Scene Description Spotlight: “Titanic”

Before Avatar went on to gross $2.72B worldwide, writer-director James Cameron created another movie phenomenon called Titanic (1997) which grossed a mere $1.84B worldwide.

One key to the success of Titanic was its appeal to adolescent girls, a significant number of them attending the movie multiple times. That’s not surprising because while the Plotline of the story follows the disaster of the ship’s sinking, the Themeline tracks the star-crossed romance between Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), a romance that resonated strongly with audiences around the world. But why? Here’s one reason.

The scene below recounts the last moments of the couple together after Jack has said to Rose, “You must do me this honor… promise me you will survive… that you will never give up… no matter what happens… no matter how hopeless… promise me now, and never let go of that promise.”

EXT. OCEAN

IN A HOVERING DOWNANGLE we see Jack and Rose floating in the black water.
The stars reflect in the mill pond surface, and the two of them seem to be
floating in interstellar space. They are absolutely still. Their hands are
locked together. Rose is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling
above her. The music is transparent, floating… as the long sleep steals
over Rose, and she feels peace.

CLOSE ON Rose’s face. Pale, like the faces of the dead. She seems to be
floating in a void. Rose is in a semi-hallucinatory state. She knows she is
dying. Her lips barely move as she sings a scrap of Jack’s song:

ROSE
 “Come Josephine in my flying machine…”

ROSE’S POV: The stars. Like you’ve never seen them. The Milky Way a
glorious band from horizon to horizon.

A SHOOTING STAR flares… a line of light across the heavens.

TIGHT ON ROSE again. We see that her hair is dusted with frost crystals.
Her breathing is so shallow, she is almost motionless. Her eyes track down
from the stars to the water.

ROSE’S POV… SLOW MOTION: The silhouette of a boat crossing the stars.
She sees men in it, rowing so slowly the oars lift out of the syrupy water,
leaving weightless pearls floating in the air. The VOICES of the men sound
slow and DISTORTED.

Then the lookout flashes his torch toward her and the light flares across
the water, silouetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flicks past her
motionless form and moves on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past
her. The men look away.

Rose lifts her head to turn to Jack. We see that her hair has frozen to the
wood under her.

ROSE
 (barely audible)
 Jack.

She touches his shoulder with her free hand. He doesn’t respond. Rose
gently turns his face toward her. It is rimed with frost.

He seems to be sleeping peacefully.

But he is not asleep.

Rose can only stare at his still face as the realization goes through her.

ROSE
 Oh, Jack.

All hope, will and spirit leave her. She looks at the boat. It is further
away now, the voices fainter. Rose watches them go.

She closes her eyes. She is so weak, and there just seems to be no reason
to even try.

And then… her eyes snap open.

She raises her head suddenly, cracking the ice as she rips her hair off the
wood. She calls out, but her voice is so weak they don’t hear her. The boat
is invisible now, the torch light a star impossibly far away. She struggles
to draw breath, calling again.

IN THE BOAT Lowe hears nothing behind him. He points to something
ahead, turning the tiller.

ROSE struggles to move. Her hand, she realizes, is actually frozen to
Jack’s. She breaths on it, melting the ice a little, and gently unclasps
their hands, breaking away a thin tinkling film.

ROSE
 I won’t let go. I promise.

She releases him and he sinks into the black water. He seems to fade out
like a spirit returning to some immaterial plane.

Rose rolls off the floating staircase and plunges into the icy water. She
swims to Chief Officer Wilde’s body and grabs his whistle. She starts to
BLOW THE WHISTLE with all the strength in her body. Its sound slaps across
the still water.

IN BOAT 14 Lowe whips around at the sound of the whistle.

LOWE
 (turning the tiller)
 Row back! That way! Pull!

Rose keeps blowing as the boat comes to her. She is still blowing when Lowe
takes the whistle from her mouth as they haul her into the boat. She slips
into unconsciousness and they scramble to cover her with blankets…

Look what Cameron does with his scene description:

IN A HOVERING DOWNANGLE we see Jack and Rose floating in the black water.

The stars reflect in the mill pond surface, and the two of them seem to be 
floating in interstellar space. They are absolutely still. Their hands are 
locked together. Rose is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling 
above her. The music is transparent, floating… as the long sleep steals
over Rose, and she feels peace.

— —

ROSE’S POV: The stars. Like you’ve never seen them. The Milky Way a
glorious band from horizon to horizon.

A SHOOTING STAR flares… a line of light across the heavens.

Cameron creates an almost celestial feel, as if Jack and Rose are somewhere near Heaven. And then into this almost pastoral moment, he provides a contrast:

ROSE’S POV… SLOW MOTION: The silhouette of a boat crossing the stars.
She sees men in it, rowing so slowly the oars lift out of the syrupy water,
leaving weightless pearls floating in the air. The VOICES of the men sound
slow and DISTORTED.

Then the lookout flashes his torch toward her and the light flares across
the water, silohuetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flicks past her
motionless form and moves on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past
her. The men look away.

You have two dimensions created here: Heaven (Death) and Earth (Life), both of which beckon to Rose. Indeed, the “peace” she feels in Heaven offers a stronger pull at the moment than the sounds and sights of Earth with the “VOICES of the men… slow and DISTORTED.”

And then there is Jack:

He seems to be sleeping peacefully. But he is not asleep.
Rose can only stare at his still face as the realization goes through her.

ROSE
 Oh, Jack.

All hope, will and spirit leave her. She looks at the boat. It is further
away now, the voices fainter. Rose watches them go.

She closes her eyes. She is so weak, and there just seems to be no reason
to even try.

Cameron’s description uses the realization that Jack is dead to push Rose even further toward Heaven and further away from Earth. But she has made a promise to Jack:

And then… her eyes snap open.

She raises her head suddenly, cracking the ice as she rips her hair off the
wood. She calls out, but her voice is so weak they don’t hear her. The boat
is invisible now, the torch light a star impossibly far away. She struggles
to draw breath, calling again.

— —

ROSE struggles to move. Her hand, she realizes, is actually frozen to
Jack’s. She breaths on it, melting the ice a little, and gently unclasps
their hands, breaking away a thin tinkling film.

— —

She releases him and he sinks into the black water. He seems to fade out
like a spirit returning to some immaterial plane.

She “releases him… like a spirit returning to some immaterial plane,” metaphorically allowing Jack to go to Heaven, where he belongs. And Rose? What of her fate?

Rose rolls off the floating staircase and plunges into the icy water. She
swims to Chief Officer Wilde’s body and grabs his whistle. She starts to
BLOW THE WHISTLE with all the strength in her body. Its sound slaps across
the still water.

Spurred by the promise she made to Jack, Rose turns away from this Heaven’s gate and plunges back toward Earth, in effect ‘resurrecting’ herself, a final gesture of her love and commitment to Jack as he departs this mortal plane.

In effect, what Cameron strives to do with his description in this scene is add yet one final, metaphorical dimension to Jack and Rose’s love: its almost transcendent beauty. For Jack’s death and journey toward Heaven and Rose’s life and journey toward Earth may separate them temporally and physically, but binds them together permanently and spiritually.

[Originally posted June 17, 2010]

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