The Conversation, directed by Francis Coppola

A detailed Summary of The Conversation, directed by Francis Coppola

Murder, scandals, and the frightening world of surveillance all intertwine to form Francis Ford Coppola's thriller, The Conversation. The viewer, engulfed in a restricted narration, explores the mystery Harry Caul, the protagonist, has caught himself in. A narration that begins objective with spurts of subjectivity is enhanced by the peculiar character traits of Harry. A plot that slowly unravels with surprising turns and leaves the viewer dangling at the end explores the dangers and horrors of surveillance.

Exploring the complex character of Harry Caul is key to understanding the movie. At the beginning we hear him say he doesn't care about what the subjects he's surveying are saying, just as long as he gets a fat recording. Arriving home from the job we find his door loaded with locks and upon entering an alarm goes off. On the floor is a birthday gift. Harry then calls the manager of the apartments and wants to know how the manager entered his home. Instantly in the first ten minutes of the film we are shown how secretive Mr. Caul is. He even is surprised that someone knows it's his birthday. A birthday is something that almost every normal person wants shared and know. This fact emphasizes how he is a loner even m

Another important piece of the meaning is how the story and plot interact. The plot draws you along throughout the movie giving you bits and pieces of what the story is. Up through the murder scene and briefly after the viewers are to believe that the director's wife was cheating on him. That was the reason why the recordings were made. The viewer believes this to be the story, yet after the murder Harry tries to see the director but he isn't admitted. On the way out of the building Harry sees the girl however. At this moment a whole different chunk of the story is shown. This new chunk is that of a conspiracy.

The simple cause is Harry made the recording. Interestingly enough the effect is that people might die, and another part of the effect is that Harry's conscience kicks and he wants to stop what he started. This is a very interesting idea and shows the complexity of Harry's character and how it ties into causality. He tries to trick himself into being impersonal, but his character won't let him.

Harry dives into other peoples' lives, it's his instinct to survey. Upon entering Eve's apartment he stops at the top of the stairwell and listens. She then tells him that how he slowly and quietly puts the key into the door, then opens it quickly it seems as if he's trying to catch her doing something. Eve even tells Harry she feels like he listens to her phone conversations, which he becomes instantly defensive over. This gives the viewer the thought that he might even of have tapped her line. Besides his dealings with Eve, Harry acts the same at his job.

The plot and narration does an excellent job of tricking the viewer. Through its restrictive view and a few objective scenes where Harry feels upset and you see the two subjects of the recording the viewer is almost positive it is a simple affair ending in murder. The temporal order of all the flashbacks had an important role in tricking the viewer. Through constant repetition of the flashbacks the viewer is keyed into their conversation, which makes them seem compassionate, innocent. The compassion they show the bum is implanted in your thoughts. This s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Harry Caul, Eve Harry, Ford Coppola's, , harry caul, harry's conscience, assistant director, character harry caul, doesn't care subjects, harry's conscience kicks, movie beginning, fat recording, harry feels, narration restrictive, chunk story, convention name, care subjects,

Approximate Word count = 1447
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts