Like - The Conversation

I watched Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation this week in honor of the late Gene Hackman. I first saw it years ago and once bought a copy of it from a video store that was going out of business. I didn’t have a DVD player so it sat in trunk of my car for years. But, alas, I’m no Harry Caul. The Conversation is the sort of the movie that could be said to be about a lot of things. It’s about a conversation that happens in a park; it’s about a man who lives a mysterious life detached from others; it’s about the power of conspiracy and powerful dark forces at work; it’s about surveillance; it’s about the tension between being paid for a job and the consequences of said job; it’s about what happens when your world gets turned upside down; it’s about the limits of control. But those things aren’t what make the movie great. There’s so much more to it than the themes it deals with so well. The Conversation is a movie that draws deep storytelling power from the medium of film. It has great style and is very well shot, but not in a gratuitous way. Coppola masterfully recognizes the power of images without having to doctor them up.¹ The story is meticulously told from crafting the precarious mental state of Harry Caul to detailing how sophisticated high end audio equipment worked in the 70s.² Then there’s the score with its brilliantly haunting piano motif.³ The Conversation is, in effect, a film that is greater than the sum of its parts, which are already great to begin with. It’s worthy of a rewatch.

(p.s. I’ll be following Marion Teniade’s recommendation to watch Harriet The Spy as a follow up to The Conversation.)

1. There’s a particularly good shot in a church during the middle of the day that could’ve been made to feel dark and solemn but instead is relatively light, understanding that the gravity of the image will be felt regardless.

2. The speaker maker Devon Turnbull of Ojas speakers is no doubt a fan of this film (look behind Gene Hackman in the chair…).

3. The Severance theme song is clearly inspired by The Conversation’s theme but with modern touches to unsubtly underscore its message.