A Thousand Stars: Episode III, Part 6

[matril]

Hey, guess what? We've got an Anakin/Padmé scene, which means I'm going to obsess over every shot. Buckle yourselves in.

Anakin has returned as a celebrated hero, surrounded by well-wishers from the Senate. The crowd finally trickles down to just a few, and it's especially poignant that Anakin's talking to Bail Organa, the future adoptive father of Leia. Because look whose lonely silhouette is just visible at the edge of the frame (wearing a familiar hairstyle).




This long shot feels heartbreaking to me. Padmé stands completely isolated amid the empty vastness, a symobol of how she has likely felt through all these long months waiting for Anakin to come home. And then they finally, finally reunite.



The camera pulls in tighter, and this is how we see the couple throughout the entirety of their conversation, as if everything else -- galactic war, contentious politicking, the approval or censor of the Jedi or the Senate -- has become completely irrelevant. The entire universe closes in around these two lovers.



Then Padmé tells him "something wonderful." Watch Anakin's face-journey.






(Not to mention Padmé's visible anxiety as she watches him process the news)


He's stunned, overwhelmed, terrified. Yet his joy is also undeniable. The dialogue is simple, but those expressions, whew. They speak volumes.

In spite of his reassurances, the scene ends with a zoom out that reminds of us how small and precarious their relationship really is amid the vastness of the galaxy. Even the final wipe into the next scene strikes me as the closing blinds on a window, as if their private life has been shuttered and pushed away.



Next time, more ominous portents....

Comments

[krpalmer]

I have to admit that seeing this scene examined in such detail reminds me of how, right after seeing Attack of the Clones, I supposed there'd be no scenes with Anakin and Padme together in Episode III, because the Return of the Jedi novelization had mentioned "Anakin hadn't known his wife was pregnant when they parted for the last time"... While I'm unfortunately convinced others had that same supposition with mixtures of relief and glee, I do want to insist it seems to have been rather more casual for me. (And that's with another bit of the old novelization, namely Owen Lars being "Obi-Wan's brother," already inoperative...)