In today’s seminar class, we had a guest speaker, Professor Diaz, one of the film professors.  She came in not only to further analyze the Woody Allen movie Manhattan for us, but also to give us a brief lesson on the basics of film technique and form.  I am currently taking a film class, so much of her lecture was review.  However, when I first watched Manhattan, I noticed some of the techniques used, but I mainly watched it for enjoyment purposes and to use in analyzing New York society at that time.  Today, as we analyzed the film in relation to modern cinematic techniques, I noticed that the observation of these techniques added to the film’s complexity and significance, and would be useful to all of us as we form opinions and ideas of the movie and its message.

In watching the film, I formed several different opinons of the characters, the message, Isaac’s beliefs, and the general theme.  Now I have evidence to support my beliefs and ideas.  The character of Isaac intrigued me and he is obviously the character I gave the most thought to.  To me, Isaac seems…complex.  It’s seems as if he knows what he wants, but something always stops him.  Sometimes, it is his own neurosis, his own personal hangups.  For example, he knows he wants Tracy, but for much of the movie, even when he is with her, his moral beliefs tell him he shouldn’t be.  His moral beliefs often set him apart from his friends and colleagues, which is noticeable in many scenes.  Even when he is with other people, the camera gives us a scene of just Isaac; for example, when he, Mary, Yale, and Yale’s wife are at the boat yard, reading the book his ex-wife wrote, the three leave the frame laughing and Isaac is left alone.  He feels that his ex-wife should not have even written the book because it is too personal and exposes too much information.  However, in his moral beliefs that writing the book was wrong, he is left alone with only his inner thoughts to grapple with.  In addition, there is always a subtle background line dividing Isaac from the people surrounding him until he comes to realize that he needs to have faith in people and stop setting such high standards for people to meet.

Sometimes, he fails to get what he wants just because of the way the world is.  He is idealistic and while this is often an admirable trait, it is also often a setup for disappointment and resentment.  At the start of the movie, the montage of shots of NYC show us nice buildings and the beautiful skyline – an idealistic, untouched picture of NYC.  It seemed to me like this is a metaphor for how Isaac wants life to be – untouched and perfect, or as perfect as it can be.  This is a perfect example of how mise-en-scene, or the setup of a scene, lends itself to the theme of the film, and how it relates to characters and their personalities.

In my opinion, Isaac’s complexity is furthered by the combination of these two character traits – not only does Isaac want the world and everyone in it to be perfect, but he wants it to be perfect according to his morals.  As he realizes that everyone around him fails to live according to his ideals, he begins to question the meaning of life.  What is his purpose?  The empty space that constantly surrounds him on screen is a good visual metaphor for this problem. Isaac is also always cast in a dark, shadowy light, suggesting that he is conflicted within himself, engaged in a constant inner battle of right versus wrong, morality versus immorality.  The fact that Isaac is never centered on the screen goes hand-in-hand with the constant shadowy lighting.  Everything Isaac says and does and the way he is portrayed is done in order to describe his personality minus the use of dialogue.

I thought that toward the end of the film, Isaac learned that life cannot always exist according to his wishes.  However, in looking at the scenery, mise en scene, placement of the characters, etc., it’s as if he is in the same place he started.  He is still not centered in the frame and as he says goodbye to Tracy, the lighting is still fairly dark on his face.  Isaac hasn’t moved forward, and with Tracy leaving, there will still be a void in his life.   Isaac still has this moral, idealistic view of life, and it is his downfall in his relationships with other people.  The fact that he ends up alone in the end, physically, emotionally, cinematically, shows that he pushed people away because of his own ideas on the world.  I think it’s a sad ending and yet, it portrays this inner struggle that everyone faces during their life–where do I fit in and how do my thoughts and opinions affect my relationships with others?