A Close Reading Of A Tenminute Extract

A Close Reading Of A Ten-minute Extract From .The Age Of Innocence.. Essay, Research Paper

(Dir: Martin

Scorsese, 1993.) ........... As a

Martin Scorsese film .The Age of Innocence. stands in a different genre.

However, it uses the conventions of a film set in this era and of a romantic

drama. Scorsese also employs other interesting conventions to assist in the

development of the narrative as well as of characters, themes and ideas. The

use of these conventions can be found in the extract which involves some of the

first scenes of this film. It takes place at the Bouford.s ball and then moves

onto Mrs Mingotts home.This scene opens in the foyer of

the Bouford.s home. The seamless cut made by use of continuity editing makes

this scene seem as though it is part of the last, there is a natural, swift and

smooth flow on screen. This emphasises and is in fitting with the action just

witnessed on screen; that of swift ballroom dancing, as well as with the

accompanying classical and elegant music which flows from the last scene to

this. We are introduced to the grand foyer, rich in colour and, as our narrator

describes it is a. .boldfully

planned. home thatScorsese has placed us in. This all adds to the

elegant mise-en-scene. The whole of this scene is centred on Newland Archer,

the camera moves with him as though another guest belonging to this society.

Scorsese has used camera work of this kind in other films in order for the

audience to be able to see what the characters on screen see. Servant men, also

looking grand in their flamboyant uniforms, greet him in the hallway. The men

seem to heighten Newland.s position in society to the audience. They are at his

service and as Newland makes his way up the staircase they line the stairway,

standing like guards honouring their general.This is one of the first scenes

of the film and it is here that the audience are introduced to the narrator.

This female voice is as graceful as the swift camera movement and the other

non-diagetic sound, the classical music. The voice, although respectfully

formal, is rather friendly. She serves as the omniscient narrator throughout

the film, the audience is informed of a lot by her, a key tool in the discourse

of the film; she speaks as though she is part of the society we are viewing. It

is as though she is the voice of a Jane Mansfield novel; it was in fact based

on a novel written by Edith Wharton. A narrator of this kind is commonly found

in a romantic period drama. It is this narrative voice that has informed us,

indirectly that the person we see on screen is Newland Archer. This scene is interesting, as Scorsese seems to use

Newland.s character to expose his audience to a range of themes and at a deeper

reading can show some insight to the narrative that lies ahead in the film. As

the servants greet Archer Newland, they take his gloves and lay them on a table

that has many pairs of white gloves on it. The camera focuses directly on the

gloves and table, this is important as the theme of hands, as a fragment of the

body is a reoccurring theme throughout the film. It is found later in this

extract when the next scene opens on the view point of Mrs Manson Mingott, who

is looking though a spyglass at May.s ring, more importantly at her hand. Hands

seem to signify a number of things on a deeper level in this film, May.s hands

seem to represent that which is innocent and does not harm its self but is

harmed, Mrs Minger says it is .tampered. but .the skin is white..

Hands in the film can also emphasise the theme of appearance. In this same

scene Mrs Manson Mingott discusses how her hands were modelled in Paris she

also says that May.s hand .sets the ring off.. Earlier in the extract

the camera follows Newland Archers hand as he delicately picks a white bud from

the flowers that May is holding, hands in this scene signify the breaking of

innocence.Temporal order, together with the guidance of our

narrator, helps in the flow of understanding in this extract. As Archer moves

through the Bouford.s home, the camera tracks him throughout, however, the audience.s

attention does not stay with this character he seems to be used as a tool to

guide us through the home, allowing us to see its grandeur. Scorsese uses paintings in this film to almost serve

as a separate narrative that almost mirrors that of the film, in this scene the

paintings seem to also foretell some of what is to come. As Archer passes the

lined servants on the stairway and arrives at the top of it, the camera pans

side ways to show a large painting of an eloquent looking female, reminding the

audience of the status of the owners of this home. The next painting we are

drawn to is also large; the scene is in snow and shows two women, one in red,

one in white collapsed. Later in the film Scorsese brings this painting to life

in an almost i

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