Henry Burby
MHC 10201
3/14/16
Entering the Sanctum
The scene where Michael visits Roth’s Florida house (1:01:45) touches on several elements of mob life, such as its relationship with the straitlaced culture of the United States, the way its business is transacted, and the role of women in the mob hierarchy. The scene begins with an establishing shot of Michael closing the door of his car in front of the suburban Miami house of Hymen Roth. There are several signs of the dangerous mob presence under the surface of the shot. Both the house and Michael’s car are brightly colored, and cheerful in the dazzling white sunlight. However, their interiors are dark and mysterious, indicating that they hold dark secrets, and are not as respectable as they seem from the outside. The use of eerie music makes the audience feel uneasy. Cut to an eyelevel shot inside the house, facing the door. Michael can be seen approaching through the glass door. Michael wears light colors, symbolizing his outer respectability, but his bodyguard, who can be seen in the background, behind a vivid pot of flowers, represents the threatening and alien presence of the mob, with his black clothing contrasting against the brilliant colors of the rest of the shot. The camera focuses steadily on Michael throughout the shot. As Michael and enters the shadow of the house, Roth’s wife enters the shot from the right, slightly in front of the camera. Her pink dress and welcoming manner make her the perfect housewife, but, like all the women of the film, she holds no power at all in the world of the Mob. As such, the camera never focuses on her face. She welcomes Michael, offers him lunch, and is gone, her purpose served. As Michael enters through the door, the music stops, and the rest of the scene takes place with only natural sound effects, and dialogue. This creates a sense of realism for the audience. Michael and Roth’s wife exit on opposite sides of the frame, further indicating her standing. Cut to close shot of Michael entering the black double doors of Roth’s throne room. Cut to medium shot of Roth, slouched in his chair, watching the football game. He only turns to look at his visitor when Michael speaks. The seat of Roth’s power is shrouded in shadow. The camera is at Roth’s seated eye level, so when Michael enters the shot to shake Roth’s hand, his head and face are too high to be seen in the frame. This shows that he has not yet gained Roth’s close attention. When Roth invites Michael to sit, he accepts his visitor into his realm of power. This shot is followed by two medium shots of the two men. Instead of the classic two shot, the camera is positioned between Michael and Roth, perhaps indicating that they are sizing each other up. They still maintain the politeness of the outside world as they discuss small talk. Cut to a fairly long shot of Roth and Michael together. Their sharing of the shot indicates that they connect over the reference to the mob presence in the world series, the first time illicit activity is mentioned in the scene. However, the camera focusses on Roth, because he controls the power in the room. Similarly, the two men’s chairs are far apart, indicating that Roth and Michael are still separated. Their brief comradery is broken by the awkward silence as they discuss the attempt on Michael’s life. Roth expresses regret at the event, but he makes only sporadic eye contact, indicating that he is lying. Since he was behind the attempt, he is again separated from Michael. He makes solid contact again only when he expresses his opinion that good health is the most important thing in life, because he is again telling the truth. Cut to long shot of Michael closing the door, Roth rising to turn up the volume on the TV, and Michael drawing his chair nearer. The characters are moving their conversation to the next lever, so they share the shot again. As the scene becomes more intimate, the characters close themselves off from the outside world, and get closer to each other. The football game represents the presence of ordinary American culture in the scene, and while it gets louder, the mob world continues beneath it. Cut to the first close up of both men, as Michael sits. The next block of dialogue is expressed in a series of two shots, with both men sharing the frame. Michael’s line, “You are a great man, Mr. Roth. There is much I can learn from you” Expresses his true feelings. He knows that Roth ordered his assassination, but he respects the old man, and knows that he must learn to be as subtle and deadly himself. The final shot of Roth is interrupted by a car, passing behind the window shade. It foreshadows the entry of the wife, in the next shot. Cut to Shot of Michael, with Roth’s wife entering the room through the door. Again, because the camera is at the eyelevel of the two seated men, her face is cut out of the shot, indicating that she has no influence on the scene. Cut to long shot of Roth, Michael, and Roth’s wife, bearing a lunch table. More of her body is seen in this shot, but her head only enters the frame as she sets down the table, and turns down the volume of the television set, and her face is never seen. This indicates her role in Roth’s life: a pleasant, attractive, friendly, and powerless presence who takes care of Roth and the house. She has no place in the business of the Mob, and, if she is aware of her husband’s activity at all, she never mentions it. The door she opens to enter the room remains open until she leaves, and neatly cut’s Michael’s face out of the shot, further indicating her separation from her husband’s world. Once she leaves, Roth begins to speak before the camera returns to it’s former proximity, because, after the wife’s interruption, it takes a few moments for Roth and Michael to recapture their former intimacy. However, the next shot returns to the previous format of close two shots, and this closeness persists for the rest of the scene, as the two men return to Mob business.
