Daily Dialogue — August 5, 2012

“I’m finished.”

— Daniel Plainview [Daniel Day-Lewis], There Will Be Blood (2007), Paul Thomas Anderson (screenplay), Upton Sinclair (novel)

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=DLZQc

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is subtext suggested by lizswan. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.

Trivia: The script originally ended with Plainview bludgeoning Eli to death with a tumbler, instead of a bowling pin, and then throwing his body through the bowling pins into the cellar beyond. Once on set, it was changed to the slightly less graphic version seen in the film.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Great example of a line with multiple layers of meaning. Daniel is finished with bludgeoning to death poor Eli, that is true. Daniel is also finished as a free human being as he will no doubt face a trial and incarceration for his murderous act. There is also another possible piece of subtext: Eli, weary of the manipulative life he’s led, finally pushed over the edge and finished with that as well.

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