Star Words: Episode III, Part 5

[matril]

There are three figures of central importance to Anakin in Episode III. We've seen how his relationship with Obi-Wan has matured past the contentious days of Master and Padawan, and how their bickering has become mostly good-natured. And we've seen, more ominously, how Palpatine continues to influence and manipulate Anakin. Now, upon their return to Coruscant, Anakin is reunited at last with his secret wife.

This scene is a wonderful showcase for how their relationship has progressed since they were married at the start of the Clone Wars. No longer hesitant or bashful, and still as passionate as newlyweds, probably because of their frequent periods apart. Anakin, in fact, is ready to throw caution to the wind and stop hiding their marriage. Padmé doesn't quite share his recklessness, but it's not because she's the more cautious one in their relationship. She's been carrying a secret, alone, during his long absence. Now she can finally share it with him.

But wait. The line I want to examine actually comes before that revelation.

"Feels like we've been apart for a lifetime."


This is Anakin with his usual gift for hyperbole. How long has it been -- five months, maybe? Hardly a the length of a lifespan.

Except....that's just what it is. Because Padmé is pregnant. And their child's existence started just before Anakin's departure. The words are unintentionally prophetic. It really has been a lifetime.

Don't worry; I'm not trying to make a political point about whether life begins at conception or at birth! It's just poetic. For two grown adults, a few months are only a little fraction of their existence. For their baby -- babies, as it turns out -- those months are everything. And they will change everything.

This moment is filmed so evocatively, with intense close-ups, faces half-hidden in shadow. Anakin's response to Padmé's news is a tremendous nonverbal acting moment for Hayden. The shock, the worry, the dawning dizzying happiness. And Padmé, trying to wear a brave face but clearly exhausted from the emotional weight of this secret. It's not stated explicitly, but I figure from Anakin's shock that they were taking precautions not to get pregnant -- that would be the sensible thing to do, assuming birth control exists in the Star Wars universe. But somehow pregnancy happened anyway, and as unexpected and terrifying as it might be, it's still miraculous -- something wonderful. A new life.

Next, a brief scene with Palpatine's alter-ego...

Comments

[krpalmer]

There's some interpretations here I hadn't quite thought of before myself, but I'm willing to take them into my consideration. In some simple fashion, Anakin and Padme's interaction in this movie keeps bringing to mind that for at least a while after Attack of the Clones I'd supposed they wouldn't be able to meet in "Episode III." I'm stuck hastening to add "not because I had the allergic reaction too many other people seemed to wallow in," but just because I remembered a line in the Return of the Jedi novelization that the last time Anakin left "his wife," he "hadn't known she was pregnant"... that, too, after AotC had just torpedoed another line in the old novelization about Owen Lars being Obi-Wan's brother. Maybe I just feel glad everyone else seemed to miss it where they either got indignant about the niggling relationship detail or went straight to "we were told Leia's mother survived for a while! (seemingly writing off Darth Vader in the process)..."