Redemption In The Hustler

724 Words3 Pages

The clip belongs to the movie The Hustler (Rossen, 1961). It constitutes an adult story about losers in which life and love, greed, and self-destruction are the main themes, however it is also a story about redemption. The whole clip reproduces the first meeting about Eddie (Paul Newman) and Sarah (Piper Laurie), anticipating the romantic relationship of the film. The director uses widescreen and black and white creating a real atmosphere (….) and highlighting the influence of the character´s personality over their relationship. This essay analyzes how the use of those devices in three different moments anticipates the dénouement of the plot.
In the whole movie, the use of the widescreen joined to the performance of the actors highlight …show more content…

At the Station Bar the scene is shot in a bright light, furthermore, the use of a wide range of scale from black and white depicts the characters: while Sarah is shown in light colors, seeming to be an innocent woman (….), Eddie uses dark dresses, and thought the audience already knows him, now, in addition, he shows different layers of clothing, from darker to lighter, which could mean that he has a good depth. In the tavern scene the light is different and it creates shadows projected by the characters. Eddie says ‘you look different’ and he is right, Sarah is shown under a different light and as a result, especially after confess that she drinks, the contrast between them is not so wide, since she is shown darker than in the preceding scene. In fact she is not so innocent. Furthermore, Eddie is enlightened with a back lighting increasing his charming. A low angle puts the audience in an omniscience position to see their reactions, and the beginning of a relationship that leads them to a third moment in front of Sarah´s apartment, in this scene the light is from the front, increasing the range of dark greys and the shadows over the characters. After she has rejected him, the faces are dark with shadows, especially Sarah´s one. Thus, this is the beginning of an ambiguous

Open Document