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THE CONVERSATION
Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1974
Sunday 13 April 2003 9pm-10.55pm
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Of the principal movies directed by Hollywood's New Wave in the 1970s, few came as close to the realms of European arthouse as writer-director Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation. For a film that owes a considerable debt to Michelangelo Antonioni's modish mystery Blow-Up (1966), this is perhaps unsurprising. However, embraced as it was by European critics, Coppola's landmark study of surveillance also struck a chord for American audiences in the post-Watergate years.
The Conversation deals with similar concerns pursued by Coppola's 'movie brat' contemporaries, particularly Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader. Religion, obsession and madness lie at the heart of this absorbing picture, filmed in between the first two installments of the Godfather trilogy.
Fresh from the success of The French Connection and The Poseidon Adventure, Gene Hackman stars as Harry Caul, a private surveillance expert or 'bugger' with a heavyweight reputation in his field. As the film opens, Harry undertakes a routine assignment, recording a conversation shared by a young couple in San Francisco's Union Square. With the job completed Harry returns to his lab, where - like David Hemmings' fashion photographer in Blow-Up - he examines and re-examines his evidence, slowly growing concerned for the couple's safety.
As Harry, Hackman gives a beautifully contained performance in a portrayal of urban isolation that ranks alongside Robert De Niro's in Taxi Driver (1976). Bespectacled, balding and dressed predominantly in greys and browns, Harry is utterly non-descript - "lonely and anonymous" as one character calls him. This is, of course, what makes him so good at his work. However, to borrow a title from Charles Bukowski, Harry is also "alone with everybody" and Coppola memorably depicts his tragic inability to commit to personal relationships.
Directed with smart attention to colour, and featuring a masterful and somewhat revolutionary sound design from Walter Murch, The Conversation requires and ultimately demands the audience's full attention. The stark conclusion will stay with you for days.
Chris Wiegand
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The Conversation was awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
