Cutler: Patriot Games

In Patriot Games, family loyalty and legitimacy are two main themes. Throughout the film, there are many traditional and organizational families that add to plot. The traditional families include the Ryans, the Millers, the Royal Family, and the Jacksons. The organizational families are the IRA, the IRA splinter group, the CIA, and the Naval Academy. These nontraditional families are essential to the overall familial theme of Patriot Games because the people in these organizations treat each other like members of a family.
The two main traditional families, the Ryans and the Millers, create several plot points in the film. The inciting incident is when Jack Ryan stops a terrorist attack on the British Royal Family and kills Paddy Miller. Throughout the rest of the film, Sean Miller tries to get revenge for his brother's death. The first plot point is when Miller escapes from custody and plans his revenge and a next kidnapping attempt on Lord Holmes. The next plot point is when Miller and the IRA faction attacks Ryan's family. This leads Ryan to re-enter the CIA and plan revenge on Miller for almost killing his wife and daughter. The last plot point is when Miller and his group unsuccessfully attack Lord Holmes at Ryan's family home. Miller eventually chooses avenging the death of his brother over the plan to kidnap Lord Holmes which shows that he is more loyal to his blood family then his comrades in the IRA subgroup. He kills his comrades and pursues Ryan instead of trying to abduct Lord Holmes.
One thing that Jack Ryan and Sean Miller have in common is their need for revenge. The film focuses on Miller's revenge attempts against Ryan for killing his brother. Ryan then tries to get revenge against Miller because he almost killed his family. Their shared loyalty is part of the central theme of family.

Torres - Patriot Games

Families play an important role in the movie Patriot Games (1992), as family loyalty and the fear of losing family are main themes. There are several families within the movie; some are traditional families including blood relatives only, others are non-traditional families that include friends who are integrated into the family although they have no blood ties, and some are organizational families that are composed of coworkers or a group of people fighting for the same cause. Examples of traditional families include the Ryan family (Jack, Caroline, Sally), the Miller family (Sean and his brother), the Holmes family (Lord William, his wife and son and, on a broader scale, the rest of the Royal Family), and the Jackson family (Lt. Cmdr. Robby and his wife). The Holmes family also includes a non-traditional member in the form of Lord William's private secretary, who is trusted and treated like family, thus making his betrayal more meaningful. Examples of organizational families that appear in the film include the CIA, the IRA, the IRA subgroup, and the Naval Academy.These families are paramount in the plot development of the film. The Ryan family and the Miller family, especially Sean Miller, is responsible for several plot points that push the story forward. In the inciting incident of the film, the IRA subgroup's terrorist plot is foiled when Jack Ryan steps in and kills Sean's brother. If it weren't for this interaction, none of the events that followed would have taken place. In plot point one, Sean Miller escapes from police custody with the intent to seek revenge on Ryan for his brother's death. The IRA subgroup is an important part of this plot point because their sense of loyalty to the family that is their subgroup is what brought them to rescue Sean. The mid-act climax is when things begin to get complicated. Because of their relationship to Sean, the IRA subgroup assists Sean in his revenge attempt on Ryan's family, successfully injuring his wife and daughter. However, after he learns that the wife and daughter are still alive a conflict of interest begins to develop between Sean and the rest of the group. Sean's true loyalties lie with avenging his brother (blood relative) and not with his fellow IRA subgroup members. At plot piont two, the Ryans have a welcome home party for their daughter that Lord William is invited to, thus enticing the IRA subgroup to make another attempt at his life. There is a lot of family interactions and developments in Act 3. We discover that the royal secretary is the traitor who is the IRA subgroup's informant, that betraying the royal family. We also see that when Sean is forced to choose between remaining loyal to the IRA subgroup and remaining loyal to his brother, he chose his brother and killed the members of the IRA subgroup in order to pursue Jack. These series of interactions, disturbances, and threats against the family structure are the main theme of the film, designed to inspire terror at the thought of one's family being in jeopardy.

McCay Patriot Games Prompt

Hw many families do you see in the film? Choose at least two to discuss how they create plot points in the film. Remember, not all families are nuclear. Some families are organizational and some are less than traditional.

Kuebler-Frantic

In this film we see Harrison Ford in a different role than accustomed. While he is still the hero there is a sense of mortality to his character and fear. He is a normal man who is trapped in Paris looking for his wife who has been kidnapped for reasons he is unaware of until later.

This movie uses many noir elements and to touch on three of them only breeches the tip of the iceberg. In this movie we see suspense, oblique lighting, and of course the femme fatale. Each scene throughout this movie is more tense than the next situation and as he goes deeper into the underworld we find that he is becoming more and more trapped. The deeper he goes into the world the darker the movie gets in terms of lighting. Lastly, the femme fatale finds her way into every aspect of this movie even when trying to run away she only brings Dr. Walker deeper into the underworld. By the end of the movie Walker has turned away from the law and the light and embraced the darkness of this underworld and becomes trapped. It is not until the climax in which the femme fatale is shot and Walker has his wife back that he truly departs from this entrapment. Until this point he has traveled too deep into the darkness and followed a woman that he learns to depend on and protect. He was unable to walk away from this situation due to guilt, heroics, and a sense of morality and care for his wife. all of these elements provide excellent reasons for psychological entrapment.



This pictures gives an amazing mise en scene. Harrison Ford is well lit while the femme fatale in the background is shrouded in darkness; showing their true natures and giving an idea where the dimension of the movie will turn. The lighting gives us an idea about the characters. The woman is the focus of this pictures because our eyes are drawn to the center of the picture and her eyes pierce through the darkness surrounding her. The tight and small frame of this pictures shows that these characters are intertwined and unable to separate until the very end. Lastly, the personal and intimate nature of this picture shows that there will be some tension between these characters and future pain between them due to the good and dark nature of the two heros.

Ramon- Presumed Innocent

The entire movie is focused on the guilt of Rusty Sabich. Whether it is the guilt that he had a rather intense love affair with Carolyn Polhemus, the entire film is focused on guilty and not guilty. In the same light, Rusty is found accused in the murder and rape of his mistress. The irony of the situation is that Rusty can not comes to terms with his wife in this situation because he cannot bring himself to admit to this wife that he cheated on her. However, he really did not need to have that guilt of cheating on Barbara because she already had a hunch that he was cheating on her with Carolyn. Barbara did not want Carolyn around in Rusty’s life anymore, so she killed Carolyn with Rusty’s hammer. In terms of Rusty’s guilt and the irony it possesses, as said before, he was already guilty in the eyes of his wife. However, that guilt Rusty possessed never does leave him as he still grieves the loss of Carolyn. Within all of this guilt, I would like to take to opportunity to bring up a point I found while analyzing this prompt. I believe that Rusty knew that his wife murdered Carolyn the whole time. If he did not believe so, then why would he not want her to testify? If she did tell the jury about Rusty and Carolyn’s affair, then that would only be throwing her own husband under the bus. She loves him too much to do that to him. He also loves Barbara too much for her life to be ruined. He knew that if she testified, then she would admit to the murder of Carolyn. The final scene is great because it is the moment when the circle of guilt is completed, and all loose ends are tied up for what me know is the time being.

Ruffino-Frantic

Almost everything in this shot has a dark lighting which shows the dismal and uneasy feeling of the movie, but the highlight of the shot is Michelle's hand resting on Walkers chest and his hand grasping her wrist going to move it that is what the director wants the audience to focus on. Walkers face is serious and apprehensive, while Michelle's is calm and alluring. This shot is a perfect representation of the sexual tension that is seen throughout the movie between these two. The camera proximity is social which is appropriate because it makes this moment less intense as opposed to the option of having a close up on their hands. The frame is a mix between loose and tight Michelle's side of the shot has a little room showing that she is in a position to move about. While Walkers side of the shot has him partially cut out showing that he is trapped and has no place to go. So this shot perfectly shows one of the most important elements of his psychological entrapment, sexual tension.

Polanski made Frantic into a perfect noir nightmare, the psychological thriller shows many aspects of noir elements such as violence, fear, anxiety, isolation, moral ambiguity, disorientation, loneliness, and sexual tension. All of these elements help produce the sense of entrapment that Dr. Walker must be feeling. These are the feelings and actions that lead Richard to feel a sense of responsibility for both Michelle and his Wife. They are the reason why he keeps putting himself in potentially life threatening situations from which he cannot safely remove himself.

Michelle, is such an important part of this movie she plays the role of the femme fatal supporting sexual tension as well as the sense of moral ambiguity. She is the temptress for Dr. Walker ,even though he loves his wife which he shows in his desperation to find her,. Her appeal is obviously one of sexuality, she is extremely attractive and she is very tempting but there is more to it. I think that Walker identifies with her because she is lost as well. I feel like this appeals to Walker because he is lonely himself in an unfamiliar place which leads to his feelings of loneliness and disorientation. Walker is forced to deal with her troubles as well as the sexual tension she creates, which makes everything more interesting to say the least. And she does not make the task of finding his wife any easier but he takes her in simply because she literally refuses to leave his side. which all adds to the feeling of entrapment.

Dr. Richard Walker is very far from home, he can not communicate because he does not know how to speak the language, and his wife is missing. This is a scenario built to make one feel disoriented. Firstly he is in a foreign country he does not know the area so this present the obstacle of not knowing where to begin which is overwhelming in itself. This also adds on to his mounting anxiety about his wife who he has lost and is on a mission to find. She was his lifeline she spoke French and knew the agenda so every time something goes wrong or he doesn’t know how to communicate it is just another reminder that his wife is gone and he is alone. He realizes that he has been thrown into a world where no one cares about his privilege and no one is going to give him any special treatment. He is in Paris and he knows no French, this adds on to his sense of isolation and helplessness. This also shows you how his feelings of entitlement is very important in his feeling of disorientation as well. He goes into another country not knowing the native tongue but expecting people to understand him. He quickly learns though the this will not be the case. All of these elements lead to Dr. Walkers extreme feelings of psychological entrapment. Leaving him anxious, isolated, and alone.

Ruffino-Presumed Innocent

A lot of things happen to Rusty in the last scene of the Presumed Innocent, things that will change his life forever and ultimately leaving him feeling responsible. First he finds the murder weapon used on his mistress, Carolyn. Then he learns that it was his wife that killed her which leads him to feel guilt. For if he had not had an affair his wife would have had no reason to kill anyone and the woman with whom he had the affair would still be alive. Going through the grieving process is a battle already so I know that blaming yourself for the death of someone must leave you feeling way worse and this is what Rusty has to deal with. The guilt of having someone’s death on your hands, the loss of a lover, and also to live with the murderer till death do you part. This sad reality seems to hit Rusty as his wife begins to tell him how perfect her murder was and why she did it, so that they could be a happy perfect family once again. This internal struggle within the household is reinstated when in the last scene Rusty’s voice over says “There is punishment.” Because even though Rusty and Barbara were not convicted they have to live with each other and all their secrets which is a torture in itself. Rusty knows he lives and sleeps in the same bed as a murderer and to make it worse it is the murderer of the woman he loved and Barbara has to live with the fact that her husband will always prefer another woman over her even after she has killed her. Guilt is a horrible prison itself.

Madere - Frantic

In his film Frantic, Roman Polanski uses many elements of noir to create the setting for Harrison Ford's distressed search for his wife. From the opening credits of the film, Polanski sets up the noir feeling of Frantic. The credits roll as though they are cars traveling on a busy highway, first appearing large and becoming smaller and smaller the further down the road they get. This and the opening scene with Harrison Ford's character Dr. Walker and his wife traveling in the cab gives ample opportunity to show the cityscape of Paris. This element, also known as the city in decline, portrays Paris as a seedy character of its own in the film. It also shows how Paris, especially given that Harrison Ford's character is an American who doesn't speak French well, adds to the element of psychological entrapment.

Another noir element employed by Polanski is the use of not only suspense, but helpless suspense. Once Harrison Ford's character steps out of the shower to find his wife gone, he is at a loss of how to address the situation. He begins the film-long search for her by wandering around the hotel looking for her, then by asking the hotel staff if they'd seen her. Finally, he ventures outside of the hotel to ask people if they might have seen anything. After finding a piece of his wife's jewelry, Dr. Walker seems unable to determine what his next move should be. He instinctively knows his wife is in danger, yet he doesn't know how he should go about looking for her. This theme follows throughout the film--with Dr. Walker helplessly grasping at straws and finding himself in dangerous situations while he tries to figure out what happened to his wife and how to get her back.

Still another noir element in Frantic is the femme fatale, embodied by the character Michelle. Everything about Michelle, from her heavy eye make-up to her leather clothing to her involvement in drugs as both an abuser and a mule, reveals her femme fatale status. She agrees to help Dr. Walker for her own selfish reasons as is constantly shown with her demands to get paid for her work transporting the bomb. It isn't until the scene in the cafe with the police from the embassy that she truly shows herself as a trustworthy ally.
The scene where Dr. Walker meets Michelle is particularly noir-ish. The lighting in the scene is dim, with highlights on the door and the murdered DeDe. Even the characters in the scene, Michelle and Dr. Walker, are obscured by the dim lighting. This scene is significant because it is the first time Dr. Walker comes into real contact with violence in the film and the dim lighting with the murder highlighted shows the significance of this fact, as well as foretells of more violence still to come in the search for Mrs. Walker. The camera proxemic of this scene is social, so as to reveal both Dr. Walker and Michelle in the scene, as well as the dark hallway and staircase in which the scene takes place (and the initial struggle between Dr. Walker and Michelle) and DeDe's murder. Again, the camera proxemic serves as foreshadowing: Dr. Walker and Michelle have fallen into a dark world and more darkness is to follow with violence accompanying it, and there will continue to be somewhat of a struggle between Michelle and Dr. Walker in the film. The relatively loose framing of the scene gives the characters some space to move around. This shows that both of them have choices in the film--Dr. Walker has the choice to stay true to his morals and not sink too far down in the dark world to achieve his goal and Michelle has the choice to be trustworthy, to work loyally with Dr. Walker, and to act for reasons that are less selfish and prompted by instant gratification. The framing is not too loose, however, revealing the fact that Dr. Walker and Michelle are not completely in control of how the story will play out from there on; they are somewhat at the mercy of Mrs. Walker's kidnappers.

Bloo - Frantic

‘’Do you know where you are?’’ This is what Sondra Walker says to her husband Dr. Richard Walker as they drive from the airport to their Paris hotel. They are in Paris to attend a medical convention. These words foreshadow the feelings of displacement that Ford’s character will experience. After they have checked into their hotel, Dr. Richard Walker takes a shower and in those few minutes his wife disappears. This disappearance and a confusion between two identical pieces of luggage leads Ford into the Paris underground.

Polanski makes us of several noir elements in the film namely isolation, helplessness, and the femme fatale. When Sondra has vanished, Richard leaves the hotel to search for his wife. Through his wife disappearance, Richard must step out of his comfort zone, which is shown when he decides to search the hotel lobby. The camera follows Richard from a distance so that he looks slightly diminished and out of his element. Isolation and helplessness are also shown when he wanders into a flower shop and tries to explain to the people who work there about his wife. However, they don’t speak English and can’t help him. This is an example of the isolation and helplessness he feels since his wife was the one who arranged everything for him and she spoke French. Another example is when he goes to the local cops and the American Embassy but neither are much help. We see how Walker struggles in Paris, unable to speak French, disoriented, and unable to convince anyone that his wife has been kidnapped, this creates the feeling of isolation. Along his way in search of his wife, he meets Michelle, a mysterious young woman who picked up Sondra’s suitcase. She is the femme fatale in this film. She is constantly tempting him and as the classic temptress she dies at the end of the film.

In this scene, we see Richard Walker standing in a parking lot. The lighting is low key which creates a suspense except for his face which expresses worry and anxiety. The camera proxemics for this scene is social, we see him standing alone in the parking lot which refers to the isolation he feels. The framing is loose which shows that he eventually will overcome his entrapment.

Lazo - Frantic

Roman Polanski's Frantic contains elements noir to ratchet up the tension and suspense as Richard Walker searches for his missing wife. These noir elements include paranoia, helplessness, and isolation. Dr. Walker's paranoia is the most obvious element. No one believes his wife has been kidnapped; the hotel employees, the French police, and embassy workers all think Walker is overreacting and paranoid.

Dr. Walker's helplessness and isolation go hand-in-hand. He is isolated by the fact that no one believes him, and he is on his own. He is also isolated by his surroundings. He's stuck in Paris, and he can't speak French - he has no means to truly communicate. He is an outsider. Who wouldn't feel helpless in these circumstances? His intense helplessness and isolation all tie in well with his paranoia. He seems paranoid, which alienates him (another noir element) from authorities who could help; isolated and alone as a result, Walker feels helpless in his predicament.

This picture doesn't have any piece particularly lit better than the rest. The brightest spots are the lights down the hallway and the doorway Walker is standing in, perhaps representing the desperate choice of how to handle his wife's disappearance. As a result, the framing is fairly loose, allowing Walker to move down that hallway should he choose to. The shot is personal, clearly showing the confusion and worry on Walker's face, but is not so close as to exclude the look down the hallway. Walker's expression shows much of his helplessness and isolation. The paranoia is soon to follow.

Morris- Frantic

In Frantic, Harrison Ford plays an American in Paris whose wife goes missing. Because of the culture difference, no one seems to believe she has been taken, leaving Ford's character Dr. Richard Walker to find her on his own, leaving him "Frantic".
This movie has several elements of film noir including anxiety, isolation and helplessness, especially in the scene where Walker goes through the suitcase. The wrong suitcase that his wife ended up with is the only clue that he has to where his wife is, so he goes through it.
This scene is in the beginning of the movie after he has found his wife's bracelet so he knows she has been taken. Also, he is the only one that believes finding her bracelet is a clue to her disappearance. He is isolated as an outsider, isolated in his belief that his wife was kidnapped and isolated in his room. He is anxious, and does the only thing he can think of, break into the suitcase and look for clues. He is helpless, and needs to find something to do to find his wife.
This is an example of psychological entrapment because he is doing things that he would not normally do. He rifles through a stranger's bag because he is desperate to find clues. Going through the suitcase leads him to the Blue Parrot, and on the trail to finding his wife.

In this scene, the key lighting suggests the suspense within the scene. The framing is tight on Walker and the suitcase, and the camera proxemics is close to the subject. This all suggests how Walker is in a psychological entrapment.

Koeferl- Frantic

Three noir elements that recur in the film Frantic are isolation, helplessness and anxiety; these elements create an impression of psychological entrapment for Richard Walker. He feels isolated because he's in a foreign country where everyone speaks a foreign language; he is an outsider. The fact that there is a language barrier between him and most people in Paris only makes him feel more helpless and alone. In a few scenes he tries desperately to communicate with strangers to find out where his wife might be. The difficulty communicating with the French compounded with his growing suspicions that something terrible has happened to his wife leads to Walker feeling very frustrated and anxious (It is only when he finds his wife's broken jewelry on the ground near the pub that he knows she has been kidnapped). The psychological entrapment that Walker feels is felt by the audience as well, because we know just as much about his wife's disappearance as he does. Walker does not encounter any life-threatening physical conflicts in the first half of the movie; it gives the illusion that nothing is really wrong, so Walker might just be paranoid. Everyone around him is living a normal day, and the first things that prove that some serious stuff is going on is the broken jewelry and Dede's dead body.


The scene involving Walker making his way into Michelle's apartment on top of the roof is a great scene, because Walker has so much trouble with his surroundings. He slides around in his loafers, so he can't move around properly, and when he takes off his shoes they just slide off the building. I found it very hard to watch this scene, because it kept getting worse and worse (I got very anxious watching everything collapse in front of him). The bag gets stuck, he tries to retrieve it, and most of the contents slide off the roof. Walker is very helpless and anxious in this scene. He could not accomplish such a simple thing as walking across a roof, and his fragile environment wasn't doing him any favors. The lighting in this scene is very bright; it is only midday. The framing is tight because although Walker is outside on a roof, he doesn't really have very much room to move around in if he wants to survive his little predicament. The roof's surface is very smooth, so he has to move very slowly using that radio pole thing he broke to help him. This is a full shot, which means it's a social shot. The purpose of this camera proxemic is to show the audience exactly what Walker's immediate surroundings are, and how dependent his life is on his next actions. This scene does an excellent job in making the audience (me, namely) feel very anxious and uncomfortable.

Frady - Frantic

Polanski uses a mixture of noir elements to enhance the suspense and tension in his film, Frantic. Among these elements, paranoia, helplessness/alienation, and sexual tension are the most prominent. These three things give this film an overall sense of "franticness."

Dr. Walker, upon discovering his wife missing, can be accurately described as paranoid. The hotel employees, the police, and even the Americans at the embassy all think he's being too paranoid. However, as the saying goes, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Dr. Walker's paranoia pays off when it leads him to find out what really happened to his wife.

The main contributing factor to Dr. Walker's sense of helplessness and alienation is the setting. He's been to Paris only once before, about twenty years ago, and he doesn't speak French. He has no support system here, as his only countrymen are largely impotent and don't really take him seriously anyway. His wife was his lifeline, and she's gone, so he is forced to turn on his American inflated sense of self-importance, and huffily demand help from any and all authorities. When this fails, he has to realize that he can really only get things done if he does them himself. Even Michelle isn't much help, as she needs saving on a few different occasions, and ultimately proves to be disloyal and self-absorbed.

Speaking of Michelle, she provides the third important noir aspect of this film: sexual tension. As the film's femme fatale, Michelle constantly tempts Dr. Walker with her lithe sexuality and damsel-in-distress attitude. She plays a young and naive stand-in for Sondra Walker, constantly testing his faithfulness and resolve. It's no wonder that she had to die at the end, as his burgeoning feelings for her would likely complicate marital relations in the future.

The brightly lit hallway retreating into the background shows many doors, suggesting the uncertainty of Dr. Walker's situation. The fact that he's naked and not finished shaving, along with the puzzled/worried look on his face suggests his helplessness and alienation. He's in the foreground, close to the camera, but not centered, in a loose frame. He is free to pursue his wife, but he doesn't know where to begin looking for her.

Dennis Frantic

Harrison Ford plays a successful American doctor named Richard Walker, he and his wife travel to Paris for a medical conference and she get a mysterious phone call and get kidnapped. This all comes about after the couple realizes that they have picked up the wrong suitcase by mistake. This a psychological thriller that contains several noir elements, including moral ambiguity, fear, anxiety, paranoia, violence, sexual tension, entrapment, isolation and helplessness. The young lady Michelle is the source of the moral ambiguity and sexual tension. She is a sort of femme fatal figure and tags along on this journey after Dr. Walker, realizes that she is the one who has his wife's suitcase. Michelle refuses to be unaccompanied Dr. Walker for her fear of being killed and also he needs her just as much as she needs him. Even at the end of the movie, Michelle whispers, "Please don't leave me alone." She does not want to die alone.  Dr. Walker feels helpless because the police are not doing everything they can do to help him find his wife, they think his wife may have ran off with another man, Paris being the city love and all. He tells the security officer at the embassy, "You must have my wife mistake for yours."  He is let down by everyone and forced to self investigate. This feeling of having no one to turn to for help certainly contributes to the feeling of psychological entrapment. The noir elements of fear and anxiety are seen when he wonders through the city of Paris at night and does not speak the language, doesn't know anything about the places he's going and thing of that sort. Danger could lurk around any and every corner, but he wants his wife back.  

This is a scene of entrapment between Michelle and Dr. Walker in the sense that they need each other to survive during this entire ordeal. The lighting in this scene is brightly lit, except around Michelle's face, bit you can clearly see Dr. Walker's face of concern for her if something happens. This is a loose frame, the characters have room to move. The camera proxemics for this scene is personal and social. It is personal in the sense that the two are holding hands and social because of the distance between the two of them.

Torres - Frantic

In the movie Frantic Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a rather successful American doctor who has been thrown into a very noir nightmare. The movie is a psychological thriller that contains several noir elements, including moral ambiguity, fear, anxiety, paranoia, violence, sexual tension, and the feelings of entrapment, helplessness, and isolation. The use of a femme fatal figure, Michelle, supplies the moral ambiguity and sexual tension. Although Dr. Walker loves his wife and is desperate to find her, he is forced to keep the company of a young woman who cares more about having fun and getting her money than anything else. Because she refuses to leave his side, Michelle provides a source of psychological entrapment by forcing Dr. Walker to deal with her antics and the sexual tension her presence creates, which doesn't exactly make finding his wife any easier. A sense of betrayal (especially by authority figures) provides the film with paranoia, fear and anxiety. Dr. Walker feels let down by the police force's lack of seriousness about his situation, and even the American embassy is unable to sufficiently help him. He is let down by everyone and forced to do the investigating himself. This feeling of having no one to turn to for help certainly contributes to the feeling of psychological entrapment. Also, being in Paris and unable to speak or understand French puts Dr. Walker at a serious disadvantage, as well as supplies the film with anxiety and a sense of isolation and helplessness. Being unable to understand people on the street or ask them questions is enough to make anyone feel isolated and trapped.

This scene exemplifies the entrapment felt be Dr. Walker. For the most part, the lighting is low key, except for a harsh highlight at the top of the frame. This shows the dismal situation that he is in; knowing that his wife has been kidnapped, that the police won't take him seriously or help him, not knowing how to contact the kidnappers after the first failed attempt at an exchange, etc. The framing is tight, as Dr. Walker's own body works as a barricade, taking up about 1/3 of the frame. He is both trapped in the frame and in the mirror, with only a very small possible escape route to the right. This greatly emphasizes the psychological aspect of the entrapment as he is literally confronting himself in this situation. This scene also shows that Dr. Walker is not entirely blameless in this situation. Just as he is blocking himself from escaping in this scene, he has also hindered himself in his situation by not learning French before going to a French speaking country (or at least carrying a pocket dictionary) and by ignoring his wife while he was taking a shower. The camera proxemics are personal, revealing just his face and upper torso. This reiterates the confrontation he is having with himself as well as shows the viewer his seriousness and emotions by making the focus his face. The camera proxemics also help to box him into the frame, further emphasizing his entrapment.

Gooch- Presumed Innocent

Throughout the film, Rusty's conscience is riddled with guilt. His protestant and rigid upbringing constantly gnaw at him, and he knows that no matter what happens, he will have to pay for what he has done. Even though he wasn't the one to kill Carolyn, he still feels responsible, and that is why the audience gets the feeling of uncertainty about his guilt. As we watch it, there is a constant feeling of sympathy and judgment for Rusty as we wrestle with deciding if he is guilty or not. He is guilty and feels guilty for something, just not for what he is accused of. For his whole life he has taken pride in the fact that his life has been dedicated to his family and his work, but even he is not strong enough to withstand temptation. He gives into it, and for that he knows he will not escape the consequences, whether it is in his own mind or in reality. He has dedicated his life to bringing justice, and he knows that justice will not overlook him for his infidelity.

In the final scene between Rusty and his wife, we see a twisted form of justice unfold. The guilt he has felt the entire movie turns into a punishment. It is a punishment that will gnaw at him, just like the guilt did. He must live with a murderer for the rest of his life. He must sleep beside a murderer and raise his son with a murderer but in his mind, he feels as though he was a murderer too. He feels this way because he drove his wife to her insanity, and he places this punishment on himself because of this. The ending shows a twisted form of justice, which he has always had so much faith in. It is twisted because the killer is not convicted or punished. The justice system has failed, but the consequences remain. Can the couple ever be happy again after what they have done to each other? This is left to the mind of the audience.

McCay Blog Prompt for Frantic

Discuss three noir elements in the film, Frantic, and show how they create the impression of psychological entrapment. Choose a scene that best exemplifies this entrapment and do a mise en scene analysis using lighting key, framing, and camera proxemics to support your discussion.

Kuebler-Presumed Innocent

In this ending moment where all questions are answered we find Rusty struggling with the fact that one of the women he once loved is now dead. We also find that not only is she dead, but even while cleared of murder Rusty is still deserving of guilt. While his wife is the one who killed Rusty's lover, he is still in some sense responsible. Rusty was the one having the affair and due to his lack of love and care for his wife she went crazy. This was a great surprise to me but a very unique end to the movie. The guilt is manifested by the hammer and the court room as the movie closes. Rusty tells the audience that there was a crime and someone was to be punished. He does not mention who is punished but we can imagine that he is referring to every party involved. The crime of passion, to make love and to murder for love and fear hurts many parties involved.


During the scene between Rusty and his wife she explains that she could not help but kill Carolyn. She was originally thinking of ending her own life but instead would "destroy the destroyer" and bring their family back to a healthy place. Rusty in this moment realizes that while his wife did in fact murder Carolyn, he had just as much a part in her death as the murderer. His cruelty to his family was a crime that caused the woman he was obsessed with to be killed and be framed for the crime. So while his wife steps downstairs with a "I did it, I fooled them all" Rusty realizes that he has never once fooled his wife and he is just as guilty if not more for all crimes present in this movie.

Koeferl- Presumed Innocent

A major theme in this movie is the justice system. Rusty is convicted of a crime that he did not directly commit, but he finds out at the end of the movie that he is indeed guilty of sparking a chain of events that led to Carolyn's murder. The film challenges us to decide who is guilty and who is innocent. Is Rusty guilty of the murder of Carolyn because he provoked his wife to kill her? Is the wife guilty because she physically murdered her? I think that the wife was put into a very tough situation; she could have talked with Rusty about Carolyn and forced him to stop his affair (and maybe she did, but knew that he still had feelings for her). Perhaps the only way she would ever feel at ease was knowing that Carolyn was dead.

I do not think that anyone is completely innocent in this movie (except the kid, who hasn't grown up yet). The judge and the lawyers are all corrupt somehow, taking bribes and sleeping with Carolyn, etc. Carolyn is certainly not innocent; I consider her the guiltiest of all the characters in the movie. She singlehandedly corrupts two innocent people: Rusty Sabich and his wife. Her actions, rather than Rusty's, cause the chain of events that lead to her own death. She seduces Rusty, a married man, so that she can better her own career. Rusty did not seek out a relationship with Carolyn; she sought after him. Rusty's wife only murdered Carolyn because she was trying to get her husband to love her again. Both Rusty and his wife were acted upon.

Although I see Carolyn as the guilty one in this film, Rusty feels guilty. In the conversation with his wife in the end, he realizes that he is responsible both for damaging his relationship with his wife, and for the murder of Carolyn Polhemus. He seeks punishment for his behavior; in the end this punishment takes the form of having to live the rest of his life knowing that his wife murdered Carolyn, and nobody else will know this (they think that Rusty most likely committed the murder). This final conversation with the wife, along with other final conversations with other characters in the movie, poses the question: was justice served? One way to look at the situation is that it was served; his wife murdered the "destroyer" (home wrecker), which was just, because she was trying to preserve her family. Carolyn died, which is just, because she caused so much corruption within this family. Rusty, who cheated on his wife, now has to live with guilt for the rest of his life. Justice was served, but not in the courtroom.

Cutler: Presumed Innocent

Unlike in The Fugitive, the audience of Presumed Innocent doesn't know if the main character, Rusty Sabich, is innocent. There's evidence leading us to believe the Sabich actually killed Carolyn. When he is no longer under suspicion, he returns to his regular life until he finds the murder weapon. He confronts his wife who admits to killing Carolyn. Sabich is overcome with guilt because he knows that even though he didn't actually kill Carolyn, he is the reason why she is dead. His affair with Carolyn sparked his wife to kill her with a hammer and frame Sabich with fingerprints and sperm. Sabich was the catalyst for his wife's jealousy that caused her to viciously kill Carolyn.
Sabich's guilt is one of the most important themes in this film because he is not only guilty about Carolyn's death, but also his son's future. He knows that if he doesn't destroy the evidence that shows that his wife is the murderer, his son will live without a mother. He ends up taking an unethical approach and destroys the evidence to save himself from his own guilt. Although Sabich didn't actually kill Carolyn, through the trial and his discovery of the hammer, he feels immense guilt for her death.

Mantica - Presumed Innocent

In the final scenes of Presumed Innocent, not only do we find out that Rusty Sabich was innocent, but also that the real killer was none other than his wife! Barbra, out of frustration and hate towards the woman that seduced her husband, murdered Carolyn with Rusty’s hammer. While this final scene has the same “reveal” ending as most ordinary mysteries or thrillers (with the classic scene of the real criminal explaining all the details of the crime to the hero), the reveal in Presumed Innocent has a much stronger emotional impact, perhaps because in this scene, more than any other in the film, we can truly feel Rusty’s guilt.

The entire film dealt with his guilt and frustration, the mistakes that almost destroyed his marriage. He was weak and fell victim to his temptations. However, he never knew that Carolyn was killed precisely because of his mistake. Until this final scene, he realizes that it was his fault. Had he not slept with Carolyn, his wife would have never committed the murder.

This final scene in the film is shot with great simplicity, but also with great effectiveness. Director Alan J. Pakula uses only two shots at a time. First he begins with medium shots of each actor. As the scene (and revelations) become more intense, he comes closer and uses only close-ups for the rest of the scene. The close-ups make the scene a lot more personal and emotional. The close-ups also box the characters in. Rusty can’t do anything but listen to his wife confess. Harrison Ford even contributes by shedding some tears. Nothing but their emotions and pain are seen in this scene. And above all, Rusty’s guilt is truly felt because of it, helping conclude one of the main themes of the film.

Guerry- Presumed Innocent

Adultery rarely ends well; most couples never recover from the knowledge of spousal infidelity. Rusty Sabich knows this better than most, as his obsession with the office hottie, Carolyn Polhemus, is discovered following her murder. After this discovery, the police make him their prime suspect in the murder case, and he is convicted and sentenced to trial. This leads to the eventual declaration of his innocence, due to incomplete evidence presented by the prosecution. One day, after the trial, Rusty finds a bloody hammer in his toolbox while attempting to mend a fence outside his house. Immediately we see shock and understanding on his face, as he must have concluded that his wife was behind the murder of Carolyn. Oddly enough though, Rusty takes the hammer to the basement sink and begins washing off the blood. It’s as if he plans to remove the evidence, and never mention his discovery to his wife. Then, as the hammer is finally cleansed, his wife steps down into the basement.

Proclaiming her guilt, Rusty’s wife proceeds to then explain her thought and planning behind “destroying the destroyer.” Shocked, repulsed, and infinitely guilty, Rusty listens to her story with tear-soaked eyes and astonished silence. He understands that his adulterous actions led to the eventual insanity of his wife, and had he remained faithful, she would have still been the same woman he married. He is guilty not of murder, but of destroying his marriage and wife’s mind, as well as indirectly causing Carolyn’s murder.

Morris- Presumed Innocent

In the last sequence of the movie, Presumed Innocent, Rusty Sabich finds the hammer used in the murder of his mistress, Carolyn. He knows now that his wife, Barbara, committed the crime for which he was put on trial. This scene is important in terms of his guilt because had he not had an affair, his wife would not have become a murderer and the woman would still be alive.

Knowing that it is your fault that someone is dead cannot be easy. Rusty now has to face the consequences of his actions which have been somewhat non-existent since his wife found out. The guilt manifests itself in the scene as his expression changes and he just sits there while his wife describes how she committed the perfect murder, a murder that she intended to wake him from his zombie-like existence, so they could move on to being a happy family once again.

In the last courtroom scene, Rusty’s voice over states, “there is punishment.” Although neither Rusty nor Barbara has faced punishment by the law, they have each other as punishment. Barbara has to live with knowing that her husband will always prefer Carolyn to her, and with killing another human being. Rusty will have to live with the guilt that the woman he loves’ death was because he loved her, and having to live with her killer.