to the
audience. Through the careful arrangement of lighting, the 2 actors passed
through different areas of shadows, so they were respectively alternated
between brightly-lit and unlit when the action unfolded. The intensity and the
direction of the light also varied during the different faces, so the emphasis
on their faces and gestures became graded and layered. The audience were very
much catching up with them, sensing what was on their minds, but all their
sentiments were so ephemeral, and easily changed that, their true feelings seemed distanced and
inaccessible to the audience, or perhaps, to each other.
Yet the long takes in ‘Ambersons’ served the major purpose
for the film, to express the idea of ‘loss’. As mentioned before, the
‘long-take’ artists employed this technique to, in many cases, express a
nostalgic sentiment for ‘time’, ‘pastness’ and loss. [1] This also resonated
with the impermanent nature of things, a theme frequently addressed by Yasujiro
Ozu and Mikio Naruse. The camera was not willing to lose the very last moment
of an action, when it had to end. It captured the action completely, and at
least took it away from time, at least as a sort of nostalgia. Yet time is
irreversible, when the action ends, you have to move on. So the camera is
fighting with ‘time’, and this is the pathos of the photographic. [1]
‘Ambersons’ was about loss, and in many way mirrored that of
‘Citizen Kane’ or a life story known as ‘Orson Welles’. The marriage of Isabel
and Wilbur was defined by its emptiness, a loveless marriage. Isabel was aware
that she had passions for Eugene ,
but she was willing to be blind to this sentiment, and instead chose to stick
to Wilbur and submitted to his son, George’s control, leading to an unfulfilled
life. A Welles picture should have at least one ‘Wellesian’ character, and in
‘Ambersons’, that was George Minafer. He seemed to be protective of his family,
and had real feelings for Eugene ’s
daughter Lucy. Yet he made miscalculated choices and was opinionated and
overbearing. He could not see through his mother’s real needs, and alienated Eugene in numerous
attempts, even when Isabel was dying. Tragically, what that would lead to was
his loss of his true love, and Lucy would see him as a loner and overbearing
brat. George could also not come to terms with history. He could not face the inevitable
changes (i.e. the arrival of automobiles) and eventually he was lost amidst a modern
world he was never familiar with. He was literally lost in time.
Time is flowing. The things that happen now will become
history in the next second. The big question is, are you willing to go with the
flow?
-END-
(2/2)
by Ed Law
2/7/2015
Film Analysis - 49
Reference:
1. 'The Magnificent Ambersons' BFI Film Classic.
