This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest -- and makes some remarkably advanced arguments about technology's role in society that still resonate today.
This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest -- and makes some remarkably advanced arguments about technology's role in society that still resonate today.
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Made between The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), and in part an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's art-movie classic Blow-Up (1966), The Conversation was a return to small-scale art films for Francis Ford Coppola. Sound surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired to track a young couple (Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest), taping their conversation as they walk through San Francisco's crowded Union Square. Knowing full well how technology can invade privacy, Harry
obsessively keeps to himself, separating business from his personal life, even refusing to discuss what he does or where he lives with his girlfriend, Amy (Teri Garr). Harry's work starts to trouble him, however, as he comes to believe that the conversation he pieced together reveals a plot by the mysterious corporate "Director" who hired him to murder the couple. After he allows himself to be seduced by a call girl, who then steals the tapes, Harry is all the more convinced that a killing will occur, and he can no longer separate his job from his conscience. Coppola, cinematographer Bill Butler, and Oscar-nominated sound editor Walter Murch convey the narrative through Harry's aural and visual experience, beginning with the slow opening zoom of Union Square accompanied by the alternately muddled and clear sound of the couple's conversation caught by Harry's microphones. The Godfather Part II and The Conversation earned Coppola a rare pair of Oscar nominations for Best Picture, as well as two nominations for Best Screenplay (The Godfather Part II won both). Praised by critics, The Conversation was not a popular hit, but it has since come to be seen as one of the artistic high points of the decade, as well as of Coppola's career. Its atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion, combined with its obsessive loner antihero, made it prototypical of the darker "American art movies" of the early '70s, as its audiotape storyline also made it seem eerily appropriate for the era of the Watergate scandal. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
A major artistic asset to the film -- besides script, direction and the top performances -- is supervising editor Walter Murch's sound collage and re-recording.
Coppola manages to turn an expert thriller into a portrayal of the conflict between ritual and responsibility without ever letting the levels of tension subside or the complicated plot get muddled.
Listening in on The Conversation has never been so rewarding, thanks to Lionsgate's stunning new 1080p transfer and wealth of extras, both old and new.
A film OF the 1970s, The Conversation is rooted in the new American anxiety of the time, the idea that behind every ideal was a rotten, festering truth.
Coppola may have made films of a more spectacular nature but here he makes a virtue of a introversion - so that the film's horror moment is all the more vibrantly terrible when set in relief.
Coppola shows off his arty aspirations by doing for audio technology what Antonioni did for photography. But The Conversation is a different animal entirely, steering clear of the existential dilemmas in Antonioni's film and creating a character pi
There's a strong case to be made for The Conversation being Coppola's greatest film. Which, when you consider what else he's made, is high praise indeed.
This is one of Coppola's masterpieces, a prophetic film about paranoia, the growing role of technology in our daily lives, and the impossibility of privacy even in public spaces.
Every time I see a great Francis For Coppola movie like The Godfathers, Apocalypse Now, and The Conversation I think how'd this guy make Jack, but I guess that's beside the point. The Conversation is a very slow moving but oddly hypnotizing film. Gene Hackman gives a great low-key performance as audio-surveillance
expert Harry Caul. The music in this film is perfect for how slow and powerful the plot is. What I love about it, is how what we think we are watching, what we think is obviously going to happen is completely wrong. A truly great film from a great director.
June 30, 2011
Melvin White
Super Reviewer
Another great film on paranoia from the best decade for American cinema.
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