The shot that moved me... wow, this whole movie was like being stabbed in the eye with a Hieronymus Bosch painting!
In general I found that the style of the film often overwhelmed the subject. I examined the twisted gargoyles, swinging censers and extravagant mounds of melted candlewax, rather than paying attention to the action. Mr. 'von' Sternberg would consider me a philistine, because rather than cherishing the distraction and inundation, my favourite shot was one of the least visually opulent.
It follows the scene where the Countess Elisabeth (the Grand Duke's mistress) tells Catherine that the Grand Duke intends to marry her "once the old bat is dead".
It cuts to a three-quarters shot with the table in the foreground, Catherine on the left and Elisabeth on the right. Catherine steps into Elisabeth's personal space and looks her rival up and down once, with a smirk on her face. The camera pans as she cirles slowly behind, until their positions are reversed. Again Catherine looks Elisabeth up and down. The camera continues to pan as she turns away and walks languidly out of the open door, pivots, gives Elisabeth a final sneering once-over and then slams the door.
For once the screen is not a riot of contorted carvings and glittering icons; simply two actresses, a table and no dialogue. Perhaps it stood out for me because it was so mercifully bare. Perhaps von Sternberg held back specifically to make his audience finally SEE these two women. Maybe he realized he had an actress who could convey wordlessly that Catherine is not a woman scorned who is being threatened by her husband's mistress, but rather a Queen whose enemies have just tipped their hand.
This film was my least favourite so far (favourite being "The Red Shoes"), and so I will briefly describe a shot that stood out as something that could be explored further (rather than a shot that moved me, per se):
Near the beginning of the film, after the Queen (empress?) of Russia retires after dinner, there is a brief shot of a clock that sounds; this clock is a small, white sculpture of a bodice that is draped in a fur-coat. Each time the clock sounds, the fur-coat opens to reveal the naked, white body. The black-and-white aspect of the film emphasizes the contrast between the white body and the dark coat, as does von Sternberg's obsession with precise lighting.
This small shot could be seen as significant in many ways: could the Queen be letting her guard down, and rendering herself exposed to Catherine? Or is this a representation of Catherine stripped off her own autonomy and rights? Could this be an even larger implication, representing Russia as derobed?
I don't think there is merely one answer to this question.
Furthermore, later there is another clock that is two white, sculpted men; one is hitting the other on the head with a mallet. A blow to the Queen?
Either way, there seems to be a strong theme of time and exposure that is emphasized by von Sternberg's attention to shot detail.
To me The Scarlet Empress was like watching a very bad historical romance novel you buy for 3$ at a drugstore, only with sometimes beautiful lighting. The acting, the way lines were delivered, radical and unexplained character development, the convoluted sculptures crammed into every single shot; to me they came together to create an over the top film, often too painful to watch. To me this didn't make it easier to concentrate on the lighting as Sternberg may have been aiming for, but rather more difficult to appreciate the visual beauty present in certain parts of the film.
There were very few shots that stood out to me, many of the more interesting shots I felt he repeated until I lost interest. However one that I do remember in particular takes place during Catherines wedding. There's a 5-6 second close up of just her face as she holds a candle up, eyes closed. She looks sad and serene and simple, pure and white in the way she is lit. Her face is symetrically placed in the shot with nothing and no one else visible in the background. It's of her and only her. The simplicity of this shot was so skillfully handled that it stuck out for me amongst the rest of the heavy handed film.
There were many elements of this movie to analyze. I often found myself studying the ominous statues in the background or trying to discern the repeating bell theme that seemed to 'ring' from the beginning to the end of the movie.
There were quite a few shots that stood out to me, a lot of which seemed to accentuate Catherine's femininity. I particularly noticed the abundance of light on her for almost the entire film and to contrast this, her leading males opposite her were always shown with very little light.
It was a sequence of shots though that intrigued me the most. While Catherine was young, beautiful and naive, her wardrobe dressed to match. She wore many outfits that seemed to make a V shape below her neckline. I thought it was a great way to boost our image of her naivete. Once she became a more cunning ruler her wardrobe changes to be more manly in appearance.
"The Scarlett Empress" had a different feeling than the other films that we've seen so far. Throughout the film, most of the characters had serious expressions, and it was rare to see a genuinely happy smile. The lighting in this film was my favorite so far; even though it was in black and white, the shots were very stunning, the costumes were wonderfully designed and the makeup was flawless.
However, my favorite shot was during the wedding; the close-up shot of teary-eyed Catherine as she stares from beneath her wedding veil at Count Alexei, while holding a burning candle, as the shot switches back and forth between Catherine and Alexei's expressions. The lighting on her face was dark and shadowy, which reflected how she was truly feeling. I liked this shot because it seemed that she was "hiding" beneath the veil, as she was trying to hide her disappointment with Grand Duke Peter and her secret desire for Alexei.
I also enjoyed how everyone at the wedding was very serious and the only person with a big smile on their face was the Grand Duke, who was also hiding his true feelings of dislike for Catherine behind his smile.
The shot I enjoyed was when Princess Sophia Frederica went to meet Count Alexei in the barn. The shot was a close up of their faces, his was all dark and he wore dark clothing and she was very bright and wearing white. It was a shot of good vs. evil. They look like complete opposites, he is a barbarian from Russia with long dark scraggly hair and a rugged beard and mustache, she is a sweet innocent Princess, with beautiful blonde, perfectly curled hair and very bright eyed look. This scene shows how child like Sophia is when she keeps putting the straw in her mouth and the Count takes it out so he can kiss her, it is like she is playing a game. In fact in this movie she is very child-like; she would play games in the garden with her ladies in waiting, much like at home when she would be pushed on her swing. She also did not know what a lover was when her dressing lady asked her if she was going to meet one. She seems to be very shelttered and niave.
Josef von Sternberg really was obsessed with lighting and images. I noticed the massive amount of candles and very odd (and rather bold) imagery right away.
As for my favorite shot, I'd have to say it was the shot that was taken during the wedding scene. After it was announced that the two were married, there was a shot of someone putting their hands together and tying them together. This shot really got my attention because it was a symbol of their marriage. The marriage between Sophia and the Grand Duke was fake and forced, but they were compelled to be together. Someone had to physically take their hands and tie them up, just like how someone had to bring the two together and force them to be married.
There were also two other shots that I noticed that really caught my attention. The first took place at the beginning of the movie when Sophia was a child. It was right after the scenes of people being murdered. The shot was Sophia playing outside with her friends. They were playing tag, swinging on the swings, ect. Everyone was wearing pretty dresses and dressed very fancy. They were so innocent and happy. The second shot was towards the end of the movie when everyone was waiting to hear if the Queen had died. Sophia, now an adult, was playing outside again with her friends like she was a child. It was interesting because there was so much sadness and anger going on in the other scenes surrounding, and then it switched right back to Sophia and to her innocent, carefree persona at the time.
The shot that I liked in this film came rather early on. It was when the old man was telling her those gorey violent stories and it crosses over from the man swinging in the bell to an older version of the girl. The shot is unique in that it appears to have been taken from higher up, when she swings nearer her feet are going up and over the camera.The camera doesn't move, her actions are movement enough interest for the shot. The duration of this is a good few seconds, long enough to understand the transition from her childhood to now. It's a full shot, with our protagonist the center of it all, balanced by a few other people on either side. I thought this shot was a rather clever transition. The story is foreshadowing, even if we aren't aware of it at the time. The fact that she is swinging illustrates to us that although grown since the last time we've seen her, she is still very very young and childlike.
This film was not a least favourite but not one I would watch again. The style and background settings of the film seemed too overwhelming and "in your face" that took away from what was really going on. Being a black and white film,it is evident von Sternberg has a little bit of an obsession with lighting. He has a great technique to draw attention from one scene to another instantly and also portray foreshadowing in almost every shot. He gave suspense but just enough, cruel, mad horror but in a humourous way. The backgrounds were extremely detailed and symbolized the amount of power Russia, roughly around that time, had and it showed that Russia was a power driven country. The guards, the castles, the army and the horses. I enjoyed the MASSIVE sized doors inside the castle. Does this symbolize Russia's immense power? Who knows what von Sternberg is trying to say with all of his symbolism, although he does always have your attention. Another example is the nudist clock. Does this symbolize the queens demise or Catherine's rights being ripped away from her grasp? von Sternberg's film, "The Scarlett Empress" was..interesting. Although I did not have a "shot that moved me", overall, the film had my attention all the way through.
This week, the shot that moved me from "The Scarlet Empress" was the shot of Catherine inspecting the Russian army. She enters and walks down the line of soldiers, coolly looking them over. She radiates confidence, control, and power. We can see how she has matured from the young innocent girl she once was. Catherine seems to be an entirely different person. Her attitude and personality has changed, her hair has changed, and she even changed the way she walked. She used to walk quickly, bouncily, and excitedly. Now she takes long, slow strides, gliding across the floor. When she was first introduced into the story, Catherine wore light coloured dresses, representing her purity and innocence. Now she is dressed in black, representing her maturity and responsibility as the empress of Russia She has finally stepped up to the role of the empress. I found it very interesting to see this sudden growth in Catherine’s character from a sweet, innocent, naïve girl into a powerful, mature ruler.
One of the shots that stood out to me was when the messenger(can't remember name) arrives and Sophia enters the room and kisses everyone's hands. Its a fairly odd yet comical scene. There are a lot of odd little scenes in the movie that are funnily bizarre and immediately eye-catching such as the guy being tortured inside the bell, the giant doors that all the girls need to push at once, and Peter's wall-drilling invention (I love how he just drills through walls as if its completely normal).
There are also shots that show an impressive amount of detail in the set design such as the shot showing the food on the table at one of the feasts and a shot of the wedding where there are a large group of priests holding candles, swinging things(not quite sure what those things were), chanting, etc.
I really enjoyed the humor in this film, typified by the performance of John Lodge as Count Alexei. Whenever I saw him on screen I couldn’t help but be reminded of Phil Hartman. Anyways, my favorite shot is the where Catherine and Count Alexei are talking to each other after the death of the Empress Elizabeth. It’s an overhead shot on a staircase showing Catherine ascending the staircase with Count Alexei at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her. In this shot Catherine is wearing black for the first time in the movie. Perhaps it’s too show that she’s in mourning. Rather, I think that costuming her in black was a way of showing her dominance and confidence as the new Empress. The black dress along with the overhead shot showing Catherine standing above, looking down on Count Alexei demonstrate that she now has the upper hand not only in the household, but as well in her relationship with Count Hartman…I mean Alexi.
My favorite shot in Josef von Sternberg’s “The Scarlet Empress” is the wedding scene between Catherine and her idiotic husband, the Grand Duke. The entire scene is very elaborate and full of detail, but the shot that caught my attention was a close up of Catherine’s face behind a veil. The veil was in focus and Catherine’s was not, implying that she is a complex character and we do not truly understand her and her motives. This idea is reinforced throughout the film from her seemingly random actions and “hook ups” with random soldiers. We later learn that this is her way to make her soldiers become loyal to her for when she takes the throne from the Duke.
The angle in this particular shot in the wedding is slightly from above, making Catherine seem somewhat small and helpless, which is exactly what she is at this point in time in the film.
Overall the only aspects I enjoyed in this film is the portrayal of the Duke as an idiot, with his goofy smile and wide, shifting eyes, and the intricate detail and lighting within shots. The character developments were very fast and at one point I felt the time line skipped ahead a few years after Catherine went into the secret room behind the Empress’ bed. After she climbed the stairs, I became lost because she seemed to change very, very suddenly. As mentioned before, this film feels like a cheap, romantic love story.
This movie utilizes its two colour palette masterfully. This whole movie’s focus revolves around Sophia’s journey from comfortable Prussia to frigid Moscow. Where Sophia meets Count Alexei in the barn is an important scene because it’s one where Sophia makes her transition of character from a weak insecure woman from Prussia becomes a strong, confident woman of Russia. This is because particularly of the clothing and the lighting in the scene. At the beginning Count Alexei is completely shadowed and covered in black perhaps alluring to his Russian wild and ruggedness while Sophia is pale and white showing her sensitivity and innocence. But when she lands in the hay shadows cast over her partially perhaps alluring to a change inside herself.
The shot that really stands out for me in The Scarlet Empress is when Catherine is forced to marry Grand Duke Peter. The wedding hall is lined with dozens of eerie statues of withered looking characters that are also present throughout the rest of the palace. These disturbing and exaggerated figures drew my attention above anything else and were easily my favorite part of the film. Another part of the shot I liked was when Catherine covered her face in the veil. It seemed to be significant to me, and I couldn’t help but think of the way Count Alexei “pulled the wool over her eyes” by telling Catherine fallacies about Peter.
The Scarlet Empress is a really interesting movie with lots of cool lighting created by all the candles in the shots. I really liked how every shot was filled with very sinister paints and sculptures, which helped creating an oppressive looking environment. The shot that moved me was when the emperor was murdered, when the soldier kills the emperor the camera sits still right in the middle of the emperor's room while the murder shot is covered by the Russian Orthodox Cross. I think that the reason that the murder shot was covered by the Cross is that Catherine was obligated to change her religion.
This movie was a bit hard not to loose focus, among the bad acting, and the ridiculously unproportional settings. What was actually a sad thing, cause if it wasn`t for these problems, I would probably have loved this fim. The Narrative is nicely done, you can follow the course of events even if you`re not familiar to the historical facts. The lighting helps to heighten the expressions of the characters. Making use of the technique chiaroscuro, the director intentionally enhance the contrasts between dark and light. Having said that a scene that I would like to point as a great shot was one in the beggining of the movie: Princess Sophia is still in Germany. She is called by her father to see him in a room, when she goes in, she has to kiss the hand of everyone else in there, the camera follows her, from a high angle. You can see a part of the luster, and the camera moves around it, so the viewer can get the best knowledge of what is happening.
As I read through the post I became aware as to how many people did not enjoy this movie because of the over cluttered and gaudy set design. The chaotic atmosphere is why i loved the movie so much. The confusion and disarray acted as a perfect contrast to the simplistic moments throughout the movie.
These simplistic moments I am referring to are the close-ups on Marlene, whom Von Sternberg creates stark shadows across her face. I adore shadowing on faces. For me the most interesting shots or photos are black and white scenes with dynamic and angular shading.
The shot that moved me was a simplistic shot involving angular shadows. The shot is a close-up on the face of Catherine as the Duke is informing her about how he is going to marry countess Elizabeth. In a single moment the actress can convey so much emotion through so little movement. A scene with a surplus of action or gestures could not convey as much emotion as Catherine expresses through one shot. Catherine is demonstrating how much she has matured and exhibits the power she possesses. Through this power Catherine has the ability to destroy countess Elizabeth and the Duke, and through this shot Catherine portrays that she has the desire and will power to do so.
A shot within this film that i found moving was one of the dinner sequences about 30 minutes into the film. It is a panned shot that starts off with a skeleton around a large pot. The camera slowly moves down the table showing the eccentric set that was created on to make this shot. As it moves down you see lavish centerpieces and various cups and foods and of course candles (which are found all through-out this film). The shot then closes in on the queens face which has a smirk painted across it, her regular followers can be seen in a darker light behind her. The camera then zooms out and continues to pan away from the queen and brings the happy new couple in the shot, the Duke with his regular demeanor and the Empress with a look of concern. the shot then comes to a complete zoom out and puts the size of the room in a better perspective showing the audience how many extras it took to make this one scene alone.
There were many interesting shots in this film, but the one that moved me is the one where Catherine is sitting in the hay with that guy, (I forget his name) the one who came to her house to bring her to Russia. I enjoyed this scene in particular because I noticed that Catherine is dressed all in white, and is very well lit, which can be a representation of her purity and innocence. Her would be lover, on the other hand, is dressed entirely in black, and his face is facing away from the camera, giving him a darker, almost sinister appearance. This could be a representation of the temptation that he is to Catherine. Also, the camera is filming from a high angle, which accentuates the fact that Catherine feels vulnerable, while making her lover seem to be towering over her.
I believe too many of us are forgetting that Josef Von Sternberg was a master/obsessor in lighting and attention to detail. The cheap feel of the romantic plot was meant to be that way so it wouldn't distract from the view of the silver screen. Von Sternberg's art is there, it is poking out from behind the actor's, (who's acting I must admit was so bad it was comical). I felt this movie was a feast for the eyes not the mind. The shot that I felt was most note worthy was the first time the viewers were shown the thrown room. The thrown itself was the epitome of the props and stage design. The way the gargoyles loomed over the Empress (the single most powerful person thus far in the movie) as if to say the props and stage itself are more important than any of the characters and actors. All throughout the movie the stage was the apple of the viewer's eye. The actors were merely an excuse for the camera to film the stage. The lighting was clearly meticulously designed and worked. It was evident this movie was a living portrait, beautiful, with a story line that doesn't matter. Andrew Kleysen
The shot that moved me in the 1934 film, "The Scarlet Empress", was the shot during which the marriage between Catherine and Peter takes place. The shot begins when the camera focuses in on the face of Catherine, focusing mainly on her eyes, as she is seen through her vail.
This shot is very moving, as it allows the spectator to almost know what she is thinking simply by reading her eye movements. In this, we see that the marriage that she is about to commit to is not at all what she had wanted. She also realizes that there is no way out of it and that this is her new life.
I also would have to agree that the vail acts almost as a sheild or blind in this shot, as she uses it to "hide" her emotions behind. The flickering candle in the front corner of the shot also portrays a sort of desire to change her life that she is forced into.
The camera angle makes the candle look as if it almost touches her vail keeping the spectator in suspense. The lighting in the shot is very dim, almost as if the shot is solely reliying on candle light.
There were lots of interesting shots in "The Scarlet Empress". One of my favourate shot was taken during Catherine and Grand duke's wedding. There is a close-up shot of Catherine's facial expression. The shot focuses on Catherine's face at the beginning then it moves on the Grand duke's face a little bit, after the camera gives a shot of Catherine's face again. This repeating shot particularly emphasizes Catherine's sad expression and how her face is acting after reluctantly married to Grand duke. In this scene, Catherine keeps her eyes without blinking and she keeps looking at one direction for few seconds. We are even able to detect tears in her eyes.
The lighting effect in this shot is excellent. It looks like a drawing, those shadows of her nose and lip creat a beautiful contour line . It is a wounderful portait of Catherine.
After Catherine became a powerful woman, her facial expression also has a significant change. She is innocent and naive on the wedding snece but her personality is tatoly changed after. This sence empharsizes the change.
In, "The Scarlett Empress", there were many beautiful shots, as Mr. von Sternberg intended, however, it took a long while for one to really stand out to me. Sure, they all looked well organized and like good paintings, but they didn't grasp me as epic pieces of art.
However, there was one shot that really did stand out to me. It was a shot of Catherine as she is sitting on some sort of chair in part of the castle and there are a bunch of sculptures of mummies surrounding her almost as if they are about to consume her. The lighting in this shot was fantastic as only her face and the shadowed faces of the ghouls were truly visible. The shot was taken from a high angle, thus making Catherine look as if she was in more danger and making her seem even more helpless.
The interesting thing about this close-up is that she doesn't seem to realize the apparent danger I previously described. She is calm in her own little world and maybe a slight bit worried at the daunting prospect of becoming royalty.
The one real part of the shot that moved me was that those horrific gargoyle-like statues were almost foreshadowing and acting as a warning of the danger to come (ie. the love affairs, the hostility from the current empress, the revolt).
When watching "The Scarlet Empress" i noticed that Von Sternberg used alot of detail in his set designs from everything to the design of the gargoyle chairs the royal family sat in, to the dinner set where it seemed to be a countless amount of food. This made me more interested in watching the background setting rather than focusing on the story or actors.
The shot that moved me was when Catherine had met Count Alexei in the barn. I noticed that was catherine was dressed in white and when the camera was close up, she seemed bright and had this innocent look to her like she was a child. Alexei on the otherhand was wearing all black and it made him look like a dark character. The overhead shots make it seem that Catherine is a child compared to alexei who is hovering over her like a predator about to pound on their prey.
Choosing a shot from this movie was difficult for me as nothing really stood out from the rest. After looking at the movie again I have to say that the wedding scene stood out the most particulary the one shot we get of Catherine's face through the veil. This is not the only time in the film where Catherine's face is hiding behind a veil or some type of netting as we see later on in the film of a shot of her in bed after giving birth to her son. At this point of the film Catherine is still shown as innocent and has a child like naive to her as she is still clearly confused as to what is going on around her. The lighting that was used in this scene was effective as well clearly showing the innocence that Catherine still contained at this point of the film.
In the movie one scene that stood out for me was the dinner party. In this scene the camera captures the long length of the table of this celebration. Full of lots of detail in there bowls, melted wax candles, skeletons, food, hair styles and costumes. everyone is seated in a chair with long faces of goons on each side it captures the twisted fate of Cathrine. It was a wedding dinner/celebration but it was a dark and sloppy because it didn't look clean, neat, no one was smiling. I think this scene expressed how the queen and duke was going treat Catherine. I think Sternberg really focus on the littlest details especially with the door designs and the goons' expressions.
to me The Scarlet Empress was more like a historical drama than a moive, lots of elements in this movie are way too obvious,for e.g wired sculptures, characters' expressions, when I see something and right after that you realized what it is and what it means, it really makes my brain stoped thinking.
but again, if you freeze the screen and looking through it from photography director's point of view, the lighting in this moive was beautiful,the composition and realationship between sculpture and characters are perfect.
The only shot that interested me was when the first time empress Elizabeth Petrovna greets Princess Sophia Frederica and her mother,it started with a low angle shot ,empress Elizabeth Petrovna is seated on the throne in all her majesty, the griffin looking creature on her back was the only scuplture in this moive that i think actually functioning. particulaily its head , facing towards her so as everyone else in the room, a really stunning and powerful shot.
The shot that had a lasting impression on me was the marriage scene. Just as the Duke and Catherine were about to become engaged, the camera displays the surrounding settings and background, giving the audience an understanding of what is going on. The shot that resembled more like a painting than a motion picture is when the camera starts at the top of the throne where the queen is sitting and slowly moves in a downward diagonal direction. As the camera slowly moves in a diagonal motion, the screen is filled with props and visuals which can only be observed at a steady pace. Although people may say how the director filled the wedding scene with a vast amount of props such as brightly lit candles, and extras (priests, people), it gave the sense of a grand and colossal feeling. Well I guess this scene needed to be stunning, because after all it is the Duke’s wedding.
Sorry for the late post. I was very sick last week and also this was a very hard film to digest.
The shot that move me was the shot was when they arrived at the court. After they arrived, a court doctor went directly under the hoop of her skirt looking at her "private parts" as to see if she would be ready for a "royal pregnancy". This shot moved me because seeing how finicky they are of choosing the bride. However, this would never account to what she had done the couple of years after. How they wanted her to be ready for the half-wit she was about to get married is a total opposite when in fact she would become like a royal manipulative "whore" that had literally slept with the entire army. This just shows Sternberg had a knack for eroticism and uniqueness in his films. She starts off as this innocent and dainty girl that doesn't want to become queen but in the end she would literally do everything in her power to get what she wants.
30 comments:
The shot that moved me... wow, this whole movie was like being stabbed in the eye with a Hieronymus Bosch painting!
In general I found that the style of the film often overwhelmed the subject. I examined the twisted gargoyles, swinging censers and extravagant mounds of melted candlewax, rather than paying attention to the action. Mr. 'von' Sternberg would consider me a philistine, because rather than cherishing the distraction and inundation, my favourite shot was one of the least visually opulent.
It follows the scene where the Countess Elisabeth (the Grand Duke's mistress) tells Catherine that the Grand Duke intends to marry her "once the old bat is dead".
It cuts to a three-quarters shot with the table in the foreground, Catherine on the left and Elisabeth on the right. Catherine steps into Elisabeth's personal space and looks her rival up and down once, with a smirk on her face. The camera pans as she cirles slowly behind, until their positions are reversed. Again Catherine looks Elisabeth up and down. The camera continues to pan as she turns away and walks languidly out of the open door, pivots, gives Elisabeth a final sneering once-over and then slams the door.
For once the screen is not a riot of contorted carvings and glittering icons; simply two actresses, a table and no dialogue. Perhaps it stood out for me because it was so mercifully bare. Perhaps von Sternberg held back specifically to make his audience finally SEE these two women. Maybe he realized he had an actress who could convey wordlessly that Catherine is not a woman scorned who is being threatened by her husband's mistress, but rather a Queen whose enemies have just tipped their hand.
This film was my least favourite so far (favourite being "The Red Shoes"), and so I will briefly describe a shot that stood out as something that could be explored further (rather than a shot that moved me, per se):
Near the beginning of the film, after the Queen (empress?) of Russia retires after dinner, there is a brief shot of a clock that sounds; this clock is a small, white sculpture of a bodice that is draped in a fur-coat. Each time the clock sounds, the fur-coat opens to reveal the naked, white body. The black-and-white aspect of the film emphasizes the contrast between the white body and the dark coat, as does von Sternberg's obsession with precise lighting.
This small shot could be seen as significant in many ways: could the Queen be letting her guard down, and rendering herself exposed to Catherine? Or is this a representation of Catherine stripped off her own autonomy and rights? Could this be an even larger implication, representing Russia as derobed?
I don't think there is merely one answer to this question.
Furthermore, later there is another clock that is two white, sculpted men; one is hitting the other on the head with a mallet. A blow to the Queen?
Either way, there seems to be a strong theme of time and exposure that is emphasized by von Sternberg's attention to shot detail.
To me The Scarlet Empress was like watching a very bad historical romance novel you buy for 3$ at a drugstore, only with sometimes beautiful lighting. The acting, the way lines were delivered, radical and unexplained character development, the convoluted sculptures crammed into every single shot; to me they came together to create an over the top film, often too painful to watch. To me this didn't make it easier to concentrate on the lighting as Sternberg may have been aiming for, but rather more difficult to appreciate the visual beauty present in certain parts of the film.
There were very few shots that stood out to me, many of the more interesting shots I felt he repeated until I lost interest. However one that I do remember in particular takes place during Catherines wedding. There's a 5-6 second close up of just her face as she holds a candle up, eyes closed. She looks sad and serene and simple, pure and white in the way she is lit. Her face is symetrically placed in the shot with nothing and no one else visible in the background. It's of her and only her. The simplicity of this shot was so skillfully handled that it stuck out for me amongst the rest of the heavy handed film.
There were many elements of this movie to analyze. I often found myself studying the ominous statues in the background or trying to discern the repeating bell theme that seemed to 'ring' from the beginning to the end of the movie.
There were quite a few shots that stood out to me, a lot of which seemed to accentuate Catherine's femininity. I particularly noticed the abundance of light on her for almost the entire film and to contrast this, her leading males opposite her were always shown with very little light.
It was a sequence of shots though that intrigued me the most. While Catherine was young, beautiful and naive, her wardrobe dressed to match. She wore many outfits that seemed to make a V shape below her neckline. I thought it was a great way to boost our image of her naivete. Once she became a more cunning ruler her wardrobe changes to be more manly in appearance.
"The Scarlett Empress" had a different feeling than the other films that we've seen so far. Throughout the film, most of the characters had serious expressions, and it was rare to see a genuinely happy smile. The lighting in this film was my favorite so far; even though it was in black and white, the shots were very stunning, the costumes were wonderfully designed and the makeup was flawless.
However, my favorite shot was during the wedding; the close-up shot of teary-eyed Catherine as she stares from beneath her wedding veil at Count Alexei, while holding a burning candle, as the shot switches back and forth between Catherine and Alexei's expressions. The lighting on her face was dark and shadowy, which reflected how she was truly feeling. I liked this shot because it seemed that she was "hiding" beneath the veil, as she was trying to hide her disappointment with Grand Duke Peter and her secret desire for Alexei.
I also enjoyed how everyone at the wedding was very serious and the only person with a big smile on their face was the Grand Duke, who was also hiding his true feelings of dislike for Catherine behind his smile.
The shot I enjoyed was when Princess Sophia Frederica went to meet Count Alexei in the barn. The shot was a close up of their faces, his was all dark and he wore dark clothing and she was very bright and wearing white. It was a shot of good vs. evil. They look like complete opposites, he is a barbarian from Russia with long dark scraggly hair and a rugged beard and mustache, she is a sweet innocent Princess, with beautiful blonde, perfectly curled hair and very bright eyed look. This scene shows how child like Sophia is when she keeps putting the straw in her mouth and the Count takes it out so he can kiss her, it is like she is playing a game. In fact in this movie she is very child-like; she would play games in the garden with her ladies in waiting, much like at home when she would be pushed on her swing. She also did not know what a lover was when her dressing lady asked her if she was going to meet one. She seems to be very shelttered and niave.
Josef von Sternberg really was obsessed with lighting and images. I noticed the massive amount of candles and very odd (and rather bold) imagery right away.
As for my favorite shot, I'd have to say it was the shot that was taken during the wedding scene. After it was announced that the two were married, there was a shot of someone putting their hands together and tying them together. This shot really got my attention because it was a symbol of their marriage. The marriage between Sophia and the Grand Duke was fake and forced, but they were compelled to be together. Someone had to physically take their hands and tie them up, just like how someone had to bring the two together and force them to be married.
There were also two other shots that I noticed that really caught my attention. The first took place at the beginning of the movie when Sophia was a child. It was right after the scenes of people being murdered. The shot was Sophia playing outside with her friends. They were playing tag, swinging on the swings, ect. Everyone was wearing pretty dresses and dressed very fancy. They were so innocent and happy. The second shot was towards the end of the movie when everyone was waiting to hear if the Queen had died. Sophia, now an adult, was playing outside again with her friends like she was a child. It was interesting because there was so much sadness and anger going on in the other scenes surrounding, and then it switched right back to Sophia and to her innocent, carefree persona at the time.
The shot that I liked in this film came rather early on. It was when the old man was telling her those gorey violent stories and it crosses over from the man swinging in the bell to an older version of the girl. The shot is unique in that it appears to have been taken from higher up, when she swings nearer her feet are going up and over the camera.The camera doesn't move, her actions are movement enough interest for the shot. The duration of this is a good few seconds, long enough to understand the transition from her childhood to now. It's a full shot, with our protagonist the center of it all, balanced by a few other people on either side. I thought this shot was a rather clever transition. The story is foreshadowing, even if we aren't aware of it at the time. The fact that she is swinging illustrates to us that although grown since the last time we've seen her, she is still very very young and childlike.
This film was not a least favourite but not one I would watch again. The style and background settings of the film seemed too overwhelming and "in your face" that took away from what was really going on. Being a black and white film,it is evident von Sternberg has a little bit of an obsession with lighting. He has a great technique to draw attention from one scene to another instantly and also portray foreshadowing in almost every shot. He gave suspense but just enough, cruel, mad horror but in a humourous way. The backgrounds were extremely detailed and symbolized the amount of power Russia, roughly around that time, had and it showed that Russia was a power driven country. The guards, the castles, the army and the horses. I enjoyed the MASSIVE sized doors inside the castle. Does this symbolize Russia's immense power? Who knows what von Sternberg is trying to say with all of his symbolism, although he does always have your attention. Another example is the nudist clock. Does this symbolize the queens demise or Catherine's rights being ripped away from her grasp? von Sternberg's film, "The Scarlett Empress" was..interesting. Although I did not have a "shot that moved me", overall, the film had my attention all the way through.
This week, the shot that moved me from "The Scarlet Empress" was the shot of Catherine inspecting the Russian army. She enters and walks down the line of soldiers, coolly looking them over. She radiates confidence, control, and power. We can see how she has matured from the young innocent girl she once was. Catherine seems to be an entirely different person. Her attitude and personality has changed, her hair has changed, and she even changed the way she walked. She used to walk quickly, bouncily, and excitedly. Now she takes long, slow strides, gliding across the floor. When she was first introduced into the story, Catherine wore light coloured dresses, representing her purity and innocence. Now she is dressed in black, representing her maturity and responsibility as the empress of Russia She has finally stepped up to the role of the empress. I found it very interesting to see this sudden growth in Catherine’s character from a sweet, innocent, naïve girl into a powerful, mature ruler.
One of the shots that stood out to me was when the messenger(can't remember name) arrives and Sophia enters the room and kisses everyone's hands. Its a fairly odd yet comical scene. There are a lot of odd little scenes in the movie that are funnily bizarre and immediately eye-catching such as the guy being tortured inside the bell, the giant doors that all the girls need to push at once, and Peter's wall-drilling invention (I love how he just drills through walls as if its completely normal).
There are also shots that show an impressive amount of detail in the set design such as the shot showing the food on the table at one of the feasts and a shot of the wedding where there are a large group of priests holding candles, swinging things(not quite sure what those things were), chanting, etc.
I really enjoyed the humor in this film, typified by the performance of John Lodge as Count Alexei. Whenever I saw him on screen I couldn’t help but be reminded of Phil Hartman. Anyways, my favorite shot is the where Catherine and Count Alexei are talking to each other after the death of the Empress Elizabeth. It’s an overhead shot on a staircase showing Catherine ascending the staircase with Count Alexei at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her. In this shot Catherine is wearing black for the first time in the movie. Perhaps it’s too show that she’s in mourning. Rather, I think that costuming her in black was a way of showing her dominance and confidence as the new Empress. The black dress along with the overhead shot showing Catherine standing above, looking down on Count Alexei demonstrate that she now has the upper hand not only in the household, but as well in her relationship with Count Hartman…I mean Alexi.
My favorite shot in Josef von Sternberg’s “The Scarlet Empress” is the wedding scene between Catherine and her idiotic husband, the Grand Duke. The entire scene is very elaborate and full of detail, but the shot that caught my attention was a close up of Catherine’s face behind a veil. The veil was in focus and Catherine’s was not, implying that she is a complex character and we do not truly understand her and her motives. This idea is reinforced throughout the film from her seemingly random actions and “hook ups” with random soldiers. We later learn that this is her way to make her soldiers become loyal to her for when she takes the throne from the Duke.
The angle in this particular shot in the wedding is slightly from above, making Catherine seem somewhat small and helpless, which is exactly what she is at this point in time in the film.
Overall the only aspects I enjoyed in this film is the portrayal of the Duke as an idiot, with his goofy smile and wide, shifting eyes, and the intricate detail and lighting within shots. The character developments were very fast and at one point I felt the time line skipped ahead a few years after Catherine went into the secret room behind the Empress’ bed. After she climbed the stairs, I became lost because she seemed to change very, very suddenly. As mentioned before, this film feels like a cheap, romantic love story.
This movie utilizes its two colour palette masterfully. This whole movie’s focus revolves around Sophia’s journey from comfortable Prussia to frigid Moscow. Where Sophia meets Count Alexei in the barn is an important scene because it’s one where Sophia makes her transition of character from a weak insecure woman from Prussia becomes a strong, confident woman of Russia. This is because particularly of the clothing and the lighting in the scene. At the beginning Count Alexei is completely shadowed and covered in black perhaps alluring to his Russian wild and ruggedness while Sophia is pale and white showing her sensitivity and innocence. But when she lands in the hay shadows cast over her partially perhaps alluring to a change inside herself.
The shot that really stands out for me in The Scarlet Empress is when Catherine is forced to marry Grand Duke Peter. The wedding hall is lined with dozens of eerie statues of withered looking characters that are also present throughout the rest of the palace. These disturbing and exaggerated figures drew my attention above anything else and were easily my favorite part of the film. Another part of the shot I liked was when Catherine covered her face in the veil. It seemed to be significant to me, and I couldn’t help but think of the way Count Alexei “pulled the wool over her eyes” by telling Catherine fallacies about Peter.
The Scarlet Empress is a really interesting movie with lots of cool lighting created by all the candles in the shots. I really liked how every shot was filled with very sinister paints and sculptures, which helped creating an oppressive looking environment.
The shot that moved me was when the emperor was murdered, when the soldier kills the emperor the camera sits still right in the middle of the emperor's room while the murder shot is covered by the Russian Orthodox Cross.
I think that the reason that the murder shot was covered by the Cross is that Catherine was obligated to change her religion.
This movie was a bit hard not to loose focus, among the bad acting, and the ridiculously unproportional settings. What was actually a sad thing, cause if it wasn`t for these problems, I would probably have loved this fim. The Narrative is nicely done, you can follow the course of events even if you`re not familiar to the historical facts. The lighting helps to heighten the expressions of the characters. Making use of the technique chiaroscuro, the director intentionally enhance the contrasts between dark and light.
Having said that a scene that I would like to point as a great shot was one in the beggining of the movie: Princess Sophia is still in Germany. She is called by her father to see him in a room, when she goes in, she has to kiss the hand of everyone else in there, the camera follows her, from a high angle. You can see a part of the luster, and the camera moves around it, so the viewer can get the best knowledge of what is happening.
As I read through the post I became aware as to how many people did not enjoy this movie because of the over cluttered and gaudy set design. The chaotic atmosphere is why i loved the movie so much. The confusion and disarray acted as a perfect contrast to the simplistic moments throughout the movie.
These simplistic moments I am referring to are the close-ups on Marlene, whom Von Sternberg creates stark shadows across her face. I adore shadowing on faces. For me the most interesting shots or photos are black and white scenes with dynamic and angular shading.
The shot that moved me was a simplistic shot involving angular shadows. The shot is a close-up on the face of Catherine as the Duke is informing her about how he is going to marry countess Elizabeth. In a single moment the actress can convey so much emotion through so little movement. A scene with a surplus of action or gestures could not convey as much emotion as Catherine expresses through one shot. Catherine is demonstrating how much she has matured and exhibits the power she possesses. Through this power Catherine has the ability to destroy countess Elizabeth and the Duke, and through this shot Catherine portrays that she has the desire and will power to do so.
A shot within this film that i found moving was one of the dinner sequences about 30 minutes into the film. It is a panned shot that starts off with a skeleton around a large pot. The camera slowly moves down the table showing the eccentric set that was created on to make this shot. As it moves down you see lavish centerpieces and various cups and foods and of course candles (which are found all through-out this film). The shot then closes in on the queens face which has a smirk painted across it, her regular followers can be seen in a darker light behind her. The camera then zooms out and continues to pan away from the queen and brings the happy new couple in the shot, the Duke with his regular demeanor and the Empress with a look of concern. the shot then comes to a complete zoom out and puts the size of the room in a better perspective showing the audience how many extras it took to make this one scene alone.
There were many interesting shots in this film, but the one that moved me is the one where Catherine is sitting in the hay with that guy, (I forget his name) the one who came to her house to bring her to Russia. I enjoyed this scene in particular because I noticed that Catherine is dressed all in white, and is very well lit, which can be a representation of her purity and innocence. Her would be lover, on the other hand, is dressed entirely in black, and his face is facing away from the camera, giving him a darker, almost sinister appearance. This could be a representation of the temptation that he is to Catherine. Also, the camera is filming from a high angle, which accentuates the fact that Catherine feels vulnerable, while making her lover seem to be towering over her.
I believe too many of us are forgetting that Josef Von Sternberg was a master/obsessor in lighting and attention to detail. The cheap feel of the romantic plot was meant to be that way so it wouldn't distract from the view of the silver screen. Von Sternberg's art is there, it is poking out from behind the actor's, (who's acting I must admit was so bad it was comical). I felt this movie was a feast for the eyes not the mind.
The shot that I felt was most note worthy was the first time the viewers were shown the thrown room. The thrown itself was the epitome of the props and stage design. The way the gargoyles loomed over the Empress (the single most powerful person thus far in the movie) as if to say the props and stage itself are more important than any of the characters and actors.
All throughout the movie the stage was the apple of the viewer's eye. The actors were merely an excuse for the camera to film the stage. The lighting was clearly meticulously designed and worked. It was evident this movie was a living portrait, beautiful, with a story line that doesn't matter.
Andrew Kleysen
The shot that moved me in the 1934 film, "The Scarlet Empress", was the shot during which the marriage between Catherine and Peter takes place. The shot begins when the camera focuses in on the face of Catherine, focusing mainly on her eyes, as she is seen through her vail.
This shot is very moving, as it allows the spectator to almost know what she is thinking simply by reading her eye movements. In this, we see that the marriage that she is about to commit to is not at all what she had wanted. She also realizes that there is no way out of it and that this is her new life.
I also would have to agree that the vail acts almost as a sheild or blind in this shot, as she uses it to "hide" her emotions behind. The flickering candle in the front corner of the shot also portrays a sort of desire to change her life that she is forced into.
The camera angle makes the candle look as if it almost touches her vail keeping the spectator in suspense. The lighting in the shot is very dim, almost as if the shot is solely reliying on candle light.
There were lots of interesting shots in "The Scarlet Empress". One of my favourate shot was taken during Catherine and Grand duke's wedding. There is a close-up shot of Catherine's facial expression. The shot focuses on Catherine's face at the beginning then it moves on the Grand duke's face a little bit, after the camera gives a shot of Catherine's face again. This repeating shot particularly emphasizes Catherine's sad expression and how her face is acting after reluctantly married to Grand duke. In this scene, Catherine keeps her eyes without blinking and she keeps looking at one direction for few seconds. We are even able to detect tears in her eyes.
The lighting effect in this shot is excellent. It looks like a drawing, those shadows of her nose and lip creat a beautiful contour line . It is a wounderful portait of Catherine.
After Catherine became a powerful woman, her facial expression also has a significant change. She is innocent and naive on the wedding snece but her personality is tatoly changed after. This sence empharsizes the change.
In, "The Scarlett Empress", there were many beautiful shots, as Mr. von Sternberg intended, however, it took a long while for one to really stand out to me. Sure, they all looked well organized and like good paintings, but they didn't grasp me as epic pieces of art.
However, there was one shot that really did stand out to me. It was a shot of Catherine as she is sitting on some sort of chair in part of the castle and there are a bunch of sculptures of mummies surrounding her almost as if they are about to consume her. The lighting in this shot was fantastic as only her face and the shadowed faces of the ghouls were truly visible. The shot was taken from a high angle, thus making Catherine look as if she was in more danger and making her seem even more helpless.
The interesting thing about this close-up is that she doesn't seem to realize the apparent danger I previously described. She is calm in her own little world and maybe a slight bit worried at the daunting prospect of becoming royalty.
The one real part of the shot that moved me was that those horrific gargoyle-like statues were almost foreshadowing and acting as a warning of the danger to come (ie. the love affairs, the hostility from the current empress, the revolt).
When watching "The Scarlet Empress" i noticed that Von Sternberg used alot of detail in his set designs from everything to the design of the gargoyle chairs the royal family sat in, to the dinner set where it seemed to be a countless amount of food. This made me more interested in watching the background setting rather than focusing on the story or actors.
The shot that moved me was when Catherine had met Count Alexei in the barn. I noticed that was catherine was dressed in white and when the camera was close up, she seemed bright and had this innocent look to her like she was a child. Alexei on the otherhand was wearing all black and it made him look like a dark character. The overhead shots make it seem that Catherine is a child compared to alexei who is hovering over her like a predator about to pound on their prey.
Choosing a shot from this movie was difficult for me as nothing really stood out from the rest. After looking at the movie again I have to say that the wedding scene stood out the most particulary the one shot we get of Catherine's face through the veil. This is not the only time in the film where Catherine's face is hiding behind a veil or some type of netting as we see later on in the film of a shot of her in bed after giving birth to her son. At this point of the film Catherine is still shown as innocent and has a child like naive to her as she is still clearly confused as to what is going on around her. The lighting that was used in this scene was effective as well clearly showing the innocence that Catherine still contained at this point of the film.
In the movie one scene that stood out for me was the dinner party. In this scene the camera captures the long length of the table of this celebration. Full of lots of detail in there bowls, melted wax candles, skeletons, food, hair styles and costumes. everyone is seated in a chair with long faces of goons on each side it captures the twisted fate of Cathrine. It was a wedding dinner/celebration but it was a dark and sloppy because it didn't look clean, neat, no one was smiling. I think this scene expressed how the queen and duke was going treat Catherine. I think Sternberg really focus on the littlest details especially with the door designs and the goons' expressions.
to me The Scarlet Empress was more like a historical drama than a moive, lots of elements in this movie are way too obvious,for e.g wired sculptures, characters' expressions, when I see something and right after that you realized what it is and what it means, it really makes my brain stoped thinking.
but again, if you freeze the screen and looking through it from photography director's point of view, the lighting in this moive was beautiful,the composition and realationship between sculpture and characters are perfect.
The only shot that interested me was when the first time empress Elizabeth Petrovna greets Princess Sophia Frederica and her mother,it started with a low angle shot ,empress Elizabeth Petrovna is seated on the throne in all her majesty, the griffin looking creature on her back was the only scuplture in this moive that i think actually functioning. particulaily its head , facing towards her so as everyone else in the room, a really stunning and powerful shot.
The shot that had a lasting impression on me was the marriage scene. Just as the Duke and Catherine were about to become engaged, the camera displays the surrounding settings and background, giving the audience an understanding of what is going on. The shot that resembled more like a painting than a motion picture is when the camera starts at the top of the throne where the queen is sitting and slowly moves in a downward diagonal direction. As the camera slowly moves in a diagonal motion, the screen is filled with props and visuals which can only be observed at a steady pace. Although people may say how the director filled the wedding scene with a vast amount of props such as brightly lit candles, and extras (priests, people), it gave the sense of a grand and colossal feeling. Well I guess this scene needed to be stunning, because after all it is the Duke’s wedding.
Sorry for the late post. I was very sick last week and also this was a very hard film to digest.
The shot that move me was the shot was when they arrived at the court. After they arrived, a court doctor went directly under the hoop of her skirt looking at her "private parts" as to see if she would be ready for a "royal pregnancy". This shot moved me because seeing how finicky they are of choosing the bride. However, this would never account to what she had done the couple of years after. How they wanted her to be ready for the half-wit she was about to get married is a total opposite when in fact she would become like a royal manipulative "whore" that had literally slept with the entire army. This just shows Sternberg had a knack for eroticism and uniqueness in his films. She starts off as this innocent and dainty girl that doesn't want to become queen but in the end she would literally do everything in her power to get what she wants.
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