The Conversation (1974)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman

****

Paranoia is what drives this film forward. One would think that is the subject of a certain conversation that would serve that purpose but said conversation would be of very little interest to our main character Harry Caul (Hackman) were it not for his ever-growing paranoia. Often times, a characters paranoia is the story, or that which he's paranoid about is the story. In The Conversation, Caul is just a paranoid character. Coppola uses this simply as a characterization and subsequently we are exposed to a story which we otherwise wouldn't be.

Harry Caul is a loner. Even his closest relationships aren't good ones because he is so committed to his work and he's afraid of ever revealing too much of himself at risk of it being used against him. This lonesome world of Harry Caul that we are exposed to creates a bit of a slow moving movie which for the most part is appropriate and not void of drama. Its the times when drama is lacking that I found myself becoming bored and wondering if I already knew enough about Caul to understand what he was going through or if I really needed to hear him open up to a seemingly random woman. I wondered if I already knew he was paranoid or if I needed to see a collegue of his hide a recording pen in his pocket to prove he's as good at what he does as Harry. I was intrigued by the bits and pieces of the conversation Caul was uncovering as the film progressed and his investment was evident. Having to spend time in slow, dragging situations that served little purpose other than convincing us of something that was very evident.

Hackman's performance has a unique subtlety to it that allows his paranoia to be so evident, while at the same time, it is not in the forefront of his character. I can't stress enough how well this movie understates the paranoia aspect of this movie. Too much attention there, and this could have become just another thriller. Instead, its a clever mystery unfolding answers in a very smart way.

The highlight of the film for me was the way it challenges perceptions. Thanks to all I described about Hackman's performance and the slow unveiling of the conversation, everything we hear and everything we see can be interpreted. This takes a relatively simple storyline and flips it on its head. Not only are we frustrated by the lack of information we're given at a time, we're often mislead by our own perception of what we saw or heard. Harry Caul struggles with the same dilemma and that's what leads him from one thing to another, so on and so forth, blah, blah... it tells the story.

I wasn't blown away by The Conversation, at no point did I feel like I was watching a great movie. Stepping back from it, I realize I was watching a movie that was deliberate and perfectly crafted. It revealed only what it had to up until and including the end and it did so at the exact appropriate point in the film. Its easy to compare a movie like this to Enemy of the State and wish that it had more action and intrigue mixed with technology that the layman could never understand, but State doesn't have the same flow to it that The Conversation has. The end was never in question, the good guys and bad guys were clearly distinguishable and the protagonist was mixed up in the conflict by no fault of his own. They are very different movies but The Conversation is a mystery and by the end, its no mystery why its considered such a great film.