Conversations with Other Women is 2005 comedy drama film directed by
Hans CanosaHans Canosa is an American film director, writer, film editor and producer. He is best known for his independent film Conversations with Other Women , starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter.-Background:...
, written by
Gabrielle ZevinGabrielle Zevin is an American author and screenwriter. She is a Harvard graduate, born in New York City where she still lives....
, starring
Aaron EckhartAaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...
and
Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
.
The film, an independent production budgeted at $450,000, was sold for distribution in more than 30 countries.
Plot
At a wedding reception, a man in his late thirties (
EckhartAaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...
) approaches a
bridesmaidThe bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony...
(
Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
) of about the same age, and offers her a glass of champagne. As conversation ensues, they begin to flirt. Witty small talk about such topics as the wedding party and their own past relationships gradually reveals that they are not strangers, but in fact share an intimate past. A series of flashback scenes showing much younger versions of the two of them together confirms that they have been lovers.
Despite having significant others (22-year-old Sarah the dancer and Geoffrey the cardiologist, both absent) the couple choose to go upstairs to her hotel room together. However, their decision to sleep together is one which is clearly complex and fraught with
emotional baggageEmotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...
for each of them. Again with flashbacks, a series of vignettes juxtaposes their earlier selves against the older, perhaps wiser couple in the hotel room as the two reminisce and reassess their feelings for each other.
She must catch a transatlantic flight home to London in the morning, so the two leave the hotel together in the early morning. As they return to their separate lives, each speculates with their cab driver on the future and the difficulty of being happy.
Theatrical release
Conversations, Canosa's directorial debut, premiered at the 2005
Telluride Film FestivalThe Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
. The film subsequently played at the
Tokyo International Film FestivalTokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
,
SeminciValladolid International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain since 1956....
Valladolid International Film Festival, the US Comedy Arts Festival,
South by SouthwestSouth by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
Film Festival,
Seattle International Film FestivalThe Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
,
Los Angeles Film FestivalThe Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
, Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Hamburg Film Festival,
São Paulo International Film FestivalThe São Paulo International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in São Paulo, Brazil since 1976. In 2004 Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was a member of the jury.-International Jury Award:*2001: The New Country ...
, and the Muestra Internacional de Cine.
The film's international theatrical premiere was on June 7, 2006 in France. Released by distributor MK2 Diffusion under the title
Conversations avec une Femme, the film played theatrically for five months to both box office success and critical acclaim.
Released on August 11, 2006 in the United States by Fabrication Films, the film played in fourteen cities, garnering modest theatrical box office and critical acclaim.
DVD release
The original split-screen Region 1
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
version was released in the United States on January 9, 2007 by Arts Alliance America. A single frame, full screen DVD version, created for 4x3 broadcast television release, was subsequently released on October 9, 2007. The single frame cut only retains three split-screen sequences: the opening titles, the sex scene, and the closing taxicab sequence.
International DVD releases include MK2 in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
,
Shochikuis a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
Revelation FilmsRevelation Films is a British distributor of entertainment programmes on DVD.It was perhaps most well known as the company through which as of November 2006, the American anime company FUNimation Entertainment has launched its titles in the United Kingdom on region 2 DVD...
in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
,
TVA FilmsTVA Films is a privately held Canadian film and television distribution company with offices in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario. TVA Films is owned by Groupe TVA, a division of Quebecor Media....
in
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Dendy Films in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Filmes Unimundos in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, D Productions in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Civite Films in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Global in
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, J-Bics in
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Paradiso Home Entertainment in
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
,
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Cathay-Keris Films in
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and
Malaysia, Atlantic Film in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, NoShame Films in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Prooptiki Bulgaria in
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
,
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
,
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
,
Serbia and MontenegroSerbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
and
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Prooptiki in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Shapira Films in
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Solopan in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, VideoFilmes in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and With Cinema in
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
Awards
| Result | Award | Recipient | Festival/Ceremony | Year |
| |
Special Jury Prize |
Hans Canosa |
Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
|
2005 |
| |
Best Actress |
Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
|
| |
Tokyo Grand Prix |
|
| |
Best Actress |
Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
|
Evening Standard British Film Awards The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by the British London area evening newspaper Evening Standard. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony honours films from the previous...
|
2007 |
| |
Producers Award (also for Brick) |
Ram Bergman |
Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
|
2005 |
| |
Best First Screenplay Award |
Gabrielle Zevin Gabrielle Zevin is an American author and screenwriter. She is a Harvard graduate, born in New York City where she still lives....
|
Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
|
2006 |
| |
Golden Spike |
|
Seminci Valladolid International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Valladolid, Spain since 1956....
Valladolid International Film Festival |
2005 |
Production
Eckhart and Bonham Carter shot 82 pages of dialogue in only 12 days of
principal photographythumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
.
To facilitate the split screen presentation of the film, two cameras (one on each actor) were used throughout
principal photographythumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
.
For the sex scene, the director asked the actors to stay in bed while the crew quickly changed camera positions to get all of the coverage. The entire scene, including 10 camera setups and a complex dolly shot, was completed in 45 minutes.
To facilitate a sense of realism, both actors provided elements of their own costumes. Eckhart wore his own Armani suit and
Calvin KleinCalvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
underwear as part of his costume, while Bonham Carter wore her own
PradaPrada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...
shoes.
The hotel room, the interior of the elevator and the interior of the cab(s) in the final shot were shot on a sound stage in
Culver City, CaliforniaCulver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
.
The hotel ballroom scenes were shot in the ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel, adjacent to
MacArthur ParkMacArthur Park is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.- Geography :...
near downtown
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Other films shot at that location include
Barton FinkBarton Fink is a 1991 American film, written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who...
,
Chaplin,
NixonNixon is a 1995 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone for Cinergi Pictures that tells the story of the political and personal life of former US President Richard Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins....
,
The Fisher King,
Wild at HeartWild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula. Both the book and the film revolve around Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune , a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina who go on...
and
BugsyBugsy is a 1991 American crime-drama film which tells the story of mobster Bugsy Siegel. It stars Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth, and Bill Graham....
.
Many scenes were shot in the
Los Angeles Herald-ExaminerThe Los Angeles Herald Examiner was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published Monday through Friday in the afternoon, and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. The afternoon Herald-Express and the morning Examiner, both of which had been publishing in...
building, which has been used almost exclusively as a film location since the notorious Los Angeles newspaper, once owned by
William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, closed down in 1989.
Post-production
Though an editor was initially hired to cut the movie, he quit after putting together an initial assembly, citing difficulties editing the dual-frame split screen presentation in which the movie is presented. The director, who had never cut a film before, elected to learn and use the editing software himself, and acted as editor.
The final shot in the movie was the only one captured with a single camera. Eckhart and Bonham Carter were filmed in the back of one taxi on set. In post production, the shot was digitally divided in two; digital movement was added for each car and two separate background plates were composited to create the illusion of different taxi interiors.
The film contains 117
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
shots, all of which are designed to be "invisible". When
producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Kwesi Collisson solicited bids from VFX houses, he received an initial estimated VFX budget of over $1 million, followed by a $400,000 "low budget" estimate. Collisson decided to execute all of the effects himself, spending four months using
Adobe After EffectsAdobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Its main uses are the origination of 2D and 2.5D animation, visual effects compositing and finishing...
and
ShakeShake is a discontinued image compositing package used in the post-production industry. Shake was widely used in visual effects and digital compositing for film, HD and commercials. Shake exposes its node graph architecture graphically. It enables complex image processing sequences to be designed...
to complete the necessary shots.
Three apparent
B-rollB-roll, B roll, or Broll is the supplemental or alternate footage intercut with the main shot in an interview or documentary.- History :The term B-roll originates from the method of 16 mm film production from an original camera negative...
shots of the supporting characters in a ballroom full of dancers were actually created using
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
. When the
line producerA line producer is the key manager during the daily operations of a motion picture production.The line producer supports the vision given by the director but does not have direct influence on the creative expression or narrative of the film....
asked the director the minimum number of extras needed for these shots during
principal photographythumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
, the director requested 50 extras. When only seven extras showed up on the ballroom shoot days, an alternate solution became necessary. The
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
supervisor found takes which included empty sections of the ballroom. Taking several high resolution stills from those takes, he created three background plates. During a day of additional photography, both the supporting characters who would appear in the foreground and pairs of dancers who would appear in the middle ground were shot against a greenscreen. The
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
supervisor then composited up to a dozen elements to create shots which appear to contain the bride, her bridesmaids and the young man and young woman characters in the midst of a ballroom full of dancing couples.
A potential continuity error was fixed with
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
. Due to the short shooting schedule and lack of control of the sound stage, the soles of the actors' bare feet became soiled while shooting on the hotel room set. Shots captured included views of the actors' dirty feet as they got into and out of a clean bed, which would be unlikely in a carpeted hotel room, an error that was not caught by the
script supervisorA script supervisor is a member of a film crew responsible for maintaining the motion picture's internal continuity and for recording the production unit's daily progress in shooting the film's screenplay...
on set. During post production, the director/editor discovered that five shots included in the final edit would include dirty soles. In order to address the problem, the
visual effectsVisual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
supervisor rotoscoped the bottom of the actors' feet to delineate the parts of the frame that needed to be replaced. Since shooting replacement soles against greenscreen in the precise size and angles necessary to fill the rotoscoped sections would be cost prohibitive, the digital compositor searched the Internet for replacement feet photographs. He discovered that the best and highest
resolutionImage resolution is an umbrella term that describes the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail....
images of feet were on
foot fetishFoot Fetish is the first solo studio album by the Jackyl's lead singer, Jesse James Dupree.- Track listing :All songs written by Jesse James Dupree except where noted.# "Mainline" – 3:25 # "First Taste of Freedom" – 3:53...
websites. Thus the replacement feet in those five shots are "pornographic feet".
A single-frame 4:3 version of the movie was produced for television.
Soundtrack
Although the film contains no traditional
scoreA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
, music plays for almost 40 percent of the running time.
Three songs from the 2003 album
Quelqu'un m'a dit- Song summaries :1. Quelqu'un m'a dit : This melancholy song from which the album draws its name speaks of the sadness of life – "On me dit que nos vies ne valent pas grand chose, / Elles passent en un instant comme fanent les roses." – and that time and fate care...
by
Carla BruniCarla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
complement the tone of other sequences in the film. The song "J'en connais" accompanies the opening title cards and the juxtaposed narrative images, and then recurs in the final scene through the end credits. The song "Le plus beau du quartier" plays over the scene in which the woman asks the man to help her undress. The song "L'excessive" serves as accompaniment to the transition from the hotel room to the roof.
The sex scene is played to the song "Ripchord" from the 2004 album
More AdventurousMore Adventurous is the third full length album released by Los Angeles based band Rilo Kiley. The album, released on August 17, 2004, marks a significant change in the band's sound with the goal of being "more adventurous" than their previous music...
by the Los Angeles-based rock band
Rilo KileyRilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
.
The scenes in the wedding reception are accompanied by "wedding band" music composed by
Starr ParodiStarr Parodi is a composer and musician known for her work as a keyboardist for the house band known as "The Posse" on The Arsenio Hall Show. Parodi, along with her partner, Jeff Eden Fair, have composed the scores for numerous films, the television series The Starter Wife and The Division, and...
and Jeff Eden Fair.
Split screen
Conversations with Other Women comes in a long tradition of experiments in
split screenIn film and video production, split screen is the visible division of the screen, traditionally in half, but also in several simultaneous images, rupturing the illusion that the screen's frame is a seamless view of reality, similar to that of the human eye...
. In 1913
Lois WeberLois Weber was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director, who is considered "the most important female director the American film industry has known", and "one of the most important and important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films". Film historian...
employed the technique in the short film
Suspense, a one-reel thriller. The visionary French director
Abel GanceAbel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
used the term "
PolyvisionPolyvision was the name given to a specialized widescreen film format devised exclusively for the filming and projection of Abel Gance's 1927 film Napoleon. It involved the simultaneous projection of three reels of silent film arrayed in a horizontal row, making for a total aspect ratio of 4:1...
" to describe his three-camera, three-projector technique for both widening and dividing the screen in his 1927
silentA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
epic,
Napoléon. The term "split screen" was coined to describe the many uses of the technique in films of the 1960s. More recent uses of split screen include
Mike FiggisMichael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
' 2000 film
TimecodeTimecode is a 2000 American experimental film directed by Mike Figgis.The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously...
and the Fox TV series
2424 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
.
The most common function of split screen is to show simultaneous actions in different places. The classic, and simplest, example of this is showing two sides of a phone conversation, as in the 1959 film
Pillow Talk starring
Doris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
and
Rock HudsonRoy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
. Another common use of the technique is to show two separate but converging spaces (such as contrasting shots of predator and prey) to create tension or suspense. The filmmaker most associated with the latter use is
Brian De PalmaBrian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
.
Conversations innovation in split screen is the juxtaposition of shot and reverse shot of two actors in the same take, captured with two cameras, for the entire movie. The film represents a new kind of viewing experience that enlists the audience as a perceptual editor. The filmmakers allow the viewer to choose how they watch the film, following either character or both simultaneously. Seeing both characters act and react in real time lets the audience follow the emotional experience of the characters without interruption.
At a panel on acting at the Telluride Film Festival, the actors spoke of the challenge of working in a two-camera system. Unlike traditionally shot and cut films, the actors knew that all moments of a take could end up on screen and thus 'acted through' every take. The actors were constantly 'in the moment'. The resulting film presents the actors' work in the way musicians play in a duet, with action, dialogue and reaction running on both sides of the frame in real time. The movie presents two remarkable achievements in screen acting.
The shot/reverse shot function of split screen comprises most of the running time of the film, but the filmmakers also use split screen for other spatial, temporal and emotional effects. Conversations split screen sometimes shows flashbacks of the recent or distant past juxtaposed with the present; moments imagined or hoped by the characters juxtaposed with present reality; present experience fractured into more than one emotion for a given line or action, showing an actor performing the same moment in different ways; and present and near future actions juxtaposed to accelerate the narrative in temporal overlap.
External links